What It Costs to Build a $12M-a-Year Grocery Store ft. Sammy Nussdorf of Meadow Lane

There's always been income insecurity and massive wealth disparity in this city. So I don't know why that was suddenly new. I guess maybe they were polling statistics. But there's always been scale to goods and services. There's always been a range from automobiles, from Toyota to Rolls Royce, from economy to first class, from, you know. Generic to name brand. McDonald's to Michelin fine dining restaurant, you know, from an affordable grocery store to a not so affordable grocery store. Why is this news? Zara to Chanel. Correct. Like what's and these are all necessities. Foods are necessity. Automobiles are necessity. Health care is necessity. There's always been a range. So I didn't understand why my 20, my 2000 square foot store was getting blasted so much because there's other stores that sell very similar things. For. Higher price tags. But they didn't get the press coverage we did. And that is because of my marketing on TikTok. Yes. It generated enough buzz where like other that others didn't. What's up, rich people? It's me, Haley, a.k.a. Mrs. Dow Jones. And this is Financial Tea. The summer was incredible, but I'm already looking forward to fall and getting back into all my routines, eating healthy. The balance wheels would factor. It's really. My non-negotiable for a reset factor makes chef crafted dietitian designed, ready to eat meals. So you don't have to choose between real food and convenience factor. Murals are ready in two minutes and require no prep and no clean up. So even on the days your schedule is completely out of control, eating well is still achievable. Ninety seven percent of users agree that factor meals help them live a healthier life so you can feel confident that you're already doing something good for yourself just with every meal. I love their salmon burgers and their protein shakes. They are. The perfect start to long work days. Let's eat real. Head to factor meals dot com slash Mrs. Dow Jones 50 off and use code Mrs. Dow Jones 50 off to get 50 percent off and one free breakfast item per box for one year. Wall supplies last until 1031 2026. That's code Mrs. Dow Jones 50 off at factor meals dot com. See website for more details. The other day I was going through my desk. And I found a journal right from when I graduated and it had pen and paper how much I spent each day at this time. I think I was making around forty thousand dollars in excess cash flow was pretty tight. So I had to watch every penny. I think about how far we've come with technology and advancements to help us with this stuff. We don't need a journal with pen and paper anymore. The answers are out there. And Monarch is one of those answers. Monarch is literally it's like having a financial advisor in your. 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Or just inflation I was using pen and paper now you can use tools like a full financial advisor in your pocket and that's called Monarch so what you want to do is you want to go to Monarch dot com use code trading the first year of Monarch core is half off at just fifty bucks that's fifty percent off your first year just go to Monarch dot com with code trading what's up rich people it's me Haley aka Mrs Dow Jones and this is financial tea the podcast where I teach you how to build wealth with a side of market drama money scandals and of course financial pop culture now I have a question for you have you ever heard of metal lane it's this luxury food market in Tribeca that has been truly the talk of the town like all over my tick tock since it opened in November last year which is crazy for a grocery store like a grocery store to take over the culture I feel like that's very rare there is a truly a line out the door every day and the opening was even featured in the cut Vogue New York Times Forbes and more and people are obsessed with metal lane because they sell luxury grocery items many of which are at a high price point so like twelve dollar grapes fifteen dollar gluten free chicken nuggets six hundred and twenty five dollar caviar but they're also obsessed with the founder Sammy Nussdorf because he built the whole business in public on tick tock and at first when I heard about metal lane I thought this is the textbook definition of a micro luxury which are basically I don't know if you've ever heard of the lipstick index but it's this theory that during recessions or economic downturns consumers typically pivot to smaller luxuries like a fancy lipstick because they can't afford the big stuff and in this case instead of a lipstick index it's basically a chicken finger index like those fifteen dollar chicken fingers are the new like buying the road lip treatment it makes you feel rich even if you don't have any money to buy it so it's basically a chicken finger index. money in the bank in an economy where people are struggling to find jobs and everything feels more expensive than ever and in a city where we elected a mayor based on an affordability crisis why are we waiting in line for twelve dollar grapes and honestly the interview was so interesting there was so much more to the story it was so juicy we covered his generational wealth the state of micro luxuries his public scandals or his raw chicken fingers all over tick tock from his store and of course the business of curation because this man knows how to sell a vibe I really hope you enjoy this interview with metal lane founder Sammy I loved talking to him Sammy welcome to the show okay guys for this week's market report I want us to just take a collective deep breath because I know that all of our feeds are filled with global conflict updates and the vibe is really heavy the news right now is so scary and it really does feel like since the strikes on Iran happened the world has has shifted. Like there has been a complete vibe shift. Certainly there's been a portfolio shift. Like if you have money in the market, I'm sure that you are seeing it a bit in the red, which is scary. I'm recording this on Monday morning, March 9th. The Dow is currently down over 800 points and oil has spiked past a hundred dollars a barrel. And so I've been getting a lot of DMs of people panicking, but also people like asking me, Haley, should I be buying the dip? What is the right financial move to make right now? So I just wanted to sort of walk through what's happening and how I'm reacting to all of this instability in the market. Because I feel like we don't really need to go through the other stories. Like this is the main story. This is the most important thing that's happening right now. So this is a special edition of Market Report where we're really just going to dive in to how to invest and how to financially react in the market. So first of all, I want to say that my boyfriend Warren Buffett always says that volatility is the tax that we pay for getting to grow wealth in the market, which I love because basically like, yeah, like getting to grow money, like having your money compound, having it, you know, grow exponentially over years and years is amazing, but it doesn't come without heartache and moments of insecurity and moments where you're like, what the fuck should I do? Just have kept my money in cash. And so this might be one of those moments for you, but just know like that's normal and that the market going up and down is actually healthy. That is a normal part of a market cycle. Like people hate weight fluctuations and they hate market fluctuations, but market fluctuations are actually totally to be expected and they shouldn't affect your long-term financial plans. They really are going to happen every year for the rest of your life a few times a year. So just like plan for them, know they're coming. And when they do come be like, Hey, old friend, good to see you. I knew you were going to show up eventually. Okay. So now I'm going to tell you the three things that you need to know to navigate all this instability, like a pro. So number one, you've got to understand the oil situation because that is why inflation might rise and why your gas and your grocery bills might start acting up. Maybe they already did start acting up. So basically we are looking at right now, a massive war risk premium. And that is because Iran is threatening to shut off the Strait of Hormuz, which is where 20% of the world's oil flows. That's crazy. So the market is obviously panicking that oil prices are going to stay North of a hundred dollars a barrel. And because everything that we buy gets moved by fuel has petroleum in it. Like oil is just such a big part of the economy. This is a huge deal. So when you see the market dipping, it doesn't mean that these companies suddenly got bad at their jobs. It just means that investors are worried that high energy costs are going to eat into corporate profits. So hopefully once you understand the why it stops being so scary, I will also say like America is hedged in terms of our oil supplies. Like we are not getting all of our oil from Iran. So hopefully this works itself out. But in the short term, yes, there should be a lot of oil in the world. But in the long term, there should be a lot of oil in the world. But in the short term, yes, there should be a lot of oil in the world, but we're not getting a lot of oil in the world. So we're not getting a lot of oil in the world. So we're not getting scary. And it's not like a mystery. It's just math. The second thing I want to talk about are portfolios. Should you buy the dip? Should you panic sell? And here's the thing. When things get scary, the market tends to do what's called a flight to safety. So like people, people are very emotional with their investing. They really like to let their emotions be their financial advisor. And in moments like this, they like to dump speculative tech stocks and run towards gold and the dollar and keeping their money in cash. So if you're seeing a lot of red right now in your portfolio, it means that you're probably heavy on growth. And that's okay. That doesn't mean that like you're screwed. Geopolitical shocks historically have always just had short-term market impact. So like, I have no doubt that your portfolio is going to bounce back, but just make sure that you don't. Sell while you're down because then you're just turning a paper loss into a real one. So I'd say for most of us, the smartest move right now is to do nothing. And I've also been getting a lot of DMs about buying the dip. It's all about time in the market versus timing of the market. So I always get weary of giving advice about like, this is the moment let's get in. But also if you have been sitting on cash and waiting for a moment to get in, this is historically what those moments do look like. Um, I did buy, I did buy the dip today just because I funded my SEP IRA, which is a retirement account for people who are self-employed. Um, and I was waiting to invest it. And so we're putting it, I'm putting it into the market today and I'm buying broad index funds. And if you're wondering exactly what I bought, which index funds I'm personally in right now, but I never get keep this. I have a free guide that I'll put in the show notes that has like every index fund listed that I invested. Um, but again, this is not financial advice. So, uh, take it with a grain of salt. And then number three, the third thing that I wanted to talk about are flight prices, because obviously we are all planning our hot girl summers. Um, and flight prices are about to get insane slash already insane. Jet fuel prices have nearly doubled in the last month, which is crazy. And it's all because of this conflict. So of course, airlines are adding like fuel surcharges into their tickets. So my advice is like, this is a moment to really lock in on your points. So if you're in a situation where you're in a situation where you're in a like, if you see a flight price, you can live with, of course, book it today. Don't wait for a deal that's coming while oil is as high. You can always cancel a flight. So it's better to just book the flight that you think that you might want. If you see a good price for it and then deal with it down the road, you can always move things around, but also most major airline points programs. So like think like aeroplan or United mileage plus like any of the other ones, they don't pass fuel surcharges. So if you're in a situation where you're in a situation where you're surcharges onto you when you book with points. So you're essentially spending a shadow currency that isn't tethered to the price of oil. So if you have a trip planned and you have points just sitting there, I would use them now. I'm going to go to Greece this summer. I go to Greece every summer and I'm going to book those flights like today or tomorrow. And like I said, you can always move them around, but I just want to lock in the prices. But yeah, points are really the best way to do it because you're effectively erasing the wartime inflation on your vacation. Okay, so those are my three tips. Don't panic sell. Book your flights now and understand why gas prices are so high. And I know that the world feels heavy, but remember your finances don't have to be a source of trauma. Just stay calm, stay invested, and use your points like the future rich person I know you are. So that is the market report. Now let's get into the rest of the show. So welcome Sammy Nestorf, the founder of viral grocery store Meadow Lane to the financial tea. Before we really jump in, I just have a few questions for you. Okay, what gives you the financial ick? Things like Hermes blankets. They're so bad. So bad. Like why do you still do it? I know. Or like the pillows. The pillow, like all of the bait products that people buy to like try and get it. Yeah. But also they don't know that the sales associates know if you're buying the bait products and then they won't give you a market if you buy them. Yeah. Yeah. There's a whole algorithm. There really is. There really is. Anything that like screams, this is the brand, you know, I guess I am a subscriber to quiet luxury. And then do you feel rich today? Emotionally, spiritually, just like, however that works for you, bank account. Um, like, you know, some days you're like, damn, like I've got some money in my pocket. You know, I've never thought about that. Okay. Well, this is why you're here to like do deep thinking about your finances. I guess I feel emotionally rich today. Because you're more together. Cause I'm just in a good mood. Okay. Fine. Don't make it about me. It's a rare occurrence. Oh yeah. Fair enough. Yeah. Okay. So obviously your grocery store, I'm obsessed. When I was in Tribeca the other weekend, like I was trying to get in. Can you talk to me about like, just start with Meadow Lane. Like why did you call it Meadow Lane? First of all, I was thinking of what to name the business and I wanted to encapsulate a destination. And I thought lane or pond or road or something like made it a place that you could envision in your head. And because of my floral background, I wanted to add meadow because it's very lush and it reminded me of like lush, quaint place. But also, you know, I did technically get the name from the street in Southampton. It dissuaded me because of the street in Southampton. Wait, really? Yeah, because I didn't want it to seem too pretentious. Wow. Oh, so I thought that you were like actively trying to connect it to like this very expensive zip code. Like it's like this aspirational place. No. And my fear of that was actually like people saying the counter argument was like, no, like it's aspirational. Like people know what that is. And like, I was like, I don't know if I'm on board with it. It kind of gave me the ick, honestly. But I loved the name for a grocery store. I love the name too. But I feel like so much of the buzz or like desire. To shop at Meadow Lane is because it does feel aspirational. Like it feels like this destination and like you can go there and you even no matter what's happening in your bank account or whatever, when you walk in those doors, you are able to buy like the same thing as like a super rich person and like sort of cosplay that experience, which I think especially for like Gen Z and millennials is exciting because obviously like, you know, lots of inflation, student debt, the job market is messed up. And so we look for these like micro luxuries to make us feel like, you know, we're economically successful. Yeah, I was just reading about that. And before I wasn't, I didn't agree with it. Now I'm thinking, okay, people aren't able to buy like, let's say a Miu Miu fleece or a Kelly or whatever it is. So it's these like micro purchases of subscribing to a trend or a luxury, but it's more accessible. I don't know if my target recurring customer base is doing that. I think that they just like prepackaged healthy food, to be honest. I mean, maybe some people are sporting like a gourmet grocer tote bag and thinking like that's a status symbol. But I think most of our customers who are locals who come every day or almost every day just enjoy the food and they want grab and go easy, convenient food. Obviously, the grocery store has been, I don't even want to call it grocery store because it sounds like it's a prepared food market. Yeah. Okay. Prepared food market, Medellin, has been super successful. So how much do you gross in a week? I don't look at it per week. I look at it usually day or month. So day on average is around $30,000. Wow. And a month around a million, but it's super dependent on the weather. Wow. Yeah. So weekends we'll do around $50,000. $50,000 a day. Damn. And then really slow days, you know, freezing outside, inclement weather, it's around like $16,000, $18,000. What is the profit from that? I don't know if I want to share that. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. Because, well, I mean, it brings me to my next question because it's like how do you price things? Like obviously you're making, it's super successful because people love the food, but also because the actual like items, items in the store are priced so highly. So like, how did you, how do you decide how to price things? Have you tried lower pricing? What happened? They're not that pricey. Oh, you're okay. I think objectively they are, um, in relation to the neighborhood, you know, Tribeca is the highest price per square foot in Manhattan, which means it's the highest price, one of the highest price per square foot in the Northeast. So given the affluence of that neighborhood and the locals. Keep the local businesses afloat, it's priced reasonably, especially given that most of the org, uh, the ingredients are organic, uh, and it's very high quality meat and produce and all of the ingredients. So, uh, you know, it's pretty on par with every other gourmet grocer actually below, uh, and kind of comparable to a sweetgreen. And just to be clear, we're not sharing, we know that it makes a million dollars a month. Well, Yeah. It's still only grossing a million dollars a month. We've we're still in the first 90 days. So we don't know. I mean, given that the first 90 days were very cold winter months, it could well exceed that, but the run rate should be current. currently around 12 million a year damn um and that's without catering that's without partnerships and you're a full full owner full owner um but you know it's still tight like that doesn't account for cost of goods the more volume that you do the higher cost of goods labor is extremely high it's not like that lucrative of a business until you scale it so you and you won't tell us the margins it's it's very low the profit margins are low the gross margins are standard i mean there's other stats i can give you give us a stat i know you've brought some numbers for us like share a number brother in the first 90 days of operations we've had 70 000 transactions that doesn't necessarily mean 70 000 individual customers because some a lot of them are repeat customers that's crazy yeah 70 000 for a 2 000 square foot space is tremendous that's insane yeah let's see we've sold a quarter of a million units of items so it's a lot it's a lot of volume keep going the only reason volume business the only reason we're operating at a profit is because of volume volume like someone needs to take some of our food like our average meals and compare them against other prices yeah other restaurants or other places and their prices it's not that crazy you need to do a video on that i know um and we've also been able to give back like within the first week of opening we donated 30 000 to city meals on wheels love so we're gonna try and do way more of that once we level off and tighten up as much as we can yeah let's see so we've done three million in revenue so far damn within 90 days so yeah it's like a million a month basically this is a great business i think for spring summer it's gonna well exceed that oh these are interesting stats so we've sold over 750 000 in chicken and i'm about to try the chicken yeah spread between only a handful of skews poor 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order and 365 day returns now available in canada and the uk too that's q-u-i-n-c-e.com slash financial t this summer was incredible but i'm already looking forward to fall and getting back into it so i'm going to go ahead and get ready to go to the to all my routines eating healthy the balanced meals with factor it's really my non-negotiable for a reset factor makes chef crafted dietician designed ready to eat meals so you don't have to choose between real food and convenience factor meals are ready in two minutes and require no prep and no cleanup so even on the days your schedule is completely out of control eating well is still achievable 97 of users agree that factor meals help them live a healthier life so you can feel confident that you're already doing something good for yourself and you're going to be able to just with every meal i love their salmon burgers and their protein shakes they are the perfect start to long work days let's eat real head to factor meals.com slash mrs dow jones 50 off and use code mrs dow jones 50 off to get 50 off and one free breakfast item per box for one year while supplies last until 10 31 20 26 that's code mrs dow jones 50 off at factor meals.com see website for more details i feel like for okay i feel like there is this phenomenon though where people do value things that are more expensive more highly like a lot of people say that like with i do financial um planning or advice for people and like it actually when things cost money they end up completing it more because they value it and it like took some sting or something from them to to get it versus if i gave it to them and they didn't get it and they didn't for free and then it leads to them like actually you know like completing the program or something like that like there's like this whole idea that like with price brings value do you like do you think that people like when things are more expensive yeah i mean when i was marketing the business and talking about price point they're like oh i'm kind of disappointed the chicken salad's only twelve dollars like i wanted it to be more like i want to treat myself i'm like well you could still treat yourself and it can cost you less like you know i think around swamp chicken salad's like 22 it's crazy ours is 12 wow okay a deal in this economy i mean the chickens we get are like incredible like it's it kind of is especially in the neighborhood um that's why i think it's priced very reasonably um the the the profitability of metal lane is not based on margin it's based on volume so our margins for prepared foods are extremely standard you could probably spend more money on a coffee at starbucks or a blue bottle than a metal lane coffee where i think people think it's more expensive than it is is the press creating this narrative by only focusing on a 65 bottle of olive oil and a 750 jar of caviar which is like osietra and like the big one yeah you know it like they didn't really want to cover the 12 chicken salad yeah you know or the 15 tenders which you know that's a lot of protein in there and they're very nice chickens so it's not a crazy margin it's just about the volume that we do i mean having a thousand customers a day that's crazy you're able to keep your business afloat while not inflating your margin like obviously people know about air one and it's so la so uh such a destination there was there like inspiration to sort of create like the new york version of air one with metal lane not necessarily i lived in la for about a year and a half and i frequented arrow on i frequented air one a lot um and i loved it there i just loved how aesthetically pleasing it was i liked the prepared foods the produce was amazing um i think i was more inspired by dean and luca and round swamp i thought the culture of air one was interesting in terms of like people making that an activity because i always viewed going to the grocery store as a kid as an activity yes something fun yes uh it was like my favorite place as a kid and the idea of people getting dressed up to go to the grocery store and hang out and sit outside and eat their food was really cool to me yeah i don't know if i necessarily implemented that into like the ethos of metal lane but i was definitely inspired by i guess air one to an extent but mainly dean and luca and uh round swamp it was just like this feeling you got when you went there and i wanted to create my own feeling that i thought my customers would experience when they came to metal lane yes i market it in a very niche kind of like creative way but i think like i created the customer before we well before we opened and who would you say is the metal lane customer i think there's many different kinds of customers there's tribeca locals um people doing hauls for their families uh you know twice a week three times a week they don't want to cook uh it's the investment bankers at city goldman it's the girls at vogue and conde nass that walk over it's nurses and doctors and dermatology offices nearby yeah there's even students that come from nyu or uh whatever the other one is with the store like what is the rent on the space because obviously tribeca is so expensive the rent is around 31 000 a month oh so you guys are doing great yeah and then how much did it cost to like build it out because it's so stunning the build-out cost was considerable i'll just say that can we name names no no okay but you obviously went above budge um we went above budge but we will we will make up our capital expenditure in a very short amount there you go people do assume online like they i feel like they do think you're just like swiping a family black card to open a shop because like you know your parents have money but like let's just settle the books like how much of your own skin is in this game do you have investors is is it the bank of mom and dad like how did we create this a hundred percent of my skin is in the game i know it is i can feel it so before i worked in the grocery industry i was working in venture capital at my my family's office yes so my dad opened a family office a couple blocks away from my apartment convenient and i didn't i didn't necessarily want to you know work from he works in the distribution business yeah so what is the family biz it's a healthcare pharmaceutical beauty distribution business so he buys things like toilet paper q-tip shampoo fragrance pharmaceuticals and distributes it to retailers. Um, so I did not want to go into that business. That was not very enticing for me. Um, but he opened a family office to like do some investing, manage some assets, things like that. Tell us like what a family office is. Cause I feel like it comes up on the podcast a lot. So like, I always am like, let's just like make sure it's clear. Yeah. I mean, family offices are typically for high net worth individuals or families or several families, um, where there can be a number of things happening. You could be using it as like a house to invest in different companies, private equity, VC, um, management of assets. Um, I feel like that's, you know, there's accounting, there's bookkeeping, there's things like that. It's like tax optimization, but it's also like you have like your own little hedge fund, like investment. Yeah. There's different arms. Um, and at the time it was a collection of all of it. And I started working there during undergrad in the summer mostly. And I got really interested in the VC aspect, which was probably 10% of the family office, very small. And I just wanted to explore VC more. And over time I made more and more investments and I allocated around $27 million. Um, not angel checks, like considerable checks, uh, in these startups and other VC funds as well. And today it has a fair market value of a hundred million. Whoa. Okay. What were the companies that you invested in? Many, I can tell you the ones that have exited, uh, which is Coterie diapers. That's a huge one. Yeah. Coterie has gone to the moon. Yeah. Um, touch land, hand sanitizer. Oh my gosh. People are obsessed. Yeah. Invested in that pre pandemic. Oh my gosh. So these were all like series a, uh, I invested in built the company has like a 10 or plus billion dollar valuation now. So I know it's unfathomable. How'd you get that deal flow? And also how did you analyze those deals? Like, was it gut feeling? So obviously we had an analyst, but all of it was gut. Um, you know, we made sure the numbers looked good, but like I had this visceral somatic experience when I would know for the most part, if this brand was going to take off, you're really good at knowing like what the next gen wants. You know what I mean? Like even meadow lane, I feel like fits into that category, but like built is like a credit card for next gen where it's like, okay, we're optimizing paying rent or like, you know, the hand sanitizer, it's not like a squirty Purell. It's like a chic, you know, touch land smelly fun experience or, you know, Coterie like, yeah, fancy to put a fucking diaper on, you know, let's make it aspirational to like wipe the babies better for the environment, better for the environment. Of course, always important to be good for the environment. They love to have that as like a little byline, but you know, you sort of have like a magic touch in that moment. Yeah, I was good at it. You aren't doing it anymore. Not really. I mean, if I see a deal come through, maybe like if it really sparks my interest, but my focus is meadow lane. So, okay. I want to obviously talk about like what the future meadow lane means, but so then you're saying that you, of that, so you put in 27 million of the family offices money, that portfolio is now up to a hundred million dollars. How much of that did you pocket and like put into the business? I get profit share. I get carry basically on the deals I invested because that money, that money wasn't mine. That money is my dad's, but it wouldn't have, you know, it wouldn't have grown without the decision-making around those deals that we were doing and the sourcing of those deals. So I wanted to use some of the money that I made to finance meadow lane. Cause that's what I wanted to do. I could have kept doing VC, but I was like, this is kind of getting stale for me. Like, I don't know, this sounds like really pretentious, but like I can just sit here and keep making a lot of money, but I'm really, it's not like filling my bucket. I wanted to feel like more inspired. I became a pandemic and I loved working with my hands and I was always passionate about food. So I wanted to bring together a bunch of my passions under one roof and finance the business through that money. Like how much did you put into meadow lane? I think you can say that. I don't think that's like, so several million dollars went into the tomato and it was all from your good investments in the family office. So you had the leg up of being able to invest papa's money, but no one can tell you didn't grow that money. And then, you know, no, I did. And like my nepotism awarded me the opportunity to grow for my dad essentially. Um, you know, but there's plenty of people that invest their family's money or work for their families and tank it. Well, that's what I was going to say is like, Hey, are you the favorite child? And B it's like, yeah, like literally how many people do you know who are like, Oh, I'm investing. And it's like, they are not doing it successfully. In the years, everyone became an investor. They're like, yeah, I have a fund. I have a fund. Do you have any LPs? No, absolutely not. And I'm like, wow, I would never invest with you. I'm like, Ooh, I would absolutely never trust you with my money. Right. It was a great experience. And like, I won't apologize for having been dealt a hefty set of cards. You played it well. Yeah. I mean, I thought I played it well and I'm glad I did. And you know, it's an ultimate luxury and privilege to be able to start your own business. And like, why not take advantage of that? I'm not going to like sit around and mope and be like, Oh, poor me. Like, you know, I want, I get to do what makes me happy. And that's like such an amazing thing. And if I can inspire a young entrepreneurial audience in saving costs when starting their business by not spending money on ads, advertisement agencies and PR agencies, marketing agencies, and they can do it themselves on TikTok. Like why not? Well, let's talk about the TikTok thing, because I do feel like you've actually created a problem for many founders because now it's like, because of you, Sammy, every person who starts a company is like encouraged to build in public. They all think that they can do it like Sammy, like, because you really like built the company on TikTok every day, showing your followers what was going on. And it created this like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, like connection to the brand and hype and just like interest. And so like, how was that so conscious? Was it something like walk us through that? And you're a genius. When I was putting together Metal Lane, I met with a marketing agency or two. And they were telling me things of their strategy that just, I didn't agree with. Like what? Just boring, traditional institutional marketing strategy. And like 15 grand a month quoting me, I was like, absolutely not. Yeah. You're like, in what world? Yeah. I was like, I don't like selling things too hard. You know, like I want to showcase something, but I don't want to force you to buy it. Like I hate marketing where it's like, you need this, you know, I hate that energy. So I was like, I'm going to do it myself, but I don't know how. And I didn't have TikTok on my phone yet, but I downloaded it. And I just saw people post their makeup tutorial, their hair tutorial, making a flower arrangement. The guy in Australia doing the dance videos with the flowers. I love those. Love. People love to see how things are made start to finish. Get rich. This is the new reality TV. And no wonder viewership and movies and TV shows and reality are down. People are looking to short form content. It's so good. To learn things, to watch the news, to see how the financial markets are doing. It's quicker. And we're like, maybe that's a bad thing. Yeah. But that's the reality we're in. I was like, how cool would it be to build the business in public? Oh, so it was really, it was like thought out in that way before you even made your first post. That was the only thought. Like, what if I just get people excited for something and, and see what my customer wants before we open? Yeah. And I didn't know how it was going to go. I never anticipated it becoming what it did. So I just started with a taste test video of like overnight oats and parfait cups, and it took off and people were so like locked in. I'm like, oh, I should do, I should do more of this. I should go through the menu with them. And then I was like crashing out over some delay or something. And I did a video about that. And then they were like, wait, talk more about the construction and the permits. Like, how does that work? So you're like teaching something as you go, but you're also collecting consumer data because you're like, oh, this is what they want to see. Yeah. Oh, they don't think the brand color aligns with the brand. Like you just, and because of the delays, I was able to learn so much and co-found the business together. I love that. With an audience. And it was, it was like, it felt like support. Such a loser. I'm literally like going to cry. It's a beautiful story. Wow. That's so cool. I like that you're sort of like snarky too. Like you're like, you're always in control of your own narrative. Like it's like. Hardly. What do you mean? I feel like you definitely clap back. I clap back, but I'm not in control. Not in control of your narrative, but on your page of your narrative. Like you're not like going to acquiesce to someone like bullying you online. You'd just be like, no, I'm not doing that. The bullying and the trolling doesn't upset me very much. It's, when people twist the narrative and where does the narrative get true what's what are the lies that you've heard biggest lies online oh there's no way he financed his own business you know back to what you were saying like yeah it's kind of unfathomable to think a 28 year old could finance his own business and I'm like it is and I don't think I would have been able to if not for the nepotism that I was born into but also that gave you by having it self-financed you also had the freedom to make so many decisions from your gut yeah versus having these like annoying no offense because you are one vcs being like well the data shows and this and that and it's like no at the end of the day like you your gut is your most powerful co-founder yeah and I don't if I had listened to my best friends and my closest family members this business wouldn't have gotten off the ground there you go but you have like a lot of issues like there was like you know you also dealt with a lot of conflict online like you know first week raw chicken nuggets this that like talk about it a little bit and then you're like oh my god I don't know what to do with this building in public is a double-edged sword to say the least you know it is why the business was as viral or is as viral as it is but it's also you know it's also feeds into this like changing your narrative thing and every win is widely broadcasted but every mistake is widely broadcasted so you it's also you know it's also feeds into this like changing your narrative thing and every mistake is widely broadcasted so you know it's also feeds into this like changing your narrative thing and every mistake is widely broadcasted so you know it's also feeds into this like changing your narrative thing and people were very upset that when they got into the store most of the food was sold out so there was a lot of pressure on the kitchen to keep making food we had to hire a third shift in the kitchen the kitchen was operating 24 hours a day wow you know it's a new team it's a new kitchen people are still learning yeah and mistakes get made and things fall through the cracks and we're we were just trying to keep up with demand as best as we could and we're still learning and we're trying to keep up with demand as best as we could and we're still learning and we're still learning and a tray of chicken nuggets which we make in-house and then freeze so that we're ahead of schedule you know we take them out we thaw them and then we fry them so one tray wasn't thawed enough and they went into the fryer appearing to be cooked but that inside was pink af the inside was pink af yes it could happen to anyone okay guys when i first started mrs dow jones i was selling a lot of merch i was selling a lot of merch i was selling a lot of merch i was selling a lot of merch i was selling a lot of merch and it was a business idea that i was sitting on and then i set up shopify and it made it so easy to get started because they truly have everything you need to start selling and you're ready from day one including the moment your first customer is ready to pay shopify checkout helps more customers finish their purchases and when they come back their details are already saved so it's just one tap and they're done and that's because shopify handles the setup and the checkout so you have more time to focus on growing your business and the tools to do it shopify is a great place to start selling and you're ready from day one shopify has been so helpful in mrs dow jones and making the business more accessible and i just like really loved using them when i had that store they power millions of businesses worldwide from household names like mattel and jim shark to small businesses just getting started so go to shopify.com slash financial t for your free trial that's shopify.com slash financial t to start your free trial shopify.com slash financial t every time i've moved or redecorated my apartment buying a rug has always 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that's ernesta.com so back to erwan like obviously erwan has like those viral celebrity smoothies the hayley bieber which by the way it's a milkshake like that is not healthy at all um would you ever do something like that like because i know that you used a lot of influencers within your launch like would you ever do like butterfield does the influencer smoothies even i was ordering something from a restaurant yesterday and they had like an influencer cookie collab like were you down for that i'm not really down for it okay um i also haven't really collabed with influencers a lot of influencers were reaching out like oh let's do a video together and this was pre-opening so i was like sure um but no one was paid like we've spent zero dollars on marketing advertising and press so i have a very strict line with that i will not pay anyone to come to the store and i won't discount anyone to do a video um i think that that cheapens the brand uh with la culture around food and beverage it's very la and i think that's fine i think for new york it's like more subtle you know the celebrities that come into metal lane all the time it's very chill it's very subtle i think making a celebrity endorsed product at this point it's like metal lane needs to become its own tiger before it rides off the back of another tiger i love that like i need to earn it myself and not piggyback off of some big well-known celebrity to amass more customers it's just not my vibe i've turned down tons of people and brands for collaborations on bowls or smoothies or salads won't do it i mean until mrs dow jones comes out with her own right her own ball i bet that's the only one that you would do obvious and that's really why you're here so sort of propose that to me i turned down i recently turned down your name names a very big one that used to have a what we'll say it and then we'll cut it out wanted you a metal lane that's sort of hard to say no to not really no matter who it was i wasn't gonna a pay for oh you have to pay them probably yeah i think i don't know actually but i wasn't gonna take something that had been done especially with all these air one comparisons i already get you know i wasn't gonna be gimmicky i'm like a copycat kind of yeah i hear you where are you in like where are we going with this like are we gonna do other locations are we gonna see metal lane in the groceries and like not nationwide in grocery stores like a metal lane chicken finger that you can buy at whole foods like what's the there's so many different ways that you could do this yeah back when i was launching this i was like if this business breaks even i will be happy damn because it's a tough business it's a really no it's such a hard but you it's like you've really cracked it yeah but we became we were operating at a profit on week two so good crazy most restaurants need at least a year minimum uh so i was like oh this might actually be something and the you know we can go in multiple different directions so expanding with different locations okay which neighborhoods do you think are most like metal laney i have an eye on a small one in the west village that would do so well yeah decent size one flat iron small one in noho large one on the upper east side oh like a little butterfield competitor you gotta get that fro-yo going brother i don't want to deal with fro-yo people love fro-yo it's such a nightmare they love it it actually is i actually looked into starting a frozen yogurt business and the margins were so bad and it is a nightmare because you have to like clean the machines yes they always break down it's such a it is a nightmare yeah and i also like don't want to try and do something that someone else has done really well i know but even when i go to air one though like i like their fro-yo too like it's a fun thing to add on at the end yeah i'm gonna have a little sweet treat nothing wrong with that yeah okay but i don't hear brooklyn so i actually have to leave now it could it could be dumbo or um yeah can that be first maybe we need it we'll see okay what are so if you don't expand what are the other ways that we could do this you could run simultaneous streams so you could do cpg so there's certain items that are shelf stable that we make in-house like granolas and uh roasted nuts or kale chips uh even uh certain pastry items that we could sell to other retailers okay so i haven't worked on that yet because like we've only been open 90 days yeah it's so crazy um but it is in the back of my mind okay so you opened in a political moment where the new new york city mayor ran on taxing the rich and the affordability crisis and you feel like any tension between what meadow lane and that mood, like, do you think about it? that? I mean, we were delayed a year. So the planning on opening was not strategic. We were delayed and it was out of our control, which was thoroughly documented on TikTok. It's not like I intentionally opened amidst this affordability crisis, which, by the way, like was happening long before it was advertised in the press. Like there's always been income insecurity and massive wealth disparity in this city. There's always been a range from automobiles, from Toyota to Rolls Royce, from economy to first class, from, you know, generic to name brand, McDonald's to Michelin fine dining restaurant, you know, from an affordable grocery store to a not so affordable grocery store. Why is this news? Zara to Chanel. Correct. Like this and these are all necessities. Food's a necessity. Automobiles are a necessity. Healthcare is a necessity. So I didn't understand why my 20, my 2000 square foot store was getting blasted so much because there's other stores that sell very similar things for higher price tags, but they didn't get the press coverage we did. Yes. And I think it was also you too, because people hate generational wealth. Yes. And the only publication to write about this topic was the Wall Street Journal, which was like last week. They were the only ones to cover it doing the history of gourmet grocers, you know, like from when Air One was founded. Oh yeah, I saw that. They did such an amazing piece on that. Yeah. I was like, thank you. Yeah. Like, is that like our journalists are finally doing journalism, you know, versus like these other publications that are just like saying, you know, posing it as like this new idea. I'm like, you guys like don't do research, you know? I mean, why wouldn't you be more outraged by like the thousand dollar ahead omakase restaurant versus my $23 bowl? I mean, objectively I am out of touch. Yes. Of course. But don't you feel like that's like, like that, that was, they've, they villainized you because you were an individual and because like you stood for sort of the antithesis of this new Mamdani age. I mean, it definitely contradicted his, how he ran his campaign because when the New York Post has a headline that says what affordability crisis, there are lines around the block to get into this grocery store selling $65 olive oil. You know, it was so politically charged. Right wing media was like, there's no affordability crisis. Look at Meadow Lane. Left wing media was like, does New York really need a luxury grocery store? I'm like, babe, there's like 20 in a five mile radius. Yeah. Like, what are you talking about? So no one captured the fact that two things can be true at the same time, that amidst an affordability crisis, there are still a large cohort of individuals that can afford a premium on food. And this is not at the end of that luck spectrum in terms of premium. Okay. Really excited about this app. Feel like there's something here for us as well. You know, maybe we're leaving with a kernel of a friendship. Of course. Yes. Maybe even more than a kernel. I don't know. We'll see if the chicken finger is raw. But thank you for being here, Sammy. Thank you for having me. Stay rich. I know you are. On any journey using Uber, it helps to know you're getting into the right car. PIN verification adds an extra step to make sure your ride is your ride. Before the trip begins, your app gives you a unique PIN. Just tell it to your driver and they'll enter it in their app before the ride can start. Hey, what's your PIN? Mm-hmm. 2538. That way you know you're in the right car taking the right trip and your driver knows you're the right passenger. Make sure your ride is your ride with PIN verification from Uber. One more way Uber is putting safety at every turn. Learn more on the Uber app.