Josh Beadel 7:43
You know, at first, it was just a way to make money. I was also studying music at Long Beach State. And I thought I was going to be a professional musician. But that’s also a tough road. And, you know, like I said, I’ve always been making, I’ve always been making money in restaurants. And so it was an easy way for me to kind of continue in that. But I had a vision when I was about 16 years old of you know, music and restaurant business and kind of the restaurant business, almost one out. And, but I’ve always wanted to have my own place or have my own place that I could play music or something like that. And, and it’s kind of morphed into this dream of the breakfast bar and, and other ventures that we’re doing.
Chad Franzen 8:23
Yeah, that’s great. So, Pam, you’re working at a Greek restaurant, Josh, you were still working at the bar, club, nightclub, out of the breakfast bar kind of get kind of get developed. During that time. Once we started a family, which was first kind of in, do we not right then but it was kind of incentivized by the wheels started turning. So if we’re going to start a family, how do we then you create a lifestyle that we can have with our family, to
Josh Beadel 8:55
create a you know, a healthy lifestyle, basically, because you can’t work vampire hours in the nightclub getting up at one in the afternoon. And, you know, trying to get up for work or go to work at eight or 9pm that just doesn’t work for children. So there was always this need to create something cool, like what we had experienced at other brunch restaurants in town. And there’s a place kind of the dream was inspired by that was always busy here in Long Beach called Schooner laters. And it was it’s not that a Schooners is really amazing and blows your mind as far as cuisine or anything like that. There was more so just the experience from the patio and kind of drinking a bottle of champagne before you get there. But there’s nothing like that in the downtown Long Beach area where we had lived and worked for so many years. And so we were like, well, there’s obviously a community that goes over there. Why wouldn’t they just come for something similar on the other side of town? And so that’s kind of where the dream was inspired. And then we kind of were thinking about how we blend the bar and breakfast together and that’s how we came up with the breakfast bar name Which seems to work really well.
Pamela Beadel 10:01
Two best meals of the day is brunch and happy hour. So we just put those together.
Chad Franzen 10:05
Very nice. Yeah, sounds great. So I’m guessing you have two locations now. But you started out with one, I’m sure. Right? Yeah. Yeah, how we’re kind of the early days like there. Well, first,
Josh Beadel 10:18
when we first started, I was still bartending at a nightclub for the first six months. And so we’re attached to Travelodge hotel and there happens to be a little pool there. So I would open the restaurant in the kitchen. And some days, it was just me in the kitchen, and Pam working the front as a server. And, and she would need help making waters for customers as they come in, or pork filling coffees and stuff like that. So I’d run out and help her with that. And then I would need help in the kitchen. So she’d come back. And some days people would look at us and say is it just the two of you in here? And they’re like,
Pamela Beadel 10:54
yeah, it’s we’re, we’re just getting started, you know, support and
Josh Beadel 10:58
just like really like grassroots.
Pamela Beadel 11:01
We have a dentist, we worked downtown for so many years. And we had so many friends and regulars that were just coming in. And they were just, you know, one of our friends. He’s like, I just want you guys to make it. And so he will come in like once or twice a week and sit in the window. So we look busy from the outside. And you know, so we had a lot of regulars and people that just supported us and rallied against us. But his cousin Russell came from and moved in with us for a couple months. And he was a cook. So he helped us open the restaurant, our daughter Jackie wasn’t even to when we open so we needed help, like on all ends. And so we just really, it was cool. We have this community here that we all just kind of they took care of us and we took care of them. And about a month and a half in Josh and I just had a really busy like a Tuesday or something. And there was this really nice family sitting in there like six, and my mom looks around and she does your food is really good. And you’re gonna need help. And so I sent out some texts to some old employees that I knew that were looking for jobs or would want to come work for us. And so why the next couple of weeks, we just started getting employee after employee after employee and started getting busier and busier. When we first opened, we only had beer and wine. So we were still doing the Bloody Marys and things that we were using, you know, the the rice wine, and so it was working out, it was working fine. And then what year then we were able to get a full liquor license. So that was really exciting. We created an early morning Happy Hour called the walk of shame. That’s about 6am to 8am. And we get really busy and you know, especially downtown and the convention centers down there. So there’s people from all over the world that are here and they’re hungry at 6am. We’re also right down the street from a hospital. So we call them the Blue Crew. And you know, and it’s been a crazy night at the hospital because the Blue Crew is in and they’re drinking hanging out before they go home and go to bed you know, after their shifts. So it’s it’s festive. It’s fun, we definitely serve a purpose in our community. We’re the birthday spot. We’re the bachelorette party spot. We’re the spot when the first day of school when parents drop off their kids, then everybody goes and has breakfast and I’m bloody married to celebrate that we made it through summer. So yeah, it’s been it’s a fun atmosphere.
Chad Franzen 13:26
So is every day at that time like like happen or is it busier on weekends.
Pamela Beadel 13:33
Definitely busy on weekends or downtown location tends to be busy a lot more of the time. Just because of where it’s at with like I said conventions and hotels, it’s kind of years 10 years of operation really our other location is more residential. And so it’s a lot of neighbors sitting next to each other kids from school recognize each other from across the room and that sort of a thing. So each restaurant definitely has its own personality and feel and vibe for sure.
Chad Franzen 14:03
So I’m sure to you you had kind of a vision in terms of what you were looking for in a vibe but you know that kind of that kind of look you know, restaurant slash bar in the morning is it’s somewhat unusual How long before you like the vibe kind of met your vision?
Josh Beadel 14:22
Question I would say that two-year mark or honestly when when we started getting busier and we were able to purchase a full liquor license and then it really started to take root from there because because we did have a full cocktail list of he could make more than just you know wine wine Bloody Marys and stuff like that because it’s really hard to mix that kind of stuff with without it just doesn’t taste quite the same. And being a longtime bartender it was it was a gratifying to bring that to the table. And and you know, it was an investment that surely paid off in a couple of months and it was was not a big deal. So you Did you guys
Chad Franzen 15:00
do marketing to get the word out that you were open when you first started?
Josh Beadel 15:05
Honestly, we didn’t do any marketing. And we’re really stuck to very little marketing, it’s been word of mouth more than anything. We do a couple print ads with some local travel magazines, who are friends of ours, that put on those magazines. And then we mark it through the convention center and Visitor’s Bureau that we’re members of, and things like that, but, but really, my philosophy is if we take care of the person right in front of us, then that’s going to spread. And so if we can just continue to do that, we’re going to be okay,
Chad Franzen 15:34
sure. That’s good. So you had a, you had a location downtown. At what point did you think it was time to expand or try to move, you know, into a different location besides downtown? Well, I’m,
Josh Beadel 15:45
I’m more the gas and Pam’s the brakes. So if I would, I would have been looking probably three or four years into our operation. But you know, just preparing and planning and family life and all the things that go into to involve, really just when the right location came up. And so the right location kind of came up around 2019. And we had secured the lease here in September of 2019. And then the pandemic hit right and in March, and so we were kind of already knee deep in this new project when the pandemic hit. And it took us almost two years later to get it open. So we just opened about a year ago, February 14.
Pamela Beadel 16:26
That was our one year anniversary. So and it’s we’re doing great. We’re doing it’s we’ve been busy. It’s been getting better and better.
Josh Beadel 16:33
Yeah. So we kind of hit the ground running because we did definitely like our third year in sales at the downtown location. We started doing year one at this location. So definitely a good name in the community. And that’s really what what’s been paid off.
Chad Franzen 16:47
Yeah, awesome. How did you mentioned the pandemic? How did that kind of affect operations at the locations that was opened? Did it really stymie things? What happened?
Pamela Beadel 16:57
Yeah, we basically overnight, we went from 60 employees to about 10. And we, you know, downtown, what we’re in LA County. So everything we we were shut down for a long time. And we’ve kind of wrestled at the beginning, you know, do we do a grocery store, so a lot of other restaurants have kind of started doing like a market and just kind of wrestled with it, wrestle with it. And we came across a nonprofit called Rural central kitchen. And we got hooked up with them, which was amazing. And what they were doing was, you know, a lot of people were donating to them. And then they were feeding first responders. They were feeding a lot of traveling nurses and doctors that were in the country, they were feeding, you know, a lot of the elderly homes, they couldn’t go and get groceries or really even leave their room. So they were having restaurants, local restaurants, make meals, they’re paying the restaurants, $10 and meal UPS was coming in and picking up meals and then delivering them to wherever they needed to go. And it really, really saved our business. And it was amazing. Because the first day they call, they’re like, can you do 125 meals? Or can you do 50 meals. And within a couple of weeks, we’re doing five to 800 meals a week. Wow. So, um, you know, as far as that was concerned, I immediately I was able to bring back like six employees. You know, to those kind of started getting a little more people were wanting to get to go, they weren’t so afraid anymore. So that started picking up at the same time. So, you know, we just, we just roll with the punches. You know, our only my only goal the whole entire time was to get every single person back on payroll, I knew that we were going to survive. I knew we were going to outlast this thing. I just that was there was no other option for us. But to just stay open, keep going and to open another restaurant in the meantime.
Chad Franzen 18:56
Yeah. So you went from 60 to 10. And then your goal was to bring everybody back. Did you? Did that happen?
Pamela Beadel 19:03
Yeah, I mean, would number wise Yeah. You know, people’s whole life up ended. So people moved in that whole thing. But yeah, we’ve been both locations. We weren’t now we have about 80-81 employees. Wow. So yeah, it’s pretty cool.
Chad Franzen 19:18
Did it was there anything that COVID caused you guys to have to change and then it now is just permanently changed as a result, like some sort of operations
Josh Beadel 19:27
we do a lot more to goes now. That was kind of just a little more stagnant than it than it is now prevalent that people are ordering to go and that’s just people’s habits have shifted a little bit.
Pamela Beadel 19:39
We love that. You can do cocktails to go now in the state of California. That was That didn’t happen before and that really helped our business to during the pandemic.
Josh Beadel 19:50
Yeah, when we first went you know, when we first got shut down, it just became Pam and I we were we were on an employment ourselves because we pay ourselves w two so we were able to take on employment In order to stay open, and so it was just her and her eye in the front and a couple of cooks in the back. And we’re just trying to make it by the skin of our teeth, you know? Yeah.
Pamela Beadel 20:08
You know, with our restaurant, we had resources for our employees. So we were ordering cases, toilet paper, and everybody would come pick up a couple rolls, and we could order milk and eggs and cheese. And, you know, we let our employees know if you guys need something like just let us know, we would call it like the WIC program. You know, when I was sick, milk and bread and a couple tomatoes and a couple of potatoes and a couple rolls of toilet paper and a bag and they knew they could come get whatever they needed from us because we were able to still get it.
Chad Franzen 20:41
Have you found So now moving, moving kind of out of that pandemic and realize like, what, what you guys have when you first opened both of your locations, did you find that there was kind of a an appetite for this type of thing that people didn’t realize they had the breakfast in, like a breakfast bar type
Josh Beadel 21:01
of service minutes. I think it’s just a really hot market right now as far as breakfast is concerned, long lunches are getting breakfast plate, just people love going to breakfast here. But I would say that’s kind of everywhere you go when you go to a place. You know, even in Riverside, there’s a line out the door for breakfast place on you know, during the week and on the weekends. And I think it’s just a really hot hot model right now. And which is why we’re we want to grow, you know, we’ve grown to this next location, we’re actually in the process of building our third location, also in Long Beach. And you look at companies like snoozes and they have probably, I don’t know, 12 locations, and that’s very similar to our concept. I think their food is just a little bit more adventurous than our food is. And our food is a little more comforting and a little more homey. And I think people really dig that as well. So
Chad Franzen 21:54
So your next coat, your next one is also going to be in Long Beach.
Josh Beadel 21:57
Yeah, also in Long Beach, we’re looking at this one as being our hub, because we’re going to do all of our prep, prep items out of that location as our commissary and then ship them over to the other two locations. This one is over in the Eldorado Park estates area. So it’s really close to Cerritos, Cypress, Norwalk and Downey and all those areas. And we really feel confident that this is going to be a slam dunk for us, because of the amount of parking that’s there and the size of the location. And what its proximity is to all these things. And we’re trying to create a model where we’re able to scale and do two more that can be serviced out of this one big hub from there. So
Chad Franzen 22:40
given everything you guys have kind of done and gone through with COVID, and everything like that, starting a new restaurant, what do you most, what are some of the things you’re most proud of looking back,
Pamela Beadel 22:50
That we’re still married. And we still like each other.
Josh Beadel 22:57
You know, marriage is tough enough. And being in business together is also tough. Right? And you business partnerships are tough, and yet we take it home, and it’s everything we do is is all intertwined together with raising our kids and, and, and, and having 81 other kids or employees that we call kids are part of our family, you know, in with a heavy weight and responsibility that we kind of take all those things. So yeah, I think the marriage is a huge accomplishment. Yeah, that’s great. graduations on your success. 20 years we’ve been married, but there’s a fight in the restaurant. And we just like try to avoid each other.
Pamela Beadel 23:38
Do when you go home. So do you have? Go ahead?
Chad Franzen 23:42
Do you have some rule? Like, we can’t talk about work between this hour and this hour? Or do you just try to do the best you can I give
Josh Beadel 23:49
her a five minute rule. So we can bitch for five minutes, and then we can move on after that. Nice nice.
Pamela Beadel 23:56
You know, we’ve been doing it since we really since we got married. We’ve been in the restaurant business together. We’ve worked even when I was at George’s he worked at George’s for a little while too. So we’ve just I think you know, it’s been enough time that we have learned how to balance it better. I don’t know they’ll ask our kids probably drive him crazy. So
Chad Franzen 24:18
well, hey, good for you guys. Congratulations on all your success and your your 20 years of marriage. Very, very awesome. I have one more question for you. But first, how can people find out more about the breakfast bar.
Josh Beadel 24:30
So you can always go to our website at the breakfastbarlbc.com. That’s where all of our food is listed and everything else. We also have Instagram and Facebook pages, Breakfast Bar LBC. And you can find us there. We’re always posting different stuff. We had a great social media team that’s really well connected in the community. And you can find out all about different events on our website as well as some of the charitable organizations that we’re giving to. We’re hosting a panty grep First, we just started our own 5013 C called the Beadel Family Foundation. And we’re starting to do pancake breakfasts to raise money for causes and, and things in our community that we care about. And so the first event may 4, is going to be here in our Fourth Street location, 3404 East Fourth Street. And we’re supporting the Guardian Scholars program at Cal State Long Beach, which is a foster youth program that gives back to foster youth through their higher education. And we feel really, really good about that. And then we also sell our T shirts, which we have a marketing with de drinker, they say on him. And we were promoting that as well. So you can find out about that at De drinker lbc.com. And we’re launching that website platform for purchasing those shirts very soon. So. Okay, sounds
Chad Franzen 25:49
great. Hey, last question. So if you guys were to go for brunch dates at the breakfast bar, what would kind of each of your drinks slash meal items look like?
Josh Beadel 25:59
Well, you the question is, if I’m hung over or not, then I’m going to get the hungover bowl, which is our big better french fries. It’s our breakfast poutine. So it’s better french fries, with our sausage, gravy, sausage, peppers, onions and cheesy scrambled eggs. It’s like a big mess. But it works really well dump some hot sauce on there and spice it up. But what do you like getting?
Pamela Beadel 26:22
Well, I like the I love our Espresso Martini. So I think I have to have one of those or two of those for sure. And then I love our breakfast, Sammy. And it’s just you know, a egg, tomato. That is our homemade aoli. It’s just really simple, but it’s just delicious. And then our homemade potato pancake is really unique and really special to us. And you can’t come here without having at least one of those.
Josh Beadel 26:49
We do so many fun things it’s really hard to choose. And that’s why we tell people just order a bunch of different stuff so they can all share and try different things. We’ve got like candied bacon and pork belly skewers, and all kinds of really fun stuff on the menu itself.
Chad Franzen 27:02
Perfect. Sounds awesome. Hey, Josh and Pam, thanks so much for your time today. It’s been great to talk to you. Congratulations. And it was fun to hear about the breakfast bar.
Pamela Beadel 27:11
Thank you so much. Thank you for having us.
Chad Franzen 27:13
So like everybody.
Outro 27:13
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