Who has the Best Pizza in Indiana?

People who I really care about are the people who are putting their life down for this pizza.

Even if you don't live here anymore, but you're still a Hoosier. Like, you just get stuff done.

Wow. This actually could be a really big event. I might have something here.

Where this idea sparked from, why pizza? Why Monument Circle? Why

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. Quick pause in the action. I am joined by Nicole Pence Becker here in the studio cuz her and the PMG team have been working on some pretty cool projects. Nicole, what's been going on?

Well, everything's going on all the time, but let's talk about our Indiana Fever and then by way of Indiana Fever WNBA All-Star game. How cool was that that we had it right here in Indie?

It was insane. I went to the Gamebridge afterparty with Diplo and

I saw your stories. You looked like you had a little too much fun. It was wild.

Hey, but it was worth it because WNBA All-Star game here, PMG got to produce a national commercial that ran during the WNBA All-Star game for our client Lucas Oil. And we brought in our friends and partners, Innovative Editing. And the commercial is so awesome. Like, you got to check it out. It's on my social media. It's all about women running the world. And it was shot right here in Indie, eight different locations. And it was a lot of fun. And local talent right here. There we go.

Yeah. Kind of fun to do a national commercial for the WNBA all start.

Yeah. I mean that's that's a big project. Yeah. Okay. Wait. So we'll put a link in the show notes to the commercial cuz Yeah. We you got to check it out.

Yeah. Lucas Oil is such a great client. So cool.

And were they a partner? Were they a sponsor of the WNBA all sort?

Oh yeah. They had a lot of presence down there. They're just big on anything that's Indiana and especially aligned with women right now. It's It's fun to be a part.

I love that. Amazing. Well, hey, thanks for stopping by and thanks for I mean you got to be the creative venture also, right?

It was a lot of fun. I loved it. I loved it. And that's what's so cool about doing just different things at PMG. Sometimes we're doing PR and sometimes we're doing video production. It always is a lot of fun.

Now, let's get back into the episode. My guest today is Tommy Barrett, the mastermind behind the inaugural Indianapolis Pizza Festival, the ultimate showcase of Indiana's most celebrated pizza joints. Now, Tommy's known online as Starts with a Question. He started his TikTok during the pandemic to spark meaningful conversations, but pivoted towards his true passion, food. Now he's creating delicious experiences while giving back to Indiana local businesses and nonprofits. Today we're going to be learning about who really is at Starts with a Question. What to expect from Indie Pizza Fest 2025 and talk about the ways you're giving back to the community. Tommy, welcome to Get In.

Thank you, Nate. Uh wonderful to be here. Yeah, I've been looking forward to this. I know you have done so much for the city, so much for the state, and I think uh I'm just trying to do a small part like you.

Oh, a and it takes it takes everybody, right? Uh people might remember back when we had Tommy uh do a quick segment with the on the episode we had David Holt on. Oh yeah. Where we did our top three pizzas. We're gonna we might have some you know talk about some shops here that but we won't be ranking pizza the whole time. We're going to be learning about what is coming up. It's just around the corner. The Indianapolis Pizza Festival. But before we talk about the event and what to expect and why we need to go buy tickets right now,

we're going to talk about the man behind this. Uh Tommy, you're a Shitard grad.

I am. you went to Purdue

uh work in sports but like have quickly grown into one of the most known um food creators in the state of Indiana. This started with starts with a question. So talk to me about what got you going from the content perspective like why did you decide to start doing this?

Yeah, for I think so what happened was it was co right like no one was seeing each other no one was talking to each other you know in face to face and I was like I really miss talking to people and I really miss XYZ I want to just do something and ask one question that's it like I don't want to take too much of your time I don't want to sit down here like we are for a whole hour which is great

he's like the opposite of

podcast well and yeah it's like oppo podcast but at the same time like people's attention spans are short that's why clips hit you know whatever so I was like one question, get out. So, starts with a question because my thought is every good conversation starts with a question, right? You asked me a question, now we're having a conversation. Um, so I started getting people that I was familiar with, people who were in sports, like that's my true love. I've always worked in sports since I was 17. So, you know, was like my Matt Painter, um, Alex Rossy Daily, like all these indie car drivers cuz it's indie. Um, you know, PJ Thompson played the

You just like pulling up and like let you ask one question?

No, we would just do Zoom. Oh, that's

that's what CO was, right? So, we we couldn't see each other. So, I was like, hey. And it and it

like how long was the Zoom? Like seven minutes.

Five minutes max. I'd be like, do I cuz and that was the cool thing, too, is I knew I could get people to have a a quick conversation with me because everybody has five minutes free in their day. Literally, I'm not asking for 30. I'm asking for five minutes. So, you know, I would ask them one question. It would just depend too like how phil, you know, philosophical I would want to get, right?

Like I asked some real deep questions to some people or I just asked like some interesting like what is your favorite XYZ? The best part of that experiment was I was doing it with Matt Painter and he was driving and he was like oh I didn't know it was supposed to be on camera. Let me pull off the side of the road into this corn field real quick and asked this question. And I was like that is the most one Indiana thing I've ever heard. two, that is the most like it tells you all you need to know about Matt Painter and how good of a guy he is. And three, that's so funny to me.

So, like that was that was a fun one. And but like it I didn't I didn't get that every time, right? Like I didn't get like the personal touch that I always thought I would. And it may be selfish, but I was like it it's not doing it for me. And

well, and it's hard to like build rapport.

Yeah.

With one good like one even if the question is fire.

Yeah. Well, yeah. And what I've learned, that's why I I choose the medium of podcast is like the gold is going to come at like the 38th or like 42nd minute.

Yeah. Something like that.

You know, cuz like by the time especially depending on what you're talking about, right? Uh, I know you like did uh you had Joey Molinaro on the the show and like he he came on he's an awesome dude and I think it was like 20 30 minutes in it's like we felt comfortable and it was like talking about his journey leading Ball State going back to U Indie and it's like in in one question that can be hard to get sometimes

for sure and I don't think that was that but that that's the thing is I wasn't really looking for like these these like super viral moments I was just trying to connect with people again because people weren't doing that in co and Then it just never hit the way I wanted it to personally. So then I sitting there, I'm talking to my wife and cuz I I didn't do it for like a year and a half.

Oh, so you put stuff out during co then you took a year and a half off and then I was like,

how big did you get during the first like

not not very I mean there's a couple hundred people and I was like it's fine. It's not that was never what it was about. Um and I was talking to my wife. I was like hey like I really think I want to start this back up but I don't want to do that. I want to like follow my passion and that's food because working in sports I travel a lot with work and people would always ask me what's for dinner tonight where are we going you you name a city right now I guarantee I can tell you five restaurants

no way

yeah it's just like

Southbend Indiana

I never been I'm just kidding that's that's not a real city right

uh oh come on

I hate Notre Dame

that's fair okay that's that's fair

but I they got Terrronis up there right the pizza place no

I actually we needed Barnaby Dude, Barnabies.

I wanted to try Barnabies.

You You need to do You maybe need to do a visit and then drop uh recommendations when people come in for Zack Ryan.

Yeah. Okay.

And Shane Gillis.

I'm going I'm going to the Purdue Notre Dame game. Um so maybe I'll try Barnabies when I get up there.

Barnabies is is pretty solid. And we we talked about it last time, but Ventur's is like 25 minutes down the road. It's good stuff. And and I'll tell you right now, like the the the transition is it it you I think you could tell like the way I come across on a camera that what I'm doing I really care about.

Yeah.

I'm not doing it for clicks. I'm not doing it for money. I'm not like I just really want to help people's businesses. And I think the biggest thing is like when someone hits me up after I go somewhere and it really like went popular and they're like, "Oh my god, like there's lines. There's there's so many long lines.

Isn't that sick?" And it's unreal to me because like I just like that's all I want to do is just help those people.

Tommy and I have a crazy story and we're gonna go through this.

We went to Chin Brothers. Yeah. On the south side. It just wasn't for me. Like I just didn't like any of the food. Respectfully, sorry, Mr. Chin, if you're listening to this.

Um but we got all the way through and I was like, "Dude, I don't know how I'm going to make a video." Like I it just like the texture, the flavor, it just like did not hit my palette right. I liked it. But then the owner comes over,

sees that we're recording, has no idea how many that we have followers or anything, and just like shows us how to drink this tea and like takes us through this private, not even private, like this.

Yeah. Just went through the store, the Burmy. He told about the Burmese culture. And he's like, and he's like, "You see that Tesla truck out there? You want to drive it?" And I was like, "Yeah." He just let two random guys, one he gave us a private tour of his uh like the store and he goes, "You want to drive my Cyber Truck?"

And I'm like, "Dude, how can we put out a video?" So like I think the video we end up putting out was like

the food is interesting. Like you got to be prepared for that. But the people are amazing. They were so good.

And I think too like it's important to know like the Burmese culture in the south side of Indianapolis is massive.

It's the single I believe the largest population of Burmese individuals outside of

I had no idea what that was. Right. Until you like and that's and that's the other thing too about doing this like you think on a random whatever day we went we're just going to do that. No like it it it allows me to learn more about the state and the city and where I live and I think that's so important.

Um amazing. So I do want to talk through you restart as starts with a question. Questions come in and you're answering them more like like what's the best like obviously on August 9th we're going to find out what's the best pizza

or is I mean where do you get the questions that you start with? I would love to tell you I have this whole detail plan, this office, these whiteboards, these, you know, just like you. I don't. I wake up in the morning. I go, "Wow, what sounds good to eat today?" "Oh, a burger. Cool. Oh, I know this burger spot I haven't been to before. Let's go see if it's the best burger in Indiana." You do it. And if it's good, then you know it's a good burger. If it's not a good burger, then I'm not going back there properly.

Is that bar hard? Like if you have something if it's good that

if you have something that's not good. No, it's bake better food. And that's why I think like I'm so

Has anyone ever like said I want to pay you to come in here and then you didn't enjoy the experience

100%. And I said I don't like it.

And what you and I need I need to set this straight too. I don't get paid from these videos.

No, no one has ever paid you.

You have to wait. I wasn't done yet.

Okay. All right. All right. The only way I will take a check is if you personally your if your business reaches out to me and you know that me coming to your spot is going to potentially help your business, right? That means you're paying for basically an ad or a marketing. And there's people that do that. No problem. But for me, that's not why I do it. I don't do it to to say guarantee that everyone's going to walk in there. If you pay me and I don't like the I'm going to tell you that like and that sucks. Like I'm so legit. Like,

bro, imagine right

I can tell you one time off top of my head that maybe the food was okay and I was like, h it's it's decent, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's good cuz I can't do that to myself. Like, I I I don't take

Do they say I want my money back?

No, you know that. And I tell them, hey, if you're paying me, just know I will still tell you your food is bad. The only time that's fair.

And I'll tell you this, too. The only time, this has happened one time where I'm like, "Wow, this is probably good food, but it really wasn't." And they're a national brand, so they don't care about me. It's Buffalo Wild Wings.

Oh,

you can go.

You could go right now and look at my page. Like, they're like, "We'll pay you $400 or whatever for a TikTok." I was like,

"Okay, haven't been to Buffalo Wild Wings God knows long." Probably back when I lived in Connecticut because there was nothing good out there besides JT's Tavern. Shout out JTS. I go to Illinois. So, I go to Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm like, "Hey, is this the best $20 you could ever spend? It's unlimited wings, blah blah blah." I'm eating the wings. they suck. But like, but the sauce is decent. So, I'm eating it and I'm like, "All right." And I keep eating. And then I had the blazing wing and I was like, "All right, I'm done." Like, is it the best? Probably not. But that's like the one time. But everybody knows that's like a national change.

And you're getting your bag.

Yeah. Sometimes you had to like I had to, you know, I'm flying. I got to pay for some things.

Yeah. Like, you know, but like At the end of the day, that's not why I do it.

If you don't get that though, if you don't like look at that and see like, yeah, he's just like,

yeah, you could you could 100% tell.

We got to we got to But for 20 bucks,

we'll say like what are you expecting for all you can eat wings for 20 bucks?

Exactly. So, like

if you're looking for KSR wings or whatever for 20 bucks, like you're sadly mistaken.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, like that's I had to I had to come out and say that like everyone's

like we didn't know.

Everyone always knows, right? Like, but like you if you go to a regular video I post, you shouldn't be able you there's never a moment where you should be like, "Wow, that guy's getting paid for this." Cuz it's not what I do.

Also, also I will say I know you're you're very adamant on the you know, you don't do this because you want to get make money, which is I respect. It's cool. Like you also have a job where you work in sports and like all this stuff. Um, as someone who does this full-time, like I think people just got to like understand that like I have staff to pay. Like

Yeah. And there's ads, right? It's an ad. It's just a different way of an ad, right? Like back in the day, people used to put out a print ad on a newspaper or they'd put something online like in the early days like, you know, on Google or they'd pay for a commercial. Now, instead of paying for a commercial, you're paying a creator who is, you know, has direct um influence to their

and what I say is like not everything like there are so many things on my grid that I just make because I want to make and I have fun doing it. And even the ads or like the sponsored paid posts, we try to make them entertaining too. Like something you'd actually one, it's

I always said like I have multi- multi ideal partners so that like it's not just like everything's for sale. Like you could just come and pay me a,000 bucks and I'd make a video about anything. It's like no, like commit to this. Be part of our newsletter. Be part of our podcast. Like come be an actual partner and I'll hype you up because you're hyping me up and it's like

and I'll like get to experience and like enjoy it. The thing too is like if you deserve it, then you deserve it, right? Like there's so and that's why I love doing what I'm doing is because like there's so many spots that don't get the recognition and don't have the money to go pay a Nate Spangle to go pay XYZ, right? Like they don't have that. And that's where I hope to come in is like I'll go pay for the food, give you a tip, I'll walk in. If you have good food, people are going to know it right away, right? Like there there's that pizza spot up in up in Novasville. They just before they opened, somebody hit me up like, "Hey, you got to go try this pizza." And I was like, "Oh, it's decently close to my house. I'll go drive over there. No problem." I eat it and I was like, "Oh my god, this pizza is amazing."

Is this the Brooklyn Char?

Yeah. And it goes crazy on Instagram and and and they're selling out of pizza and every time they open up for the first couple weeks and it's like

that's sick.

And that made me feel so good. I

like imagine the business value you gave to them.

But I didn't care. But like that that's the only thing I cared about. And I and I have never ever said, "Hey, you owe me this." Never in my life would I ever do that. But there's people in the world that these influencers, they're like crazy deals.

But like if So if if you reach out to me personally, of course I'm going to have to take some money because you now you're seeing me as an opportunity to get

Yeah. Like you're trying to capitalize off of of what you've built.

But like Yeah. I think that's the key too that like people need to realize if we kind of unveil the curtain. It's like sometimes the sponsor deals are cool cuz like they're reaching out or like maybe you're negotiating this that the other thing, but it also helps fund the like authentic real stuff.

Like if you look through your favorite creators, every post should not be one that's for sale. It should not have the paid

paid partner, whatever. Like

every third one, every second, like you know, every every couple's going to have that.

But for the majority of it, like you want to see the authentic real stuff. Like there are so many small towns in Indiana. Like you look at any town under 5,000, there's no chance they're paying me to come do that. I just do it cuz I'm really interested in small towns%. That's why I do it.

And it's like if we pull up in, you know, you find the pizza spot or you find the small town dive bar or what the best tenderloin and like

a lot of times those are at hole-in-the-wall places that may have like their menu on a Facebook page and like no website.

Well, I could tell you all the pizza spots that I was trying to reach out to is like fa through Facebook. Yeah, it's it's pretty fun. When you were kind of relaunching the starts with a question piece

specifically focused on food, like what was the first video that like really got some traction and like people started to be like, "Oh, this is sick."

I think I went to Hot Boys. Um Aaron and I met Aaron and I and I literally walked down. I' never been in and he was standing up in the north the north one. He was just standing behind it and I was like, "What is this place?" Like I've never been, but I heard about it. I'm gonna go up there. And I said, "Okay, I like hot food. Like, I'll get the hot

the hot hot."

No, not the hot hot. That just the normal. I did that. That we should and we need we need to go do that again. Like personally, like you and I see how long we can last

the challenge.

But I was like, "All right, I'll go." I said, "I'll do a chicken sandwich hot." And he's like, "Whoa, sure." And I was like, "It's no way it's hot." Get in the car, eat it, and I'm like, "Oh my god."

I think that's the first video I saw of you actually.

This this John is hot. like and cuz it was like

yeah it's it's

oh and it sneaked it sneaked up on me so it it does decent right but like decent back then was like 30,000 views which was I was stoked I was like wow what I'm doing maybe could be beneficial to these people

and like imagine if if three new people 30,000 that's like a fraction of 1% if three new people go in and try hot boys cuz once you try hot boys you're like

it flips you over like Davees or any like that

yeah it's so much better than every other one And the way I view things too about, you know, I know we've been talking about like viewership and and followers and and how to monetize and things like that, which is great. The way I look at it, so I working in sports, right, I go to a lot of arenas that are packed all the time, right? We'll go to Gamebridge, you know, and watch a Pacer game. We'll go to Colts and watch Lucas Oil. 68,000 people fit in Lucas Oil. 68,000 people. If you do a video right now and 68,000 people watch, are you excited? Are you like, "Ah, it's pretty decent

at this point." It's like, it's it's decent,

right? But take that

Yeah.

and flip it and imagine you standing in the middle of Lucas Oil and 68,000 people are in those stands,

bro. And I'm like in the center like this is hidden gem.

And you're like, "Oh my gosh, this is so many people."

Yeah.

I did that and did a video with 500,000 people. Like 500,000 people is so many people. I always have to bring it back to that.

Dude, I always say that about podcasting cuz like clips like or just like shorts. It's like it's 90 seconds of people's time. Like I'm not going to say it's nothing of this is easy, but like to get a viral reel, especially if you're like, you know, a shorter one, like you can do it. Like if you have some experience and you've done it, like a lot of people go out there and like find something to go viral.

I always say this to like people who want to start a podcast. It's like imagine I put out three episodes a week.

I like imagine if a thousand people got together three times a week to listen to me profess

Yeah.

whatever about Indiana for an hour or like if 5,000 people listened once a month to me talk for an hour. Like that's crazy.

It's crazy. So that that that's that's the perspective. That's the perspective I always keep and I don't ever care. Like people be like, "Oh my gosh, like you have so many." Cool. Great. Thank you. I hope I help that business.

Well, and and it's like you don't get to do the cool stuff you're up to now. Like you couldn't, not that you couldn't. It would be way harder to host a pizza festival. I'm with you

with if you were just like a random guy

with 100 followers

or with no like Yeah. if you weren't like a creator like people because once you start to create and like build this brand and like I similar to what we've done with the 500 like how do I get these brands to like commit to host being part of this tailgate

is because through like creating and doing all this stuff we've like gotten a track record for like oh they're driven they're going to get stuff done they're going to help our community people are going to see it

and that's what I said too I said Tommy you have to be consistent when you start this food you have to go for a whole year not do anything else you have to just talk about food because you have to build credibility And I would love to transition and doing this what we're doing right now. Sit with an athlete, talk about food, and go to a restaurant and do that for like a full 30inut video. That'd be awesome down the road. 100% would love it.

But like I had to build credibility. No way. No way Tyrese Hallebertton's going to come sit down with me at St. Elmo's and talk about steak if I'm just a random guy. But like if I if people know I actually know what I'm talking about 100%. And that's how it's always been in my life. I know what I'm talking about. But people may not have known that.

Yeah. When you It's your job to show that you're consistent, especially as things go on, right? Like down the road if you want to have better conversation, it takes more budget to build cooler videos and like do the all the things. And so you need sponsors and stuff like that to like make it all happen. But if you're just like a viral like blip in the pan like guy who sits in his car and like reviews nachos, it's like, you know, like you got to build the credibility.

Yeah, I'm with you. So that's kind of how that's kind of how the transition happened and it was awesome. I've loved it.

Is there a spot that's been like the most memorable?

Like obviously we we did talk about Chin Brothers. Like that one is just like a memory for me. Like a random Burmese restaurant south of Indianapolis. Like I'll never forget that day.

Uh there's a spot called Elsa Karacho. It's like in the random spot. It's actually by where I grew up. It's off of Pendleton Pike.

I was off 50th Street and I had never heard about it. So this all started when I was doing the 38 essential restaurants according to Eater. Do I agree with them?

Sure. What a couple. I'll keep it. I'll keep it. Yeah,

we'll be nice.

I don't agree. Actually, I I don't care. You know what? I don't care. There's a lot of the restaurants on that list I do not agree with.

You know, the secret like is an avid listener of Get It.

I've tried to reach out to Eater so many times and say, "Hey, this is what I want to do for the city of Indianapolis." Like, I love Eater. Like I

that is the that's that's the secret sauce. Like when you travel to a different city that you've never been to, eater.com and you'll go to their essential restaurant list and you'll go check it out. They talk about James Beard award-winning chefs. They talk about all these different spots. Like Eater is my one of my favorite publications for food. I love I read it all the time. So that's why I was so mad

that

that's why I was so mad when the list was like why didn't you call me to at least like consult? There's so many spots. Of course you're going to go to Elmo's and Prime and all these different places, but there's so many other spots.

But that's why I say this one's memorable because I never heard about this place ever in my entire life. Elsor Karachio. I walk in and it is like a Venezuelan spot and you walk and I got this fried chicken and it was so good. And I left there and that was my first big video probably that popped off on TikTok with like 300,000 apparently. I was getting a bunch of DMs and people were like, "Hey, try to go. Lion was out the door and every time someone would walk up to the counter, they would say, "Oh, you want the the meal from the from the video. You're here from the video. You're here from the video." And I was like, "Oh, dang. That's pretty cool." But like I was just so happy I helped them.

That's a really cool one. That's memorable. Anytime you could like We got a call from that this video we put out. It was

when we were at the movie premiere with the of the duel.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And uh and the one of the producers, Zach, said Morango Tavern down in Moringo, Indiana by Morango Cave. The

cave. And the owner of the tavern calls Zack Spicer, the producer of this movie, says, "Art to go orders have been ringing off the hook. Like people are coming in left and right." Like, "Thank you guys for making this video." And like

he called me then and told me this and I was like, "Let's freaking go."

It's sick. It's the best feeling. Like it it just it it makes me happy and that's all I care about,

dude. Amen. And you're making an impact. I do want to talk about how making these videos,

you've transitioned into hosting the Indianapolis Pizza Festival

and how this idea came together and like a lot of times I think people have great ideas like we should host a pizza, we should host a concert, we should make a con, we should start a podcast, but they don't actually do it.

What got you from content creator to event host?

It's not just that. It's event coordinator, event director, event uh sponsor getter. It's event like

event sponsored.

People always they'll email me, hey pizza festival team. And I'll look to my left and I'll look to my right and I'll say, yep, the team is super excited. It's me. So like that's been the hardest part is cuz I really want things done a certain way. Yeah.

And everything has just like been through me.

He's he doesn't have a will or a Robert. Shout out to the boys.

I got no boys that are sitting there with me. I got, you know, some people that are helping with the city and things, but at the end of the day, like the biggest thing is, I think you ask is is transitioning is I have had a background in working in events for the last seven years, right, in sports and I've learned different things and I've seen different things that are successful. I've seen things that aren't successful. So, like I understand it. So, from that point of view, I knew who to contact and I knew who to talk to to put on an event. But, yeah, I was flying blind. Well, a lot of people can like get the permits and do this, that, and the other thing.

You can pay your money and do whatever,

but like to host a good event,

100%.

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Does it get better than that? And you know what's awesome? It's right near all the action, close to the Fischer Event Center, IKEA, and Topgolf. So, no matter what your day is looking like, a stop at the HC Tavern and Kitchen just makes sense. The vibe is super welcoming with a touch of class. Perfect for any occasion.

Whether you're out with friends or making it a date night. So, whether you're in the area looking for a fun night out or looking for a place to grab a bite after shopping, swing by the HC Tavern and Kitchen, you'll see what I'm talking about. Good vibes, amazing food, and amazing hospitality. Now, let's get back into it. Let's talk about like where this idea sparked from and why pizza, why Monument Circle, why?

So, Passion Project, I think, is what people throw around in Hollywood, right, about movies and stuff. This is a 100% passion project. I love pizza. I always have. It's been like my favorite thing. I will fly to New York for a weekend just to eat pizza.

I swear to God, I will. Like, that is something I've I've done in my life before. I used to live on the East Coast and that's all I would do is just eat pizza in New Haven and and the city and in all different places. So, I always thought pizza was my favorite food. And people don't like Indiana pizza, but and I was always that way, too. I was like, "Ah, we, you know, we really And but you have to leave your house and try these different mom and pops in these boutique spots."

That's not Papa John's, you know, Little Caesars, Jets. Like, no, no offense to them. They're making a bunch of money, but like there's no passion when they're making pizza, right? Like, people are clocking in, clocking out. And then

the only

the people who I really care about are the people who are putting their life down for this pizza.

I will say the Papa John's Tik Tocker.

Oh, I try to get him. I've emailed him three times. Do Joe. Like what are we doing?

Is his name Joe?

Yeah. Do Joe. Come to the Indianapolis Pizza Festival. That is my question, my ask. Like come I would love to have you spend some pizzas.

Cuz you're talking about um he's so funny.

Yeah. And like people who have passion in it like I don't know if necessarily like Papa John like the brand is like

but that I guarantee people are like oh my gosh that's so cool order Papa John.

Like that guy loved it and now they're like putting him on stuff too which is pretty sick.

So like that's why I started with pizza is because that's my passion and I want to highlight these these small mom and pop pizza spots really and the city of Indianapolis in the state of Indiana because we actually do have good pizza. like legitimately we have good pizza and I feel like people didn't realize that and everybody loves pizza so it was like a really good idea for me and Monument Circle came about because I knew if I wanted to do an Indianapolis pizza festival there's nothing more Indianapolis than the circle I think so I reached out I was like hey this is my idea and they loved it from the jump I I approached some other cities um originally

whoa

yeah that's that's that's that's off no one's I I haven't really told anybody that before

well I mean this is where we we talk like Like you have to keep your options open if you were exploring other options.

The problem was when I talked to these other cities I mean you you can put your your thoughts together. It was going to they told me they thought it would be too big and I was like whoa you hearing that helped me think in my head wow this actually could be a really big event. At first I was like ah thousand people would be great. Couple pizza slices call it a day. And then I was like, "Wait a second. I might I might have something here."

That's really cool. And I think a lot of times so many great things start with a question.

Starts with a question and dreaming big. And that's super cliche. And I'm telling listeners that's a little cliche. Super cliche.

But like when we had the idea, the first thing that got me to quit my job and do this, we said, "What if we were the first truck in the infield of the Indy500?"

Sick.

And what if we tailgated? And like we got people to like sponsor our tailgate so we could give stuff out. Yeah.

And by thinking like that's kind of crazy and people like look at you funny. But you just go to people and say like we have this value. We could do this content. We And like we made it happen.

You know what's even crazier Nate is I said the winner of this festival who was voted I'll hand them a $5,000 check. You know how much money I had at that time? Zero dollars for the festival. I was I I had no money into this festival. Right. No. Like when I went to the city, I didn't know like I didn't know how I was paying for it. I had zero sponsors lined up. Zero zero tickets sold. So I'm like, "All right, I'm in the hole there. All right, I'm in the hole there."

Like you had I had to go out and just make it happen because I I knew that whoever was going to win this festival deserve that money. Yeah.

And deserve whatever they can. And I want to donate to char. Like there's all these different things. And then as things came along and the sponsors kind of came along and the tickets started selling, like that's when I knew, all right, this is going to be a good thing for the

Oh, dude. I absolutely. When we had the idea this year, well, one, I think when you're willing to put stuff on the line, people can sense your conviction. People can see through the

Yeah.

Pardon pardon where this is going to be an explicit episode. Apologies. No, I love it. But people can see through it. But like when like similar, we did the wheel this past 500 and I was like I was like, I'm going to I'm going to DM. I'm going to give some We didn't have it all lined. I knew we could do it and it was like here's the thing we didn't have to do it. All the brands would have paid us to be a part of it anyway,

but I was like let's pull new people in and do this whole thing. Like I can give up two grand like whatever. And then the dude hits it on the third spin and I and Venmoing his wife two grand right there.

I walked up and I was like what happened buddy?

Dude, it was bad. Yeah. Like, but 2,600 bucks for like like there's no question when you talk about giving out five grand or doing whatever like there's no question that that was the most interesting tailgate at the Indy500.

100%. That was a dope spot.

It was so interesting, right? They're like, "What the heck?"

Who's this dude that's giving out 26? Like, it gets people talking and thinking,

I made sure to pull up, but I had to pull up. Like, I had to. It was out of the way, but I still had to go.

Hey, you got to go. Well, talk to me about like attracting pizza. You can get people excited about coming to an event, but it's not an event unless you have the good pizza. Yeah. And you're giving out five grand. How did you get the brands on board?

I think letting them know, hey,

you're not going to have to pay to be here. That was huge. So, you're you're you're not paying a fee to get

because they usually have to pay something.

Oh, you go to Zubilation, you go to Rev, you go to XYZ, like you are going to pay to promote your brand. I'm telling them, I want to help you promote in at lowest cost as possible. Like I don't want you to have to put in any extra work that you feel that is going to put you out for a day. I don't want you to be like, "Oh, I can't come on a Saturday afternoon because I'm going to lose a bunch of money." Like, no. I want you to have the exposure and make you feel like, "Hey, this is this is really good for my business because thousands of people are going to try my pizza that may have not." And for me not to take a vendor fee, it's it's a re it really is all about you. And it is about donation to charity. It it's never about like the person behind it. It's about like the people that are there in the city we're in.

And if you win, you get five grand.

Yeah. I mean, you're going to be up top no matter what.

And honestly, like the the content of winning it is worth way more than five grand.

I think so. I hope so.

It is. It is 100%. So, cuz we'll talk about it here and Wish TV will talk about it, whoever. And it's like just just put the best product out there and you'll win. How? But that's kind of the ethos of everything I do, right? Like

if you have good stuff, people are going to find it. you make a good burger, I go there or you go there or whoever goes there and people start talking about it, then you're validated, right? Like if you have good stuff, people are going to find it and people are going to go. Why do you think Elmo is so popular? It's not like they're serving bad shrimp cocktail.

Yeah.

It's good. There's a reason why you're successful. And it's not because of all the things that are happening bad. It's because if you put out a good product, people are going to buy it.

Yeah. It's not like you just like say, "Oh, yeah. We're going to be an expensive steakhouse and now people are going to come." Exactly. You see a lot of a lot of those going out of business here left and right. You don't see them on I think what St. was just like on a couple months ago to the Today Show like the the cold opening of the Today Show. They're like

uh when we beat the Knicks and it was like get that shrimp cocktail ready at St. Yeah. Chuck's like let's go. Like people like recognize the city for that because it's good and shout out Greg. Shout out to everybody over there. The bar like everything about it. But like if you don't have a good product, you're not going to be have a good business anyway. So that's what the whole process of this festival is, is hopefully showcasing people that have good pizza that people don't really know about, right? These small spots, these pizza trucks that are traveling and busting their ass every single week for different places to just to try to showcase themsel.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's what it's about.

I love that. Talk to me about uh what we can expect at the pizza fest.

Yeah, you can expect fun. I think fun pizza, good vibes, fun um for family, but I think too like we'll have some live entertainment. Jay Baker is gonna come uh perform for for a couple hours, which will be awesome. We got celebrities flying in from New York that's going to teach people how to make some pizza. His name is Frank Panel. Uh if you look up the pizza show um on Vice, he is

the guy.

The guy he started it. Uh he's got a passion for pizza just like me. he wants to showcase pizza and you know it's it's it's people who have like minds and just different judges and things like that. You'll meet some people um and then try some different um pizzas that you probably never had before

and then just you know have a have a fun day in the city I think is important. But yeah, there's like 40 there's probably going to be about 40 spots.

Can you take us through some of the the more interesting ones? Yeah.

Well, I guess like what are the the iconic brands that will be there and what are the more like niche boutique brands that'll be there?

Yeah, for sure. So like Futuro will be there, Kingdo should be there, um Greeks will be there. Um so those are kind of like some big names like off the top of the head um that will be there who people probably already recognize, right? But there's like Pi Indie, there's like Solo Pizza, there's a guy from West Lafayette that is coming down and making pizza from his bike.

What?

Yeah, bro. It's crazy.

His bike?

Yeah. Typical new pizza lab. So like there's there's some like like that kind of stuff is interesting. I made it just spoiled the surprise, but like that'll be really cool.

New pizza lab.

Yeah, that's the guy.

What?

Like CJ's, like Papa's Italian, like all these different spots that people may have not have heard of. And I'm so excited that these places reached out um and said, "Hey, I want to be a part of it. I'm not having Domino's and Papa John's and Pizza Hut."

Did any of those reach out?

They did.

No, they didn't.

I told them no.

No way. Domino's?

I told And look, I told them straight up. Um, and the you can pull up they you can the people who I talk to, the people who own the spots around here, they can pull up the screenshots of my emails. It's I'm not lying to you. I told them, you can come, you're going to pay a vendor fee. You're going to pay a sponsorship fee. You can you can buy a sponsorship and hand out free pizza. And word for word, this is what I said to him on the phone. I will not stand on the stage of the Indianapolis Pizza Festival and tell people Domino's has the best pizza in Indiana. So, there's no point for you to come.

What they say?

What? Oh, they're pissed. But like what credibility do I have?

Yeah.

If I sit there and say Papa John's and Pizza Hut are the best, too. No way. That's not who this festival's for.

There's no chance. I don't care if I get backlash for that. Like, doesn't matter to me. Like, what matters to me is showcasing people who don't have the opportunity to, who don't have a marketing budget, who make good pizza. Like, there's a spot I've tried to call 500 time, Amos Pizza in Amo, Indiana.

I want them to come so bad to this festival. Nothing. Why? cuz they are like

they I I don't know why though.

Why do you want them so bad?

But they are like the quintessential reason I'm doing this festival.

Uh this is okay. This is out by Green Castle.

I guarantee you they're it's like as big as the building we stand.

Ammo Pizza and General

that like that's

this is what we need.

That's like the reason.

Oh, look at that freaking

I I know. I'm the one that told you about it.

People at home ammo pizza in general store

like they're getting the shout out right now. Hopefully people go. But like at this at the end of the day,

but how did you find out about them?

I'm the pizza guy in Indiana. I know everything.

The only one I didn't know is the one you told me about that we called

Bridges. Come on. The question is, how big is Amo, Indiana? And the answer

small town. This is

48.

Yeah, bro. That's That's your vibe.

All right, here we go. We got a small town breakdown. Today we are in Amo, Indiana, Hendrickx County. We're talking about Amo Pizza and General Store. This place looks electric. And when they see this clip, because we're gonna put on Facebook, they have a Facebook. I'll tag them on it. Ammo Pizza and General Store. We need you at the Indianapolis Pizza Festival. How would you Have you been out there and had the pizza?

If I find out you go.

Yeah.

Without me?

Yeah.

We're done. No more friends. Lose my number. No, I haven't been. I need to go.

But you just uncovered this.

Yeah. Yeah.

Dude, we need we need you. come sample your pizza, please.

Uh, we might have to make another cold call.

I call them. I've called them three times.

No, no response.

They call and they pick up and I say, "Hey, I really want you to the festival."

And what they say?

They're like, "Ah, I don't even know what they say." Like, I just It's just like It hasn't been a yes.

You don't know what they said?

It hasn't been a yes.

It hasn't been a yes. So, it's like, "Let's go pull up."

Bet.

We'll bring the crew and we'll say, "Hey, we need you at the pizza fest."

What if they ended up winning? That'd be pretty sick. How are you picking the winner?

Everybody gets to decide. So, there will be a QR code at each station. There will be a QR code on the on the sign. Um, and like if you buy a ticket, your vote matters the same amount as mine. So, you'll go vote on the on the form and you'll pick it.

That's pretty fun. That's like That's pretty legit.

It's a democracy.

It would be interesting, too. Are there other awards or is just one award?

One award.

One award. Because sometimes they have the like um who can raise the most money, you know, like some like about like votes like that or like

people's choice or something like that.

No, it's definitely a people's choice. It's a voted on award. It's kind of like the MVP in the NBA. Like it's like it may not be like it may not be the best, but like that's what people like the best.

Yeah, that's fair. I like that. And in QR code, is it going to be like live updating?

Oh, yeah. You'll see it

like live as I I'll be telling people

like, "Hey, right now this is in the lead."

Yeah. You can't vote more than once. So once you vote once

Okay. Okay. I like it from other like boutique spots that are going to be there. Do we have any other ones that are like like let's say not from Indian? It is the Indianapolis Pizza Festival, but are there other spots from like around the reaches?

Um, also people need to know, fun fact, that uh Tommy was once the chili cookoff champion.

I was

for what organization?

Uh, it wasn't an organization. This guy called me and said, "Hey, I'm doing a chili cookoff." I said,

this random dude?

No, I knew the guy.

One of your homies?

Yeah. And I was like, are you sure you want me to come? And he's like, what are you talking about? I was like, I'm going to win. I I know my PE I know my chili's good and we ended up winning. Uh shout out. Um so I took off my belt. That's my big guy.

Oh, so it was like a legit chili cook.

Oh yeah, it was legit.

That's pretty.

Um all right, we're just going to rattle off the list here.

Yeah. Yeah.

Fire pizza rushville. Uh Codery Pizza, uh Bella Pizza, Mr. Papa's Pizza Burrow, Black Sheep, Bobs to Your Door, A Zip, CJ's Pizza, The Berkeley Pizza Company, Magus, Burns Grilled Pizza, Shindig, Brooklyn, Pizza Uncommon, Big Woods, Nino's, Blaze Brew Pub, Pizza X, Pizza Extreme, Solo Pizza, Greeks Pizza, Wooden Peel, Cluster Truck.

Wooden Peel.

Yeah, Wooden Peel. That's That's a pull. That's a pull.

That's a That's the back. Oh my god.

Cluster Truck, uh, Indie Fresh Catering, and then Typic Pizza Lab. That's who's locked. lock locked locked in like we're filming this in when June or whatever. Um I'm hoping for eight more.

No, we're filming this right before

Oh, yeah. Whatever. I don't care.

No, you got the wooden peel coming. Thanks.

All right. So, if the

I'm waiting on Oh, go ahead.

I got I got to hit a clip right here, dude. If the wooden peel is coming to the Indianapolis Festival, Bourbon Street Pizza, Tim, we need you at the festival. We need everyone there, but we need That was my one of my first jobs. Yeah.

One of my first jobs was at Bourbon Street Pizza, and I swore up and down to everyone. This because I'm a I'm a Homer. I'm a Triton guy. That bourbon bourbon street pizza was better than the wooden peel,

but the wooden peel is now all over it. They made t-shirts. Like there may or may not be an alligator in the basement of the wooden peel. Oh.

Yeah, dude. There's this whole thing about it. Like

if you know, you know. They literally made shirts. I posted a video about this. They made shirts that said if you know, you know, and it's an alligator eating a slice of pizza.

Oh my gosh. They're sick.

I will be

waiting on like pizza, King D. Um, you know, Bazbos.

Yeah. All those type of spots.

What are they saying?

They're They're going to be in. They just got to fill out the form. That's all just like the people who have legit filled out the form.

That's lit. Give us the details on the pizza fest. Like what what day? What time?

Yeah. August 9th downtown Monument Circle 12 to 6:00. You there will be a big entrance sign. You can't miss it. We close down Monument Circle. Uh Spark's going to be there. So you can have, you know, go grab your pizza, sit down over in Spark, enjoy that, too, for the circle. Sparky and we'll start serving beer, wine, pizza. It'll be great. It'll be a great

How hard was the process of getting Monument Circle Reserved?

Yeah, it wasn't easy. Um I just think, you know, they had to believe in this in in what they're doing. They're not going to just throw out anything um just cuz they don't want they don't, you know, it's not about the money, but like I think it's I think it's important to them.

Who do you go through like this?

Downtown Indie.

Downtown Indie.

Yeah, downtown Indie.

That they're sick.

They're good people.

Was it uh CP?

No, I talked to Michael Burke.

Michael Burke. Okay.

Good dude. Dope. I love that, dude. As we kind of wrap up here, we obviously have our lightning round questions we want to ask. Something that people need to know that I'm I'm interested in hearing the the reason Tommy only follows three accounts on Instagram.

Interesting take here. What's the What's the thought process? No one else No one other places in Indiana.

Are you talking about on my starts with a question page?

Yeah.

Uh

like I mean I don't know. You look at your friends.

Let me think about

or who you think are your friends. and all of a sudden they don't follow you on Instagram and I'm like

I follow I follow you on my personal page.

I follow you on my personal page.

What What made you want to do that?

I don't even I didn't even think about it like that. Let me think who I follow. I follow Jimco. Shout out.

You literally follow

Jimco. Do I follow myself?

You follow yourself?

Pizza. Shout out. That's you know um I don't know. I just I'm I don't scroll much on that page. I really just post on the page so I'm not like scrolling on the page. So like don't be upset if the indie or start.

Dude, I feel so bad sometimes. Like I have noticed it like it says like follow back and like I did like I don't like it's not about like you. It's just like I think if you can highlight like at that point, right? It's like it's a it's a starter, right? Like if you go to my page and you're like, "Wow, he follows three people." Hopefully that helps Jimco. Hopefully Jimco becomes a bigger brand because of it. And hopefully you follow the Indianapolis pizza.

What got Jimco pumped about being involved with the pizza festival? They are great friends, great brand. They're a great company and um

what do they do?

They're an HVAC company that, you know, service a lot of big buildings.

Commercial or

Yeah. a lot of big commercial buildings and stuff like that. Big Purdue people. Um you know, they're the sponsor of the Matt Painter Show. Like a lot of different things. So, you know, they're great great people.

And it's like for them if they get one commercial HVAC client for sure, right? Like and

or if they go Yeah. they go and say, you know, they're the they're the pizza festival and someone's HVAC shuts down at one of the pizza spots and they're like, "Oh my gosh, I recognize that name."

Yeah. And like a piece of that too that I've learned is a lot of times people in Indiana like the the Indianapolis will be better if the pizza festival is a hit. I think so.

When the pizza festival is a hit, I think so.

And so like a lot of people believe that. They're like, "Oh, you know, if we host cool things at the pizza festival and this can come to life, then we're going to get, you know, more people are going to move here and then there'll be more opportunities and like people just bought into the community around here, which I I freaking love."

Yeah, for sure.

Um,

yeah, get in. That's like the whole That's the whole stick, buddy. Okay, we've come to the lightning round. This is where we're rounding out the show. First question for you, the age-old question from for the pizza man himself. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no?

I don't think it's that big of a deal like people talk about. Okay. I like it. I think it's good. I'm here for it.

What do you think the topping is that everybody loves on their pizza that I think is just terrible?

Dude,

there's two.

You're not about to say pepperoni.

No, of course.

Then then Yeah, pepperoni's goaten for sure. There's two.

The answer is if I think about the most popular toppings, it's not a meat, is it? It's a mushroom.

You don't like mushrooms?

I hate them,

bro.

I hate them.

The pepperoni and mushroom pizza goes

No, it doesn't.

Yes, it does. Okay.

Like a supreme. Everyone's like, "Supreme." I'm like, "No,

no shrooms."

Yeah.

And you're probably like, "No black olives."

Man's nose ball.

Yeah. There it is. No. This is a guy that like when he's not eating when he's not eating pizza, he's eating chicken tenders with ketchup.

Oh, I do my pales.

That is true. I've seen him I've seen him crush Burmese food on the south side of India. I could eat it.

Okay. That That surprises me. It surprised me you don't like those two, but I respect that. If you could bring anyone to the Indianapolis Pizza Festival, who would you bring?

I think like a lot of people would be like, "Oh, there's only one answer. It's Port Noi because he's the pizza guy in the state in in in America." Dave, if you want to come, come. Like that'd be great. Kaylin Clark is having a game that night at 8:00. The Fever. There's a you know, the city's going to be buzzing already. But like I think that's just like too obvious in the social media world and pizza world. Like everyone's going to be like, you know, day porno. I think it would be really cool if an acting president came to the Indianapolis Beats Festival

like of the United States.

Yeah. Like that'd be pretty cool to me.

Hell yeah. All right, dude. Aim for the stars.

Why not? Right.

That's wild.

I think it'd be cool. Just pull up and eat some pizza.

Yeah, dude. He's like, "Yo, what up?" But I think like if we're talking like somebody potentially realistic like

I would love if Tyrese Hallebertton came to the pizza festival and was a was a celebrity judge like that'd be so cool. Anybody on the Pacers would be really cool to me.

Big Q. He I think he likes pizza.

They got camp.

I think that's fair.

We're still trying to figure out the schedule but like I should know. Um I would love for like somebody like you know Quint Nelson to come up there. He's seen crush some pizza him and Grover or something like that.

Oh maybe send some rooks some like new kids that need to get their weight up. Yeah, like the new tight end we got. Have

catch some tight end passes,

bro. That would be that would be pretty lit.

Um, but yeah, like I think it would be really cool like if if Hallebertton was there.

Yeah, that'd be dope. What's your favorite Indiana event outside of the Indie Pizza Fest?

The basic answer is probably the 500. Everyone loves the 500. It's a great time. Um, I would say a game in Mackie Arena. Nothing tops it to me. Like a big like a big college basketball game in the winter time. It's a little cold outside. You you pack Mackie. There's 15,000 people.

Yeah. You know,

there's there's not there that it's a very special building.

I love how much Purdue people love Purdue.

I think so.

I think it's it's a part of us.

It's a part of us. I think, you know, a college football Saturday is is is amazing, too. Um where our football team hasn't been the best in in over time, but I think like

going up to Mackie is is is special.

Especially like an IU Purdue game,

deep dish, New York style or some other style? Yeah. New York.

New York. Brooklyn char. Come on.

Shout out.

All right. These are the same three questions that we ask everyone who sits in the chair. You travel. You're here, there, you're everywhere. As you're talking to people, what's something the world needs to know about Indiana?

Oh, we know how to do things and we know how to do things. Well, you bring your convention, you bring your sport game, your team, you you do whatever you want to do in Indiana. We're going to get it done right. The other thing I I'll do a two-parter. Our food is good. I'll put our food up against anybody at this point. Like there's certain spots that I go and try XYZ food and I'll be like, "Yep, I got it in Indiana." And people don't even like they can't even fathom that. They'll probably call me dumb, but like I'll tell you right now, we got great food.

Uh there's that quote by Kurt Vonagget that is, I don't know what it is about Hoosiers, but wherever you go, there's always a Hoosier doing something very important there.

I couldn't agree more. Like even if you don't live here anymore, but you're still a Hoosier, like you just get stuff done.

And I don't tell a lot of people this. I know we're rapid firing, but like when I graduated college, I didn't apply for a single job in the state of Indiana. The only thing I wanted to do was leave Indiana.

Isn't that funny how world works?

I moved to New York. I moved to Connecticut. The only thing I wanted to do was come back to Indiana.

I think that the people like that have a good perspective because you go out and see something and like

I mean, I was freshly 21 living in New York City. changed my whole life.

Yeah. And then you want to come back though. I

had to.

Yeah. Next question. This is This is your whole shtick.

The whole shik is like giving shedding light on something that more people need to know about.

Yeah.

What is a hidden gem in Indiana?

You like sushi?

I love sushi.

Called a saka.

Oh,

I learned about Asaka. I think people who are like pretty big foodies may know it, but like the normal person probably doesn't know it. And I think I say it's a hidden gem because it's so unexpected. Asaka is a sushi spot that's only open a couple days a week. The people who own the spot are from Japan and they came to Indianapolis. It's on 82nd Street right by the mall and it's right by a Hooters that got shut down. It's by a weekend's only store that is no longer in business and it's by the most random little like liquor store and then there's like an army recruitment thing down the street on the strip mall. You walk into a Saka and you'll have one of the best sushi meals of your life. I'm not joking. I've traveled all over the country. I've eaten some of the best sushi in the world. Aaka is great sushi. I swear to you, we are a landlocked state that that spot has great sushi.

There.

That's my hidden gem.

That is a spectacular hidden gym. Listen to these hours. Thursday 5 to 9:30. Friday 5 to 9:30. Saturday 5:00 to 9:30. Sunday 5 to 9. I think they have like a happy hour thing too from like 5 to 6.

Dude, this place looks legit.

It's It's actually legit.

And you know when you click on their website on Google and it takes them to a Facebook page.

That's how you know it's going to be good. Asaka.

Hell yeah.

That's a good spot.

That's a That's a gem. You just revealed. Are we going to blow this thing?

I think people know, but like you have to really know.

Yeah.

I did a video on it, but it didn't get like

didn't get the love it should have got.

No, cuz I don't know if you can eat it really in your car. You got to go in there and experience.

Yeah, like to go sushi is never the same. Final question of the day. This is where we learn about other people doing cool things. Hoosiers that we need to, you know, know about. People uh that could be future guests of the pod. Who's a Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. This guy has absolutely blown up after his career. Have you had Jeff Teague on this podcast?

No.

You know Jeff Teague?

Yeah. Basketball player. That guy has some of the funniest stories I've ever heard of from the NBA and his his Club 52 podcast, 520, however it is. That that guy would be so funny. And he's really put on for the city being from Indiana, coaching basketball. I I don't really know Jeff at all, but I know what he's doing for the city. And I would say Jeff,

that's a good way. That's a good answer. No one said that one before. I love it. Tommy, thank you for coming on the show. Of course.

Uh, thank you for all you do to promote the city of Indianapolis, the food scene all around the state of Indiana. It's awesome. I'm really excited for

Indie Pizza Fest or Indianapolis Pizza Festival as us professionals call it.

August 9th.

August 9th.

Not even circle.

Get your tickets.

It's going to be a party. It's going to be fun. There's going to be great pizza. We will crown.

Yes, we will.

We will finally answer the question, who has the best pizza in Indiana? Thank you for coming on, man. Thanks for being a good friend. Appreciate you and we'll see you around.

Sounds good.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Get In. If you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast. 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.com. 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 Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the Hoosier State great.