John Corcoran 15:47
heard this from others who own similar types of event based businesses that they looked around. And they realized, especially with their team, their team was drawn to the excitement of doing an event, the energy that you get from that, and then they were locked behind their computer for nine hours a day. And just it wasn’t something that they wanted to do where they wanted to be with their lives.
John Silva 16:06
Yeah, you know, II Oh, now that I’m in it, and just like, we can just say, this is an unprompted plug for you. The best stuff during that time, was the development step between business owners, right? Like we were producing events, but we were rebuilding the future like green business practices together, we were talking about creating safe environments for employees, when they came back, we were talking about how to push the needle and kind of like globalize offer sets, and all that development stuff. Like that was fun, but that didn’t have anything to do with, like catering in air quotes. Yeah. In all the businesses that were working, also weren’t really focused on that stuff.
John Corcoran 16:46
Yeah. So now you have, as things have come back, you have a couple of different businesses all under this umbrella of all those fishing hospitality groups, you have two different catering companies bartending service, the physical venue, how did all of those other businesses come about, including the physical venue, which seems very different types of business model? Yeah,
John Silva 17:09
we had a kind of peer who had a catering company, and we’d been talking for even even a couple of years before this happened about what’s next for our industry in this industry. It’s event centric, as you know, it’s a multibillion dollar thing that people thinks just birthday parties and stuff, but it’s a lot more than that. So it’s also really cyclical. So these ups and downs for people that are owners, at least in it, and also employees see this, too, you know, January and February is a rough, like, there’s not a lot of business and you start building overhead. So the whole goal of partnering up was trying to create something that was resilient in and then the idea started become like, it makes sense pandemic proof, how do you make something that’s, that’s feasible in different political climate. So we have all these brands that work underneath our umbrella, the umbrella is called always fishing, which is a bit of a, you know, kind of like tongue in cheek statement. We’ve got culinary eye, which this is high engagement designed for like Lux catering companies who come to us and we actually will do the full design of your bed, food, beverage, your venue, location, the theme, the feel all that stuff. Metal and match goes in office, it’s an offering that’s very approachable for not only an event that scales, but for that couple that is getting married on the coast that maybe is spent too much of their budget on, you know, other parts of the wedding that have high importance, but they want incredible service and food. The venue in Oakland is called the Alice collective that is a place for people to gather and reconnect in the physical world. It’s a rotating art gallery, so people can share their work. It’s a place for people to have corporate meetings, or to have baby environments, the parties. And then we have our bar program, which sort of works across all of those platforms to provide service. But it also can go out and work inside other companies directly with clients and has licensing and for us table to, you know, sell retail and online. So we build something now that supports all of our salaried employees and all of our hourly where there’s always something that can be done your some facet of work available for them. And although we’re not there fully yet, in the development of all these, the goal is strong. And so it’s neurotic, but it’s like the right it’s the right type.
John Corcoran 19:31
Did you look at other businesses out there culinary based businesses that added different features like you have in order to make it more resilient? Or is this kind of like what you figured out yourself?
John Silva 19:43
Now? I did. I looked all over, you know, and we’re still looking at additional things, you know, franchise models and you know, other stuff the model out of our businesses during that during that, you know, time where everybody was pushing through 2020 and going into When he won, I mean, I was also just I opened myself up completely, it was very strange. And my family said, just let it all go. And I said, Well, how much and I said, Let it all. And so I did, I kind of like shut it all down. And then just open everything back up to see what would come. So I had tons of job offers I was applying just to see what you know, I can be applicable towards this didn’t really understand what my skill set was completely at that point. And all this stuff started coming out, you know, there’s just like, all these opportunities, just through magic, and a lot of really cool stuff, you know, that I could have done and different things and different industries and all that stuff. And I just started got in this mindset that A, I wanted to be part of the beginning of it, you know, I wanted to have ownership and power in the new relationship. So being an employee wasn’t gonna work. I also wanting to be empowered to make decisions quick and have quality of life and all this stuff. And so I’ve been what we’re doing now that it checked all those boxes, since I went there, my boxes, maybe not the smartest things, but for what I need. That’s what I was going for.
John Corcoran 21:11
You know, there are other business owners that had kind of a similar experience to what you described, where during the pandemic, their business just kind of shut down. And they had very little to do during that period of time. How long a time are we talking about here? And what did you do during that time to avoid becoming like woefully depressed? And to, I don’t know, make the most of that time in order to figure out what your next move was?
John Silva 21:36
Yeah. I mean, that was it. You know, we were essential workers, so we didn’t have to stop, which means we actually started working way more harder. And so then I got to a point where the family was going, like, wow, you know, like, Yeah, where are you else is like going to Montana and doing ranches and, you know, written RVs and driving over the country, and we were not doing that I was not doing so when I stopped everything, which was like such a bizarre experience to shut something so big down and package it up and put it into a shipping container inside stuff and step away. I mean, the first thing I did I know this might sound weird, or whatever. I mean, when I solo backpacking trip, I found this like, incredibly remote location, and I just disappeared on me said, you need this.
John Corcoran 22:29
How long did you go for?
John Silva 22:30
You know, I was only out for three nights by myself, but like, perfect leave, tied to like torrential rain, and like perfect baking day, and, you know, hot temperatures and found these hot, you know, soaking tubs, and it was great. And so when I came back, I was I was like, still completely lost. You know, I was like, this is such a massive decision. And I don’t have to go to work tomorrow. And I don’t have to do this. And so I like quickly got right back into it. So I actually bought like, you know, three different duplexes in Arizona. And now we have a fourth, I started sitting with my kids again. Great, you know, and just zero distraction, no phone distraction stuff. And your brother went through that for like five months or so and then got real antsy and then started just getting him that that I think it’s an entrepreneurial thing. When you don’t have anything to do, you’re like, ooh, pay up, there’s all these like, hidden pockets of time that I shouldn’t be doing something. So just reengaged and then, you know, by the end of 21, was sort of back in front of all this, you know, different. I have different barriers up. But you know, it wasn’t all Thai. It wasn’t a multi year, that’s for sure.
John Corcoran 23:46
Sounds like it was a great opportunity for you to kind of do some deep reflection deep thinking about what you want to do with the rest of your life. Yeah, and one of the things that I think emerge from it, I don’t know if this was from before, but you’ve gotten into more coaching and helping, actually some junior and senior high school kids and also college kids. And this is beyond just culinary. But tell us about that.
John Silva 24:10
Yeah, you know, the coaching stuff from a business center to a business center. happened really quick. I was lucky to get on inc 5000, you know, within a few years of my first business, and I’ve been on it now, four times. So, business owners approached me all the time, hey, you know, how do we increase sales? How do we create, you know, this connectivity between our team? How do you apply creativity and how can we do that and it was always this thing where I was sitting in my industry with other business owners and I’m called to this to take coaching until the end of your coaching session, and then you might just revert back to your original way if there’s not somebody there, because we’re all little bait at this point. You know, we’ve kind of like set ourselves in the direction we’re gonna go and like You know, pandemic or not like, I’m probably just going to keep you on this way. So what I was thinking a lot during this whole period was, like, you know, what, what’s the driver was the decisions I don’t get here now like, what you’re asking, like, what, what was this stuff? And how would we help somebody with the next one was really instilled very interested with, like college debt and, you know, declaring a major, but not using the major and all that stuff. And so I started coaching, you know, late teens and early 20s on their wise, you know, because up until that point, the why usually it’s curated by somebody else. But when you step out on your own, that why either needs to be believed, and you should be good to move forward with it. Or before you really get there, you should start asking like, what is this? Why am I taking these courses? What’s his major going to do? What does this really mean? If I step out with debt? How do I get rid of it quickly? How do I build something? Do I want to build something or more from somebody else? And I don’t have the answers, but somebody, I think needs to be there to ask the questions for these kids. And so that’s what I’m doing, you know, I got all this stuff going on. But that like passion of sitting with somebody who can see my goal set and get out of it, and like actually get something that they can own.
John Corcoran 26:23
It’s incredible. That’s great. Yeah, it can be so rewarding to have an impact on a young person’s lives like that. I really and I believe that is Field Guide Consulting is the name of that business. So John, this has been great really enjoyed hearing your background in your story. Where can people go to learn more about Culinary Eye cCatering and Always Fishing Hospitality Group?
John Silva 26:44
You can do to alwaysfishinghg.com That’s alwaysfishinghg.com You’ll see all our brands there. You can read a little bit too about why. And then the other side is Field Guide Consulting. And that one again, is it’s the coaching platform. You know, it’s for everybody, but right now, I’m definitely kind of geeking out on watching this transition into adulthood. Yeah, refreshing.
John Corcoran 27:10
Cool, John, thanks so much.
John Silva 27:13
Yeah, great. Connecting. Thank you.
Outro 27:14
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