Announcer: Welcome to Business Life 360 with Christie Kay, where we cover trends and impact in the world of business.

We get to know CEO leaders and innovators, and we see firsthand how business and life connect.

(Music) Business like 360 with Christie Kay is made possible in par by KeyBank National Association trustee for the Walter E Cahoon Memorial Fun and ProMedica Toledo Hospital, celebrating 150 years of serving our community.

Also by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Kristi: Welcome to Business Live 360.

I'm your host, Christie Kay.

The business of brewing beer, as well as the restaurant and food industries, are ultra competitive, and sustaining a business and offering quality products through the decades is no small task.

So what does it take to build and maintain success in these industries?

Whether you're a barbecu griller like Stephen Raichlen, a sushi restaurant, tours like Kengo Kato, or a flourishing brewhouse like Bombay Brewing Company, we're about to find out what the common thread is to sustain success.

And I'll give you a few hints.

It has much to d with insurmountable work ethic, taking risks and having the desire to be the best at what you do all to keep those customers coming back.

So kick back, relax and come along with me.

This is business life.

360 if you love a good barbecue and pride yourself on being a solid griller, you may very well have our upcoming guest to thank.

For decades, he's built a business, some say a revolution around how Americans and those across the globe respect the grill.

Check out my interview with PBS griller.

Steven Raichlen.

Stephen, it' so great to be with you today.

Steven Raichlen: Well, it' lovely to be here with you, too.

Kristi:Thank you so much.

Now, you have such a breadth of experiences in the world of grilling.

So talk to us about your super fascinating upbringing and some of the things that you've done that have brought you to where you are today.

Steven Raichlen: Oh, boy.

Well, I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland.

In my family.

My mother was the grill master.

She used to light the charcoal with gasoline.

She was, I wante to get to business right away.

And her specialty was, wha we call Pittsburgh rare steak.

So, it was burnt cold, black on the outside, and the heart was still beating inside.

I have a very unusual training for a career in writing, in barbecu and making barbecue television.

I was a French literature major.

Now barbecue.

I came to barbecue probably 30 years ago, with a simple but profound idea.

And that is that, people grill the world over, but everywhere they do it differently.

So wouldn't it be cool to travel around the world?

Document how people grill in different countries and cultures.

The result of that, four year adventure was a book called The Barbecue Bible.

The Right Book, The Right Time became an international bestseller.

And that's how I got into barbecue.

Kristi:So why barbecue and not another niche then?

Steven Raichlen: You know, it was, I came to it late.

I had written many.

I'd probably written 1 books about other subjects, but when I found barbecue, I felt like I was home.

And I think the reason is that it brings together so many of my interests.

I mean, first of all, setting stuff on fire.

Second of all, having the Y-chromosome own, you know, guys like that to stand at the grill.

I love flavor, and, there's nothing like grilling to bring out flavor.

I don't like fat and unhealthy food.

And grilling is very healthy method of cooking.

Kristi:So this never ending creative and fascinating side of you.

What's the process that you use when you're coming up?

Whether it's a TV show you'r writing for The New York Times, all the things that you're doing, writing books.

How do you start and generate new content as you do all the time?

Steve Raichlen: What a great question.

You know, I have a very active min and a very active imagination.

And while I am not great with names or faces, and, my wife gives me a list of things to do, and I go back five minutes later and say, what do you say, honey?

But when it comes to food I can remember most of my meals and I'm constantly thinking about flavor combinations.

I spend four months a year traveling and I get a lot of ideas from my travels.

I keep a notebook, my bed.

You know, sometimes I'll dream of something and wake up the next morning.

And there it is.

Kristi:I love all of the ventures, too, that you've built into this career of yours.

Even things like restaurants on cruise lines.

How about that?

That's pretty exciting.

How did you get involved with that?

Steven Raichlen: Like so many things that have happened in my life, it began with a phone call.

From the food and beverage manager of the Windstar Cruise Line.

And they were embarkin on a very interesting project.

They were cutting three of their ships in half and adding an extra 100ft, and in that 100ft inside, besides the additional staterooms, they were adding an outdoor restaurant, and it was going to be a grill restaurant.

And they wanted to know if I would be willing to create the Star Grill by Steven Raichlen restaurants on these ships.

Well, you know, I mean, twist my arm pretty interesting.

And in fact, posed some really, interesting challenges because according to international maritime law, you cannot have open flame on a cruise ship.

Now, open flame is what I'm all about.

But we did devise some workarounds.

And, when you taste our pastrami or our brisket, at the Star Grill, it is indeed kissed with real wood smoke.

It's got that real authentic barbecue flavor.

But you know what I love about my job and being, freelance and self-employed is not for everybody, right?

Because, you know, sometimes you never know where your next, paycheck is going to come from.

Kristi:Yo don't work.

You don't get paid.

Steven Raichlen: Exactly.

But every day there's a phone call of some new opportunity.

In the last year that's.

I've been to Abu Dhabi to, to, keynote a barbecue festival.

I went to, Switzerland to, to consult for a company that wanted to, develop barbecue flavors.

You never know what the next phone call is going to bring.

Kristi:Just because you're so good at what you do.

Some people say, who better?

Steven Raichlen: Oh, shucks.

Kristi:The first piece of advice that you give to the novice griller.

Steven Raichlen: Well the first piece of advice is go buy the barbecue Bible and log on to Barbecue bible.com, because, that is, an infinite source of infinite wisdo about barbecuing and grilling.

Sign up for my Up and Smoke newsletter.

It's free.

Comes out twice a week, but after that I would say I would give you a couple pieces of advice.

First of all, I have a little mantra which goes, keep it hot, keep it clean, keep it lubricated.

That is, for most grilling, start with a hot grill, clean it with a stiff wire.

Brush your wooden scraper and oil it with a folded pape towel dipped in oil drawn apart across the bars.

The grate which not only prevents sticking but also gives you killer grill marks.

So that's one piece of advice.

Another core piece of advice is don't overcrowd the grill.

Now this is another Y-chromosome trait.

You know, we, we tend to like some as good more as better.

So you put your cooking chicken wings, you cover every square inch of the grill grate with chicken wings.

And what happens is when you get a flare up or something starts to burn, you pani because you have no place to go.

So I always use the two thirds, one third rule, two thirds of the grill with food, one third of the grill food free so you have a safety zone where you can move the food.

One third piece of advice and these are supposed to be short answers but I'm not a short answer kind of guy.

If you're going to cook one thing to start with, I would start with a pork shoulder.

Why is it pork shoulder?

Because you can cook it low and slow, like barbecue.

You can roast it hot and fast.

You can spit roast it.

It's incredibly forgiving.

It's almost impossible to overcook a pork shoulder.

Kristi: Great pieces of advice.

Yes, I am actually taking notes, but considering myself a novice griller.

Okay, yes.

Steven Raichlen: Well, I would have said that pork shoulders the kosher part of the pig, but in fact, bacon is the kosher part of the pig.

Kristi:Davin Raichlen, world renowned PBS star, television host, barbecue extraordinaire.

All the wonderful things you've done for grilling.

Thank you, thank you.

It's grea to have you on Business Life 360 and is a part of Busines Life After Hours.

Thanks again.

Steven Raichlen: Thank you so much for on.

Kristi: Sushi is so much mor than fish on rice is our guest.

Successful sushi restaurant tours can go keto often says, well, let's find out why.

His tenacious desire to offer the best possible product keeps his customer coming back for more and more.

Go!

Thank for welcoming us into your home.

Kengo Kato: Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Kristi:So tell us a little bit more about the business and how you got started.

Kengo Kato: So well, my early life, born and raised in New York, my parents were hard working, restaurant tours as well.

My dad came in 66 opened his first restaurant on Fifth Avenue, in New York City.

So I was kind of born into the business, fell in love with the business.

And at the age of 16, I actually decided that this is what I want to be.

This is what I want to do.

Cooking.

Being in the restaurant business, I actually started training at an Italian restaurant, not a Japanese restaurant, for a little bit, but eventually, you know, went back to my dad and he was like, hey, take me back.

Like, hey let's, let's do this together.

So, in a traditional setting a traditional Japanese setting, we're required to train a the family restaurant for a year and then go elsewhere, where for, like a minimum of four years and train and and then eventually come back.

So, my mother was still alive at that time, so the three of us, started running, the three restaurants in New York City.

And my dad was like, okay, you know, it's time to go train at a at a restaurant.

And I was fortunate enough to be able to work at this amazin traditional Japanese restaurant, on 44th Street between, said, the Madison and a place called Cuba.

Which kind of, you know, I always I still go back and think about how I was trained and how, the techniques and the simplicity and tradition of Japanese food.

Kristi:And, you know, you talk about community and the power of communit and the power of partnerships.

That's one of the secrets to your success.

Is it really about some of the community partnerships that you've had as well?

Tell us a little bit more about that.

Kengo Kato: So, I mean, you know a lot about this community as well.

And Toledo is just so great.

Again, the support that that people have given can go to and, and the Kengo, name of the Kengo family, it's just been great.

Kristi: Now you, for example, have a restaurant at the casino, correct?

Kengo Kato: Right.

So two years ago, a little over two years ago or three years ago, almost.

They came up to m and, you know, talked it over, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is like a record deal.

But then I was like, okay, well, this is kind of crazy.

This isn't really my realm of.

Kristi:Yeah, you've got a sush restaurant at a casino, right?

So how's that going to work?

Kengo Kato: We love being partners with them.

It's it's definitely a learning experience.

And it's definitely a grea friendship, a great partnership.

But again most of all, it's it's been such a great friendship and, and the supportive group that that I learned a lot from for sure.

Kristi:Great partnership, great collaboration.

And you're celebrating ten years I.

Am.

Kristi: February.

That's impressive.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Let's talk about the secret to your lungs.

Kengo Kato: Wow.

Again I always say love and passion.

And I've always said if you do something tha you love and you have a product that you you're behind with your love and passion, the money will follow.

And I've always said, and I always tell these guys that, you know, we put fish on rice and if we don't do that with love and passion, it's just fish on rice and we make i sushi and we make it yakitori, you know, unless there's love and passion behind that.

Again, it's just meat on a stick or fish on rice.

And I think that's the secret to our longevity.

And I have I've been blessed to have, a family and a staff that, that supports that and understands that.

Kristi: Well, your passion shows through the love of what you do, shows through and everything you do and every one of your restaurants.

And I know there's some growth that's coming.

You're going to be opening restaurant number four.

Kengo Kato: We are, we are.

We're super excited about it.

There's some, some hoops and hurdles that we've been, an obstacle that we've been coming across.

But, it is a Japanes fried chicken restaurant, love.

It's going to be a lot of fun.

It's going to be great.

Have going to have a great staff lined up for it.

It's more of a bar scene.

Yeah.

It's it'll be great.

Kristi: It's really exciting.

You know and I think about this business, being a sushi chef and restaurateur, and there' some really uniqueness to that.

So tell us more about a day in the life of Kengo.

Is there such a thing as routine or is everyday all about routine?

Kengo Kato: Yeah, and when that routine gets a little sidetracked, they get really flustered and irritated and, yeah, my wife will tell you all about that part of.

Kristi: I mean, it is incredible how long you've been in business, how many people want to get in the doors.

And it's always always and often so crazy busy.

Kengo Kato: It's been great.

Kristi: So how do you what i your secret sauce, so to speak?

What is your uniqueness in terms of the food and the deliciousness of the sushi?

That is just it keeps people coming back and people just can't get enough of your restaurant.

Kengo Kato: Well, we do something called Omakase Set, which is, right at the sushi bar.

5 to 6 seats, two seatings a night.

It's right in front of me.

We do three special dishes in the beginning of a few.

A few sticks from from the grill and then we do a full, ful repertoire of the freshest fish of the evening.

But, I mean, the secret sauce is, again, it's it's that love and passion and and the people of Toledo have really become family.

You know, they walk in and we're just like, hey, it's so good to see you.

And it's not about like, what's good tonight.

It's just like, you know, the the first thing they ask is, how's your family doing?

It's like they really care, you know?

And so that's what it is.

Kristi: It's true, it's true.

Now when you come in every day, what inspires you the most?

Kengo Kato: My dad always inspires me for what he did.

As a Japanese immigrant he still doesn't speak English very well.

But, I mean, in 1966, he opened up a restaurant on Fifth Avenue.

Or, So he inspires me every day.

There's also a few saying that my dad never really gave me birthday gifts or Christmas presents.

But he likes, he loves.

He's really good at, Japanese brush calligraphy.

He's written me a few letters.

Three of them are actually hanging on the wall back there, an one of them is just like tango.

Never give up or try.

Try again.

And then another one is, kneeling and, no, you know, you show up on the photo, and that means, a human's life is, is with, genuine soul.

And then cooking also is with a genuine soul.

So there's a few things up there that I, I walk in and I see that every day, so.

Kristi: Well, that's just it.

Your lov and your passion comes through the quality of your product.

Yes.

Everything you're doing with the food you're serving, the involvement in the community, the inspiration that you have, it all shows through.

So thanks for being so amazing and what you do for being a great part of this community.

Kengo Kato: Appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me here.

Kristi: You bet.

Yeah.

Kengo Kato: Thank you.

Kristi: An let's head back to the studio.

Going behind the scenes at a successful brewery reveal so much more than making beer.

In fact, Miami Bay Brewing Company has a rich history dating back to the 1800s.

Today, its diversification and expansion of products, new distribution channels, unique partnerships and a direct to consumer approach represent how much this business has evolved as the marketplace demands.

So let's head out for a drink.

The business of making beer begins with creating a unique beer recipe that consumers love.

Yes, success is so much mor than that in the world of beer.

And I'm here today with Craig Kerr.

Craig has been here for 35 years at Miami Bay Brewing Company as a brewmaster and more.

Craig Kerr: It's hard to believe, isn't it?

Kristi: Really is.

Welcome to business.

Likely 60.

Craig Kerr: Thank you very much for having us.

Kristi: Give us a little history, if you would, on Mommy's Brewing Company and your time here.

Since you started, you were, what, two.

Craig Kerr: Just thank you so much.

I know it's hard to tell us a. Yeah, I started back in 1995.

We are Toledo's oldest craft brewery.

The building that we ar occupying is the Oliver House.

It was built in 1859, and it was designed by Isaiah Rogers, who also designed the Boston Statehouse.

The property was originally a hotel.

It was the most luxurious hotel in downtown Toledo and survive for 30 or 40 years as a hotel.

After that, it became a residential rooming house, turned int some manufacturing activities.

And, by the time we acquired the property back in the early 90s, the building had fallen into a state of disrepair.

Reall needed to be totally renovated.

So it was either, find somethin to do with it or tear it down.

So Jim and Pat Appel bought the property, and Jim said, we need to make a brewery.

Kristi Tell us a little bit more as we jump into the whole brew master piece of your job.

What does that entail?

A day in the life of you?

Craig Kerr: Well, startin to make beer is is interesting.

I started making beer as a hobby in my home and learned how to do all the basics of it, which is a very different activity.

Doing it in a kitchen sink versus 500 gallons at a time.

So we hired, we hired a company to build the brewing house for us.

So making beers is I describe it to peopl as kind of like making coffee.

Basically what we do i we take the sugar out of barley, we percolate water over the top, like you would make in a pot of coffee.

And that's the sugar that we get.

That's what makes the beer sweet.

That's what also feeds the yeast that turns it into alcohol.

So beer is made of four, four ingredients.

There's water, barley, hops and yeast.

The barley is the sweet part, the hops of the bitter part.

The yeast also can impact the flavo depending on what kind of use.

Kristi: As we look at brewing the perfect beer, what does it take?

Craig Kerr: Well, brewing batch of beer is very diligent.

You have to make sure that you do things right.

So the work that I do today I won't know for several weeks if it's if I did it right.

Very precise.

You have to be very you have to measure things carefully.

The temperatures have to be controlled.

When we make a beer.

That's, you know, a Raspberry Week that we just do once a year, you can just get fresh raspberries.

The raspberries might be different.

You can.

You can have a lot more leeway.

And you're not quite so concerned with making it taste like what it did last year, because you always want to make it better this year.

Kristi: The first step, as you say, okay, we're going to come u with a new product, a new beer.

What's the first step you have to take in doing so?

Craig Kerr: The new beers get generated through a collaborative process of brewers.

The sales department really in our in our distributors have have some things to say about we follow market trends.

We also like to follow anything that's a new ingredient.

It's available.

There's new hops coming out all the time.

There are different yeast that might come along that might have a profile we might want to have.

Or the market has got something that's that's kind of a hot trend.

And, you know, we'll chase after that.

Kristi: Do you take risks when it comes to new product development, or do you kind of say, no, we know this trend.

Let's stay the course.

You can kind of go a little bit out there.

Craig Kerr: Well, one of the neat things about having a restaurant like this in a in a big brewpub facility i if we want to try something new, we make it here in a small batch.

500 gallons is what we call a small, small batch.

And we can try it in here in the restaurant.

And we have access to hundreds and hundreds of people here who can come over to the course for a few weeks, and they try that product.

And, you know, we get feedbac from them on if it's not quite what we want, we'll make another batch, try it again.

We can we can kind of swerve our wa into the right flavor profile.

Kristi: The built in test market.

Craig Kerr: That's pretty good.

Yes, it's it's grueling work but somebody is going to do it.

Kristi: What has shifted for you the most in terms of kind of challenge and growth as you look through your career here?

Craig Kerr Clearly it's been a competition.

There's just more breweries making product.

And it's nice because I don't know why.

But two breweries can be given the exact same recipe.

And if they make that same beer it's not gonna taste the same.

So it's the process of the machinery, the process of the brewer, the way we all do things differently.

So it's kind of neat because we can get like an endless style of products out there.

So as that happens, of cours the market gets more saturated and that's that's a challenge for us to always come up with new products because customers want something that's new.

That's that's the name of the game.

Kristi: Now, as you experiment with new products, is there a taste testing involved in that?

Craig Kerr: Yeah, there is a taste testing involved with that.

Can I sign up for it?

Craig Kerr: It's amazing how many people want to sign up to be taste tester.

It's a very long line.

And it is i is important because as I said, we all have different flavor palates.

And you know what you like I might not like, but we have to have enough people that can they can buy a drink somethin that the market's kind of like.

Kristi: Well, let's go take a look at the brewery behind the scene.

Craig Kerr: Yeah, let's do it.

Kristi: Oka I'm here with Shannon Moore now.

And she is the sales manager for the brewery, which involves a lot more than selling beer.

Am I right about that, Shannon?

Shannon Moore: Yes, absolutely.

Yeah.

There's a there' a couple of steps along the way.

Kristi: You do wholesale distribution, new packaging, new products, marketing and all of those thing have changed through the years.

I know you've been here over 20 years, have you not?

Ish.

Shannon Moore: Close ish.

Yeah, yeah.

Whereas there was a small gap in there, but, Kristi: Yeah.

Well, let's talk a little bi about some of the biggest trends that you are seeing in terms of those new products that have come to market in the last few years.

Shannon Moore: Well.

And on the beer side, you're seeing a.

Lot more, sour beers.

We make a couple of shower here.

You're seeing breweries.

Our size starts to develop.

Those a little bit more and getting those out into the market.

So just that's another trend that, you know, become popular in the.

Last six, seven years.

Kristi There's a new trend called rtds.

Tell our viewers and our listeners what that stands for, because I feel like it's really important for them to understand.

Shannon Moore: So it's a ready to drink cocktail.

So, you know, you don't have to get out your your highball glasses and, and, peel your own lemons for your drink because we've already put in a canned for you.

Kristi: So nice.

Yeah.

Shannon Moore We we do that for our customers.

So we.

We have one called the momm Mule, which is a, Moscow mule.

We have one that is a rum based.

Tiki.

Drink called Tiki Twist.

And we have our newest one with a, partnership with the University of Toledo and it's called Rocket Booster.

And that's a vodka based blueberry lemonade.

The ready to drink cocktail, segment.

Really came from people.

These are.

You know, when we talk about craft beers, we talk about, the ingredients that are made in those.

And, and we know going into i that if you're drinking an IPA, it's going to be higher caloric content with the ready to drink cocktails.

Those vodka.

Based ones, those are a little bit lower in calorie and can be a little bit more, exciting for.

Kristi: So yeah, less calories, as you said, maybe presumably they're thinking a little healthier.

Shannon Moore: As much as alcohol can be.

Kristi: So nice.

So you work with organizations to brand products for them.

Shannon Moore: We do.

It's important.

To, you know, we've.

Been around for 30.

Years and it's important that we we keep the our community roots strong.

And we have great community partners such as the University of Toledo that we love working with.

Kristi: How do you come up with your ow label and design and name here.

Shannon Moore: We come up with the name and kind of a generalized concept of the design.

And then we have a designer that we work with locally.

Kristi: Well, Shannon, thank you so much for your expertise as an industry we didn't know a lot about until today.

You and Crai have really helped us so much.

So thank yo so much for welcoming us here.

Shannon Moore: Thanks for having us.

Kristi: At the end of the day, success in the brewing, food and restaurant businesses is tied to giving your all to customers through tireless work ethic, taking risks to dive deeper into your vision and passion, and continuously offering high quality products that meet customer needs so those customers can't wait until next time.

And that's a wrap on this episode of Business Life 360.

Thanks for joining us to learn more about the exciting innovations in business and the trends affecting our region.

The nation, and the globe.

I'm Christy Kay and I'll see you on the next business life 360 .

Announcer: Connect with Christy Kay on LinkedIn at Christy Kay Hoffman.

And here are the business live 360 with Christy Kay.

Conversation on FM 91 on Thursday mornings.

To watch previous episodes an more, visit our website at org.

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Wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Business like 360 with Christy Kay is made possible in par by KeyBank National Association trustee for the Walter Ette Hoon Memorial Fund and ProMedica Toledo Hospital, celebrating 150 years of serving our community.

Also by viewers like you.

Thank you.

For.

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