S15 E06: Richard Sandoval, Founder and Executive Chef at Richard Sandoval Hospitality

[Music] You're listening to the luxury item, the podcast on the business of luxury and the people and companies that are shaping the future of the luxury industry. Here's your host, Scott Kerr. My guest on the luxury item is celebrated chef and global restaurateur Richard Sandoval. Richard Sandoval has made a significant mark on the culinary world with his innovative approach to contemporary Latin cuisine. From the chefs beginning as a graduate of the Prestige Culinary Institute of America, Sandoval has become a global pioneer in the fusion of Latin ingredients and modern culinary techniques. With an impressive career spanning multiple roles, his contributions extend beyond the kitchen. He is excelled as a restaurateur, entrepreneur, television personality, cookbook author, brand ambassador and philanthropist. Richard Sandoval's restaurant group, RSH, has built some of the most successful Latin restaurant concepts across the globe. His culinary empire now boasts over 60 locations across four continents, each renowned for its award-winning flavors. Some of his partners are globally trusted luxury hospitality brands like the four seasons hotels and resorts, the Ritz Carlton's, international hotels and others. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades. His work has also been acknowledged within honorary doctorate for culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University. Welcome to the luxury item, Richard. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me. You know, many top chefs grew up in environments heavily influenced by food, often with family members who were chefs who were involved in the food industry. Others developed their passion for cooking through personal experiences like learning from family members or exploring their local cuisine. You grew up around the flavors of Mexico as the son of a Mexico City restaurant tour, and as from what I've read, being around a grandmother who had a knack for turning meals into full-throated celebrations. Could you talk about the culinary environment that you grew up in? Yes, absolutely. I was a young kid I grew up in my grandmother's house and you probably know it, but in Mexican culture, everything kind of evolves around food and family gatherings. And so my parents were separated and I was living in my grandmother's house. And for some reason, I always gravitated to the kitchen. I remember vividly the books that ladies were cooking at the house, would lift me up and sit me on a counter. And I was kind of always watching them and I was watching the taste food and at this and at that. And little did I know, but at a very young age, my palate was starting to get formed. So yeah, and then every Saturday and Sunday at my grandmother's house, there was this table that's had about 20 people and it was all uncles, cousins, aunts. And the whole family would get together every weekend. And my grandmother being the main truck of the family, she'd sit at the head of the table and the cooks would just bring. Flatters of food that you know, they would place them in front of her and then she would serve. And then the plates would start to go around and it was course after course. And you know, in the middle of the table, you always have tortillas. You had, you know, panella cheese, you had, you know, beans, I have a cattos. I mean, it was it was a full experience. Yeah, so I think that was probably the most impactful thing that I looked back now in my career as a young kid, not knowing I was going to become a chef, but my palate, you know, being formed. My grandfather was also, you know, he was a banker and so they did a lot of entertaining at their house and always having parties. So they were always importing cheeses and butters and all these things that most kids would normally never see at such a young age. My grandmother was saying, hey, look, come here, taste this, this, you know, good off from Holland or taste caviar. So I was already experimenting with these things that, you know, I would have never had the opportunity. It had not been for my grandmother. And like you said, also, you know, my father was a restaurant tour and later in my life, around 13, you know, I was living with him and he had a, you know, an iconic restaurant. And so I grew up around, you know, that restaurant. And again, I always migrated to the kitchen, not knowing this is what I was going to do in my future, you know, in my life. But, you know, again, I was always talking to the chefs in the kitchen and kind of watching kind of what, what, what they were doing. So yeah, that I think that's without me knowing that was, that was what was, what was inspiring me for what my future life was going to hold, right? Yeah, but the culinary world wasn't your earliest passion. It was tennis and traveling the world with hopes of becoming a professional tennis star. In fact, you played professionally on the ATP satellite circuit for several years after college, including against, you know, the likes of Samperes and Agassie. At some point, you decided to swap your tennis racket for a chef's knife and enrolled in the prestigious culinary institute of America in Hyde Park here in New York. What was the motivating factor to set a course for following your father's restaurant based footprints? Well, you know, you know, I think I was, you know, I was in my early 20s and I was at Crossroads. I was, you know, playing the circuit. Like you said, you know, tennis was my, you know, my true love. I started playing a very young age, you know, played through high school, you know, through my teenage years. Did the circuit play college? At some point, I realized that, you know, playing the circuit, I was not going to probably be able to make a career out of that. But, you know, let me, well, I was traveling playing tennis. Again, I was always migrating to the markets. And I always felt that to understand a culture and people, you know, the food was a great way to do it. I was always interested in all these different foods that I was traveling the world. So at one point, you know, I said, well, you know, I'm not going to continue to do that. I can't afford it. I can't, I'm not going to make money out of it. So, you know, I have a couple of seconds, either go teach tennis and, you know, people who know me, I have two gears, you know, park or drive. I don't have like the middle gear, right? I did everything I do. I do, you know, full on. And so I said, you know, I can't teach tennis. So, you know, you love food. You've always been around food. You've always gravitated towards kitchen. Your father owns a restaurant. So it's only natural that you know, you know, you tried doing something with food. And I said, you know, let me, yeah, let me enroll at CIA and then, you know, come work with my father and kind of follow. You know, he was not a chef. He was more of a businessman. So I was very fortunate that when I chose this path and I went to work with him is I learned the food being in the restaurant, you know, but I learned to be a businessman and that luckily. And because of that, you know, I've been able to be successful as a, you know, chef restaurant tour and succeed at this, you know, very difficult industry. Do you still play tennis? I do. Unfortunately, as I said, I had two years park and dry. So last time I played, I, you know, I hadn't played in 15 years, you know, made it to the finals of a tournament and on Monday, you know, my, torn my rotator top, my, you know, I can't do anything like, you know, I'm not a leader. And you know, like many such graduates of the CIA in in early 1990s, you started cooking French food. And so coming from a household where preparing traditional Mexican dishes from scratch were meshed into your upbringing. What was your first impression of French cooking techniques when you first got to CIA? Obviously, I mean, you know, the basis for cooking, you know, is that's gofier and all the cooking techniques, you know, you know, from, you know, from from from France, right? I mean, the history in, in Poland, I mean, I go, you know, many centuries back, right? So when I started seeing, you know, I went to CIA to learn all the other techniques and my goal was to eventually, you know, translate that into using Mexican ingredients. So once I, you know, graduate from CIA went back to Mexico for my father, then I decided to, you know, move back to New York to open seven seven seven seven. And so the reason I dabbled in in kind of French is kind of what I knew and I want, I did not want to dabble into into the New York market and not understanding it right. So with a small restaurant, I was able to understand, you know, how the industry worked, you know, that, you know, Ruth Riker was a review with that. And so it was important that, you know, you couldn't bribe people, you know, maybe like you did in Mexico to get good reviews, right? This was truly based on on on merit. So, and then savanna, I started to play around with, you know, it was French American. And so I started to do, you know, you know, put in some, you know, Mexican ingredients. I started to play and and and and work, you know, test people's palace, you know, as I introduce some of these Mexican ingredients. So yeah, I mean, for me, it was very important to understand how New York worked. And I was the, you know, the toughest food city for me in the world. And as they say, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. I didn't want to go straight into Mexican, not understanding how Mexican was perceived in New York. And wow, was I, you know, was I challenged once I realized, you know, what, you know, how people, you know, viewed Mexican food. And you know, before you open sub-nest, after graduating from culinary school, you went back to Mexico to work for your father's restaurant and learn the finer points of running a business to being an actual owner right away, a very different path from most culinary school grads. Do you think that worked to your advantage? 100% I think, you know, sometimes it's chefs, you know, we don't understand that at the end of the day, you know, it is a business right and that, you know, you do have to have costs, you know, you know, labor is important, you know, inflation, you know, you need to understand all these, you know, aspects of how you run a business to be successful. And it can be the greatest chef and we've seen a lot of, you know, great chefs fail because they don't understand, you know, the business side of it and it's more about, you know, their, I shouldn't say this, but they're easy. ego and executing these amazing dishes, but having a 50% food cost, it's not gonna work. It's gonna go for a few months, maybe a year, and then it's not gonna be able to continue because you're not turning a profit. So absolutely, working with my father and understanding, it's funny because he was obsessed with the finer details of running a business. I mean, and you're probably laughing at this, he almost knew how many sheets of toilet paper were used per year based on the cover counts of how many people he did. So he was very intricate on counting everything and really understanding, and he instilled that in me, and 100%, I'm successful because I understood both sides. I don't run a business, but also understood, the culinary side, and I like to say, have a good palate and people like the way I play with food profiles and ingredients. - Yeah, and after when you open your third restaurant, Maya on the upper east side of Manhattan in the late 1990s, contemporary Mexican restaurants were farmed for you between in New York City, there was like Rosa, Mexicano, Cinco de Maya, Zerrell, and a few others that had their own takes on authentic Mexican cuisine, but Maya tapped into a whole new modern approach to the culinary traditions of Mexico. Was it difficult at the outset to get people's heads wrapped around the idea that Mexican food isn't just about fajitas, tacos, and nachos? It's also about grilled cactus leaves and Cassadilla stuffed with zucchini blossoms. Was it hard at first for people to understand that? - Yes, 100%. I mean, I said, I mean, I was probably two months from closing until Ruth came in and gave me two stars and gave people a different perspective, right? I think the first reviews that I would have, that the restaurant would get, people would say, well, why should I spend $50 at Maya when I can go to Margarita Villain, spend $12 on a combo plate, right? So that was like the connection that people were making and until I was able to explain and say, listen, I mean, don't compare me to Margarita Villain or Taco Bell or these places because they're not bad, I mean, they're good at what they do, but that's not what I'm doing, right? Compare me to some great Italians, some friends, some Mediterranean, because I'm using similar techniques, my ingredients are different because I'm using, like you said, with like, orches, zucchini, blossoms, crema fresca, tortilla cheese. So I'm using these Mexican ingredients with similar techniques, but I'm also using the same proteins, you know, I'm using, in a rack of lamb, I'm using, you know, fillets, I'm using, you know, sea bass, I'm using brand-zinos. And I think when people started to make those connections and understand what I was doing, I think that was a turning point and how people started to realize that, yeah, this is not Margarita Villain, this is not a Taco Bell. You know, view it for what it is, from that lens, and once they understood that, then, yeah, and then we were off to the races. I mean, once that review came in, I mean, we were doing 250 covers every night. Wow. For the next, I don't know, 10 years or so, yeah, it was, it was an amazing run. And in the decades since Maya success paved the way toward a hospitality group, global empire, over 60 restaurants, across four continents, 13 countries, and 10 of them in the US, you've said in interviews that your passion for introducing Latin cuisine to the world, continuously inspires you to bring new things to different markets and regions. And you've done that with restaurant locations in Greece, Malta, Serbia, Qatar, and elsewhere. Latin cuisine's popularity has exploded worldwide across demographics and geographies. What have been some of the biggest rewards and challenges of introducing Latin cuisine to new cultures and regions? I think the most important thing for me, and I just, you know, tell you a little taco story, it's interesting, kind of marked what my path was going to be. I was about 13 middle school, Langtanis in California, you know, very nervous, new country, you know, my most Canadian-spoken English, but I still, it was very different to me. I remember going to, you know, sing the menu for the cafeteria and they said, we're having tacos today and I was like, oh, wow, you know, so they do something, they do know something about Mexico, that's spectacular. So I kind of just want, I got a little warm feeling in a different sensation. I go into the cafeteria and I see this like taco fell, you know, with ground beef, sour cream, and lettuce, and I go, oh my god, you know, what is this? I've never seen this before. You know, this is what they think is Mexican. And in Mexico, it's a handmade tortilla with al pastor, with marinerita por, you know, fresh cilantro, you know, onions, the salsa verde. And I said, and at that point, I said, you know, how I wish that one day I could have people see Mexico from a different perspective, a different lens. And so to answer your question, you know, that's kind of what I was able to accomplish, right? I think, you know, not just by myself, but like you said, you know, Zorella started it, you know, Josephine Howard, that rose in Mexican, you know, Rick Bayless, all these great chefs started that path and I kind of continued and I, you know, took it, you know, globally. And today, you know, you can go to Serbia and the market and find avocados, right? Before they didn't even know what Mexican, what a chili was, you know, you can go into Marrakesh, you know, and eat, you know, al pastor tacos. So yeah, for me, it was very important, you know, for people to see different, you know, see Mexico from a different lens, from a different perspective. And I think through food, I've been able to accomplish that, as you said, you know, have, you know, over 50 restaurants around the world and, you know, Dubai, when I went to Dubai, I mean, there was one Mexican restaurant. Today, there's 40 or 50, right? Yeah. So yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I think we're just starting to see, you know, the curve of Mexican food, you know, how it's growing and how, you know, how much farther is going to go. So what other far-flung regions are you looking to break ground in? (laughing) I don't think there's many left. Maybe the moon's not getting. Antarctica, have you done that? Antarctica. I think Australia, I'm still not there. You know, Asia, you know, I did some stuff in Hong Kong, but I think it was a little, it was, it wasn't early because it was actually just a bad partnership because there's a few there I thrive. And one that I opened, you know, still doing very well, but I had a difference in vision from my part as I walked away. So I think Asia still has huge potential. I think the Middle East, like Saudi, and I think they're just starting to, you know, battle it into, you know, these, you know, into tourism. So I think it's going to be great opportunities there. But even more than Mexican, I think, you know, with one of the restaurants that I created, you know, Tora, I think it's also an opportunity to showcase, you know, foods from, you know, Colombia, Venezuela, I think, you know, there's still a lot, you know, of foods and things, you know, from South Central America that people are still not even aware that exist. - You know, in many ways chefs are food philosophers. When one of your dishes goes out of the kitchen and into the dining room, obviously it's your philosophy on a plate. I was reading an article about your recent opening of your Tora restaurant in Chicago and you said the primary vision for Tora is deeply rooted in your mantra, which is old ways, new hands. Could you talk about that philosophy and how you communicate it to your yes through your cuisine? - Right, yes. The mantra, you know, old ways, new hands, I was trying, I don't know, 15 years ago. And it was kind of, you know, taking all of my, you know, grandmother's recipes and flavors that I experienced a young kid into my new hands, right? With, you know, French technique and all, you know, you know, different ways of cooking things, you know, lightening things up a little bit, you know, and kind of evolved it. But other cuisines have evolved, you know, French, Italian from, you know, classical to, you know, you know, new world, new world French, you know, Italian went to pizza and buses to some of the best restaurants in the country. So, yes, I wanted to evolve and my mantra was, I always knew hands. I was taking, you know, these recipes, you know, from one generation, you know, to me, you know, with new techniques. Now it's my go to transfer it into, you know, to my kids and we also have a program called, you know, co-oper, called, "All the Way's New Hands." And so this is kind of going full circle. Now it's, you know, downloading, you know, my 30 years of business into these new generations to this program, right? You know, as I, you know, you know, right off onto the sunset in the next, I don't know, five to 10 years, you know, how do I take all this information and pass it on to these new generations? So it's through this co-oper program. So I think it's gone full circle from all the ways new hands, you know, my vision to now, you know, through this, passing it on to the newer generations. - These days, there seems to be a trend towards fine casual restaurants. The shift isn't just about cutting costs, it really reflects a change in consumer expectations for high quality food in a more approachable setting. We're seeing more chefs blending luxury and convenience, creating dining experiences that feel both elevated and accessible. So when developing a new restaurant concept, do you first think about what type of dining experience it should be like fine casual, fine casual, et cetera, or do you start with how can I create a new and memorable dining experience for yes? - I think both. I think, you know, first, yeah, I mean, first I say, you know, how can I create a new experience, right? I mean, people are always looking for newer, you know, not newer, but new things. You know, trends are always changing. I mean, the way people eat habits are always changing, you know, people eat a lot more healthy than they did. People are more concerned with if it's sustainable or not sustainable. So I think all these different things that people look at kind of impacts, you know, what, you know, you create. So first I do, you know, I do look at, you know, how I can create a chef and, you know, I like, you know, to create things and a new thing. So first and foremost, yes, how do I make something different, you know, from all my experiences, from all my travels, And then too, how do I create an experience that blends with what's happening in today's world? And like you said, I've always believed and I've always had a saying to everybody, I said, no matter what you're doing, if it's a sandwich, make sure it's the best sandwich, right? I've said, I mean, I don't know anything about Russian food, but if someone told me to cook Russian food, I'm going to study it, I'm going to go by the best ingredients possible, and I'm going to make sure that it tastes, that it's balanced well, that it's seasoned correctly. I don't think people sometimes take the time to really go through all the steps to make something great. And so to answer your question, I mean, I personally, I like casual dining, right? But I like great casual dining. So just because it's not fine dining does not mean it cannot be great and have great ingredients. I don't know if that answers your question. Like when you thought about creating Ton, the Tulum inspired restaurant here in New York City, how did you approach that? It's funny, yes, because when I was going to do Ton, we were just coming out of COVID, and everybody in New York was spending a lot of time in Tulum, and I said, well, people love Tulum. It's a lifestyle. I mean, it's fun, it's casual, you're on the coast. So it's impacted by seafood, so I said, let me now, COVID's over, people are not going to ask, so let me bring Tulum now to New York. And so that was my thought process, and then how do I create a cuisine? And I did what I called Tulumi's cuisine, right? So kind of, you know, went to see kind of the style of foods that they were doing in Yucatan, you know, in my area, and I partnered up also with a friend of mine, his name is Honatangomiz Luna, who was a Michelin star chef in a restaurant there, and I said, you know what, let's collaborate. You know, today I like to do a lot of collaborations, and so him and I kind of, you know, collaborate on what I call Tulumi's cuisine, close to cuisine. In the restaurant industry, diversification helps navigate the high-risk and costs associated with it. Aside from restaurants, Richard Sandoval Hospitality Group also provides services like consulting, brand licensing, operations, and marketing strategies to partners. And on the licensing side, luxury hotels like the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Ritz Colton, Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, and others, hire RSH to develop a destination restaurant brand within their hotels. That gives you increased brand recognition, expanded reach, and control over the brand story. So when did you start seeing the opportunity to elevate the experience for your guests by forging strategic alliances in the luxury hospitality sector? Right. Well, I mean, I think we start, we started seeing this happen probably 20 years ago in Las Vegas, right? When Wolfgang Pock and some of the famous chefs started doing licensing deals within the hotels. And I think at that time it was more about, you know, you know, taking care of their, what they call the whales, right? The big gamblers and they wanted to have, you know, the best chefs cooked for them because they were spending 100 millions. And so, you know, they wanted to just really enhance their experience. They're dying the experience. So they made these alliances. I think, you know, when I saw that and, you know, my first licensing deal happened in Las Vegas. They asked me to say if I would do a restaurant that, you know, they were repositioning the Treasure Island. And I agreed to it. And I think what was happening is I think, you know, in Europe and Asia, you know, that culture, you know, looks to go into hotels for dining and eating because it's not so safe to be in the streets. But in the US, we never had a culture of going to hotels. It was always independent restaurants. And I think that slowly started to change and hoteliers and realize that, you know, partnering up, you know, co-branding with, you know, well-known chefs, not only enhanced, you know, their hotel experience, but people, they could capture the guests. And it's just in the room, but also go to the restaurant if it was a name chef, you know, being down there, but also attract people from the community. So I think before restaurants and hotels were just amenities because they had to have them, people were staying there. But now they realize that if they brought a brand, you know, they could, you know, on multiple levels, increase their revenue, you know, co-brand, you know, it's good for great, for group business, for average daily rate. They could ask for more if it was a very well-known restaurant that was busy. And I think today more than never, you know, people, when they look to book a hotel, you know, they look at, you know, do they have a good bar, do they have a good restaurant, they don't just look at the room anymore, right? They look at all, make sure they have all these elements. So I think both myself and the hotel industry realized that together we could not be successful expanding my brand, but they also, they could also, you know, again, at the end of the day for them, it's revenues, right? How do they, you know, increase, you know, that and with, with, with having great restaurants, you know, they were able to accomplish that. Do you see the licensing part of your business playing a bigger role in the coming years? Yes. 100%. So I think about five years ago, I decided to, you know, go more in the licensing direction. And if you see at the 60 restaurants, I think 45 are licensing and, you know, I think 10 or 14 are, you know, company owned and, and yes, I mean, I think it's, if you're going to be, if you're going to go global, you know, I've at an early time realized that if I wanted to go open and, and, and Dubai, I mean, I couldn't go by myself and do, you do a free standing restaurant, you know, for, for multiple reasons, right? First, I don't understand the laws, right? And, you know, how often am I going to be there, you know, when you're, you know, 14 hours away. So having a local partner, you know, really made, you know, a difference because, you know, they were investing their money in you. So they were going to protect their investment, spend time at the restaurant and make sure they watched, you know, the, the, the, the operation. So yes, I think, yeah, for me, as, as a global company and, you know, thriving in different markets, for me, licensing is, is, is probably the, the, the best, the best way to go. But, and just, but just to add to that a little bit, I still continue to open, you know, my own restaurants because I think that's kind of my farm team, right? Yeah. Where I create new ideas and I think owners of hotels also like it, like, to know that I also know what it's like to open a business because a lot of a lot of chefs sometimes, you know, licensing, you get paid. I'm regardless of, you know, whether, you know, the restaurant makes money or not. But for me, I've always said, you know, if it's not success, it's not making money, you know, it doesn't work for me either, right? You, you, you, you have to make a success. And owners like that that I understand, you know, what it is to, you know, to make, to make a restaurant success. An initiative that's been getting a lot of buzz pun intended is your mission to highlight the vital role that bees play in, in our food cycle. And this spring for the fourth year running, you're back with Viva Bejas dinner, which translates into long live the bees in Spanish. Could you talk about your initiative to bring awareness to the importance of bees to our food system? Right. So, I mean, so not many people know this, but, you know, almost, you know, almost three or four bites that we take are impacted by polarization, right? So the bees, you know, play a big role in our, you know, in our, in our food cycle. And, you know, after COVID, you know, their habitats were, were dwindling. I mean, we lost almost 60%. We didn't know exactly why. So when I, you know, was made aware of these things, you know, as a restaurant, tour, as a chef, you know, I thought it was my responsibility, you know, to try and do something about it and create awareness. So for me, you know, the best way to do that was, you know, younger generations, right? If you impact them, you can impact the future. So, you know, we wrote a book, a children's book called, you know, Viva Bejas has long lived the bees. And so yearly we do, you know, book readings, you know, the books, you know, it's for Seryl and Amazon. And then we do these dinners. You know, I did one last night. I've been one today, which some of the, you know, the money gets donated to the, you know, World Bee Foundation, you know, and them through AI and chips, you know, that they planted through a habitat that we learn more about the bees and how and why, you know, they are where we're at. So yeah, so it's through partnerships, through dinners, through, you know, book readings. I think we're making some, you know, getting some grounded and educating people on, you know, why the bees are so important to our habitats in our world. I want to say about plant-based cuisine. It's no longer just an alternative, but a standard in fine dining. Renowned chefs are innovating with plant and laboratory proteins creating sophisticated dishes such as beet tartar with seaweed caviar or mushroom ravioli with black truffle responding to the growing demand for healthy and sustainable options. Have any of your restaurants started showcasing more plant-based dining options? Yes, 100%. And I think as I said earlier, I think, you know, people's, you know, way of eating has evolved right and people have realized you have to have a more of a balanced diet. I mean, you cannot just eat, you know, beef or, you know, certain proteins. You know, you need to be more balanced. I think plant-based, you know, give you some of these vitamins and elements that you need, you know, for your body to thrive. And so yeah, I mean, at some restaurants, you know, we've had at Zango, we used to have vegetarian menu tasting. You know, now when we do our menus, you know, we try to at least have two or three plant-based items in our, you know, appetizers and entrees. personally have gone almost to an 80% plant-based diet. I have more energy, I sleep better. I think as we get older, it becomes harder to digest certain things and plant-based obviously because of their progeny and the way they're made up, it's easier for your system to digest. So, absolutely, I think that plant-based is only going to continue to grow. A lot of these proteins that are made in labs have actually very nice flavor profiles, they have very nice textures. So, I think we're going to see that to continue to grow. I've seen some studies where they say that eventually, be full-fled now, plant-based will continue to grow. Technology is also transforming astronomy with artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and nanogastronomy to personalize experiences. Have these type of advanced technologies entered your world yet? Yes, 100%. I'm 58 and I'm not technologized. I'm embarrassed to say that. Well, you're certainly not artificial intelligence. You're the real thing. The real thing, but yeah, we use AI for a lot of things now. To give you an example, my marketing department, one of the biggest departments in our office, we have about 7 to 10 people. Through technology, you're able to impact people's habits. You're able to drive business to your restaurants. So, there's so many things. For me, the most interesting aspect of it is that now it's measurable. Before with advertising and things, it is measurable, but not to the point where it is today, where my director might tell me, "So, Richard, if I do this, this activation is programming, they get into the website, they click, they reserve, and now we know they came into the restaurant." So, it's very measurable. For me, it was always very hard when I can't measure something. And so, technology, for sure, entered the hospitality. And I think we're not using it as much as we will in the future because it's a great tool, like you said, in many ways. Not just marketing, advertising, but how you impact people and their habits and what they like to eat and how they're going to eat. So, yeah, I think it's an amazing tool. So, Richard, my final question is the luxury item question, which I ask all my guests. So, if you were stranded on a deserted island and you could only have one single luxury item with you, what would that luxury item be? It can't be any form of air or water transportation to get you off that island or anything that requires mobile service. So, you can call somebody to get you off that island. It's just you on this lonely island all by yourself. What would that one single luxury item you would like to have with you? That's a hard question. And there's nothing in the island, right? It's a. Yeah, I mean, it's sand and palm trees and you know, lots of ocean, but that's it. It's just you. Right. What would I need to be happy in that island? Well, I mean, I've got. I'm a very simple person. Okay. Yeah, I mean, for me, I mean, you know, I look to live in an island, right? I mean, once I'm retired, I mean, I'm building a house in Cabo and off the beaten pad, but I don't see anything. So, yeah, I mean, I just think the sand, a nice hammock. So a hammock? Yes. So a nice hammock? Yes. I thought it was going to be one of your chef's knives, but that. Once I'm retired, the last thing I want to see is a nice. And a restaurant. Don't fit that in the air. Richard Sandoval found her an executive chef at Richard Sandoval Hospitality. Thank you so much for joining me on the Luxury Item. Thank you for having me. Really enjoyed it. That's it for this episode of the Luxury Item Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this useful and entertaining, I would be really grateful if you can share it with a friend or colleague. I would love it if you subscribe so you never miss an episode. And while you're there, be sure to rate and review us on Apple podcasts. It really helps other listeners find us. The Luxury Item Podcast is a production of Silver Tone Consulting. I'm your host, Scott Kerr. Until next time. (upbeat music)