You just have to jump in. Then you have to course correct because you can have as much preparation as you want, but you'll never get open. Bring something from literally nothing. Find how to get it produced. Find how to get it on shelves, sample it, and get people to buy it. You know, I got engaged here.
I was on my first date here. Those are really cool [music] stories. What was the hardest part of opening a restaurant in a downtown that was being developed? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hooser 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. This episode of Get In is brought to you by Hope Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, your neighborhood one-stop shop for all your home service needs.
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We are recording live from Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Shout out to our friends at Allied Solutions for hooking this whole thing up. My guest today, holy, this is a good one. The perfect guest for Carb Day. Brian Graham is the owner and president of 4day Ray Brewing, a Fischerbased brewery and scratch kitchen that opened in 2016 in the Nickel Plate District well before it was I don't know it was even called the Nickel Plate District then. Yeah, they did.
They had all the marketing down. You know how that goes. Come on. So, 4 Day Ray has become known for award-winning beer, community-driven hospitality, and it's brewed for community identity. I'm really excited. 4day Ray has partnered with us on every single one of our Indy500 activations since the very beginning when we were just we were just young kids with a dream to do something cool at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
So, it's awesome to get to come full circle here and do Brian's podcast episode from the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I'm really excited to dive into everything that you guys have been building over the last decade of 4day Ray. Brian, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me, Nate. Uh really glad to be here. I mean, this is this is going to be a fun one.
This is maybe our most interesting location that we've ever uh shot a podcast from. So, we're excited to have you as our uh I feel privileged. Yeah. Right. Come on. And for anyone that's watching at home, we had to crack I mean, it might be 10:00 in the morning, but you know, we're drinking some 4 day.
What do you got on there? I I already cracked mine open. Uh I'm drinking our heava. My pleasure. It's got a chicken on there. So, come on.
I'm ripping an Indiana flyer. That's my favorite. Very, very American. There you go. Okay. Okay.
So, what I want to know, one, 2016, y'all opened up in Fischers and that whole like downtown district wasn't really what it is now today in 2026. How did you end up deciding that the downtown Fischers area was the right spot for you to open Fort Ray? Well, the city was definitely a great partner for us and, you know, they had a really great vision. Uh, Scott Fadness and the team up there and, you know, they were really wanting a brewery, uh, you know, to be centrally located and and kind of anchor the community up there. And I mean, it was just the right time. There were still houses around where our building is right now, where now there's, you know, all apartment buildings, multi-use, uh, you know, different kinds of things with retail and, you know, things like that and businesses.
So we were definitely one of the first ones in and you know we we really bought into the vision uh that the city was uh you know selling and I think it really has benefited us for sure. Were you guys in the beer business before opening up the location in Fisers? Yeah. But what we did, uh, we had, uh, we just got a beer truck, uh, outfitted with a wrap and some taps and we had somebody brewing our beer for us. And so we were, uh, at festivals and vending opportunities about a year or so before we opened it just to try to, you know, get the name out and do some marketing. 2015, that was like kind of the beginning of the craft beer boom, I would say.
What got you into craft beer? I've been a home brewer since 97. Uh, a restaurant guy. I had a a Dix Bodacious barbecue over in Avon. I Dix Bodacious Barbecue. What a name.
It was The guys were from Texas. Uh it was like an amazing product. But uh there were a lot of things that I did wrong in that experience. Crashed and burned, went bankrupt, the whole nine yards. No way. Yeah, definitely.
Wait, so it was a franchise? It was. Yeah, it was a local franchise here. Um they had like five or six locations. The last one that was open was downtown right on the circle. What got you for from, you know, you said going bankrupt?
Yeah. You know, on your Avon location to say, I want to stay in the beer and stay in the restaurant business. That seems like kind of a silly thing to do. Well, you know, my wife obviously went through the whole situation with me and I wasn't going to do anything without her blessing from there. So, there was a hiatus there where I was doing software sales for a while. Nice.
Um, so clearly, you know, the restaurant business, go sell software. Yeah, that's right. I mean, it was a great time in Indie to be doing that. uh just with all the tech that's in uh the area. So, but one day, you know, she was just tired of me going from one startup to the other and uh said, "Hey, you should open a brewery." And that was all I needed.
And so, I started planning in 2012 and uh found our ownership group and you know, we opened in 16. How many owners are there? Uh there are four of us. Four of you. Okay. And were you the the brew like the beer expert?
Actually, I mean, I'm a home brewer. I'm also a BJCP certified beer judge. is BJCP. Uh that's the beer judge certification program. So um any beer competition around the country that's worth its weight uh will have um certified BJCP judges. Um and so all of the large like uh GABF World Beer Cup, you have to be a BJCP uh judge to be judging those competitions.
But so you know my quality assessment is good but uh I knew that we needed a professional brewer because we were starting a business from scratch and professional brewing and home brewing definitely a different you know level of uh you know accomplishment there too. So so I actually met my uh business partner and our uh head of brewing operations online uh 2013. So we've known each other a while now. Is there like an e-harmony for meat brewers? There is. It was great.
Yeah, we uh you know I flew him across the country. It was very romantic. It was it was lovely. Where was he from? Uh well, he was originally from Worcester uh Ohio, but he was out in Arizona um out in uh Lake Havsu at a brewery out there and he wanted to get back to the Midwest. So, flew him out.
He stayed at our house. You know, it was uh it was it was kind of crazy. I mean, we just had met and had a few conversations and he sent me some beer. Thought it was good. And I thought, well, hey, I really wanted a brewer that was outside the state cuz, you know, sometimes it can get a little incestuous and, you know, that kind of thing. And just a new perspective.
Yeah. I mean, that is an interesting piece. There's almost like a brewer's tree, like a coaching tree in football or any sport, right? Where you learn how to brew beer and the beers end up a little bit different, but but relatively similar cuz you learned from the same people. So bringing in like some fresh blood from the outside, new maybe flavor pallets and styles there. That's super smart.
Yeah. Okay. So then when do you officially launch? Like when do you sell your first beer? We sold our first beer in the summer of 2015. Uh Fisers had started uh some outdoor concert series and so we that was where we we set up shop.
Why Fisers? So I'm from Westfield. I was going to originally open the brewery in Westfield, but at that time Fischers had over 100,000 people, and Westfield was still hovering somewhere around 35 or 40. Oh, there were still fields to be west of in Westfield. Exactly. So, you know, we thought, hey, the population's higher, the city's cooperating.
This is just a really good opportunity for us and it just makes a lot more sense. Wow. And so, how did that first year go where you guys were just running the beer truck and where were you brewing at? Um, so we had Towyard brewing our beer for us. Is that the one downtown? Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. where the hanger is now. Uh I believe yes, that's exactly correct. Yeah. Was it also like Ellison?
Ellison was also in there as well. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I got you. So, they were brewing it and like but you were bringing in the recipes and like you picked your ingredients and stuff, but you're using their equipment. Yep.
And then you were taking the cart or the van all out around to go do events and pop-ups. Correct. Now, how much early traction did you have to get for you to feel com confident in getting a brickandmortar spot? Well, we we already had the the drawings, you know, we had the architect. Um, uh, Myron Aum was our construction company. They're right there in Fisers.
We used all local Fischers people. MD Architects was our architect there in Fischers. So, we really were trying to make it a community uh, based uh, project. So, we already had all of that stuff in motion and we knew we were doing it. So, it was a matter of just, you know, trying to, you know, anticipate, get the word out before we were going to open the brick and mortar. They broke ground.
I think it was uh the fall of 20 uh 2015. Um and then they were working over that winter and then you know we opened in October of uh 16. So you opened in October of 16. How was you know the stress of you're still probably running the van, you're still probably running the truck around, but you're also opening a restaurant. You're also working on real estate construction deals. You're wearing a lot of hats that aren't just brew beer, make people happy.
How did you balance all that? And like what were the what were the stressful moments in opening up a restaurant? Yeah, one of the things that I learned uh from the uh the barbecue thing was hey, you can't do it all by yourself. And so that, you know, just having a good team around you and people to support you is super important. And um you know, the three other business partners, they we all chipped in and we did our part. And um you know, some days I'm on site, you know, working with the construction and design stuff.
Other days, you know, I'm just out doing meetings and trying to do marketing while they're, you know, doing the thing with um, you know, looking at samples for the architect and finishes on the inside. So, you know, it really took all four of us to uh, make it happen. And then, you know, we we we signed on some team members uh, that summer of uh, or of 16 and I was still working my other my sales job up until May of uh, 2016. So, no way. Okay. What was the most fun part of opening a restaurant?
The most fun part is just seeing the excitement from everybody. Um, you know, going through the menu development, uh, that kind of thing. Just, you know, knowing and just the anticipation of it all was really cool. Yeah. Okay. What about like designing the menu?
Like I feel like, you know, creating a menu from scratch would be stressful and hard but also fun. Like trying all the foods and figuring out what you want on the menu. Yeah. like we knew we wanted to be like upscale uh you know bar pub food and you know with us being you know doing everything from scratch just you know and you don't know what people are going to want right I mean so you're just assuming and and sometimes you know you have to pivot and you know I think where we're at with our food right now is just I mean it's comfort food um that's elevated and I think that's what people want and a good value were the wings on the menu in in the beginning they absolutely were cuz that I took those from uh I took those from Dick Bodacious so That was a on the menu item at Dick Bodacious. It was one of the things we didn't make it very often because it was difficult holding them because most people like the wings crispy.
So when you smoke them, the skins are still kind of um just limp and not very good cuz that's they're smoked then fried. Yes. Yeah. We have a rub on them. We smoke them and then when you order them, they get fried and then they're fried. I mean, let me tell you, I put for Ray's wings toe-to-toe with almost every wing in the in the city of Indianapolis.
It is one of my favorites. I did for my oh man maybe it was my 26th birthday I did a wing review oh nice where all of my friends each brought their own favorite wings so we had amporium we had KSR we had for Ray and and like everyone was like oh it's a brewery like and someone was like no I have to bring these wings down my friend Andrew Bashet he was like got to bring these wings they are a staple of Fishers and I was like okay sure like everyone was so surprised because they were these ones cuz we was blind we didn't know which one was which one we had them like marked we did a whole thing it was very very interesting data driven birthday party but it was so much fun uh for day ray incredible wings but just in general an incredible food menu which is was that like your pallet from coming from the restaurant background yeah I mean you when you are doing beer right it's uh it's community focused people get together you know you're commiserating with friends and family and people need to eat and beer just pairs really well with good food so I mean wow why not you know you just want to have a good menu now I want to know what was the hardest part of opening a restaurant, especially in let's say like a a downtown that was being developed.
You you don't know what's going to go up around you? I mean, you kind of have an idea, but and then you're sort of like, well, you know, if we build it, they'll come, you know, kind of thing. I think literally the field of dreams, right? Yeah. And, you know, there was a perception of parking problem that that was going on where we have 150 surface spaces just around our building alone. And that doesn't even count the public garages.
There's three of them within about a half a block, right? But you know, Indiana, if I can't park my car and see where I'm going, that's a parking problem. [laughter] Yes. It's so funny to see like uh when people like if the Keystone Fashion Mall for instance or a Walmart, if you park in the back of a Walmart and you walk back to the electronic section, the distance that you travel there, people don't bat an eye at that. But if you put that same distance, but you have to like round a corner, they're like, "No, I I just I'm not close enough to build." Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. [laughter] Okay. So, you open in 2016, resounding applause, like everything goes off without a hitch. It's great, I would say.
Yeah. I mean, you're never ready, though. When you're opening something like that, you can just you have to get it far enough along where you just have to jump in and then you have to course correct as you go. And that's probably the most nerve-wracking thing because you can have as much preparation as you want, but you'll never get open. So, you just have to open the doors and just, you know, hope. Yeah.
Was was there ever a moment where you maybe at night or like some you're working late or whatever it's going on and you're like thinking back to your time at Dixodacious and you're like what have I gotten myself into again? Like I can't believe I signed back up for this. You know, it was so much bigger than just me. Um that I I really believed in the team that we had and you know, we definitely I checked all the boxes of the things that I had done wrong. You know, obviously there were new problems, but I really believed in what we were doing and the fact that it was bigger than me, I think was a a huge part of the success of it. That's amazing.
I love that. And like getting a rep in where you like learned the hard way. Like there's no greater teacher than failure, right? Like I mean at the end of the day and when you also put your reputation, you put everything on the line and you have other people that you're doing it for. like you're not just doing it for your personal satisfaction or your personal glory. It makes it a lot more motivating, I would say.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Knowing people are counting on you, you know, we had a team at that point um at opening and so, you know, we had marketing and we had sales and you know, they're just all these people and you're just like, "Wow, you know, we we we all we put this together. We all came together and uh it was it was great." Yeah.
And it's like you guys are a staple in that Fischer District that or not the Fischers District, the Nickel Plate District right there early on 2016, three, four, five, however long, however many years into the journey, where did the domino start to fall where you felt like, oh my gosh, this is going to be such a vibrant community here. Once they started removing uh the the housing there and all of the large apartment and multi-use buildings started to go up, um it really became clear that wow, you know, the city's pulling this off. The district was opening, you know, they were uh realizing, you know, that area over there as well. And I mean, they just, you know, they just kept adding on and you know, they're still building going on around us. So, uh yeah, we were super excited that they were able to deliver on their end. I feel like you know you're in a good area when a Pachu goes in.
Yeah. Like when whenever a cafe Pachu gets put up, you're like, "Okay, we must be doing something right." Because they seem to just put their their locations. Martha, previous guest of the podcast, she's incredible. But they just pick really great locations for where they put their restaurants. And I like the Pattich that's over there now.
There's like so many cool things that's all in that area. You can have a full day and just hang out in that district. And like maybe you bounce over to IKEA or Topgolf or whatever and you come right back over. Oh yeah. Well, and I've told the I told the mayor I was like, "You guys really need to get a pedestrian bridge over 116th Street and probably over 106 Street as well cuz it'll help. I mean, 69 as much as you I mean it just it just bisects the whole area.
And so, you know, having that pedestrian bridge will help uh, you know, connect all those trails that are through there and just, you know, allow people to flow a little bit better um, through the area. And I think that'll really be nice if they're able to get that done. Yeah. Okay. So, 10 years in in the Nickel Plate District, right? That'll be this October.
Yeah. Mhm. Yep. Yeah. We're going to have Yeah, we're going to have October 19th was when we opened. So, yeah, we're going to have a party that uh weekend.
I think it's the 16th and the 17th. Heck yeah. Got some special things planned here in Indiana. Chances are you've heard the name Keller and Keller. And there's a reason so many Hoosiers trust them when something goes wrong. Keller and Keller is a local personal injury law firm that's been helping people across Indiana for over 90 [music] years.
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com. That's the number two keller. com. Keller and Keller, right [music] here for Indiana when it matters most. Now, let's get back into the episode. When you were first getting started and this was a truck driving around setting [laughter] up at events, did you think that you would have a staple brewery, a staple restaurant in the nickel plate district for a decade?
I was just taking it one day at a time, Nate. Really? I mean, you know, you're you're just, you know, one foot in front of the other and again trying to make sure that I learned, you know, the lessons um from the last, you know, go around and I, you know, treating people well. Well, I think being involved in the community has really served us well. Uh we have a a a charity um thing that we do. It's called Tap for a Cause.
We have a partner that we partner with every month. Um and every Tuesday when you come in to dine, you don't need to bring any flyers. There's nothing that you need to do other than come in and just eat a meal or have a beer. And um we donate 5% of sales uh every Tuesday night from 4:00 to 9:00 to our partner. And it actually makes a difference as opposed to regular dying and you know donate where you know you're giving somebody $80 and you know they're underestimating their ability to mobilize their group of people to come in and really have an effect and you know I just wanted to be more impactful than that and so yeah that's so cool. How do you pick what organizations you're partnering with?
Yeah, so we have a form on our website. Um you know everybody applies and you know we try to evaluate those. you know, we want to make sure that we're keeping the money in the community as much as we can. Um, you know, obviously it's mainly like um Hamilton County and then, you know, there's some organizations that we help that are in Marian County, but yeah, we try to keep it as local as we can. I love that. Okay, here's here's a piece.
When you are an entrepreneur, one thing that I hear from a lot of uh founders that have that get things going, it's so easy to chase the next shiny car. You know, you talk about like you start to get some success with the truck and you're like, "Great, let's open a restaurant." And then you're like one restaurant goes good and all of a sudden you have 10 locations, you know, and you're, you know, taking on debt or whatever you might be doing to grow the business and chase what could be the next shiny object. Maybe you're like, "Well, we should, you know, sponsor an Indie car and like do all the whole thing." How do you guys remain focused and continue to pour right back into the the Nickelblade District, continue to brew great beer, serve great food, and how do you balance like ambition, but also not getting caught in the shiny car syndrome? Yeah, that's a great question.
So, it was funny when I first started, I you know, maybe I didn't really know exactly what the purpose was or what my purpose was. Um, but I it's really solidified for me over the last few years. It really is about my people and my staff and really helping develop them and give them opportunities. So when we I am a builder. I mean it's so funny that you say that cuz you know we have the Yorktown location that's right outside uh Muny. It's like 10 minutes.
How old is that? Uh it's going to be 3 years old next year. We open in March of 24. They just finished up or not they're working on a a cool new district in Yorktown. like that whole little it's like their town like their town building and all the stuff that I I just drove through there the other day and I saw your guys' location. I did not know it was there and then I saw that whole little area where there's like new developments going in in an amphitheater and the whole nine yards.
It does remind me a lot of the early days of the Nickel Plate District, right? Yeah. You know, they're the town is investing in themselves. Uh they're doing a great job. There's uh they put up new residents um just west of us. There's another large apartment building going in um east of us as well.
So, there's some um uh business headquarters that are going in downtown as well. So, yeah, we're happy to be there. I mean, we're definitely It's a restaurant desert up there. So, we're happy to be there. We do pizza up there. We make our own pizza.
So, different menu. Uh no, it's the same menu, but it has pizza and there's no tacos. So, no tacos, add pizza, but the wings are still there. Yes. Oh, absolutely. The residents of Yorktown, go get the wings.
I'm not joking. Okay. Hey, how did you decide that Yorktown was a good place? Cuz that's that's your second location then, right? It is our second location. Yeah.
So, there's a multi- um use uh apartment building that has uh retail on the first floor. It was new, right? And um you know, it was the vibe that we kind of have going on um already. And so, you know, going and helping um growing communities, it's kind of what we did in Fiser. So, it seemed like it was a good fit for us to come up and, you know, help the community grow. Wow, that's awesome.
Are there is are there more growth opportunities on the on the radar? Are there other locations that we are looking at or thinking about or is it like, hey, let's get these two continuing to rock and roll and then maybe we'll think about the future later. Yeah, I would say we definitely have Yorktown stabilized. Obviously, Fischers has been around 10 years now. Um, you know, we would like other locations that, you know, plays into just giving our staff opportunities to grow um professionally, right? So, if we're not looking at that to help them out, you know, they're just going to go elsewhere.
So, you know, I we are definitely looking at other locations around the besides the ownership group. Who are your longest tenur employees? How long have they been there? Uh, we've had people that have been there for like 9 years. Uh, we have very low turnover. Um, our GM, some of our management staff, they've been with us for like over 7 years.
So, you know, we try to definitely treat people right. Work life balance is very important to us. Um, and then, you know, I think we haven't really said this out loud, but I think mental health has been a very important focus because it's the service industry and it's difficult and, you know, people are messy whether you're talking about guests or, you know, different staff members that you're working with and giving people grace and being able to seek to understand where they're coming from. Um, you know, that's my philosophy and trying to help people understand. Every day you go in there and you're like, well, we have to put on a smile. We want to like greet our guests and treat them like family, but sometimes you don't feel like, you know, your staff can be have days where they're not, it's not a smiley day.
Like, but I still have to put on this face and I still have to go out there and serve our customers and that can be hard, especially talk about doing that for 9 years. It's like, you know, taking care of your people and making sure they do have a place that they want to smile at when they come in there. I think that is that's uh incredible. Yeah. Thank you. Okay.
The other piece that I've found in the Indiana, let's say brewer ecosystem, craft beer ecosystem, is that it's kind of like it's not a cutthroat competition industry. Like I feel like for the most part all a lot of the brewers all get along with each other and are good friends. Is that true or am I just like seeing that from the outside? No, definitely. I mean, you know, we're all in this together. I mean, obviously there's been some ups and downs here recently in the industry and so we all just want to see the community be able to enjoy good beer and I think that's, you know, that at the that's the core of what we're all doing and we all have our own way of doing that.
But for the most part, yeah, we definitely uh are supporting each other and trying to make sure that, you know, the industry is thriving and surviving here. Now, were there brewery partners early on that you kind of looked to for mentorship as you were getting going? Were there were there people in the industry? You know, as me starting out as a home brewer, I think um it was I think it was difficult. I didn't have a lot of connections. So, it was uh basically kind of looking around seeing what other people were doing.
At the time when we opened, a lot of people were just doing the tap room thing without any food. And when uh it was apparent that we were going to need to go downtown Fisers and not do the whole industrial park thing with just a tap room, uh you know, none of us as the ownership group, we didn't start to start to open a restaurant. Like we didn't want to necessarily do that. We wanted to open a brewery. Everyone talks about how hard the restaurant business is. Razor thin margins.
So many people like customers, you talk about staff, you talk about the whole n vendors, like there's just a lot of people relationships to manage there. That's absolutely correct. [laughter] Yeah. So, you know, we so that was that was a differentiator for us because we had a brew pub and that wasn't what people were opening at that time. Now, when you say brew pub, what's the difference between a craft brewery, a restaurant, brew pub? Like, I've heard the term brew pub, but I'm not really sure.
And I think there's like a historic a history behind like having a brew pub or like you we talked about a little bit uh like Broadbable Brew Pub for instance was one of the the first one in the state of Indiana. Yes. Yeah. Yep. Uh so the difference I mean they're they're all craft brewers basically. So you know overarching term there but you have what you call production breweries and their sole purpose is they're open to distribute beer outside their four walls to retailers and uh so on and off premise uh retailers.
So, that's a production brewery. They're not going to have, you know, they're not going to have uh a restaurant. Um they're probably going to be large production facility, you know, like Sun King. I mean, they're a production brewery, right? Um and that's how that's how they started. So, and then you look at something like our model or Broadle Brew Pub where we have a restaurant and we're serving our beer in that restaurant.
So, we're serving it across the bar one pint at a time. We actually have a hybrid model because we are we do distribute our beer um outside of the four walls. So we have a brew pub and we're a distribution brewery. But for the most part, our volume it's about 50/50 actually. So at the two locations, the restaurant locations, we serve about half of our uh production volume over the bar and then the other half goes out the door for distribution. Do you brew in Yorktown?
We do not. It's a tap room and restaurant only. Got you. So everything is done at the Fischer location. That's correct. Wow.
Okay. That's so interesting. Now, as you've been doing this for a decade, have there been young and upand cominging brewers or people in the industry that you've been able to mentor and help them, you know, chase their dream in in the industry? I'm always available, you know, try to I'm on the board uh for the Brewers Guild. Um, you know, I I haven't really had the opportunity to come alongside anyone, but, you know, would definitely be happy to, you know, play that role for sure. I just feel like every brewer that I talk to all have nice things to say about about you, about other people in the industry.
And I think being part of the guild definitely helps that where where it's like, hey, we come together two at least two times a year, right? To those two big every quarter there's a meeting and then annually everybody gets together and it's a and it's an annual meeting and they have the and then they also do the event. It's like the the down like this was just at a victory field this past year, right? The the annual Brewers Summerfest. Summer fest Winterfest, too. Yeah.
And it's like it's kind of uh it's a pretty cool opportunity to bring together all of these seemingly competit competitive people. They're are competitors. They're opening their breweries around. But you can, as a craft beer fan, go one place and try stuff from Goan, stuff from Martinsville, stuff from, you know, south, north, east, west, all over. It's great. Yeah.
I think that's super cool. And that's an awesome event. Two events that the Brewers Guild does. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's good.
And you know, they're fundraisers for the guild to help give back to uh the brewing community. Lobbying um down at the state house is uh you know, part of what that does. So yeah, I mean it's uh well, and there have been some big over the last decade, I think there's been some big leg legislation pushed in to support craft brewers. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, just some change and nuance in the way that uh people are are able to run their business. And you know, it's been good that uh you know, people down at the state house are listening to what we're saying and it's like we're business people.
We're creating jobs, you know, and so we need to be able to operate our businesses in a way that helps us flourish and continue to provide jobs and um you know, contribute to the economic well-being of the communities that we're in. Yeah. It's really interesting when you get in there because Indiana, it just it is what it is. We tend to we're a little bit slower on overthink it a little bit. Yeah. you know, there we go.
Uh, it is interesting when you think about, I say, like beer, alcohol, substance, like the whole nine yards. We're definitely not first movers in any of that stuff. But it has been cool to see, you know, the impact that you guys have been able to have cuz I mean I mean there was a big one about Oh man. Oh, beer on Sundays, like alcohol on Sundays, like that, you know, cuz that was big for filling growlers. I feel like growlers used to be the like sneaky like the hack for a Sunday beer. They uh wrote that into a brewer's license that you could do that and fill a growler on Sunday.
So that was legal for us to do that. But you know once they passed that um you know grocery stores and everybody were able to buy on Sunday. Is there another big piece of legislation that you guys are looking for from the Brewers Guild side? Is there another domino that needs to fall to help you guys continue to thrive? Just around the concept of um you know, co-acking and and contract brewing, you know, people can still have a business, but you know, if they're partnering with someone to help them brew their beer so they can stay in business, um you know, just times are different, right? Um consolidation is going on.
So things like that. Um just modernization of of the way people are looking at this business. This is interesting, too, cuz I see a lot of like upstart beverage companies. Like, I feel like it's never been cooler to start a beverage company than in, you know, the last three or four years. And a lot of that's just they're marketing companies. You know, if you have a good brand, if you can make a good product, but you're not a manufacturing company.
So, we can actually give manufacturers and c-ackers like a good amount of business. 8w's stuff, somebody else's beer that's going to go out on shelves, not in our packaging, not in our marketing. But it's like you can give, you know, a young entrepreneur, let's say, that has like an idea for a for a beer, for a beverage, but doesn't have a million dollars to go out there and, you know, make the whole thing happen. You can start to get those kind of going. Yeah, for sure. And you know, it's it's good for it's good for business for everybody.
And um you know, we just had an upstart come in. I think it was yesterday, actually. I don't know if you've heard of these guys. It's 9:00 a. m. Cocktail.
That guy is everywhere. Yeah, he is. I love it. Okay. With the electrolytes um in it and and whatnot. So, you know, that's a perfect example of of what you're talking about.
I see him. He is all over the place. He's sampling. He's a hustler and he's just You got to be a sales guy. That's what that's that's exactly what this business is all about. He is a recent college grad from IU.
He came into our office and is like, you know, letting us sample the whole thing. We took it up. Uh when I went to the Monan Bell game, Depal first Wabash, I had 9:00 a. m. with me. And I totally respect his commitment to getting this thing off the ground.
Yeah. Like it takes I mean it takes a village, but it also takes just like fortitude to like you bring something from literally nothing. Find how to get it produced, find how to get it on shelves, sample it, and get people to buy it. Yeah, I mean he knew all the lingo, too. I was really impressed. It was great.
You know, they're they're I think both those guys are from Caramel, too. So, it was uh Yeah, it's cool. I mean, and I think there's, you know, opportunity for that. And yeah, it's it's great. It is interesting to see this like down tick slightly in people consuming beverages like it just young kids just don't I guess that's probably the old person in me saying like these young kids don't drink beer. these days.
Back in my day, we were we were just slamming IPAs, having a good time. But it it is interesting to see the dynamic change and where the companies and the breweries and the brands that will endure are the ones that focus on a quality product, are the ones that focus on a quality experience. Like I know one when you walk through the doors of Ford Ray, specifically the one in Fischers, that's where I've been. It's like these huge big wooden doors and like you just feel like you're going into a premium experience where you're going to be it's just going to be a great time with great hospitality. Thank you. And is that like how much of that I I'm sure there will be other restaurant like leaders that listen to this episode.
How do you build a culture like that? How do you build a culture that creates a hospitable environment for a decade? Obviously people eat with their eyes. people, you know, the aesthetics of things are very important, right? For me as a food person, you know, I'm not my own like client really because I could just go to a hole in the wall and I don't really care about the ambiance. As long as the food is really good there and the service is, you know, acceptable, but if the food's really great, I don't care, right?
But that's not how most people are. And I think if if when you walk in, there needs to be like an immediate embrace or or a um like a a feeling of warmth. And I think, you know, when you have some of the finishes that we have in our place, you know, the high ceilings, someone told me once they felt like it was some place out of Chicago. That was, you know, that was cool to hear. But really, it is it's about the people in there. And I think our staff uh is very hospitable and we just we we just have very high standards and um we are really trying to make sure that our service level is impeccable and that's that's really what people enjoy and it may it allows them to have the experience with their friends or family or whoever they're there with.
And it'd be awesome because they're not worrying about, oh well, it took me forever to get this or this was no good or, you know, my server was a jerk or, you know, whatever. And, you know, we've had people come in, you know, I got engaged here. Uh, I was on my first date here. Like, those are really cool stories and you you know, it it's it's cool to hear that feedback because not often times you don't know am I are we doing a great job here? Is it good? But when you hear stuff like that, it's like, oh, okay.
I love it, man. It has been so fun to learn the story. I mean, we are here in the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I would be remissed if we didn't talk a little bit about the impact that the Indy500 has on central Indiana on Indianapolis and even stretching all the way. So, Fisers is probably a 25 30 minute drive from here depending on traffic for you all running a restaurant in Fisers. What impact or uptick do you see from the from race weekend all the way up in Fisers?
Yeah. So, generally we'll see the ahead of the race push. So, people are just in town milling around, kind of doing their thing. And then generally, uh, if the race goes off at the time that it's supposed to, uh, we'll get an after race, you know, people that don't want to go home, they're jazzed up, you know, they want to, you know, keep the day going. And so, we'll get some volume in uh, the place after the race is over or when people are on their way home or back to wherever they're going with the blackout lifted. Then, will you guys show the race in Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, like that. Yeah, we'll have the sound on. Yeah, that has to be really good for local bars and restaurants when they lift the blackout cuz people that maybe they aren't big crowd people or I mean that I am like a die hard. I love it out here. Race day is just like a holiday for me. But like I understand if people have done the race before cuz if you've never done it, you have to do it at least one time and it's like a right of passage.
But like for you, you're probably hoping to sell out, sell out, sell out, lift the blackout so we can get some of that overflow for people that want to, you know, have their maybe they're not tailgate people. They want to have the amazing wings. Again, I cannot hammer home how good these wings are. [laughter] They want to have wings and they want to drink good beer and they want to like then be able to walk, you know, a couple blocks back home and, you know, sleep in their own bed and hang out, chill out, right? Be sitting in traffic for two and a half hours, right? Ah, I love it.
Well, we've come to the part of the show where we ask all Indiana questions. All right, cool. So, this first question is 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 homejart. com.
My question for you, why do you call Indiana home? It's a comfortable place to live. The people are great. Uh there's always a neighbor willing to help you out. Um, you know, when we go visit places, it's uh it's like, okay, this is nice, but it's not home. And I've lived here since 1982 consecutively.
I was born in Peru, Indiana, just north of Cook. Were you part of the circus? I was not. Everyone asked me. I feel like I'm part of a circus sometimes, but [laughter] not that particular one. I've seen it many times.
It's a great uh that's a great experience if you've never done it, but um yeah, Indiana is just the people uh and it's I can't say enough about it. I love that. Okay, I have to know what's your favorite Indy500 tradition. It was back home in Indiana. I I mean that is just like gym neighbor and and uh or is there an S on that? Neighbors.
Yeah. Okay. Got to say it right. And then but so now I live in Westfield and um you know growing up I we didn't go to the race. We generally went to the time trials but um when they do the fly over here the uh the route and the pattern goes right over my house. So, you know, growing up, I would listen to the race on the radio.
We'd be outside doing yard work. So, I'll sit in my driveway, watch the jets and whatever vehicles are coming over that day, and I'll just sit out there, uh, listen to it on the radio, and it's pretty sweet. I love it. Okay, this is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to know about. Could be a park, could be a restaurant, a brewery, could be anything. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
My mom goes to this uh this restaurant. And it's called the Angry Donkey in Michigan Town. Yes. Yes. See, now that is a hidden gem probably. Yes.
But yeah. So I haven't been up there yet. But your mom goes to the Angry Donkey in Michigan town. Yes, she does. Yeah. She lives in Caramel and so she goes up there and eats.
But that that would be that would be my hidden gem. That is a great hidden gem. And along the way you go through like Kirkland where they've done a ton of work there. Michigan Town. Absolutely. It is on my bucket list to go to the Angry Donkey up in Michigan Town and hang out.
There we go. This is where we source new guest ideas or learn about other people in the state of Indiana that are doing cool things or that have ties to the state of Indiana. Who's a hooer we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. I would research like town planners. And I know this is kind of general, but people who are coming into a town like Yorktown and they're they have a vision to help the, you know, the councils that might be in their own way to help them provide that vision and the steps to take to make a downtown area and revitalize a smaller town.
Yeah. Town Planners. Town Planners. Yeah. Town Planners. I don't know if that's the right I can't I don't know.
I don't know if that's the right title, but um like our guy up in Yorktown, his name's Chase, and man, that guy, he's younger. He's got the town. He gets Yeah, I think so. He gets stuff done, right? And he's, you know, everybody's got a vision and then, you know, it's their job to talk to people and get it done. And it's so easy to host a public forum and like pontificate on how great an area would be.
like what if we had you know a million a million you know new residents or whatever it is but like to actually execute and bring a vision to life that takes a lot of gumption. It does. Yeah. And be able to connect all those dots. I mean you really have to be a builder and a planner right because you know you don't have and especially in that kind of situation you don't have an an open deep pocket to get to get that done. Ryan it's been a pleasure to hang out.
It's been a pleasure to one have you support us on our race day festivities. We love love love having 4day Ray at our tailgate. It makes so much many people happy cuz you come in, you're expecting, you know, you're expecting the average general light beer when you come to the Indy500. You know, you're getting the Miller Light carb days or whatever. But when you get to pull out something and it's like, oh, this is Indiana. We're at the Indiana tailgate.
The whole nine yards, it's all coming together. It just makes it even more special. We appreciate you. We appreciate uh everyone that comes out to the 500 because it is truly the greatest spectacle in racing and honestly in my opinion the greatest spectacle in the world. I love it, man. Uh if people want to follow 4day Ray, if they want to go visit one of your locations, how can they do all of that?
Instagram, Facebook, uh 4day uh 4day. com. It's real simple. Wait, I do have to final question for it. Where does 4day Ray come from? Yeah, so we're in the Nickel Plate District.
So the railroad used to exist, but now it's a trail, which is cool cuz we like that. It brings people down. Uh but 4day ray, it's a slang railroad term for a rail employee that habitually calls off work one day a week. I I weekend, baby. Yeah. I was at uh one of my early internships and I like maybe been lolly gagging or something and they my old boss looked at me and said, "I'm going to start calling you 4day Ray."
And I was like, "Wait, what?" And then I had to go home and Google it and I was like, "Oh, that's not a term of endearment. That's not so good." So [laughter] there we go. I love it, man. It was a pleasure hanging out and we'll talk to you soon.
Hey, thanks Nate. Appreciate it. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. [music] 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. [music] If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok, Nate [music] Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hooer State great.
We'll see you next time here on Get
