Food is Fun with Adam Schlegel

If you have ever been to one of Adam Schlegel’s restaurant ventures here in Denver, you probably understand his ethos: food is fun! From cozy brunch spots that aim to make breakfast a party, to a chicken joint inspired by his time in Australia, Adam is on a mission to make healthy food exciting!

Adam is CEO of Cumulus Etc, a consulting company focused on food, beverage, agriculture, and sustainability. Some of the restaurants he’s had a hand in creating include Chook Charcoal Chicken, Sun Valley Public Market, and Snooze an AM Eatery. 

In this episode of Spur of the Moment, Adam sat down with Jocelyn to talk about his passion for healthy food, the journey that has brought him to his current role, and how the industry has not only moving towards a more sustainable future but it’s been doing so with gusto.

Snooze Website

Chook Chicken Website

What is CSU Spur of the Moment?

The CSU Spur of the Moment Podcast tackles the issues of food, water, health, and sustainability by talking with people making a difference in these fields and exploring the unique pathways that have led them to their current roles. Hosted by the Colorado State University System's new Spur campus in Denver, this podcast builds on its mission of addressing global challenges through research collaboration, experiential education, and a shared vision of inspiring the next generation.

Food is fun. I will go into a
restaurant, a busy restaurant,

and it's vibrant and it's fun,

and it's hard to replicate
in a lot of other industries.

Welcome to Spur of the Moment,

the podcast of Colorado State University's
Spur Campus in Denver, Colorado.

And so I think that there's actually
a lot of opportunities in our industry

where we're moving because people are
more aware of where their food is coming

from, of what it actually
is doing to our bodies,

and we actually still just don't have
enough of those options out there.

On this podcast, we talk
with experts in food, water,

health and sustainability and learn
about their current work and their career

journeys. I am Jocelyn Hittle, associate
Vice Chancellor of the CSU Spur campus,

and I'm joined today by Adam Schlegel,
CEO of Cumulus, at et cetera,

the consulting company focused
on food, beverage, agriculture,

and sustainability. Welcome Adam.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

So I'm going to give a little bit of
your bio. Adam is a Denver native,

a graduate of Denver University, and
he started his career in finance.

But in 2006, Adam and his brother
John founded Snooze Am Eatery,

a consortium of breakfast and
lunch restaurants throughout
the Western us and a

place that I have been to many times.

Adam now sits on this news board of
directors and is focused on the community

and sustainability programs
across the restaurant group,

which continues to
grow. From 2013 to 2015,

he served as the executive
director of Eat Denver,

a Denver based nonprofit
focused on education, community,

and advocacy for locally owned
restaurants. As I mentioned,

Adam now serves as CEO
of Cumulus, et cetera,

a consulting company which is focused on
food, beverage, ag and sustainability.

And through this work, he
co-founded Chuk Charcoal Chicken,

is working on the Sun Valley public
market and continues to support Snooze a

eatery.

We are happy to have Adam with us today
to talk a little bit about his work.

So maybe we can start with your work now.

What's a typical day in
the life if there is one?

Not typical, especially now my
family's in a transition mode,

getting ready to move back to Australia
where we've lived a number of times.

So right now I'm in a lot of winding
down mode and trying to set up

anything that I might've started
that's continuing for success.

I'd say previous and when
I was not in movement mode,

not many of my days were similar,

especially I am more or
less doing consulting,

and I think I've always thought of
myself as a consultant in a way.

And with that, what I love about it
is you're always learning new things,

you're always being challenged, you're
always in front of new projects,

you're always in front of new
people. There's just new challenges.

And because of that, each day and
each circumstances is different.

So on a typical week,

I'll spend at least two of my
days at ch and that is working

with the leadership team,
with the managers, with staff,

and it goes from the consortium of how
do you actually make a restaurant work

in this society anymore to food
innovations, to service standards,

to all of those gamuts.
Then maybe I'll switch my hat.

I help my brother at
his winery called Atmo.

There I usually wear a lot more of a flake
of financial and strategy hat and how

do we help mold that?

I've got a good friend of mine who has
a beauty concept called Alchemy Face

Bar. I'll go spend a day with
her and doing the same thing.

It's an amazing concept.
She's trying to grow.

We've been fortunate to grow snooze
when my brother and I were running it.

So I have a little bit of
knowledge on how to do that,

and then the days just magically go.

I have been spending a lot of time on
various boards throughout the city and

state, so whether it was actual board
meetings or meeting with directors or

strategizing or going
to different meetings,

I wasn't really in one place
very much and I was mobile

all the time and luckily everybody allowed
me to wear shorts and flip flops to

everywhere I went.

Sounds.

All right. So it was kind
of fun managed chaos.

So the life of a consultant
cam look like that.

It doesn't always look like that.
Lucky for you that it looked like that,

pretty diverse, lots of
different types of businesses,

but they were and are sort
of in the food system in the

restaurant and culinary world. Can
you say a little bit more about that?

What drew you to that?

What are some of the skills that you
brought to that particular sector?

Yeah, I'd say what drew
me to it was my brother.

My previous life when I left
college, I went and worked for KPMG.

I was a consultant, we were consulting
on telecommunications projects.

So I was fortunate to travel kind
of all over the world doing a lot of

those projects. I can't really say
my heart and passion was into it,

but I learned a ton.

I worked with a very diverse
group and just amazing,

brilliant thinkers everywhere,
meeting new challenges and projects,

but I wasn't fulfilled and I
wasn't necessarily thinking
that snooze would be my

fulfillment.

It really actually was an opportunity to
help my brother realize his dream that

he's always had. I said, yep, I'm burned
out with my job. I'm happy to quit.

I'll help you wherever you need.
If you need a barista or a cook,

I can build a website,

whatever. I think it was like three
or four months actually into the

restaurant space that I started to get
the bug that sometimes happens in our

industry.

I think for me what really kind of caught
the bug was that I felt it was like a

little bit of a nascent industry and
having come from technologies and

systems and development and growth,

I found a place where I felt like I could
utilize those skills towards something

that I was really passionate
about. And in particular,

sustainability has always been
something I've loved and sought after,

but didn't really know or know
where to step my foot into it.

And when I got into the rest industry,

I really realized how
detrimental that industry can

and still is,

and that's where I really
found my opportunity of
figuring out how I can create

some change in that.

So let's dive in a little bit deeper
on that sustainability piece in the

restaurant industry. I mean,

there may be some obvious things that
come to a listener's mind around how the

restaurant industry can have
an environmental impact or
a sustainability impact,

but what are some of maybe the
less obvious ones or the ones that,

what are the biggest levers
that restaurants can pull
that make a difference?

Yeah, I think for many people
in sustainability, if you
didn't study it or know,

it can actually just be such
an audacious, gigantic concept,

you don't really know where to start.

So there was actually a group of us
restaurateurs who were interested in it.

We helped form something that was called
Eat Greener Denver later was actually

one of the helpful catalysts for the
green business certification program for

the city. And we would get together
on a monthly brainstorm session.

One of the things that we pulled
from it, and I still love it,

it hasn't caught on the
way I think it should,

is that we actually just built out
something called the 12 Months of Green.

And it was trying to identify each
month a different area that you

could focus on, whether it
was the Buser or the CEO,

and just say it's December, everybody's
using lights. Let's figure out lighting.

What can you do? Can you put on
sensors? Can you change the LEDs?

How do you think through that month?
Hopefully you've established a habit,

you've made some forward progress and
then roll into January and then maybe

we're focusing on recycling
or compost or energy or water.

Restaurants for their size are the
largest users of water waste and energy.

And so how can you tap into each
one of those elements beyond

arguably the most important one,

which is food and where we get it from
and how it's sourced and how we treat

everyone that does it and what we put
into our bodies and ultimately our guests

bodies.

And I think it's just such
a fascinating onion to start

unpeeling. And the more
that you I got into it,

the more I was just in awe of
what happens and what could

happen.

Yes. And of course one has
to use an onion metaphor,

a food metaphor to talk about
sustainability. Got it. Got it.

Must is the best one. So within the
sustainability world, of course,

their environmental impact is what
a lot of people think of first,

but there's obviously other
components to it, social, economic,

and when it comes to restaurants,

perhaps the things that the pandemic
did for us was shine a light on the food

industry and restaurant
workers and their lifestyles.

And so maybe could you say a little
bit about on the environmental side,

there are some things that restaurants
can do? What about on the social side?

Yeah, I think on the social side

is still I think a great
awakening for our industry.

I think it was an opportunity,

we all really had to look
ourselves in the mirror and try to

understand why nobody was coming back,

what was the situation?

And you could only bemoan and cry
for so long and blame a certain youth

or generation before it had to move
on to something a little bit more

paramount.

And you mean why employees
were not coming back after the.

Pandemic? Yeah. Why employees
were not coming back.

And so I don't think anybody's
necessarily figured it out.

I think that if anything,

there's a future generation that's
going to continue to move towards it.

I think one thing that was also positive
about Covid is that people started to

understand a little bit more
about the economics of food,

the economics of business, how hard it is.

We've been running chook for
almost five years at virtually.

We're a nonprofit at this point in time,

and it's not because we don't pay our
staff well or it's not because we're

stuffing things away. It's just
such a competitive business.

There are a tremendous amount of
governmental hurdles that are inflicted

on this and it's, it's just a hard
business. Inflation was there,

everything was there.
So all of those things.

It's hard when you started pre covid and
you were playing with one game and then

the entire board shuffled.
And that's part of being,

I guess an entrepreneur is you're
always changing and evolving.

So if you were talking to a
high school aged student who

was maybe thinking about what their
career path might look like and

understanding the restaurant and
culinary world the way you do,

what are some of the careers that
they might not be thinking about?

Or if you could say a few things to
convince 'em to enter into the restaurant

and culinary world, what would you say?

I think the exciting part that
I've found about this industry,

and I came from a finance and
marketing degree and I spent years

in corporate America consulting.

I have loved the ability to create change.

I've loved the dynamic
fast moving culture,

the ability to dig deeper onto so many
subjects that the end of the day really

matter to me. What we put
into our bodies truly matters.

The fact that restaurants are the third
or fifth largest employer in the entire

country and how do you
continue to shape that,

I think is really exciting.

I think the fact that you do get to
work with such a diverse group of

people and that there's no,

I think this is almost true
for just about any degree,

but there's no perfect degree
to get into restaurants.

They all actually really apply.

And from a finance guy
to a liberal arts major,

to a number of other folks,

you can utilize those skills. And it's
actually been really fun both in snooze

and in Chuck of having people that have
worked in sustainability and saying,

this is actually a really great place
for you to use your degree because this

company cares and they
also want to get better.

And so I'm not the answer
on how it gets better

vastly more than I do.

So help us figure out this
solution because we're creating a

movement that can actually
have a profound impact.

And food is fun, and it can be,

it's really, it's hard to
say that after three years,

but I will go into a
restaurant, a busy restaurant,

and it's vibrant and it's fun,

and that's hard to replicate
in a lot of other industries.

Food is absolutely fun. No
question. And to your point,

I mean there are lots of different entry
points and there are lots of different

skill sets that you need in the
restaurant and culinary world health or if

you're interested in impact, you can have
health impact, sustainability, impact,

economic impact, local neighborhood
impact, all of those things.

I'm not even listing all of them.

And I mean, again,

it's really one of the reasons
that Alex and I created Chuck was

my wife and I spend most of our weekends
driving around the city and state with

our kids at soccer tournaments and games.

And there's one restaurant that I feel
comfortable bringing them to that's

Chipotle.

It generally is I don't want to feed
my kids a lot of the food that they're

forced to eat. And so for us it
was just like, why can't real food,

good food, delicious food, that's healthy,

but a kid doesn't have to know
that and that's affordable.

Why can't that be more of the norm?

And so I think that there's actually
a lot of opportunities in our industry

where we're moving. People are more
aware of where their food is coming from,

of what it actually is
doing to our bodies.

And we actually still just don't have
enough of those options out there.

Yep. Say more about Chuck. Tell us a
little bit about it. What's the ethos?

You touched on it a little.

Bit. Yeah, so Chuck,

my wife and I went with our two
boys to Australia back in 2013, 14.

My wife's Australian. We
moved back here and my wife,

maybe she doesn't like me saying
this anymore, it's been so hard,

but she's like, we miss
our local chicken shop.

And there are local chicken
shops throughout Australia,

they're in neighborhoods. You
won't find 'em in the CBDs area,

but they're where real people live.
And for us it was like that savior,

it's running late. I need
something healthy, delicious,

affordable to bring home to my family.

We weren't able to cook dinner tonight
and we could just go to these chicken

shops and it was sourced,
right? And it tastes delicious.

And so when we moved back
to the states we're like,

we missed just that
simple notion of doing it.

I worked with Alex Del, who's
James Beard Award-winning chef,

amazing person here who also does
a lot of work in the food system.

And we have both felt that our ability
to make change in our society is

through restaurants.

And so the idea of Chuck came along
really because we felt like we

could be a better steward for our
environment, for the food system.

We could be better employers. We
are a certified B corporation,

not only holding those ideals
that constantly challenges
us to actually become

better restaurateurs and also hopefully
solidifies how we're governed and act

for many years going forward,
especially as I head off to Australia.

Great, thank you. Thanks for giving
us a little bit more background there.

So a couple rapid fire questions for
you just about your work life. So

in recent years,

what are some of the things that you
had to do as a consultant that you

discovered that you really disliked,

like a task or a duty that you
had to do that you really hated?

Hated? I am not good as an
accountant. I've learned,

and it took me a while,

and most people still don't know what
the difference is between finance and

accounting. They're very different.
I am more of a finance person.

It was explained to me, well,

I think once finance looks forward
and accounting looks backwards,

I'm not the best at
those high details that

precision.

I've been fortunate to have a lot
of creativity in the work that I do.

And I found that, and as
a consultant, it's also,

it's hard.

You have to build a second or third
skin because your recommendation

may very easily not be followed.

And so you just have to accept that you
put your best foot forward and that not

everybody's going to take you up on
it. And even if you know it's right,

it's not ultimately yours to run with.

That's always a little bit hard to steer
someone where you think is the right

direction to see it go in
the opposite direction. Yeah.

I can imagine.

But that's also apparent.

Fair enough. It's good experience
for parenting. Absolutely.

What about a task that you thought you
would not like but turned out to be

surprisingly fun?

I think not as much in the consult.

It's a little bit in the consulting side.

So for too many years I tried to develop
this project called the Sun Valley

Public Market or the Denver Public Market,
another three hour ade I could go on.

What I ended up really enjoying about
that was the connections and the team that

we were able to create.

I found myself surrounded
by extraordinary minds well

beyond anything that I could have
ever thought or brought together,

but with this conjoining vision,

able to coalesce and build
just this dynamic team.

I like my alone time. I'm a
runner. And to be in that thing,

and I was actually really amazed
at just how energizing and exciting

that was. The more amazing people
that were jumping on board,

including yourself, Jocelyn. I
mean we talked for many, many,

many times over many years about this
and the pros and cons and what it could

do, but just that whole
experience though it never came to

fruition.

Hopefully someday it may was like a
profound learning opportunity for me.

So another rapid fire question for you.

When you come up against a challenge
or a problem you can't solve,

who do you call?

I call any and everyone.

I've been really fortunate over the
years to make a lot of different

connections with folks from
a lot of different facets.

So if I have an organizational, how
do I run my restaurant question?

I'll call David Bergon,
who's the Snooze CEO?

Or if I have an investment question
for one of our myriad things,

I'll actually call the
original investors into snooze.

I have a marketing question, I
call this guy named Dan Fogarty,

who's the smartest human being on
the planet. I think I'm really,

really fortunate to just have
made a lot of good inroads with

folks over the years.

We've had a lot of good connections
and so I'm really not shy at all.

And I think I've had to learn that
a lot over the years to feel brave,

to feel like I'm not asking too much
to know that I'm contributing. But

I think collectively that's just been
allowing so many great things to happen.

There's a gal named Dana Falk Query
and she helps run the big red F

organization, one of the best
minds and hearts I've met.

And so if it's something like how do we
get more restaurant industry workers to

vote,

that's my conduit or call or a guy
named Juan Padre who runs Creative

Concepts I think it is,

and one of the smartest minds
in the restaurant industry,

and we'll talk about service charges and
tip wages and Michelin stars and all of

those things. I don't have
generally one person I'll call,

but the gamut of questions
is wide and each person

receives my call.

Well, and I think there's a
lot in what you just said.

One is having a network of people who
have areas of expertise that don't overlap

with yours is incredibly valuable,
particularly in a line of work like yours.

And the imposter syndrome
piece is woven in there that

do I have standing to call
these people? Right? A.

Hundred percent. And that
takes time. It does to do it,

but I've always been amazed
at how much people are

willing to share if you
just go out there and do it.

And it's not always just your teacher.

I mean you find that certainly when
you're in school. But beyond that,

people like to tell their story. People
like to tell what they've learned.

And if you come at it
with genuine curiosity

and open mind, you generally find that
people are really excited to do it.

I spend so many hours of my
week talking to folks to do it

because I need that energy sometimes too,

of seeing the entrepreneur and
the enthusiasm and the new ideas.

It takes a little bit of brevity,
but it'll pay off in space.

And you have been working
in this space for a long,

so of course people know that you
have contributed, take your call,

they want to share what they've learned.

And then it sounds like you're doing
the same for your younger folks who are

coming up as well.

Yeah, I think again, it's one
of the most rewarding things.

Elizabeth Nicholson,

she was our hostess at Chuck when we
first opened up and is actually now the

CEO.

And it's so awesome to see
her development and her

growth and to have helped steer
that. And then conversely,

see someone that came from a different
industry was in the nonprofit space and

is now in this industry.

And her take on a problem can
be vastly different than my

take,

which might just be traditional
and she's easily as right as

I am on various things,

there's fundamental things that I'll
just know that she's got to learn.

There's approaches to service and staff
and how do you build that future culture

that I mumble on and she's
actively figuring out those things.

So again, it's exciting to learn.

Are there some moments that you feel,

so we've been talking about moments where
you feel like you are still learning

and the people that you
reach out to learn from.

Are there moments where you feel, I've
got this dialed in, I'm in my sweet spot?

What's happening in those
moments for you professionally?

I think I'm generally good
at puzzles, not like chess,

but strategy puzzles.

I feel like I've been given a good
gift to just kind of put some of those

elements and pieces together.

And so if we're looking at about
it definitely can be things around

growth. That to me was something
I really enjoyed at snoo,

took a lot of pride in and we've done a
fair amount of growth at Chuck and I've

actually probably learned more from
missteps than anything on that. To me,

that's something I feel
really comfortable advising,

especially young entrepreneurs who want
to take on the next steps and figuring

out and trying to just lessen the
pain because it's hard to do it,

but there are better quicker
routes that can be done.

Those are probably the easiest areas.

Or if I need to build a quick budget
and forecast, I still really like Excel.

I'm still pretty good at it.

That's finance. Everyone
budget is forward looking.

Yeah, Excel's the best. Go learn Excel.

Okay. It'll never go away.
So I was going to say,

as you're thinking about the things
that you share with young entrepreneurs

around growth, are there at the risk of
sharing secrets, business trade secrets,

are there a couple of things that you
tend to share with people who are looking

to grow?

I was talking to a friend just this
morning who's looking at some very

aggressive growth and there's
one of my mentors and this guy

named Mark Saper with Snooze early on
and he just said, Hey, speed kills.

And that notion of you're
excited and maybe you just

got some money or people are asking
you for money or anything like that,

but building a culture is
really what makes longevity

happen.

And it's really hard to do that when
there's so many new people and there's so

many new elements and you're pulled in
so many different ways. So that notion,

even though it's so exciting,

is to really be cognizant of
how fast you want things to

go. Also,

there's one of our board members
who was a very high up exec at

snoo, and again,

I went to our board meetings at Sno
less and less to contribute because they

started to really not care what I had
to say. So for me it was just more

learning what it was. And I do remember
one of our board members saying,

if you do the Kings work or you take
the King's coin, you do the king's work.

And I have to mention that to
every person who's looking at

new investors and saying,

you really have to be thoughtful not on
if this is a good person and if you're

going to get along together,

but also your motive for why you
started your business is a different

motive for why this person started
their business and their business is to

return capital and that is going
to be their number one goal.

And it's often a conflict
because entrepreneurs,

yes, they want to make money,
but more than anything,

I feel like they've just got this
burning desire that the world is missing

something and the world is not as
complete if that didn't happen.

And that is not a financial decision
and it shouldn't be because most of

these decisions are wrong,

but there's just that natural
conflict and trying to bridge that gap

requires a lot of thinking through.

Sure. And that tension exists in any
industry where you have entrepreneurs and

investors, right?

A hundred percent. Yeah.

I mean it is kind of rare
to see someone make that

leap across the cataclysm to
understanding how that's being

done. And thank God that there are,

because keeping that ethos of
why that business is special

still generally lies within that brain and

soul,

but it is a tough balance to figure out.

So if you were not doing
the work you're doing now,

or maybe this is a forward looking
question and I don't know it as you are

looking to transition to Australia,

what would you be doing if
you weren't doing this work?

Well, I think about this a lot because
I'm moving to Australia without a job.

And so I can honestly
say I don't fully know,

but I feel like especially
over this past three years,

it's been harder and harder to
really dive into things like

sustainability in the food system that
I felt like I almost had the luxury

of spending time on because things were
working and you knew how the train was

going and it's just been derailed.

And so that's kind of taken a
lot of that focus off of it.

I know in particular Australia has
a lot of mindset and concepts on

sustainability and where it can go and
the food system and it's an island and

where does everything come
from? And it's kind of exciting.

So I'm really excited
to be a part of that.

I've also always loved education and the
teaching aspect and have often thought

about jumping into that foray
and how can I help mentor

future students or entrepreneurs beyond
the way and kind of moving in that

direction.

But I'm pretty open and my two boys
are the most important thing for me.

So if I get to go be a soccer coach
in Australia, then I'm winning.

It sounds okay to me. Yeah. Yeah.
Alright. First spur of the moment.

Question for you. Vegemite thoughts?

It's disgusting. It really is.
It's rough, it's really disgusting,

but it's fascinating to have
two little boys, 11 and 12.

And my oldest one is more American.
I feel like he's got weight,

he's got a lot of emotion as Americans
do and doesn't like Vegemite.

And my youngest is a lot more
even keel and loves Vegemite.

And of course my wife loves Vegemite.

Alright, so as you know,

one of the roles that we are interested
in having the Spur campus to play is

introducing young people to careers
they might not have considered.

And we've hit on a little bit of your
history as we've talked about your current

work. So let's just rewind a little.

So you went from starting a
local restaurant with your
brother to expanding that

business line pretty dramatically
and also working on supporting local

restaurants and advocating
for local restaurants.

So tell us a little bit about what that
growth was like for you as a founder or

co-founder, you and your brother together,

and what was most challenging
and most rewarding.

I mean you've talked about
really liking this growth period,

but what was it like the first time?

Yeah,

the most rewarding thing
was opening up a new

restaurant,

finding people that actually got it,

that understood what you were.

I have this discussion with a lot of folks
when they are thinking about bringing

on a director of something
or ops or anything.

And it always sounds so scary to me.

It's like until you meet the person
and then it's just like, oh my God,

the world just got so much
better. I'm going to be so much.

It's all just gravy now.

So opening up the new restaurants
and finding these people,

I remember meeting Deb Ryan who I
think was the unofficial mayor of

Fort Collins and when we opened up that
store that was our third restaurant and

met her,

it was like what seemed like so far away
Fort Collins and how are we ever going

to do this to suddenly this is going to
be magic. And then you went up there and

the team that was created,
you're just like, this is it.

This is incredible feeling and doing
the same thing in San Diego and working

with a guy named Robert Butterfield who
was my brother's boss for a number of

years and the icon of restaurant
industry and he joined our team.

That was an incredible experience.

The low parts and the hard parts are
just when things don't go to plan,

which is all the time,

and this is real money and real jobs and

real things that happen. And so Covid,

as most restaurateurs will say, I
think it's March 17th, might be 18th,

it was one of those days.

It was just like that was the
darkest hardest day and we had to let

go of over half of our staff and
snooze was in those same boats.

And those are the hard moments is
when you really get kicked in the

teeth and you're left being like,

I don't really have the
answers for this right now.

And entrepreneurial road with snooze.

I think my brother's idea was
very innovative and hadn't
been seen and there was

a lot of tailwinds that really just
helped us do it. And I think Chuck,

which I love and I think is amazing,

has just had the battle that a lot of
other restaurants have had this time and

honestly it's just made it harder to
thrive in this industry right now.

Well, and I think it's
interesting to think about the,

you said it's hard to get kicked in the
teeth and to not know what the answers

are. And I think the pandemic
did that to a lot of sectors,

some more than others.

Obviously the transition to sending your
office home to work from their desks

versus what laying off half your
staff is significantly different

experience and moment.

And I would say the fact that
so many people who are in

leadership positions across a variety
of different sectors had to say,

I don't know,

maybe has opened up a new
era of admitting that we're

all trying to figure this out as we go.

And there are frequently going to be
things that come up that we've never done

before.

I hope not frequently or to this

level and degree,

but I think that a hundred percent
you're right that these things are going

to come constantly up.

Sustainability is a great notion where
the first time around when we brought in

new investors, they
actually were just like,

why do you have a director of
sustainability? Nobody knows what this is.

We're going to get killed by the media
because people are going to come out and

say this is wrong. And we dug in because
we really believed and knew about it.

And then fast forward five years,

we had a new group of investors and
one of their leading questions was,

what are you doing about sustainability?

How does your company go
forward and think about this?

So I think just that evolution in
turn is kind of always persistent.

It's exciting and scary and it takes
a lot of determination. I mean,

I think I've really understood the power
and the need for the entrepreneurial

enthusiasm because you constantly are
told, no, this is not going to work,

this is not going to do it.

And you somehow have to
find this brevity and this

manic desire to still continue
and make these things work.

And it's thrilling and it's
exhausting and scary all at the same

time. But I don't know, like you said,

what industry doesn't have that
and what's not dealt with that.

Yeah,

and I certainly hope that there isn't
something at the scale and significance of

what we all just went through
that does this to us. Again,

I guess more what I'm getting at is
that I think it is an opportunity for

everyone to say, Hey,

we all collectively face things that
we don't know how to address that we

haven't seen before.

And the ability to sort of do what you
were describing when we first started

talking,

calling all of these different people
who might be able to help advise and to

make the next decision.

I think there's the sense that their
people in leadership positions know the

answers every time. And that is
never certainly not the case,

that they know the answers every time.

Maybe it is something that
someone has done before,

but in a lot of cases it's not.

And so what does that problem solving
look like and how can we be more honest

about the fact that
it's a collective thing,

that it's frequently that the best
decisions are made with a lot of voices in

the room. And so that's
more what I was getting at.

Not that we're all expecting to get kicked
in the teeth quite as hard as we just

were. Let's.

Hope not. No, I agree. And
I think that there's a lot,

it's hard to sometimes see just
the entrepreneur that's young,

that has no experience,

that just is dead set that everything
they're doing is right and the entire

world before them is wrong. And
it's like there's plenty of lessons.

But I remember going to
a restaurant conference,

very large conference with
CEOs of the largest Fortune 100

companies out there and just
looking around and being like,

none of you know what to do right now.

I have as much knowledge as the CEO of
Darden at this moment in time because

we're all just trying to
figure out, figure it.

Out.

Something new.

But it is also that collaborative
time because at the end of the day,

we actually all want
our industry to survive.

We actually truly believe that
it's a vital part of culture

and who we are. And so we all try to
figure it out and share practices.

And if you don't have that one magic
bullet or leader that can do it,

at least you've got a couple of really
great minds that are working towards a

problem.

Yep. Ideally. Yep. So
speaking of great minds,

were there any thinking back over the
course of your career, any teachers,

bosses, mentors, collaborators
that were particularly influential?

There's so many to do it.
It's funny. I wouldn't,

and this is not disregard for my
teachers. I've had lovely teachers.

I found a lot more experience and
impact in the actual work world.

My brother actually was a
phenomenal teacher for me,

just never being in this industry
at all and learning hospitality and

what it truly means. And my partner,
Alex, is a genius with food.

And so his ability to understand
that and create that has been

wonderful.

I think of a lady named Sue Powers
who I spent a lot of time with

trying to develop the Sun Valley public
market. And again, I often laughed,

I'm like, why does this lady
even let me in the room to talk,

let alone help try to lead this project?

And just her tenacity and belief is so

inspiring and incredible.

So I can go on and on and on.

I think I've really evolved
my mindset over time

of probably being that young person who
thought I knew all the right things to

actually realizing I know very little,

but I can bring a lot of good people
together with a notion and actually drive

things forward.

So you may have just answered my
next question a little, sorry,

but if you were going to,
that's quite all right.

You can give a different answer
if you want then we get to,

if you were to give your
15-year-old self advice or your

25-year-old self, what would you say
or abstract it? Don't make it yourself,

make it a current 15 or 25-year-old?

I'd say that two things. One is to travel.

That has always been a hope of mine
and I was very fortunate to do it and I

implore anybody anywhere to do it.

Like I grew up in Littleton,

Colorado and I feel like you
can easily continue to have

the mindset of a small town.

And the first time I stepped abroad,
the first time I lived abroad,

the first time I worked abroad,

all of these moments
are just mind changing.

You just can't look at the same problem
with the same lens anymore because

suddenly you have more experience
to understand and view how things

go. So travel, travel,
travel, however you can,

it's very different than vacation. Still
can be enjoyable but can also be hard.

And then I wish I would've
taken more classes and lessons

on things.

The funny one I always think about is
surfing. I left my consulting job the

first time around and moved to Costa Rica
because I was going to go learn how to

surf and I'm like,

it would've been just so much more
enjoyable if I would've just taken a week

worth of lessons and done that. Whether
it's golf, whether it's gardening,

whether it's surfing, whether
it's how to build a spreadsheet,

whether it's how to do
any of these things.

Like if you want to
become good at something,

then you need to give yourself the
tools to start off on the right foot.

Otherwise it's such an uphill
battle. You got to put in the time.

If you ever want to become proficient
at anything but there's teachers and

lessons out there for a reason
and really take advantage of that,

it's just going to
accelerate where you go.

And YouTube only counts a
little in some of these spaces.

It can you a lot. It's pretty remarkable
what you can learn on YouTube.

But having an actual
teacher is next level.

I would say experience
ties both of those things.

And so experiential learning, to me,

I think it's funny when people say I'm a
book learner or no, I have to actually,

I am a visual or I'm like,

I don't know anybody who doesn't learn
when they are actually in the moment.

We would teach people about
sustainability at snooze all the time,

but it was when we brought them to
the compost facility and the recycling

facility and they saw all of these
things in action that it clicks.

I love to read, don't really like YouTube

and I'm not that kind of learner,
but at the end of the day,

I now know that if I want
to learn how to garden,

I actually need someone to
show me how to do it the proper

way and that I'm not going to
do it from a book or YouTube.

I've looked at all of 'em
and I still suck at it.

Me too. I'm a terrible gardener.

And of course it's music to my ears to
hear you say that taking some classes and

doing experiential learning is something
that you would recommend because of

course that's a lot of what
CSU does for lifelong learners.

A lot of our extension programs,
master gardeners for example,

probably I ought to avail myself of the
fact that there are people who really

know what they're doing in the next office
over that I should go and talk to so

that I can get better at gardening because
I'm pretty bad. And Spur, of course,

is really focused on experiential
learning and being able to talk to the

professionals and to watch
'em do what they're doing,

but also get your hands dirty. So
alright, one more spur of the moment.

Question for you. So I know you
are about to move to Australia,

where would you be moving if not there?

I would really love to live in London.

Sounds okay. Yeah. What about London?

My family loves football.
I love the history.

I love meandering down.

Whether it's the alleyways or
just doing Johns through the

countryside I think is just fascinating.

I've been fortunate to live in a lot of
different countries and Australia and

Southeast Asia and Central
America. I don't know,

I think it's such an
unfamiliar, yet comfortable,

wonderful way to explore
and it's just stunning.

And then secretly maybe I'm hoping that
my kids will get selected for some sort

of Premier League team to try out
for. That's probably the biggest.

Reason. Understood, understood. Okay.
You, is your family a Ted Lasso fan,

you guys? Ted Lasso.

Fans? I think we watched the
final about 12 times. Oh my gosh.

And I think my son and I did the
math the other day and we're like,

we can actually watch every season on
the flight over from Australia and we'll

be able to watch all three seasons.
Are you a fan? Love it. Yeah, it's.

Amazing. Can't get enough of that show.
It's almost television perfection.

So where can people find more
information about your work?

Where would you point them?

I would hope that you'd go hungry and
maybe go to one of our restaurants.

I think that would be the best way.

Oftentimes I hear a lot of people
say they don't hear a lot about our

sustainability efforts
in those restaurants.

And to that I would say hopefully talk
to our staff about that because to us

that's how we feel like we
can educate the most. There.

You go.

We'll put the websites for Snooze
and Chuck in the show notes as well,

if anyone wants to see if
there is a snooze near them.

So one last question for you that is
a little bit of a leading question for

myself also, just to have
this information for me.

Other than your own restaurants,
favorite restaurants in Denver?

Can't answer that question.

Can't do it. An occupational hazard.

I feel like there's too
many, so there's too many.

I'll say the amazing restaurant I went
to this morning that I've never been to

was Bonfire Burritos. I think
everybody's been to it already.

I'm just a newcomer. It's in
Golden. Check it out. Amazing.

Amazing breakfast burritos.

And because Australia really does
not have that type of cuisine,

I'm both filling up on
it as much as I can.

And also wondering if I open up
a restaurant again in Australia.

There you go. That makes a lot
of sense. Good, Bon. Fair enough.

That's very good. Fair enough.

I just want to thank Adam Schlegel for
joining us again today on Spur of the

Moment. Thanks so much for your time.

I appreciate it. Thanks Jocelyn. Having.

You bet.

The CSU Spur of the Moment Podcast is
produced by Kevin Samuelson and our theme

music is by kea.

Please visit the show notes for
links mentioned in this episode.

We hope you'll join us in two weeks for
the next episode. Until then, be well.