Bela Musits 15:35
Yeah, yeah. So at sort of what point in time, did you you know, sit back and say to yourself, you know, what, this is working. This, I’m going to make it here. And I know this thing is good. Because in the beginning, you gotta have every once in a while, you gotta have some not so nice dreams at night, or worries at night that says, I don’t know if this is gonna work or not.
Matthew Rosenberg 15:55
I mean, I still never know if it’s gonna work. It’s every day is isn’t is a fun ride, for sure. But I think, you know, a couple years then I had some project, I had a project being built. And then we really had a, I think we had about seven or eight projects at that time, right? I had probably six or seven staff. Yeah, you sort of look alright, now we need an office, I went and signed a big corner office, that was way too big for us. But it was great visibility, and I got a great deal on it ended up fixing it up renting out part of it. And I made it work. And I think it was always just trying to almost level up and figure out alright, how do we, how do we grow this business, but we can’t grow it out of a 500 square foot apartment, we need some visibility, we need a showroom. And although I couldn’t afford it, I figure it out. Other startups needed space as well. And if we created a great environment for them, then we could bring them in, we could create basically a logo at one of the busiest intersections in LA. And that helped a lot. And it was always just looking for new ways to keep growing. But honestly, I don’t know if I ever feel like it’s always working. It always feels like everything can always kind of fall apart. But that’s the fun part.
Bela Musits 17:12
Yeah, yeah. So now fables sort of at least the way I think about it a really new a different experience. Right? Yeah, I get the designing the building and the furniture and the ambiance and all that stuff. But now you’ve branched out into this, preparing food. And there’s a whole nother segment of that. So talk about that experience a little bit.
Matthew Rosenberg 17:33
Yeah, it’s interesting, because I think the pandemic really launched a lot of new companies and allowed people to explore new ideas. And for me, I suppose it was a restaurant, and maybe it was leading up longer than I realized, you know, we’ve designed restaurants, hotels, I love traveling, I love food, and I love Dining. And so it was perhaps inevitable, where I always look at, you know, I look at the glassware, I want to see how it smells and touches, and how’s the service. And there was a moment where I naively thought I could do it better, right. But it is a it is such an intricate, nuanced business, which makes it very, very exciting. But when you go in every night, and you have 500 600 700 guests, different people coming in, and experiencing something that you’ve created, that you think is perfect, if that exists, when they come from all these different places in the world and have all these different experiences and backgrounds, that is an almost impossible feat. But when you bring in enough elements from I think around the world, where that’s impacted me and our team and allow our team to inject who they are into this thing, it becomes a place of magic almost where you don’t need to cater to every single person’s precise desire, you need to create an environment for them with the data and even know they need it. And so there’s a there’s a fine balance between making sure everyone’s happy and making sure you’re, you’re delivering a narrative that they know. Okay, this is what I’m supposed to experience here. I think that’s the balance and and the potential for a very successful hospitality industry. And yeah, yeah, super.
Bela Musits 19:23
Now, you know, the restaurant business is one of those things that that once you sort of figure out all these things you just talked about, you can sort of replicate that. Is that something that you’re thinking about going forward?
Matthew Rosenberg 19:37
Yeah, that was that was always the plan. And then after opening this and realizing how fun and also difficult it is, every single night, when you put so much energy into opening one. There’s no way I would not open 10 of these things. Because I’ve learned so much so quickly, just opening one restaurant in Miami and Add to not learn from that extrapolate, fix, make better and move that around the world and test that out and massage it, you know, if we open in Lisbon, Lisbon is a very different market than mine. And we need to make sure we understand the nuances of that market and how to adjust what we’re creating just a little bit to make sure that it fits there as well. And so yeah, that the plan is to, you know, New York, Lisbon, Italy, maybe St. sharpei. But we’d like to open about 10 of these in the next four to five years is the plan.
Bela Musits 20:32
Oh, very nice. Very nice. So that’s got to be exciting. You know, I read as you were saying that I remember this story, I heard about Disney. And when Disney was getting ready to open Disney, Tokyo, Disneyland Tokyo, Disney Corporation wanted to tailor it to the Tokyo audience, right? They wanted to have all these things that were sort of embraced a Japanese culture. And and the folks in Japan kept saying, no, no, no, no, we want it exactly like the one in Anaheim. Don’t change thing. That’s what we want. So it is interesting that, you know, if there’s a certain brand identity that that once you get to a point, then tweaking it here and there, you got to be a little bit careful about that. What are your thoughts on that?
Matthew Rosenberg 21:18
Yeah, 100% I mean, we I come from a branding world like we’ve we’ve also been hired to brand design, Ida tech companies, fashion companies. I don’t promote that, really through our offerings, but we do it a lot through our network. And so that idea of a strong brand recognition. And ethos is one of the most important things that any company, whether it be architecture, design, restaurants, that it starts from there. And if there’s any missing gap, or any missing piece, I promise you that that business at some point will fail, and they’ll need to figure out, because unless there’s a very strong adamant grant, no one will attach on to it or some people will for awhile, but then a string gets pulled and the whole thing falls apart. So yeah, absolutely. I mean, there’s, there’s pillars to what we are doing at fable that will never change. But look at all right, the market in Lisbon is now very European, there is some international money and investors coming in. We want to know who they are and make sure that that market is there to experience Fabel, if I didn’t believe that, that you know, and fables, not the cheapest restaurant you’ll go to, but it’s an experience, it’s theatrical, you’re paying for it. But that clientele is not everywhere. And so we need to make sure that client tells there that we can deliver that to them. And that if there’s a certain local cuisine or fish, we want to make sure we’re still tied to the local farmers and markets. And that there is that story between supporting local business still and not just shipping something in from Tokyo because that’s the best fish you can get. Right? You want to support local businesses, like we have partnerships with farms, where if we can’t get that certain vegetable, we’ll change a dish that week.
Bela Musits 23:14
Yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s great way of thinking about those things. So one of the things I think entrepreneurs often struggle with, is hiring, and what the hiring processes, you know, because getting a hiring someone that doesn’t work out, and in four to six months, you got to let them go or they leave. That’s really, really expensive. Do you have any thoughts on hiring and what you’ve learned from that?
Matthew Rosenberg 23:40
Yeah, I really learned a lot early on with am rad. You know, and it’s tough to convince people talent to come into a startup architecture are harder than coming into a restaurant for sure. But I got some, you know, I, I learned a lot in terms of, okay, these people are willing to do this, but maybe they don’t have as much experience. And so you have to deal with that. My goal has always been to train younger people, because I had clients who gave me a chance to learn. And so I always wanted to pass that down and give if, if these people wanted to start an architecture firm, I want to give them as much information and training and knowledge that I learned to save them five years of doing that. And so I’ve always worked very hard to try to keep employees, keep them happy. Keep them well paid, and taking care of as much vacation as they need. And those kind of small tweaks to employment, I think are a big thing, especially in architecture, where architects are underpaid across the entire industry. And my goal was always to how to figure out how to pay them a bit more than even Gensler. The big names, which was very odd for a startup because startups typically will not in terms at all, they pay very low wages almost more you can’t afford to live. And I just wanted to change that whole model because I didn’t believe that that was the solution to the architecture industry. And that was a big thing for me. And I brought a lot of that into stable in terms of just sharing who I am connecting with all the staff. It’s a big staff of people, we have, I think, 75 people on payroll, and then a bunch of other people on the side. And I wanted to share with them that I wasn’t coming into this industry, just to have fun and go out at night, I wanted to change their industry, because there’s there’s a lot of similar, almost angst and anger about their industry that I saw in architecture for many years. And so I saw this whole where maybe we can rethink how much we’re paying them. Maybe you pay them a couple extra dollars an hour. I know most of them work for tips, but give them parking, give them phone reimbursement, pay for health insurance, to a server, there’s just these small things that yes, are expensive, but they pay off tenfold, to your point. hiring and firing is one of the most expensive things that company will ever see. And so my goal is to avoid that as much as possible.
Bela Musits 26:13
Yeah. Are there are there particular attributes that you look for in a prospective hire to make sure that it fits within the culture that you’re trying to develop?
Matthew Rosenberg 26:23
Honestly, I don’t I like to speak to everyone. And I typically know within the first 30 seconds. Now, I trust my gut on that stuff a lot. And I can usually connect with people very quickly and understand who’s real who’s not their true experience? why they’re here. I usually try to trust the gut on that as much as possible.
Bela Musits 26:48
Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. So if, if you met someone, and they’re saying, you know, gee, I’m thinking, I’m thinking I’m leaving this firm, I’m with let’s say, it’s an architectural firm, or I’m or they’re working in a restaurant. And they say, you know, I’m thinking of leaving, and I want to start my own. What sort of words of advice or lessons learned? Would you share with them? Don’t do it? Okay,
Matthew Rosenberg 27:14
I would, then they’re two very different businesses, for sure. So I think I’m sure side, I would suggest that they work for another company for as long as they can. The way I did it is is a little stubborn, honestly. And it’s quite tumultuous, and very, very risky. And there’s other ways to do it that are smarter. But I would just say make sure that they have a network and relationships that they can trust that they can reach out to and find advisors along the way, no matter what business you’re starting.
Bela Musits 27:51
Yeah. Excellent, excellent advice. So how can listeners find out more about M-Rad and Fabel?
Matthew Rosenberg 27:59
Sure. I mean, M-Rad’s website is www.M-Rad.com. We’re also on Instagram mrad.inc. Fabel is fabelmiami.com. And fabelmiami on Instagram. It’s spelled a little different the French trade about? So yeah, you can find us there. And we’d love to have anyone into the restaurant whenever you’re in Miami.
Bela Musits 28:29
Yeah, sure, we will make sure that that information is in the show notes so people can find you. One last question. Is there something that I have not asked you that you would like to share with our listeners?
Matthew Rosenberg 28:41
I think these Those are great questions. Honestly, I usually have more to say, but I really appreciated the conversation. Oh, well. Great.
Bela Musits 28:47
Well, thank you very, very much. Hey, one of the things, you know, we’re sort of big fans of acknowledging the people who’ve been impactful or influential to us. Is there anyone in the industry or anyone else in your past that that you’d like to give a shout out to?
Matthew Rosenberg 29:02
Yeah, I mean, my wife is obviously extremely supportive, and my crazy visions and ideas, but I’ve had some close friends that have just supported me made sure that I had a network that could support my ideas as well. And, and without that tight network, there’s no way that anybody can really start a business. I think so. Keep your friends close. And make sure you take care of each other.
Bela Musits 29:29
Yeah, that’s great advice. Great advice. Really rip. Very true. Hey, Matthew, thank you so much for being on the show. You’ve been a wonderful guest. I’ve really enjoyed our conversation.
Matthew Rosenberg 29:38
Thank you so much for your time. You betcha.
Outro 29:41
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