all right All right guys Welcome back This is a special episode of Earn Your Leisure Thousand% Yes So um we're not even gonna waste any time I know you probably heard a lot of stuff on social media about [ __ ] Vegan Pinky Cole and you know Earn Your Leisure we had to get the real indepth vibe of what's going on It was only It was only right Yeah for sure So this is a teachable moment I feel like for our community Pinky somebody that we we've seen rise We like I feel like you know a lot of people have seen your journey right and they've learned from your journey from business to family being a mother being a wife but everything there's trials and tribulations right so there's some stuff that we did not know as far as I know you got into a car accident glad that you're doing well and then you you had an issue where you lost a certain part of the company you had to buy it back so all right we going we going to jump right into it we going to jump right into it so okay like I said we we can go right to it you you you're a familiar face at this point So everybody knows you The three peak That's a fact She's the three peak So okay So we saw on social media that you put a post up You I think you did an article with um people and you said that you know I'm the new owner of [ __ ] Vegan [ __ ] Vegan 2.0 Mhm I was telling you I was reading the comments People a lot of people thought it was April Fool's joke Yeah Cuz people don't read Well that's true That's true People at first glance I was a bit confused and then I swiped and I was like I'll get it Yeah So some people thought it was an April Fool's joke Some people thought it was just a publicity stunt Some people actually thought that you were serious but still didn't understand fully Mhm So okay N don't Then the Mory thing came and I was like well that's why they th that's why you um Okay So what what happened um well first of all it's interesting because I want this episode to be a true educational episode for people I want when they walk away from watching this they've learned so much They have a different perspective on what entrepreneurship really is Because often times people see the lights they see the flowers they see the accolades they see the accomplishments but they don't see those sleepless nights They don't see when you have to make difficult decisions on how to maneuver and navigate through your business Um and I want to be able to show all sides of that because I feel like when entrepreneurs have range that is what makes them able to be able to go in a room and dominate And I just like to consider this whole experience now when I look at it hindsight 2020 as an opportunity to add more to my resume of range so that I can be able to inspire other people So let me take you back Um y'all know I had this company since 2018 and [ __ ] Vegan has done a lot We have grown tremendously fast Um we have gotten a lot of accomplishments I've graced the cover of Essence Magazine Inc Magazine made the Time 100 list all the Bloomberg list all the every ebony pie 100 had line and vestfest Everything that you think of we have done it There's nothing that I have not done I have crossed off every single list right and we have done a lot of great things over the years So I had a really strong 6 and 1/2 year run just as far as marketing media press publicity right and you know when you think about restaurants restaurants have like a shelf life of about two years right and once you get into that third year it usually gets a little rocky But fortunate fortunately for me I built something that the world knows loves and appreciates So y'all know I went off and I had kids Um I had a baby in 2020 20 no 21 22 and 23 Mhm Um so while I was focused on being the mascot and the face of the brand and doing brand partnerships and doing the things that I love cuz as an entrepreneur there's a point in your professional career where you have to dominate in the spaces where you do well in domination You understand what I'm saying so I did that and uh we did a raise We raised money to grow the business We grew up to 14 locations Um and that was great right like we did a lot of great things $100 million right valued at $100 million We got $25 million and for 25% Yes And the company got valued at $100 million Right So we've always made money Money has always been good That was never the issue But what happened was is our overhead got higher than the money that we were bringing in Right so you know there's some businesses that bring that that have like $100,000 bills a month Our bills were like a million dollars a month upwards to right for all the locations For all the locations So when you're growing really really fast and you got this really good thing and everybody's coming all you you get sold a lot of stuff right so like there's software there's technology there's all of these things So the leadership is just bringing all of this stuff in right and it it it works for what we have going on because AI is the future all of the technology is the future But what we didn't realize is up under the hood was suffering right so back in 2023 we realized that like okay we we we having some we got a problem and the problem isn't today The problem is in the future and we got to figure it out This is like future guidance This this is future guidance right and again revenue still coming in Bringing in money is not the problem and has never been the problem It's the overhead And I've always been public about that right so I talked about how my corporate overhead was $10 million and that is high for a business of my size right but again you know I ain't never grown no company before and I stepped outside of the business temporarily to have kids and be a mom and do these things and do the marketing but neither here nor there This is where we are So in 2024 I came back in the company and I let go of the whole seauite and I came back in the company January 2024 and I'm literally like boots on the ground No pun intended So you fired everybody Yeah Everybody got Because you felt that they were getting paid too much or that they was doing it was a combination of a lot of things right but overarching like when when a when a ship is sinking you you got to be able to start patching holes Yeah You know what I mean and those those people probably in hindsight you thinking like this is the scaling model that they've said that is going to work I'm looking at this now This isn't working It just wasn't working you got to reverse and there were so many different variables and obviously to protect the interests of the people involved There were so many different variables um that came with it and I had to do what was best for the business Um which which I realized that the business is what comes first Um cut all those things had couple million in real estate um started selling off the real estate but I realized that we were too far gone And for a couple months I was fighting it right the conversation was like "Hey we need to put this into a restructure." I didn't want to do that Were you in debt or or you was just Were you Yeah Were you in debt or were you just on pace to be in debt we were in debt You were in debt Yeah we were in debt You had liquidating yeah we we started liquidating We started liquidate It's funny enough and I hope he don't get mad for me saying this I actually sold one of my properties to Robert Smith Oh yeah Yeah My DC property to Robert Smith And let me tell you something It pays to have people in your corner right one who are resource qualified Do you know what I mean when I say that yeah Because that was a pick up the phone Hey Robert I know everybody lean on you for everything but I got this portfolio I got this $10 million portfolio Let me sell you one of my properties Has a relationship prior to that moment yeah I can pick up the phone and call him He always give me advice anytime I reach out to him But to have somebody to do that for me right it pays to have people who are aligned with your vision and your mission Um to be able to like pull the trigger real fast when you need them to do that That's why relationships are so very important right so I started selling off property Um did not want to do a restructure because I'm like we can fix this And I'm like I get to the point where I'm stressing myself out trying to fix this It's compromising my quality of life you know I'm tapping into my personal life to make sure that the business is still sustaining Again money coming in the business was not the problem It's making sure that like my $100,000 a week burn can be covered You understand what I'm saying so one day I remember waking up and I'm just like you know what i can't do this no more I'm too busy worried about reputation right and I'm too busy worried about what what's going to happen and the opinions of other people This is this is the eb and flow of business the biggest businesses in in the world have gone through changes right like you think about the Hooters and the Red Lobsters um and the Bumbles and all the big businesses that are very reputable have gone through changes The difference between them and me and and a lot of other businesses most people don't talk about it but I said you know what i'm going to use this as a coaching opportunity and as an educational opportunity to show entrepreneurs especially startup founders this is what happens when you do this This is what happens when you hire too many people at one time This is what happens when you scale a business If you would have told me seven years ago that I would be going through this I'd be like you lying But guess what i realize that I'm an educator and beyond [ __ ] vegan The vessel for me is to be able to show other entrepreneurs that you can do this but there is strategy and strategic ways to do it Um so on March on February 13th uh the company went into official restructure this year of this year So that meant for 43 days I did not own my company Official Yeah Explain this official restructure Can you just explain this so when a company goes to an official restructure that means that the board resigns I no longer own the company and it goes into the hands of an assigne right um and during that time like I have no responsibility but obviously my name is still on it My name is still on the door So during that time guess what I did i'm still in the stores making sure that everything is good I'm like making sure that the store is opening and the public doesn't know this The public has no idea Who's the assigne it it's a company Oh yeah Um so so during that time I'm still in the stores making sure that the stores open up do what they need to do because at the end of the day my name is the only currency that I have right and this is with no shorty that I would get my business back I would be able to bid for my business because obviously I got a very popular company People could bid to buy the business This is cuz that that's very interesting right like you know that internally but at the same time I'm assuming people can now bid for the company that you help I mean built Sure You're watching this transaction like are you seeing the bids you have like access to that or you're just left limited access Wow Limited access But let me tell you when you call yourself an entrepreneur and you really love the [ __ ] that you're doing like you're going to do things that people are going to call you crazy for Cuz everybody called me like Pinky like the company went through a restructure Why are you still in the stores what are you doing why are you still like making sure that the store has what it needs and go because my name is on this and and I'm doing what's required and I know that I'm not going to walk away from the thing that I built because I love it that much Um so the the process was very it was it was a gruesome process not for them but for me right because my pride and my ego got in the way This is something that I love Um and you know I put my blood sweat and tears in this business This is all I know for the last seven years You know what I'm saying but then I got really really still So if you notice I went dark on social media but I didn't go dark because I was sad and depressed I mean that there was a little bit of that sprinkled but I'm like I got to go into strategy mode I got to figure out like what is my next move going to be what am I going to do you know as an entrepreneur and somebody who built a multi-million dollar business for the life of my business I made like $70 million This ain't no mom and pop shop You understand what I'm saying so I'm like "All right I got to figure it out." So I'm going in a strategy mode I'm getting still I'm not answering the phone for nobody So everybody think I'm dead What's going on with Pinky she in the hospital What's wrong cuz I've never been quiet I'm a vocal very vocal person But I realized God hit my spirit and say "You got to get still You got to get really still." And I did that And for 43 days let me tell you you know I'm spiritual y'all So you know 4 plus 3 is seven That's the number of completion So for 43 days I went through a period of just trying to figure out like what does the professional life of this business what is the legacy of [ __ ] Vegan look like and the bid opened to buy the business And there were a couple biders but obviously I'm the face of this brand Who going to come and buy [ __ ] Vegan and not bring me with it it didn't make sense Um so I put the bid in for the business Um and to be totally transparent because I don't tell a lie I had a strategic partner at first I had a strategic partner So this in between this 43 days where are we at now so this the 13th right restructuring We know that March 28th is a significant day Let me give you an even better timeline So the 13th was when the restructure happened Then I look on the internet one day and Spellelman College closes and it wasn't me And I'm like damn Spellelman is closing You know what I'm saying they closed What do you mean they closed they closed the location Yeah they closed the location You didn't even know about it I didn't know Wow Yeah Yeah We seen it like oh okay Yeah I've seen it too But I also can get mad because this is the nature of business And I think often times as entrepreneur startup founders we and and I've been guilty of it up until 2.0 We are al always so emotionally tied to business that we let our emotions get the best of us when it's just a business decision and it's nothing personal You understand what I'm saying um and you know I was just like "Okay all right Now I got to strategize I got to do what I need to do." Okay cool Boom So I seen the news All right Let me still get dark Let me still get still Um the bid came out maybe like it happened pretty fast Maybe like 18 days It took about 18 days The bid came out as a package to say "Hey [ __ ] Vegan is for sale." And I'm like I can't let nobody else buy this business It's mine It belongs to me My name my likeness my brand the energy When you walk in the store and they call you a [ __ ] that's my personality Can't nobody else buy this This is mine And because I got something good My my sales are increasing week over week 12% right so it's like I ain't got a dud Why would I walk away from that i would never do that So I put the bid in and I gave it to God and I surrendered And you know that was the first time in my life that I actually met God And I don't know if y'all understand what I mean when I said that Like God always knew me but I really just met God But it took for this experience to bring me to my knees because it made me get even more spiritual It made me realize that you got to surrender everything and everything that's supposed to happen is going to happen And I can remember getting a call from the assenee saying "Pinky got some good news You won the bed." And there was like a sense of calmness and still that went through my body because all of this time that I was worrying and stressing about the future and what was going to happen it was mine all along I just had to go through this period of pruning to be able to understand who who who it belongs to and who I belong to And as a result of that I got my business back And I signed um on uh March 28th at 2:53 p.m And I signed and I got my company back And that was the best feeling in the world cuz I'm like "All right now it's go time." Well well let me ask you this Let's let's let's bring it back a little bit right okay So you own 100% of [ __ ] Vegan when you when you start the company Yep [ __ ] Vegan goes viral you make a bunch of money and you you have an opportunity to just scale right and you scale by raising money Yeah You raise $25 million for 25% of your company Correct To me that means that you own 75% Mhm Right Am I right so far which valued your company at 100 million then you start to go into debt and you start to have some problems Well no it didn't happen like that So I want to make sure you got the timeline right So we raised the money We opened up 14 locations Just to give you some math it cost about $875,000 per box to build a [ __ ] vegan And then we did that in the heart of inflation the heart of the pandemic So supply chain everything There was a lot of variables that came with this right so we did 95% of what we said that we would do right um there's just life cycles in business and that happens unless you can raise more money And if you don't raise more money then that life cycle pretty much ends Hold let me let me finish So what I'm what I'm trying to see is okay I'm trying to see you own 75% of the company right how did your ownership get diminished to the point where it was up for sale or like you didn't have full control right like that's the part that I'm copy that So it doesn't work like that When you go into a restructure you can own 105% It doesn't matter It goes into the hands of almost like an estate right so you basically say the company it's an assignment for the benefit of creditors So you basically say "Yes I own this percentage of the company but because of the company's debt I am willing to sign this over to lose ownership so that somebody can somebody else can control the business." It's like having credit card debt and then Okay so that similar to that but it's not a bankruptcy I want to be clear because bankruptcy and an assignment for the benefit of creditors are totally different right a bankruptcy is what it is It's a bankruptcy It's hard It's ugly This is not that A lot of companies go through a restructure Most companies don't talk about it because it never gets public It never becomes a public thing If I never said anything about it nobody would ever knew about this And you went through the restructure because of debt I went through the restructure because of the debt And so no m Okay So even though you own 75% of the company that didn't matter Somebody could have still purchased the company and then you and then they would have paid you whatever amount was paid and then they would have owned the company 100% Yeah They would have paid the trustees and then that trustee would have made the payment and they would have owned the company Correct How how much of a a factor did the form of valuation of the company play inside of the potential sale or bid when it got to you yeah it played a part there There was so many variables There was the debt There was the valuation how many stores It played a part Everything mattered There was the the IP um the likeness of the business It wasn't just one thing that said "Okay we're going to give the business back to her." Cuz technically I didn't have to go back and purchase my business I could have said "All right off to my next project." Somebody else could have just went up and got and won the bid and you know could have did what they did But it was important for me to reclaim my legacy That was important And when we did that when we went to the restructure I actually had 61% because I had other investors So it went down from 75 to 61% because I did other money raises You understand and now you own 100% Yeah I'm back But you said you had a strategic partner Did that partner stay on or No No So that that it's just you I I did in in the process and right before I closed I decided that I didn't want that strategic partner anymore He's a really nice guy Um but you know just the synergies it just wasn't the right alignment and I had to be honest about that which for all the people that are watching this and no disrespect to him but the people that are watching this um when you go to raise money when you go to get investors when you get new partnership this is a marriage So you got to make sure that that marriage feels right It feels right in your spirit You can properly communicate with that person like you don't have any apprehensions You don't have any reserves or reservations because if you do you're going to regret it in the long run And I wanted to make sure that I was very intentional about who I brought with me to the other side And and that was important for me And it was a hard decision to make but I'm like you know what i'm going to the other side with peace because I didn't always have peace at first and I wanted to have peace this time We we get in those conversations a lot People talk to us like "You guys should raise you guys should raise." And even we've had conversations prior to this one It was like it's cool to be independent It's great right you take on partners Now you have people that you're married to Now you've been on both sides of it Like what are some of the biggest lessons for people who are in that that that phase of like "Hey I want to raise capital because I want to scale versus hey we're doing this thing independent and we're going to scale you know at our own pace." So So I'll be honest because I can't tell you a lot I'm going to tell you the pros and the cons So the pros of getting investors right and shout out to my investors They initially funded my dream right um and because they initially believed in my dream it got me the opportunity to be able to do all the things that I needed to do in the business And I'll never take that away from them right it is what it is I'm a professional right um but what I realized is when you want to scale scaling is always a good thing And if you can get private equity dollars if you can get investment dollars you absolutely should but you have to make sure that the terms make sense For me I'm a creative right and having creative control is important Oftent times when you raise money you are technically working for somebody else You are working to get them their money back No matter how you put it you want to put it in Spanish in French you got a job Now it's a different kind of job And what kind of job you want to have is really up to you Like do you want to sit and answer to people all the time or are you an independent and say you know what I don't want to have to answer to nobody I want to do my own thing That's a decision that you have to make Most people who want to scale and get these big valuations and exit for a high number Those people are okay with bringing in partnership because there's a plus to that is strategic if it's right and strategy and resources together is a recipe for success So when you got good partners they help you with new relationships They help you get more money They help you grow and scale and then it's it's a recipe for like something so beautiful that will go down in history Now if you want to be independent and you want to do it your own you can but it's going to take you a little bit longer but you might have more peace right and you might have more um ability to to own the control of what it is that you're creating For example y'all got earn your leisure Who knows you may bring in investors and they're like "We want it to be um earn your leisure and this is how we want to do it and we want to do it this way." And you gotta be okay with that if you taking somebody money because what I realized in business is just like we're trying to build our legacy investors are trying to build their legacy too We trying to fund the dream and they're trying to get a return on their investment So you can't get mad at them for wanting to to get a proper return on investment and asking all the questions And then you got to be honest with yourself Is that the kind of relationship that you want with investors as for me and mine um I'm at a place where I'm going to do what I did in the beginning and grow my business all over again What I did do is though I showed some love to the people who initially invested in me the smaller investors the people who used their 401k and all of that stuff because I know how much that meant to them to support my dream with what they had So I rolled some of them over and that was important for me to do that Um but who knows I may get investment again Um shout out to Fearless Fund Arian Simone is like the goat Like she she she was there to support me um through this process and made it difficult Um Kim Blackwell Dora Whitley um my husband like I had some people in my corner that was rotting and rocking with me when the lights was off metaphorically You understand what I'm saying where I felt like I don't want to do this no more I'm tired I can't believe I got here when people were encouraging me to keep going and not giving up and my best friends who like really held me down in this process because it's hard Somebody wouldn't have never been able to get through what I've been through So now I'm going to share my story and inspire other people that if you want to do this business it ain't just about Instagram posts and and getting titles in magazines You really got to do the work And if you don't do the work it's going to show up in the long run So when you brought your business back right I'm assuming it was pretty substantial amount So being that you did it by yourself was that like something that you had to actually figure out financially like how am I going to get this money to actually buy it and then was that something that you thought about like you know is this a good financial decision because you're still going to have to spend more money right on the store it's not like this is just the only time you got to spend money So being that you did it by yourself and not outside capital what was your thought process in that well the the good thing about this is that because the business still makes good money I knew that it was a good financial decision Um I'm actually in the process of doing a raise Um but I knew that all right the business could sustain itself so it just made sense If it didn't make sense I wouldn't do it right because I got 10 other businesses that I'm running Um but it made financial sense for me to do it Um and now I'm thinking about the rebrand and bringing in strategic leadership I just brought in some strategic leadership um to help me grow and scale This person has scaled their business um to multiple locations and they had an exit in 2021 So now I'm aligning with best-in-class So before it was just like all right loyalty loyalty loyalty and people who love the brand but now I need expertise real true expertise that'll take me to the next level Um and that really is important for this side of things because now the focus is international We talked about Africa before we got on camera Like that's one of the first places that we're thinking about going to Africa doing India doing the UK possibly franchising Who knows but we we got some things in store Um and this time it is all about strategy And before [ __ ] Vegan was a passion project This time it's time for business And what business looks like is getting the proper operators right getting the people that really know about Iba and know about operations and profit and loss and like really communicate in the business and me sticking to what I know how to do best and I'm a marketing genius I know that for a fact So if I can apply and put the right people in place and still drive the ship then I know that it's a recipe for success You talked about the people being in your side You know I'm always going to root for Derek You know as a husband as a father I'm always rooting for him But now we have the Hayes Hospitality Group Yeah Yeah So talk about how we're going to leverage you know the collaboration and what that looks like for y'all you know Well shout out to Derek because it's interesting because I've watched his journey for so long and the es and flows he had in business So as I'm rising to the top and my celebrity and business is rising and I'm doing all these things he's on the back end shuffling digging trying to fix his business So now he got the team right so he's he gets to grow his business and I see the elevation happening in real time And I'm proud to be connected to that because that's a part of our household So a win is a win If I win if he win we all going to win together because that's my husband and we're building this family So when we think about Hayes Hospitality we like "All right you got this multi-million dollar business I got this multi-million dollar business Today we bringing in half a million dollars a week uh in business right as a household in our businesses So we need to do what the big companies do They come together they build these big firms and utilize their resources to be able to strategize and grow Why aren't we doing the same thing why you got a separate HR and I got a separate HR and why you got a separate operations person and I got a separate operations person we need to figure out a way to come together so that we can save money right so when it's time to sell or do whatever we do or go public it makes sense And that's what bigger corporations do But nobody ever taught us that right we had to learn by falling on our face trying to figure it out So we came up with the idea to do Hayes Hospitality And what Hayes Hospitality is it's it's a hospitality uh company that houses all of our companies That is Big Dave's Cheese Stakes [ __ ] Vegan Sea Boys which is Derek's new concept I got a new concept that I'm about to announce that's about to change the game Um and it Yeah Barb Yeah You know what it actually might be good to announce it Should I okay So all right Y breaking news Breaking news Y'all haven't ever been to Jersey Mike before Yes So I'm creating the vegan Jersey Mike Um and it's called Voggeis Vegan Hogies So voggeis Damn good hogies Hogies Shout out to Philly Yeah Shout out to Philly So this this is the part of the the [ __ ] empire And I'm excited about that because now I got the [ __ ] vegan brand It's for the [ __ ] And you want to eat a burger and fry and you want to turn up and get lit and be called a [ __ ] all day And then I got this crossover brand right that is going to really be focused on catering and corporate sales um and going in stadiums and doing all of these things And that will be under Haste Hospitality because what I'm doing is I'm building an empire that people can love and appreciate whether it's vegan or non And I'm focused on the vegan side and Derek is going to focus on on the non-vegan side and together we going to win real big Congratulations No that's killer So let me ask you this In retrospect right what do you think was some of the issues with [ __ ] obviously you said that you know you you grew too fast right um so yeah like looking back on it what do you think could have been some of the issues that you could have probably done a little differently if you had a second opportunity and and the second part to that question is the criticism Have you do you ever listen to Cuz there's a lot of people inside the vegan community This is not something new right but of course people like to take shots of people when they think that they're down So I've seen this more prevalent on social media now like at least a couple of weeks ago they're like "Oh yeah that's because it's junk food." Stuff like that So is that something where you're thinking like "Okay maybe we have a garden burger of just plant-based." Like you know what I mean so those are my two questions Okay So I'm going to answer that question first Um so I don't listen to the noise you know especially through the silence I don't listen to the noise because what I realize is you can get so consumed in that stuff And it's important for me to make sure that I got a clear mental because that's the only way that I can operate If my mind is polluted with negativity there's no way that I can win Um so so I don't tap into negative energy That's the first thing The second thing is what I did realize is that you know I have a burger and fry brand for people who love burgers and fries And this is a starting point for people who want to learn about veganism but either don't know how or don't want to start with a salad Um what I am doing though is I'm adding and increasing menu options um to my menu So I am adding a southwestern garden burger right i am adding a gluten-free bun I am about to add salads So now everybody can appreciate if you don't want to eat soy you ain't got to eat soy Come and get something else It's something for you Um so so [ __ ] Vegan ain't for everybody This is not the brand that you going to find every on every corner That's not what I created it to do Um but it's for the people who love burgers and fries who love vegan food or who want to start out for the first time 70% of the people who come to [ __ ] Vegan are not vegan They are meat eaters trying vegan food for the first time Um so that's my audience and I'm going to continue to stick to my audience Seven years later and I still got a great audience People are still coming people still love the brand People still appreciate all that we've created Um and I'm excited about all the new menu items that are about to come So that's the first question The second thing um not what I would do differently but what I would tell the audience watching this your talent is your business You got great talent you got a great business You ain't got great talent you ain't got no great business And your talent is your culture And all of those things web together So I am more intentional now about the talent that I bring into my business I just brought on a head hunter to find me the best talent I want best-in-class I went to LA and everybody kept saying best-in-class best I'm like but why why everybody keeps saying best-in-class because if you want to be the best you got to align yourself with the best And best-in-class means the people who and not just looking good on resume right personality energy experience I want to know that you failed a time or two because then you know how to identify when you see it and you know how to help me fix it and I want people to have that kind of experience So best-in-class to me is people who have like I said in the beginning range So if you are an entrepreneur with a camera who I'm talking to right here if you are an entrepreneur okay and you are growing a business and your business is booming and doing all the great things It's not enough for you to try to figure out numbers when you are a creative You need to find a person that is at the top of the food chain in their business to come in and teach you a thing or two That doesn't mean that you don't pay attention to it That means that you oversee what's happening and you get to learn along the way That is what I would tell any entrepreneur because if you want to be the best you have to align yourself with people who have scaled companies before and it may cost you a little bit more and you cannot cut corners I'm guilty of cutting corners with with the leadership that I brought in like okay all right well let me offer them them Pay people what they weigh If they good pay them because they going to work harder for you And if they happy they going to work And if they work the job going to get done And if the job going to get done the business is going to continue to be successful You know what I'm saying that's that that's really what I would say to entrepreneurs Again entrepreneurship it's hard It's the luck of the draw to be honest And you really got to like stay dialed in and stay focused and and not take your hands off the wheel And I'm excited to do it all over again One thing about me is I'm a grizzly bear So like I'mma turn this [ __ ] up like I did before You know what I'm saying and and this time I'm aligning with the best And being aligned with the best is really going to show people that like you can get it You can lose it You can get it again You can have hiccups You can have es and flows And if you got something special which I know that I do it will continue to do what it's supposed to do Yeah It's a powerful testimony I always every time we travel we seem to run into y'all I'm like "All right we in the right space." every time That's why hearing it from you and hearing the trials and tribulations the es and flows hearing you know this testimony means so much When you talked about hospitality in my head I'm starting to think like Young Brands and I'm thinking Dart and I'm like "Yeah this makes a lot of sense." Yeah Part of that is mergers and acquisitions I know it's early stage but looking at the vision board are you guys looking to find other uh restaurant tours or other businesses that you don't have to add to the portfolio right I remember asking you like "What's up with the desserts?" you like you know we tried it before but everybody we can't do everything So is that like that's something that you guys are looking out into the future for yep So we got a couple conversations right now Um and I realize we can go stronger together So there's a couple of vegan brands great vegan brands that I've been talking to um about acquiring them and making them [ __ ] vegan right because [ __ ] vegan is bigger than just a burger and fry concept [ __ ] vegan is a lifestyle brand right [ __ ] vegan is a dessert shop [ __ ] vegan takaras [ __ ] vegan African food [ __ ] vegan Jamaican food So when you think about vegan food it doesn't just have to be one cuisine And I'm tapping into different vegan restaurants that may be smaller in size but mighty in menu right and those are the kind of businesses that I want to align myself with because now we can bring your revenue into what I have going on We can pull resources It goes under the umbrella of Haze Hospitality You get some equity and [ __ ] vegan and we all win together And that's how the big boys do it right like there's a couple brands big brands out here right now that's acquiring all of the similar brands to what they got and increasing their valuation size and growing their business So I'm not going to do anything different I'm going to do the same exact thing Are you still interested in I know you before it was um real estate was a major part of your business model right where you was trying to own the actual real estate And then when we talked to you for our book tour you said that that wasn't really a top priority for you at the moment So being in the restructure phase going forward is that something that is still um of importance to you or No it is important It's funny cuz I was like in the heart and soul of dealing with that when I sat with y'all in that interview Yeah Um think about the timing of here Late Jam man You don't look like what you go through I tell you that Well that's that's important That's important as an entrepreneur You got to have that poker face Keep it You got to have that poker face when everything else is crumbling around you you got to make sure that you stand 10 toes down and you keep your chin up no matter what because people are always watching Um but but real estate is really important and that's a part of the international expansion Um real estate you know we've all watched the founder Um but that's initially where I got the idea from like owning that real estate um and doing it big that way So I've brought in some people who have the expertise there to support with me So now it's all about deploying the the business by way of the expertise And this time I'm I'm taking my time and I'm strategically doing it And it's not a matter of like growing extremely fast It's about making sure that operationally we are sound that I have the right people that the culture is continued to be sound Um and and that's how you win in business That's that's what I'm learning So yeah the the real estate is still happening We are just prioritizing like what comes first in this whole rebrand restructure [ __ ] vegan 2.0 You know my final question is this and you can look into this camera What should people expect from [ __ ] Vegan 2.0 what does scandal look like what does growth look like what does the stores look like um growth looks like a lot of things Um first of all I am actually going around to tell my story Um starting on the 28th of April Um and it's called Hustle the Empire The tour Yeah Yeah It's it's called it's called Hustle the Empire And I'm basically telling this story but more in depth Um and we're going on a 28 city tour Um and I'm excited about that because I'm getting raw with you know what happened in the business where I'm going you know and as a cautionary tale to inspire other entrepreneurs A lot of entrepreneurs are suffering in silence So when you watching this there's some people that still trying to figure out how to pay their bills how to pay their payroll how they going to make it the next month and they put a smile on their face and nobody talks about it because nobody usually is brave enough to talk about it or they don't want to be embarrassed They don't want the fear of judgment but just know that I see you and I feel you and I understand what you're going through but this is the space where we're going to have those real hard conversations Um and it's called Hustle Empire So I'm excited about that Um I'm excited about the growth of [ __ ] Vegan I got some really really really really big announcements coming with [ __ ] Vegan But then I'm also continuing to look for the best So if you are the best compile at me Like I'm looking for the best to align myself with the best Um and it's just going to be bigger and better and I'm going to rebuild the business in front of the world So instead of me doing it behind closed doors every step of the way from my branding to my marketing um to operations to the changes that we're making in business I'm doing it in front of the face of the world so that they can see this is how you can rebuild and do it again My cousin got a song called I'mma do it again and I'm going to literally do that again and I'm going to rebuild um something that's already great already a household name something that people already like And when you know you got something special you fight for it Amen That's a fact Well Pinky thank you for coming and clearing the air Uh everybody uh go support [ __ ] Vegan 2.0 That's a fact Um how many how many locations do you have correct Um so we went to the other side with uh seven locations and two food trucks Okay Yeah So um we still got the New York one We still got the New York one All right All right Then we'd have to have another conversation So I'm sure you know hopefully we can get the food truck back at Investfest this year as well It's coming Um but yeah thank you for your time Thank you This was Go support Go support Go support Support even more than you did before Keep up Keep up the new and um I appreciate the education cuz even I learned some stuff So I think that I know the audience is going to learn a lot from your your testimony So thank you Thank you I appreciate you We appreciate you All right guys That's it Appreciate you for rocking with us See you next week Peace Peace