Defining Hospitality

What happens when hospitality shifts from serving to empowering, when chefs become creators, not just cooks?

In this episode, Dan Ryan sits down with Emmie Nostitz and Zach Knight, co-founders of Tivity, a platform redefining private dining by connecting clients with talented chefs for personalized in-home and venue experiences. Together, they explore how Tivity empowers chefs to run their own businesses, foster creativity, and bring hospitality back to its human roots.

Emmie and Zach share how Tivity began as a passion project and evolved into a chef-centered movement operating across the U.S. and abroad. They discuss their philosophy of quality over quantity, the delicate balance between technology and personal connection, and why thoughtful growth matters more than rapid expansion. From intimate dinners to large-scale events, they reveal how every experience becomes a creative collaboration, crafted with care, trust, and authenticity.

You’ll hear insights on what it means to empower creators, how to manage expectations gracefully, and why true hospitality begins with empathy and human connection. Tivity’s story offers a blueprint for sustainable growth, purpose-driven leadership, and a reimagined future for dining.

Takeaways:
  • By centering chefs and giving them creative control, Tivity transforms both the chef and guest experience. When people feel trusted and supported, creativity and quality naturally flourish.
  • Managing expectations, listening deeply, and fostering genuine connection are at the heart of every memorable event. True care and empathy turn a simple dinner into an unforgettable experience.
  • Sustainable success comes from prioritizing trust, quality, and cultural integrity over rapid scaling. Tivity’s slow, deliberate growth proves that meaningful relationships outlast quick wins.
  • Smart systems streamline operations, but they can’t replace the power of personal touch. Tivity uses technology to enhance connection—not to automate it away.
  • The founders envision a world where booking a private chef is as easy as ordering takeout. By making chef-led experiences accessible and personal, they’re reshaping how we think about dining and hospitality.

Quote of the Show:
“There’s nothing more intimate and human than someone coming into your home, creating a meal, and then sharing that meal.” - Emmie Nostitz

“If the chef has the tools they need to execute a meal, which is their passion or their pursuit, then they’re going to crush it.” - Zach Knight

Links:
Shout Outs:
🏨✨ Defining Hospitality is Sponsored by Berman Falk https://www.bermanfalk.com/ - Check out their impact page! 🌍🌱 https://www.bermanfalk.com/impact/ 

Ways to Tune In: 

Creators and Guests

Host
Dan Ryan
Host of Defining Hospitality
Producer
Gabby Aloisi

What is Defining Hospitality?

Welcome to Defining Hospitality, the podcast focused on highlighting the most influential figures in the hospitality industry. In each episode we provide 1 on 1, in depth interviews with experts in the industry to learn what hospitality means to them. We feature expert advice on working in the industry, behind the scenes looks at some of your favorite brands, and in depth explorations of unique hospitality projects.

Defining Hospitality is hosted by Founder and CEO of Agency 967, Dan Ryan. With over 30 years of experience in hospitality, Dan brings his expertise and passion to each episode as he delves into the latest trends and challenges facing the industry.

Episodes are released every week on Wednesday mornings.

To listen to episodes, visit https://www.defininghospitality.live/ or subscribe to Defining Hospitality wherever you get your podcasts.

DH - Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight
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Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: [00:00:00] we're not into having 10,000 clients. We'd rather have 1000 clients that are, and I say clients would be chefs or athletes. We'd rather have 1000 and build slowly from quality and really, like, what do we need, what can we provide these chefs with?

Um, versus, you know, just having the large number, the large amorphous and just needing a specific need

that a, a,

marketplace could provide.

Intro: What I do is inconsequential. Why I do what I do is I get to shorten people's journeys every day. What I love about our hospitality industry is that it's our mission to make people feel cared for while on their journeys. Together we'll explore what hospitality means in the built environment, in business, and in our daily lives.

I'm Dan Ryan, and this is Defining Hospitality.

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored by Berman Fall Hospitality Group, a [00:01:00] design-driven furniture manufacturer who specializes in custom case goods and seating for hotel guest rooms.

Dan Ryan: Today's guests are a passionate, entrepreneurial duo combining their experiences across management and leadership and marketing and creative. Today, they're connecting people through food and challenging the traditional restaurant experience. They've been featured in Voyage Austin, the Scout guide, Fox seven, and most recently fig featured in Tri Beza and will soon be available to book via OpenTable. They're the co-founders of Titi and Zach Knight. Welcome both.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Thank you. What up? Nice. See you.

Dan Ryan: I know we were doing our sound check and clapping, but I'm like where the sky is bright and the sun is blue. Deep in the heart of Texas. So that's where they're calling from.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah, that's right. Hello? Hello from Austin Capital City.

Dan Ryan: thank you for being here. Um, and I think. I'm excited to talk to all of my guests. So it's like my [00:02:00] children. I love them all equally, but I have personal experience with these two in the sense that, I've been thinking about what to do with my podcast as far as, as a platform and taking this, um, into a more intimate and personal experience.

So imagine I still haven't figured it out fully yet, but guests, five dinners in five cities over the course of a year, or 10 cities over the course of a year. One of the hangups that I've had is I don't want to do it at a private room in a restaurant because. There's just a lot of goings on in a restaurant and you, and it's, and there's noise and it's hard to have like a deep, meaningful conversation.

A DMC, let's call it, in that environment. I've done it in recently. I had a really great one in a private supper club, which was great, and they had their own kitchen and everything else. But I feel like those are few and far between. what, what [00:03:00] Emmy and Zach have developed is a platform, and I'm gonna, I should let you say what you do, but in my, if I were to like sum up what they are, they're basically like agents for chefs. So basically you could be at a, home, someone else's home, a great apartment, a museum, something that has a great kitchen, they have a nationwide, maybe global at some point, or if it, I don't know if it's there already, network of chefs that basically they listen to me, hear what I'm trying to accomplish. Offer up a couple different options. Have a chef come to my house in this case this summer, and I don't have to do anything. Like I'm just there and focusing, nor I love hosting people. My block has been, I like to cook, then I have to clean, try and get my kids to, I wind up yelling at them to do it, and then it like kind of spoils the mood a little bit.

But everything was like a turnkey solution. It was awesome. And I want to go into my experience there first, but before we dive deeper, Emmy and [00:04:00] Zach, what does hospitality mean to you and how has it played a role in creating this platform?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Great question. Go ahead. Great question. Yeah,

Dan Ryan: Oh, and actually

before you answer that, did I totally butcher what you do or is was, my experience true

and real?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: no, it's very true. I think the only. Piece, piece that you piece that you missed. And what is the core of our business is our chefs, right? So you spoke to it from a very client based perspective, which is completely right. Like you should have access to great chefs and to great meals in your home, or the venue of your choice.

But when we started this, the focus was and still is, um, our chefs. And we are, we're a chef focused business. So we are giving our chefs the tools and the amplification to do more of that. Um, so many chefs in this country are leaving restaurants or looking for other opportunities and don't, maybe don't know how to get leads, or they don't know how to manage their [00:05:00] own business, or they're not great at client relations, and that's where we can step in and really help them.

So, uh, you know, from the beginning, Zach

Dan Ryan: hospitality

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: said, you know, he,

Dan Ryan: And then I wanna learn more about that because

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah.

Dan Ryan: me it's fascinating and it's like the chefs are true. Well, at

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: that. Okay.

Dan Ryan: like really create like a creative person. Awesome. Had made a great dinner experience, but like what does hospitality mean to you?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: I think it's about managing expectations. I think that in a true hospitality experience, your needs are met, uh, and exceeded. Hopefully you feel completely cared for. And, you know, everybody has different expectations. So, as it relates to what does a dinner party need, uh, it, you know, starts with the chef.

Uh, we really believe that if the chef has the tools they need to execute a meal, which is, you know, they passionate or their pursuit, [00:06:00] then they're gonna, they're gonna crush it. Uh, and so we really help them with that. But we're also, it's a two-sided experience because they're also the clients. And without the clients, you know, the chef's work would be, wouldn't be relevant.

And so we get the expectations of the client. We really determine what they are looking for, as you said, which was great. You said, you know, listen to me, uh, what did I need? What did I want? And then our goal was to, to find a chef that could meet those needs. And then we play like a matchmaker or an agent role, uh, in making sure, you know, the chef's needs are met, the chef has, has the tools they need, has the client, you have the tool or, you know, hopefully have tools, hopefully have the forks and the knives.

But if you don't, uh, we wanna make sure that we know about that in advance so that the chef doesn't show up. To an dinner, dinner, but there's no flatware. You know, there's a lot of different like minutia to these [00:07:00] experiences. So simplified you, I believe. And I think Tivity, uh, we've incorporated that into our philosophy is really managing the expectations of the client and the chef.

And then how do those translate to a beautiful, uh, dining experience. And you said, you know,

there's a kitchen. I mean, there might not be a kitchen. Yeah. so

we try to help with that.

Dan Ryan: That

opens up So

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: So

Dan Ryan: possibilities for me as I, as I, think. Okay, so now Amy, your turn. does hospitality mean to you?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: uh, I, and it's simplest. I think it's a really human thing. It's a human connection. It's, um, with so much technology at our disposal today, which is fabulous, and we're looking at new pieces of technology to leverage for us. I think hospitality at its core, and what we've really built this on is a human experience.

Like there's nothing more intimate and human than someone coming into your home and creating a meal and then sharing that meal. So [00:08:00] at the end of the day, that's, you know, our, we are effective when that goes well. And, you know, and that's what hospitality is, I guess, in, in the sense of like, we ensure that those things happen and that you walk away with a night or a brunch or a lunch saying that was such an incredible experience.

And a one of a kind experience like that, that moment in time, that dinner,

that menu, that group of people in that space will never happen again.

And that's something really unique, especially in the world today. Like, I don't think we have

So

much of that anymore.

Dan Ryan: one, you know, you hear all these, you

watch Shark Tank or you hear someone describing a

movie or pitching a business, it's always like, you know, it's Uber meets, uh, whatever. Uh, because it's like, it's a

platform. Uber as a platform. What really surprised me, uh, about my experience with you, and again, I am a raving [00:09:00] fan. Right. I have the experience of of using them, everyone. So there it, you guys do have a network, you, you have a platform, but it really was very interpersonal as far as you guys out of my

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: Between my ears, what I was trying to accomplish, and

then you gave me some, but it was very human centered and human connected.

And what surprises me, actually, nothing surprised me in doing it. It was awesome. The execution was incredible and everyone had a really memorable time. What surprised me as we just started talking is that I would think that your business would be focused on finding more people like me, but to hear you guys frame it as a chef focused business you're taking these creative experiences that are bound up in people and connecting them with people out there.

So just describe that a bit

more because I'm actually very surprised. I, I figure like. You wanna have a market, but I guess if you're doing it [00:10:00] the right way, you're offering these chefs a different channel to practice their craft. And before I try and go out on a limb and describe what that means, like tell me what that means, like that to me, or

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Mm-hmm.

Well, I think it's one thing that we say a lot is that we're a platform for chefs to make money and be creative. Uh, in a restaurant experience, the chef is likely not the person who is creatively building the menu. They are the chef who's likely executing somebody else's menu. So even in a restaurant experience, a chef doesn't get to be as fully creative as they could be, or may, may want to be, or may have the experience to be, unless they're an owner of that restaurant and they've been able to have creative control now in an experience, in a hospitality experience.

It's [00:11:00] not one sided. So, you know, you can go to a restaurant and have a chef who produces a a set menu. That's likely a celebrity chef or you know, a chef who's earned the notoriety or has the creative vision to create that platform for their guests. But most restaurants have a menu that has a selection that no one could eat in one sitting.

Mm-hmm. It's in a, it's in a location that you're sharing with hundreds of other people. And as the guest on the guest side, you never actually engage with the chef, the chef, whoever, you know, maybe cares about the food really. Um, and, and then the experience that we create and the, and the chef experiences that we have built with our, our clients.

The chef is serving the food. They're, you know, they're, there's a collaboration with the client to create the menu. That's always a, a spectrum of how much do you think you know you want, and how much do you. Find, find out [00:12:00] that you can have, and there's some sort of balance there. And then the chef is actually cooking and serving the meal and, and interacting with the guest directly.

It's, it's a, it doesn't happen in a restaurant even. And e even if you went to the best restaurant with that chef who makes the menu, that you can only eat that and they don't modify anything, you probably don't really get to interact with the chef like you do with a activity experience or with an experience where you have a private chef.

Um, and so one of the things, and I'll pass it off to my homie not stealing the mic. No. Is that, uh, you know, with this opportunity, there is a way, um, when in doubt invert is, you know, a mathematical, uh, philosophy and, and applies to a lot of things and numbers and, and that, but for us, you know, it, it kind of is relevant where.

You might think that, you know, only building clients [00:13:00] is important, but by us creating a platform for chefs and really listening to the chefs and finding out what they need, there's a le level of trust and, you know, relationship building that we have where our chefs are one of the greatest sources of leads.

Mm-hmm. For us in new, getting new clients, um, we have our marketing funnels on our side, but chefs give us referrals all the time because they know that their clients, if they can't work the event, their clients are gonna be taken care of and cared for in the same way that they would provide if they were there.

Um, and so they, you know, they care for their clients in that same way.

Uh, which is also kind of a

interesting thought.

Dan Ryan: so Emmy, just thinking about this idea of a platform for chefs, I

can imagine some chefs, something that resonated is many chefs work in a star chef ki

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Mm-hmm.

Dan Ryan: well-known Chef's Kitchen. They're not,

[00:14:00] they, they're passionate about what they do,

but they haven't really gotten the spotlight yet. Right. So there's, a platform for chefs, there's that spotlight

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yep.

Dan Ryan: There's also the taking all that administrative back of

house stuff that from billing and invoicing and checklists and

making

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah,

Dan Ryan: you do have all the proper cutlery.

Um, what are some,

I guess, like testimonials you would get, generally speaking from chefs that you've worked with like, why, why do they love this platform?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: I mean the, the number one thing we really continually keep hearing 'cause it, I'll back up a little bit, that we are not. The only platform in this space, right? We have competitors, we have people doing what we're doing. I think the big difference is that they are predominantly lead generators and their chefs are left to do most of the interaction and talking, whereas we [00:15:00] take a chef approach and what we are continually hearing from chefs is, oh, you guys speak our language and you guys understand what we're talking about.

Um, and there's such an intricacy to what goes into a dinner. And, and I think most clients don't realize that the amount of like what menu creation takes, what shopping takes, what ideation takes, what getting there, you know, and, and chefs have just been expected to do that and show up and have all these tools and things.

And I think that that's been the biggest thing, at least on my end, every time we talk to a chef is like you actually. One, listen, but you also understand and speak the language that we're speaking and, and have empathy. Like I think that's a big thing too, is that it's like they, they are artists and have a craft and we really honor that.

It's not just a service, right? They're not just a vendor. They're creating an [00:16:00] experience. And I think that's something else that has been really important to Zach and myself and to everyone that works with us and how we position ourselves is this idea of a one of a kind experience. And I think experience is a word that's being thrown around a lot right now.

Um, and I think people are trying to harness it because I think they're trying to get back to, you know, a little bit more of this like human thing. But it's, to us, it's like if a chef can bring, and it's what you said, you said unlocking something inside of these chefs. Like all of these chefs have all of these menus inside of them and it's just, and.

They aren't necessarily the most vocal or outwardly going people and all half of our job is to get in there and like crack them open and be like, well, have you ever thought of doing X? Or, we just gave a chef a brief, um, for a lunch that's coming up with an artist and we sent her five paintings of the artist and she just lit up and she was like, oh my God, I get to create an [00:17:00] entire lunch that visually relates to the artwork, you know?

And it was just like such a, she was so excited about that project and that like brief that we gave her. And that's really what every dinner is, is that every dinner is a brief to a chef to say, this is what we've heard from the client. And like, what would you do with that?

Dan Ryan: so when I started speaking after doing your introduction, I took it as my own experience. This is why it was awesome. And then I was like corrected to see it's, you're actually a chef centered platform. And of all these 200 plus conversations I've had, you know, hospitality is just this feeling, this human connection, but It's a two-way street.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Mm-hmm.

Dan Ryan: It's not just giving, giving, giving, right there. You have to be able

to, you said crack, crack 'em,

open

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Dan Ryan: and the chef and the

whole team to drill down

deeper, pull back the the onion get to that [00:18:00] deeper level of where real impact And. I also think as far as just a creative outlet for the chefs, I, I'm also under the impression that this could be a lifestyle option for the chefs too.

Instead of working at some really renowned restaurant and they're there until two 30 in the morning, making sure everything is all buttoned up and, done, and so that they can come back the next day. This offers

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: It offers a new way.

Dan Ryan: like, burnt out in a, in a

new workflow, a new, a new relationship with their

calendar.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. Well, and I think that's something we're really proud of, is that we have a handful of chefs that their entire income is through tivity. Dinners, events, meal delivery, um, and they're setting their own schedules. They have time for, you know, a lot of what we hear is like, I want a little more time for my family or, and that was also why we built this too.

We built a business that we wanted to [00:19:00] have our lives as well. Like it's very important that we live kind of what we say to our chefs. Also. I mean, I know, and I know Zach coming from the restaurant business, that was something that was so important to him was like, we love the restaurant business. We don't wanna cannibalize it, but we think that there are things

in the restaurant world that we can

help improve

for chefs

Dan Ryan: And Zach, just to give a sense of scale, like when did you guys start?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: five years.

Dan Ryan: Five years. Okay. Oh wow. So like coming

out of COVID, right?

There's probably a need because

people maybe didn't want to go to restaurants, they wanted it to come to them, but as the platform. And then just give a size of your, like of the scale geographically and numbers of chefs you're working with currently.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah, so over five years, we are in over half of the states. We've booked dinners in over half of the states. In the us

We've done a handful of dinners, uh, across two in Paris, one in the uk,

and a handful in [00:20:00] Mexico. So we, you know, got that global market. Global, global. Still a little ways to go but count it.

Uh, our biggest markets, uh, and these are consistent with probably the, you know, the hot food cities are, uh, Texas. Uh, Texas is a really bustling food scene, you know, across Austin, Houston and Dallas. And then you have New York, la, San Francisco. And then these little pockets, uh, you know, North Carolina, Asheville, uh, the, you know, Charlotte, Raleigh, those areas, and then Florida, um, Colorado resort, mountain towns.

Um, so those are like our kind of big things, big markets. Um, scale of chefs, you know, our list of chefs keeps growing. Um, you know, we have a list of over a thousand chefs. We don't, we haven't worked or booked all of those chefs. Um, but [00:21:00] we do have an active, um, roster, roster of chefs on our portal, uh, which is accessible to our website.

So chefs who are interested can go to our website and set up a, an account. Once they set up an account, we'll reach out and, you know, talk to them and, and, you know, get to know them a little bit. Um, so like I said, we haven't booked all of those chefs, but we do have

a growing list of chefs across the us Yeah.

Dan Ryan: Cool. And then with the website, that's obviously AI and blockchain empowered. Just Totally.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: We used to joke when we started, they were like, do you have an app? And we were like, we are the app. Like we did it all.

Dan Ryan: Yeah, exactly. So, okay, so that leads me to the next question. Like a lot of these, there, technology has a place everywhere, I believe. But when you we're really trying to these human to human experiences. people don't want to deal with another human. I get that. But like for this type of thing, it's, for me, the hospi hospitality is

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Mm-hmm.

Dan Ryan: [00:22:00] of a hearth,

right? it's it's are

on all sides of the hearth. It's warm.

There's, There's,

uh, banter going back and forth. There's feeling going back and forth. There's emotion. But as your platform grows to a

global,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. Big hear, big heart.

Dan Ryan: foot footprint,

huge heart.

But like, how do you maintain the quality

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah,

Dan Ryan: emotional

resonance as you scale?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: that's literally the million

dollar question because this business works at scale, like profitability wise, it, this, or, or are our goals, I would say are at scale. And, but I think that's also why we have taken very

tactical and

maybe what most would consider smaller steps in growth. Um, we are completely self-funded.

We've never taken on outside investments and I think we could have easily gotten that. But our decision from the beginning was, one, we wanted to know every aspect of this business, but two [00:23:00] slower growth has one created a trust between us and our chefs, but also us and our clients. Like our clients are our biggest advocates, right?

They, they, they come back to us, they recommend us, and we're not just. We always say, like someone says, where are you in the country? And we say, well, we're everywhere, but we are invited into every market. We've never walked into a market because we thought it was a market that was good for us to be in. We are invited into a market because some, a client or a chef says, A chef says, I really need help in this market and I'd like more bookings.

Or a client says, I'm going, I'm in this market or I'm going to this market. Can you help organize and book a chef for me? So I think that's, you know, to, to that piece of growth and stuff and technology, like we are trying to leverage technology in a smart way. And I think, I personally in the beginning thought that the technology piece would be for our clients.

And I think what we're really realizing is the [00:24:00] technology piece is for us and for our chefs that we really need to build of like, how do we have. Quick response times. How do we know what our chef chef's calendars are so that we can book them easily without having to call or text every time? Like is there a system where each chef can say, I'm available on these days or these times, or, um, you know, and, and leverage technology in, in that way as opposed to an automated system that doesn't feel personal.

Because at the end of the day, we are always gonna have, it's always gonna, a chef shows up at your house, so that's like very personal anyway. So you wanna build that relationship with any client before you, you know, step foot in their house.

Dan Ryan: I love the fact that you've bootstrapped the business and that was that challenging as far as being self, self-funded in the sense that you're in Austin, which is everyone is not everyone, but it's like this tech capital where everyone's probably much like Palo Alto say, having this idea and [00:25:00] building out decks and raising funds and all that was it? Do you ever feel like, I don't know, like you should be keeping up with the Joneses in that, and is it hard to just keep your blinders on and stay focused? That's number one. Number two, this and Bo Berlin game, if you're listening, I know I've reached out a couple of times for you to be on this podcast, but he wrote this book that I wish I read earlier in my entrepreneurial journey.

It's called Small Giants, and basically the premise is scale for the sake of scale? Just stay small. Do the best you can and deliver. And I feel like as an entrepreneur, I go on this whole scale, scale, scale journey where probably it might have been better in hindsight to just do the best I can within my little niche and just be supremely focused, which is what I am now.

But I could have had a 10 year head start had Bo Burlingame,

please come on the show.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Is Bo the [00:26:00] model guy that's not Bo, is it

Dan Ryan: no, Bo I don't know.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: similar?

Dan Ryan: book called

Small Giants. It's awesome. And he basically takes

eight different case, eight

or nine, I don't know, a bunch of case studies of, from like Annie DeFranco who has a

recording

studio business.

She's a, you know her,

she's a

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Mm-hmm. Yep.

Dan Ryan: in Buffalo and she

has this

singer-songwriter business, and

she

doesn't want to scale, she doesn't want to open up studios in LA and all these other places. Uh, there's this other company that I think it was like, makes blinking lights or tail lights for, for, um. High lows, like warehouse, high lows, and they could do other or take that and go over else, but they're like, no, let's just do the best. Or

there was this one

Zingerman's

restaurant up in like Ann

Arbor

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Those Zingerman's. Yeah.

Dan Ryan: where they just stay dialed in. Like they've been asked to try and

go everywhere. But I think it's something that, you know, you can go wide or you can go deep. And I just think is that,

like, is it

hard to

think about

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: in [00:27:00] this

vibrant,

crazy, tech fueled place of Austin where you are, where you

are building a platform and everything else, and, and how do you

how

do you keep those

blinders

on?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: We just watched the other people,

the, our competitors do that and then we're, you know, doing the opposite, but not really. Uh. I think one thing that we found was there's a lot of questions, and so we looked at it as, um, I guess the, the lean model, uh, or that sort of philosophy is to, you know, test your hypothesis and, you know, sort of pursue the knowledge in that way versus, I guess if we were going after a large sum of money, we could, you know, create something without really any, any understanding of what it needs to do.

And in the initial research phase of this, uh, idea of what, what [00:28:00] does it really mean to book a chef in your home? What we found was that nobody really knew or was thinking about the chefs, like none of what these other companies were doing. It had anything to do with what the chefs actually needed to do, needed to know.

Or would help them. And you know, we didn't have a large sum of money to create something. So we just, we, we were already booking the chefs and so we, we thought of it as, look, we can just, this is research. We're getting paid, we are getting paid to do this research. Mm-hmm. Instead of we're putting, you know, cash flow negative, like, we're bringing in money, we're testing these ideas.

As we get this data, we can build something that's actually impactful. 'cause

initially when we started, it was like, yes, let's build the Uber of private chefs. Like let's do that.

Um, what do we need to do that? Let's talk to developers who has this.

Dan Ryan: You need that

Blockchain

AI enabled tech.

I mean, [00:29:00] without

question. Just

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: That was a

joke.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Roll. roll. Laughter. Roll, roll. Laughter. Oh, we got it. I got it. It was

good.

It was good. It was good. It was good. Our website is going through a refresh, so that's why it's kind of funny. Yeah. So we're adding this blockchain, um, and you'll be able to book. Crypto,

Dan Ryan: Oh, good. There's a

lot of

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

Uh,

Dan Ryan: you're gonna get some of those Elon

robots to like

serve people

and

cook for you, right?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah,

and drive you, drive you, to your dinner.

it's,

Dan Ryan: be, there'll be, there'll be

Julian

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah, exactly,

Dan Ryan: and then it'll have a

short circuit and it'll

fling a

chef's

knife at someone.

It'll be great.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: exactly.

Dan Ryan: Yeah.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: We're very excited about all of it. You can book a bar robots right now.

Dan Ryan: Really?

Come on.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah. You can't, I think it's like roughly 10 grand and it's, you know, it's not really like, but it can make eight drinks, uh, so like every four minutes or something. Um, but it, like, there's capacity,

Dan Ryan: I don't want

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: [00:30:00] but I

Dan Ryan: That's

not

my

jam.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah, I, that's what I was gonna say is I,

we're not concerned about like, people want.

The chefs are artists, you know, they're, they are contracting this artist to make them a painting,

to, to play them a, a tune or a score.

And it's only going to exist this one time. Uh, and then the next time it'll be different because they're gonna wanna go to a different restaurant or have a different painting.

Like they've already had that painting or they've heard that song.

So it's really unique for us is that the chefs are constantly creating, or can, or capable of constant creation. Clients are constantly asking for certain things and we're in the middle, like, you know, a curator. Mm-hmm. Or an agent, musical agent or an, I think an athlete.

The athlete model is a good one. I think we are a boutique, uh, athlete agency. Uh, we're [00:31:00] not into having 10,000 clients. We'd rather have 1000 clients that are, and I say clients would be chefs or athletes. We'd rather have 1000 and build slowly from quality and really, like, what do we need, what can we provide these chefs with?

Um, versus, you know, just having the large number, the large amorphous and just needing a specific need

that a, a,

marketplace could provide. And I don't, and it's not that we don't wanna scale like we do, we want, like, the ultimate goal is that we become,

Dan Ryan: but,

hold on.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: you know, and that's a big role that we take, you know, but I think the big,

the big shift is a marketing thing.

Dan Ryan: Okay. You can totally scale what like the world is your oyster and you've already

jumped across the

pond,

right? You've come to

beautiful western Connecticut. You've been all those places that you've

mentioned.

But I

think in order to properly scale.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: [00:32:00] Yeah.

Dan Ryan: Let's take the word profit outta that.

'cause it's like there's judgment involved,

but you

you have to

focus on that

hearth and that

chef centered creativity and being able

to deliver for

them and those

clients. And

there is a way

to do

that

and scale it.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: And I, but I think it's a cultural shift as well of a mental, like I call it the decision tree of eating. Because currently you have, when you're like, oh, I'm hungry for dinner tonight with my family or my friends. it's like, I can cook at home, I can go out to a restaurant, I can order in on Uber Eats or Seamless.

Um, which is a relatively new thing like growing up, that was not an option for any of us. you could have pizza or Chinese food. the, notion of saying I can order in really has existed in the last, I would say 15 years maybe. And that's a cultural shift and a cultural decision making that did not exist.

And that was created like [00:33:00] 20 years ago. People would've been like, there's no way that Nobu could be delivered to your house. And now it's like. Yeah, I can, that's easy. And I think that's where we're sitting with this of like, people think that chefs or they think that chefs are unattainable.

You have to be very wealthy

or it's a special occasion.

And I think we're sitting at a crossroads. Mm-hmm.

Dan Ryan: let me just jump in on that. 'cause I've been like, I've been invited to dinner parties where a really good friend of mine eat at a Danny Meyer restaurant

all the time, and he would get

that chef to come

over to his

house and cook. But

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Dan Ryan: and it was awesome. But

that, that's kind of hard

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: to do.

Yeah. That's hard to do.

Dan Ryan: and now you

have a thousand

to ch to, to

advocate

for and

choose.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: I just wanna. Clarify this with you. Like you can

have these

magnificent dinners where

you bring

China

and

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: crystal [00:34:00] and beautiful cutlery. Or I could

provide it

all and I could still have a beautiful dinner.

Or I think you mentioned it and I'm not sure, but let's say I wanted to get ready for a movie roll and I needed to like bulk up for my Roman Legion costume. I also have your chefs

deliver like

protein

meals

to

me,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yes,

Dan Ryan: chicken and no

carbs? I

don't want that, by

the way,

but

if I wanted it, I could.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: we can do macro. Yeah, I know, I know. Yeah,

we can do all that. Yeah. I mean, we, our chefs can. Yeah. And, and I think that's also like speaking of advocating for our chefs in a chef focused thing. It's another revenue stream for our chefs where they can once a week deliver meals for you or a family that are tailored to your dietary needs or what you want.

If you, all of a sudden your, your in-laws come in and you're like, oh, I have two more people in the house. I need more food. Or the kids have extra sports this week, we need more snacks. Um. Chefs can do that during the day and either prep [00:35:00] in your home or deliver it. And it's, again, it's another way of eating, but it's another revenue stream for our chefs that our chefs really take on because it's very consistent.

Like if every week they know that they're gonna make X number of dollars with a client, that's an amazing model for them.

Oh, thank you.

We just got coffee delivered. No.

Dan Ryan: Oh, that's

so

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: We just got coffee delivered.

No.

Dan Ryan: boy. Did you tip him? Oh good, I missed that. Our listeners miss that and thank God he is not on camera, so we don't see his mustache. But um, so I've experienced this platform. I love it. I

met Emmy,

everyone at

a bar

mitzvah. Shout

out to

Vin Dobin in

Fort

Lauderdale,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah,

Dan Ryan: and

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah.

Dan Ryan: And

next thing you

know, I have

this fabulous dinner

party. And we're talking here on the

podcast, how did you two meet? Where were you before and how did you get your heads

[00:36:00] together

to

To do this and create

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: To create this

thing.

Dan Ryan: blockchain and AI selves?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. And all of our, all of our, you know, technology, um, minions. Minions, no. We, um, Zach and I have known each other for longer than we haven't. Um,

we met 20 years ago.

Dan Ryan: I was

30

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: He, um, his wife? Yeah, his wife is, um, my best friend from college. So we went to

Goba. So we went to Boulder

Dan Ryan: Nice scope scopes.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Goba

Dan Ryan: Yeah.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: It's been a rough two weeks, but

we're coming back.

But Yeah.

so, um, in, in, we, so we've, we've known each other, you know, as friends and kind of in a way family for, for 20 years. Um, I was in advertising in New York, predominantly I was a creative director. I was running really big accounts, um, [00:37:00] doing work for Chase, um, flying all over the world, quilted Northern.

I did, um, I worked on the first campaign that the New York Times ever had. We ran an ad on the Oscars.

Um,

so I did some really, I mean, it was amazing. And then I, I kind of got a little burnt out and was at an Instagram account and did some travel stuff and then COVID hit and I, you know, like most people left New York and, um, was freelancing and kind of whatever.

And um, and that was like the start of when, you know, and I can let Zach pick up like his background, but that was really the start of us

as a professional relationship and like what that looked like. And it, it took a while, but we, you know, but Zach is restaurant not sort of true. Yeah. Just kidding. Um, yeah, no, that's, uh, that's, that's basically it. I, um, as a struggling entrepreneur, worked in restaurants, uh, starting during college, loved [00:38:00] working in restaurants, worked all over, uh, the US in different restaurants and found some really great restaurants, experiences. Worked at Nobu for a while

and then in Austin, worked with the UCI Restaurant Group,

which is now high Hospitality.

Uh, and so really, you know, found a great career in the restaurant industry, but also, you know, the pandemic really changed a lot. And, uh, Emmy, I was laughing because Emmy actually helped me. I had skate that company after college that I started with one of my best friends and Emmy helped me with, uh, using Creative Suite like early on.

Yeah. Uh, as you know, she was creative and or is a creative and was really good on Illustrator and I had no idea how to use Illustrator. And so she would help me with these. Designs that we were doing for the skate deck company. So I always like, you know, felt like Emmy was a great resource [00:39:00] for really creative ideas.

And, um, you know what, when you're, you know, looking for a business partner, what do you find? You know, you look for somebody who's different than you or has a skillset that you don't have. Or if you have this idea and you don't know, you know, you talk to somebody who's, you know, creative. And so I think that's really how, you know, I thought, you know, Emmy and I started talking was serendipitous timing for her and, and timing for me in the restaurant industry where I had left the restaurant during the pandemic at restaurants, trying to help at home and still figure out and navigate a career in the restaurants during that time.

And all, all of these people kept calling me and asking me to book.

Dan Ryan: Hm.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: their canceled reservations. So

it was something that was naturally happening

to me

during this time because people just knew that I had

connections to, to chefs and,

Dan Ryan: [00:40:00] Locally in Austin.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah. Locally in Austin. Yeah.

Dan Ryan: what was the hardest part for you guys to get to the thousand chefs that are on your roster or on your bench?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: so I think it's the original, like, so this was happening,

you know, as restaurants are closed, we actually, I, I personally laid off like 40 people in one day,

chefs, managers, servers, bartenders, dishwashers. Pretty bummer day. Like really bummer day. Um, you know, but it was, it was something that, you know, we're instructed to do by the owners of the restaurant.

And so, you know, one of the. People, her husband was a chef, private chef. She and I were, you know, booking dinners through the restaurant pri previously. And the first dinner that we really booked was her husband. Uh, we booked a dinner for him, uh, just for a, a group of six. [00:41:00] And I, I just passed it on. I, I didn't make a commission or I didn't have anything like to, I was just like, oh yeah, pay, make sure you give him a check for this much, because that's how much he'd said he would do it for.

Yeah. But I'd already gone through the process of like, how many courses, like what do they want to eat? Like what time should he be there? Where, where is it? You know, I was kind of operating in this manner and then passed it off and the guy that I knew that reached out was like, I hope you got, took, took a commission for that.

And I just thought, I was like, yeah, that's really funny. Like, I shoulda, but

you know, I didn't, but it's cool because.

Man, tough times for him. Like he doesn't, his,

he doesn't, he's not working. His wife just got laid off like,

this is sweet. Like,

you know, good deal.

Dan Ryan: So then Emmy Emmy came in and showed you How to take a commission, make

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: How to make money. Well, yeah,

stupid. I had stupid ideas, you know, I had make money.

What

do we call this thing? What do we, well, but I mean, and that was, that was really how it started [00:42:00] was like we, he,

when that story happened in Aspen, we were skiing and the best, this is the best part. And he was like, I have a picture of Zach on the phone at the top of Aspen Mountain. And he was like, finalizing this dinner and, and you know, we credit that as like

the start of this thing and two gondola rides two go, it took us like two laps and he did it.

Dan Ryan: it.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: And

Dan Ryan: to walk up the last little bit to ski down?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: No, No, no, we don't. No, no, we don't do that. That's, oh, that's long shot over in, in Snowmass.

Um, but yeah, and then, and so then it was kind of one of those, like Zach was like, you know, I have this idea, dah, dah, dah, and was like planting the seed. And I was like, I gotta be honest. Like, I don't really understand it.

I was like, I really don't get what you're talking about. And the only way I knew how to figure it out in my, like, creative, the way my creative brain works is I was like, we need a name and like, let me build a website and let me build a logo. So if you look at our [00:43:00] logo, the logo is a plate with a house and a fork and knife.

Like, it was like trying to, oh yeah, it's in there. So we were like trying to, in designing it, trying to create like a logo that encompassed what we were trying to do. And then we had all these names and we went, I mean we had like Google sheets and texts and things and like every gourmet name was taken was licensed and taken.

'cause you know, Zach's really smart and that like, he was like, we have to get, you know, we have to like legally. You know, make a name and not just like, whatever. And then I started building a website. I started asking friends for pictures of food. I started, and, and to be fair, we're, you know, we're starting our fifth year and that ethos of like, the Who We Are Page is still the same.

Like sure, we've tweaked the language some and we've added a few things here and there, but that's never changed. We've had the same vision from the beginning. And so it was like, um, we did that for, oh God, almost a year. And then [00:44:00] Zach called, in se end of summer. It was like August and was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this.

Like, I'm really excited about this and I'm gonna make it happen. And you can come to Austin. You don't have to come to Austin. I was between New York and kind of Aspen at the time, and he was like, you can, we can go in together. You can take some you don't have. And I was like, well, let me just like look at tickets.

And I,

yeah, that afternoon booked a

one way ticket to Austin.

Dan Ryan: that's amazing.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Like never really left.

Sponsor: Hey, everybody. We've been doing this podcast for over three years now, and one of the themes that consistently comes up is sustainability, and I'm just really proud to announce that our sponsor, Berman Fall Hospitality Group is the first within our hospitality industry to switch to sustainable and recyclable packaging, eliminating the use of styrofoam.

Please check out their impact page in the show notes for more info.

Dan Ryan: So

sometimes

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Okay.

Dan Ryan: of an incredible experience from a hospitality perspective is [00:45:00] also when the wheels come off the bus.

So do you have any

good stories to

share where like

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: things just went sideways on a dinner and

how

did you recover

and what was

the,

was there a

raving

fan

left at the end of that?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: I mean, we've been lucky. I don't know Zach, it's operationally more this I answer the phone more. Yeah. Answers the phone more. He does. No, we've had definitely hard, I will say we are very lucky that we've not knock on wood, had any like, major catastrophes. But I think even the small stuff we consider very big deals.

You know, this is a, these are special occasion. I mean, not, not that any business relationship or uh, transactions. Not what they expected to get, but I would just take it back to managing expectations. The, the times that the wheels have fallen off are the times when we missed their expectations. Yeah. Like the, the expectations [00:46:00] that we set or we thought we set in our process were not the actual expectations that the client had, um, in that transaction.

And there are, like, there have been few cases where we haven't been able to rescue that because I think part of the

hospitality is the understanding and the,

you know, there are mistakes will happen,

Dan Ryan: wanna, I wanna, dig in on that one because so often in any business that you're trying to do you, it's important to set man, set and manage

expectations, but much like how Emmy described that dec

dec food

decision tree or food dining decision

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: mm-hmm.

Dan Ryan: some of them didn't exist a couple years ago.

So clarifying questions that you

ask, that you ask when you're kicking it off with a new client, they evolve over time as clients' needs and locations and everything change.

How do you like, give us an example of some of those [00:47:00] clarifying expectations, setting questions and how do you check in annually, semi-annually, every

couple of years

to make sure that you're

asking the right Questions.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Questions.

Dan Ryan: the

marketplace changes.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: I think we right now are figuring out how to do that with technology. What is the best system? I mean, it's CRM, basically that's could be a customer resource management system for our client data that is consistently needing to be updated. And so the way we approach it now is that, you know, we take those notes and we record that information, but we're also treating every event as its own.

It is like an NFT, like each event is a one time experience. It's only gonna exist on this one date. The weather is gonna be this, on that date, their place is gonna be this. It's never going to be the same as it was on that experience. So we really [00:48:00] approach it from that element. And Emmy said, you know, every dinner gets a brief that we, we really treat each event like a creative process.

Like, oh, this is your company. Like, tell us about like your feelings. Like is it a red company or is it a blue company? Like do you see yellow? Like what? And like as we grow, I think we'll integrate some of those things into technology so we can balance this human element with the, the very vast options that people have when they're thinking of, I wanna have a anniversary dinner at my house.

For our 20th year anniversary, our 50th year anniversary, and there's gonna be 60 people there. Like, what can I have, I've never done this before. Like they're, that's very different than I want to have 10 people over and they're gonna sit around my table like the, the chef and the experience and the like, supplies and the staffing are, are so different.[00:49:00]

But, but we're doing, and, and we're booking chefs for both of those things. And I think it's like, it's the, it's again, it goes back to like a cultural shift of like, you know, and, and, and huge kudos to, to like our operations team and Liz who helps run that for us. Like that human connection of asking those questions and getting to know people.

I mean, a really good example of that is tell that story. It's a

Dan Ryan: Oh, he even knew. That's so

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: good one. Like, we do,

Dan Ryan: without,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: he knows, we know, we know what story,

but it's always, we only have good story. You know, it's, it's, it's always like you.

People are like, oh, well I'll have, you know, the steak or the chicken. It's like, that's what you can get at a wedding.

So like, I'll have the steak or the chicken or the vegetarian option. And you know, one of our very first dinners that we booked, um, it was for, uh, her, the client's husband for his birthday. And so, you know, Zach was talking to her and you know, of course she was like, well, we'll do like steak or chicken or whatever.

And Zach was smart enough to say, well, what did you do last year [00:50:00] for his birthday? And she was like, well, we're always traveling. Last year we were in Spain, but with the pandemic. And since then we have not traveled and we just really missed that. You know, it's really sad that we're not, they canceled, they canceled, canceled, they canceled our trip.

And we were like, well, where were you going? And she was like, oh, we were going here in Spain and blah, blah, blah. And we were like, okay, great. So let's recreate that dinner that you shoulda been having that was canceled. And it was a such a meaningful evening for them because they got a piece of that trip back and. He cried. He cried. Like he didn't know that it was possible that a chef could do that. You know, that it was like you could have something so bespoke and it's in those little, I think that's the thing where

technology won't pick up that, like human

tone

when someone says, I'm really sad that my trip got canceled.

And then we are on the other end to be like, well, let's recreate that for you. Or you have this great chat. You know, we have, we have questions in our questionnaire of like, if you were going to a [00:51:00] restaurant, what restaurant would it be? What's the vibe you want? Like, we ask things like, if you're gonna play music, what is, what's music that you're gonna, you know, like those are all things that cue to

us, that make us be like, this chef would be perfect.

Does

everyone know each other?

That's a big one.

Dan Ryan: I would say if you when you asked me that, I don't know if I answered this way, but it's like, what restaurant would you want to be at? I was like, I don't know if I wrote this, but I definitely thought it, it was, um, nowhere

within seven

miles of where I live in

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: But you know, and it's like, and that's the thing is that it's what

each of these experiences come back to innate ability from a chef. Like, it's not by accident that, you know,

Devin showed up, chef Devin showed up at your house. Like

it, he was the right

chef to be there. And from what we knew about you, from what the conversations we'd had, that, that makes a huge difference.

You know? And it, and, and it, and I [00:52:00] think it's also about bringing a client along for a journey. And I learned that in advertising where it was like when, when we'd have this really creative idea and try and sell it to a client, if you just walked in blind and you were like, we have this insane idea and we're gonna like.

Fly around the world and do all this, clients are like, no, that sounds terrifying. But if you like took them along in the journey and like let them get there themselves and start to, you know, imagine some of this themselves, then all of a sudden they're like, oh, it's great. And I think, you know, from the beginning we had a big conversation of like, will our menus be preset or will they be, you know, different for everyone?

And the reality is, is that they're all different for everyone, but they're also kind of created by the chefs. But the clients think they're also creating them. Like we bring our clients along in the journey and we say, what do you want? And so when we come back with a broccoli dish, they will say, oh, that's so cool.

You listened to what I said. You know, we've found the. chef that can kind of [00:53:00] execute the.

Dan Ryan: as you guys continue to grow and hit that dream scale where it's like that Hearth chef centered, that chef centered hearth

connection between

and the clients and your team,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: what

excites you most as you think about that

and, well, there's never really an end, but when you, when you, when you play it out five years and you're, you're really humming, what excites you most when you

think about

that state?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: The most exciting thing for me about that dream scale state is

related to a

part of the book that I read or part of,

uh, shoe Dog by Phil Knight.

Dan Ryan: that book.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: At the end he talks about,

I think maybe this will resonate then, is, uh, I never thought of the Nike as this, but he mentions at the end of the book, kind of in the conclusion he is like, I've created millions of jobs for people [00:54:00] around the world.

And I was like,

damn, that's heavy. That is heavy stuff. And so for me.

I think us, you know, we're, that's the most exciting thing. We're validated when we pay a chef money. And so, you know, and we make money when they make money. Right now there's no, we don't have a fee or a subscription, you know, that could change just because of the services we're providing in our, you what we find in our operating expense that we can really put back towards the chef tools.

Um, some, at some point we might, you know, have to collect something for that. But without going there, you know, for us is if we're creating full-time income opportunities for one chef, that's awesome. We're doing that right now just with a handful of chefs. They still work on their own. They, you know, there are independent contractors and they really appreciate that autonomy.

That's but for us, [00:55:00] like they could sustain their life on our, yeah, completely on our leads. Our bookings. And then second would be that we're doing that with, you know, thousands of chefs so that chefs one rely on us for that. That's, that's a, you know, important responsibility. But number two, it's an outlet that they don't currently have right now

within the traditional restaurant sense.

Yeah,

Dan Ryan: Okay.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: that to me is dream scale,

Dan Ryan: So Emmy, how about you, if you think forward to that dream scale, place, that sweet spot, what's exciting you most about as you think about it? And then also tie that into, I

know

I mentioned

that soon you're gonna be on

OpenTable,

but what's that gonna look like?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. Well, so I think that's part of, part of it, right?

The, the, the OpenTable deal that we're working on now, which is really exciting is, I guess also part of this dream scale thing. When I look at it, and it's very [00:56:00] similar to what Zach said, except I take it from a lens of this advertising. Perspective and cultural and marketing and behavior.

And I think that's what's always been so interesting for me as a person in business and creative, um, is how do you look at something and then say, how can I do it differently or break it and then change culture around it. And I think that's where, what I'm really excited about. I think that Zach's, you know, in the same boat, but it's,

you know, I wanna see it scale that

tivity is almost like a verb, you know, in the sense of like,

people will book a chef and it's like, Google it.

You Google it, you go titi it. Like you can have, and it's, and it is so normal to say, well, we're gonna have a chef on Thursday night at the house instead of cooking. And that is a, a fundamental cultural shift that we see happening. We believe we can accelerate that. And, you know, the. The, the notion with OpenTable is something that we talked about four [00:57:00] years ago, Zach and I, and I just don't think we were really ready.

And now we're so lucky 'cause we've been connected with them. They've been so amazing to us. They're really excited about it. But what was so interesting to us about it was

you go on OpenTable to find a dinner reservation,

but what's to say you can't book your own house? Like why should that it, your, your dining room should be in the pool of seats available in town on Thursday or Friday or Saturday night.

And instead of going out, you're booking your house and the chef is coming to you. So, so we wanna stay as close to the restaurant booking PO process is possible and then fulfill it. But

it's just kind of

Dan Ryan: Yeah,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: breaking the notion of a reservation, like

Dan Ryan: it's a, you're, you're, you're creating that next

tree

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah,

Dan Ryan: or road, I don't know what you call it Was it a tree branch or decision tree

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah. decision change. Yeah. Branch Twig.

Dan Ryan: Yeah. Down the timeline. There you go. You're up. Well, actually that's, and, and is that, um, in

every market or is that, are you starting, [00:58:00] you're crawling before you walk?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: No. So, so we will start,

yeah, we will start in Austin. Um,

you

the, the way the OpenTable platform works is that you have to have a specific location or city just to to book from. But that's not to say that Austin pilot, yeah. Austin doesn't work. And we then say, okay, we're gonna have

a thing in New York or in Denver or in Connecticut or what, you know, the goal would be that we're

available everywhere.

Dan Ryan: See, Austin and New York seem like it's great, but also I think like looking at it from the negative space. Right?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Oh, totally. Like people that don't have great restaurants.

Dan Ryan: Oh my God.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah,

Dan Ryan: if you could give that for my seven mile

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah,

Dan Ryan: for where I am, where

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah,

Dan Ryan: just

like, it's crappy. Sorry guy. I mean there's a couple good ones, but like maybe one.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: but

it's, and that's,

we already went there on Monday, you.

Dan Ryan: Yes. could come here. I got a barn. [00:59:00] Come

cook for

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: but I mean, and I think that's something that's really, this open table thing is very new and we're like, Zach says, it's a, it's a pilot. We're so grateful to the guys at OpenTable and how they've been so, like, they're so excited about it and what we're doing. But that's part of like going back to like what technology is.

Again, I am a firm believer that

there is so much technology out there that you don't necessarily have to build your own to make something work.

And we are actively looking at pieces of technology that we can bring into our fold and use to our advantage. And I think the OpenTable, OpenTable's a really good example of that.

They have built an incredible piece of technology, so why would we try and rebuild it? They, they want us to use the platform. We want to use the platform, so let's use it. But maybe we change the rules a little bit or like, you know, well, there's still a slew of expectations to determine Yeah. That are assumed in a restaurant experience.

Like when you go to, if you book a [01:00:00] restaurant, there's,

you know, 30 things that you're agreeing to by going to that restaurant already where

you're booking your home

for a general experience, we still need to turn over some stones. Um, and that's another thing I think with,

Dan Ryan: will

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: you know,

Dan Ryan: too. Or maybe, but because I often find it's super impersonal and convenient, but there could be, they might f they might be inspired by you to

make it more

personalized in a

way. Who knows? I mean, that's, that's, where like your,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah.

Dan Ryan: a, it's again, it's, that two, two-way street of hospitality.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: And they are a hosp. Like they, they are also defining hospitality in a very cool way. Like what they're, they are giving access to restaurants that you wouldn't have or blah, blah, blah, and like all of, so it's like, that's part of it too. It is like we, we believe in the restaurant business. We believe in chefs.

We believe in all of it. It's like, how do we, it's a little bit like all ships rise a little bit. Like how do we all do stuff together? Because the, the other piece of it is also is that we have spoken to a lot of [01:01:00] smaller restaurants that

don't have

the infrastructure or the

money to

hire like an events team.

And Tivity can run their events. Like you could book that restaurant and those chefs to come. We just did a dinner the other night too. We've already booked Yeah.

A handful of restaurants.

Dan Ryan: this is super interesting because as you look at, um, OpenTable or even Uber Eats, like Uber Eats is a better example on the, like, on a spectrum, you could have Uber Eats on one side of the spectrum and then Tivity on the other side of the spectrum. Where Uber Eats is really cool, it's convenient, it fulfills a need, but it's also

given a rise

to

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Ryan: and places where there's just empty idle space that you can stick a kitchen and a hood in there and then

you could fulfill for a lot of

different orders and it brings food

delivery and different choices to different markets, whereas. Activity on this other side will

give rise to a

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Mm-hmm.

Dan Ryan: of experience. Like no one knew that [01:02:00] Uber Eats was gonna create

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: No.

Dan Ryan: Ghost kitchen boom. So I don't know who, who, knows what the rise of T could bring, but

I think

prefer interaction side of that tivity scale than Uber Eats.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Uber

Eats and that it could do that, but like,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Well, I think it's just a different

Dan Ryan: allowing for

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: need.

Dan Ryan: between

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. It's a different need.

And I, and that's something we've talked about too, of like what does our expansion plan look like as well? Like, do we have our own kitchens that chefs can get into if they need prep space? I mean, a lot of their cooking is done in the home, so that's fine.

But it's also, do we have, do we, if we fundamentally become the largest restaurant group in the country, if you look at it that way of like, we are representing the most amount of chefs, our restaurant footprint is across the country, then we should also qualify for, um, you know, uh, [01:03:00] corp, what is it?

Corporate,

um,

not funding, but like

wholesale pricing for food.

Like right now, all of our, all of our chefs buy from upscale markets or restaurant or, or grocery stores. But if we really are.

Quote unquote large scale restaurant, then we have the ability to offer our chefs wholesale pricing or

ways to, you know, so that stuff that we have talked about.

Dan Ryan: Oh my God, that's amazing.

And that's increasing profitability for you and them, right? Because you're, you're finding more margin.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah, exactly. But it's, but again, it's about taking the step, the proper steps to get there. Because if we just went into like a wholesale pricing thing, then all of a sudden

Dan Ryan: hmm.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: it's such a change. Like you have to get there somewhat slowly because

we say this stuff and everyone's like, oh yeah, no, duh. but like, you gotta kind of get you.

Dan Ryan: but as I also, but as I think about the moat you've created, it's really because you're putting the chefs first. That's really the [01:04:00] moat. Everyone else who takes on all, like going back to on outside funding, it's about scale. It's about return, quick return. It's short, shorter sighted, and you're able to build this thing way and give it the care to those chefs that they see that you care.

And it's not just private equity money that's like scaling for the sake of scaling. And the chefs, I think, could really pick up on that lack of openheartedness.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. They already, yeah, they already experienced that in a lot of ways. You know, not to

every restaurant's different, but like I said, I mean, you're having autonomy versus

working for someone else

is, I guess, the easiest way to define it. It's, it's just, you have so much more.

Dan Ryan: You're,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Mm-hmm.

Dan Ryan: you're bringing

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: There you go.

Dan Ryan: chefs,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: And then

we need the restaurants, you know, they need the restaurants.

It's not, it's not one or the other. Um, yeah. And in a lot of ways we are just like a [01:05:00] decentralized restaurant group. We, each chef is a restaurant. They don't own a restaurant or have a lease, but they'll pop up anywhere and serve and cook and serve their menu and clean up and leave.

Dan Ryan: and I'm sure as OpenTable is learning from you, I have a su you I have a suggestion like one of the things that they should do in Austin is have pants list coffee delivery by Anders. I think that that

could be,

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah, Byers. Absolutely. Yes. It's really

unlike anything.

Dan Ryan: Well I am so glad to have spoken with you and for you have GI to given me this option. 'cause like you person like have unlocked this next. Intimate interpersonal platform for my, for my podcast to like bring former guests together and the ability to have more deep, meaningful conversations.

So I'm eternally grateful for that 'cause I was really struggling with it and I marinate on things a lot. Um, so that's, so thank you. both.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Well, thank [01:06:00] you.

Dan Ryan: if our listeners wanted to learn more about tivity or how to book you or how to connect with you

guys, if they have any other ideas, uh, what's a, or any chefs wanna reach out, what's a great way for that to happen?

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: well, I think one is the worldwide web.

Go to our website

Dan Ryan: Blockchain AI enabled.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: com. The worldwide web. You've heard of it. Yeah. Url. Um, but, uh, you can connect with us through Instagram. Yeah. Instagram. Dm. Dm. Yeah. I would say, you know, if you, if you have a date in mind and know what you want or know you have an idea of what you want, go to our website and click the book.

A chef

button. You can book a chef

immediately on our website. Yeah.

Uh, there is a process as stated, but that's the best way to book the chef. And

then website.

If you're a chef, you can also go to our website and you can set up your own account and we'll reach out to you directly to set up a meeting and, and get to know you a little bit more.

So again, it's two sided. Um, clients can book through our [01:07:00] website. There's a link book a chef,

and then chefs can set up a portal or an account through our portal

as well. Through the chef portal. Yeah.

Dan Ryan: and then after dinner we can have Anders come and bring coffee

service.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Anders Company, he cleans and does coffee.

Dan Ryan: yeah. No, this has been really incredibly wonderful.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Dan, I wanna say one other thing before, before I

Dan Ryan: go.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: cut you off, um, because I think this is relevant, just made me think about it.

Uh, one of the philosophies of a restaurant that I worked for a long time was, you know, hospitality was not, it started first with your staff, like the, as a manager. This was like a thing we trained with. The management team was, you know, hospitality is for the guests, but actually the first position of hospitality that you should.

Be aware of and be focused on is for your staff.

And so, and, and then the guest, you know, and so it's not always like the guest is right. It's actually you are as the manager responsible for the hospitality of all the people

you know, and the staff. I think the [01:08:00] staff sometimes gets left out of that, so that's for us.

Dan Ryan: of my favorite books I've ever read on hospitality is Danny

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: There you go. Yeah.

Dan Ryan: And in that he said there's five stakeholders, right? And you put the investors first, then you put the guests then, but he flips it. He is like, you gotta go, you

gotta

go. Staff then. Maybe

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah. Yeah.

Dan Ryan: Somebody, then shareholders, then

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: yeah.

Dan Ryan: last, because he said if you do all those other things right.

I forgot what the fourth one is. You're gonna get your customers to keep coming back and I know I'm gonna keep coming back. Yeah.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah, because you'll be happy.

Dan Ryan: thank you for, that to everyone's attention as well. So

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Thank you.

Dan Ryan: I just wanna say thank you to your, to

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: Um, I really appreciate you

sharing and, and also creating another decision tree in the, uh, in the food dining experience. So I, I have faith that you guys are gonna do

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Well, thank you

for coming into my life.

Dan Ryan: Um, Thank you, for coming [01:09:00] into my life. Thank you. And both of you, but really this has been awesome. So thank you.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: and hope to see you soon and thanks so much and yeah, let's, let's, let's change the world together. Activity book, books and chefs.

Dan Ryan: Let's tivity it. I, and I'd make it

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah. I

Dan Ryan: let's

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: like that. I like that.

Dan Ryan: I think that's like the most

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Okay. There. LF,

Dan Ryan: idea of it. Like everything that we do should become a verb.

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Thank you.

Dan Ryan: Let's fucking go. LF, G. Um, all right, thank you both. And if the, so ev anyone, if you were

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Yeah.

Dan Ryan: booking a different dining experience or you thought someone, or you know, a chef that could benefit from this, or someone that might want to pass it along, we grow by

Emmie Nostitz & Zach Knight: Bye.

Dan Ryan: mouth.

I appreciate all of you. Don't forget to like and subscribe in the comments things and we'll catch you next time. Big Heart. Big heart.

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