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Live from Cali BBQ Media HQ in Sunny San Diego, California, episode 19 features CEO and Founder, Shawn P. Walchef.
This episode covers ground, from embracing discomfort to crafting unforgettable experiences, Shawn's journey highlights the transformative power of storytelling and human connection. We dive deep into the intersection of technology, narrative, and hospitality as Shawn shares his experiences as a podcast host, content creator, and member of the customer advisory board at Toast.
Join us as we explore the importance of going the extra mile and embracing discomfort to create magic in the hospitality industry.
Don't miss out on this enriching conversation that will inspire you to think differently about the power of storytelling in business!
Don’t forget to subscribe, like, rate, and review! And if you like this show, check out the other side where Shawn interviews Rob: https://content.calibbq.media/every-business-needs-a-show-with-rob-napoli-of-omniboost/
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Embracing Discomfort for Magic Moments
00:00:33 - Introduction to Hospitable Podcast
00:01:05 - Meeting Shawn Walchef at Cali BBQ
00:02:04 - The Origin of "Be the Show, Not the Commercial"
00:03:08 - Sean's Background and Introduction to Hospitality
00:04:08 - Learning Hospitality from Family
00:05:01 - Building a Business on Hospitality and Storytelling
00:06:04 - The Power of Being the Show
00:07:06 - The Impact of Sharing Content Online
00:08:09 - The Importance of Social Proof in Business
00:09:09 - The Nature of Social Media Lurkers
00:10:18 - Why Hospitality Brands Hesitate to Use Social Media
00:11:11 - The Significance of Asking for Help
00:12:03 - The Power of Live Content on Social Platforms
00:13:10 - The Value of Sharing Failures and Real Stories
00:14:16 - The Importance of Human Connections in Business
00:15:37 - Leveraging Content for Business Growth
00:16:00 - Sean's Personal Lessons from His Grandfather
00:17:32 - The Importance of Curiosity and Involvement
00:18:00 - The Shift from Perfection to Authenticity
00:19:07 - The Future of Cali BBQ Media
00:20:11 - The Importance of Storytelling in Family and Business
00:21:08 - Capturing Family Stories During Holidays
00:22:11 - The Human-to-Human Aspect of Business
00:23:09 - Sean's Vision for Helping Brands Tell Stories
00:24:08 - The Shift from Traditional Marketing to Storytelling
00:25:08 - The Evolution of Cali BBQ Media
00:26:17 - The Challenge of Modern Marketing
00:27:28 - Sean's Best Travel Story
00:28:32 - The Transition from Barbecue to Media
00:29:46 - The Importance of Storytelling in Marketing
00:30:49 - Sean's Passion for Helping Families Tell Their Stories
00:31:55 - Sean's Contact Information and Platforms
00:35:25 - Discussing Social Media Presence and Strategy
00:36:13 - Rob's Podcasting Experience and Strategy
00:36:51 - Upcoming Interview with Rob on Digital Hospitality
Quotes
- 00:00:00-00:00:10 - "All we need to do is do a better job of understanding if we're willing to be uncomfortable, if we're willing to bring cameras out, if we're willing to go drive to San Diego, fly from New York, come from Tempe, Arizona. If you're willing to do that work, magic can happen."
- 00:05:12-00:05:22 - "be the show, not the commercial."
- 00:07:39-00:07:49 - "It wasn't because Peloton advertised it. It was because one of my friends got their fat ass on them Peloton and put on Instagram stories, hey, this is me riding a Peloton."
- 00:07:49-00:07:59 - "then me and my fat ass going like, babe, maybe we should get a Peloton in the house because I don't have that gym membership, but maybe I could get my fat ass on the bike. Yeah, that's why I bought it."
- 00:11:00-00:11:11 "Most people are unwilling to get into the sandbox to get messy because they don't want to look stupid and they don't want to sound stupid."
- 00:13:41-00:13:53 - "Put it out so that other people can learn and feel. some kind of way, can learn something, can understand and connect to it."
- 00:17:04-00:17:14 "Kobe Bryant, the greatest basketball player is texting Michael Jordan at 2 AM asking him questions about his turnaround jumper. Why? So he can level up. If he's not going to ask, he has to have the humility to ask the greatest basketball player."
- 00:19:17-00:19:28 - "Hospitality is kindness to a stranger."
- 00:22:35-00:22:46 - "Look what you made. Yeah. Look what we made together."
- 00:24:47-00:24:58 - "But really, when we think about these experiences, technology, for example, all the companies you share... It's not B to B, it's not B to C, it's H to H. It's human to human."
- 00:28:46-00:28:56 - "Is it easier to share a website or is it easier to share a video from a social platform? Lead. Of course. All day. I have 60 seconds for a video. Yeah. If it's got a strong hook, if it's got a story, if it's another business owner solving a problem. Yeah. Done all day. Show it to me."
- 00:30:07-00:30:17 "Every business is family business."
- 00:32:49-00:32:59 - "how could I not bring them?"
- 00:36:38-00:36:48 If you're curious about Rob, you have to listen to our digital hospitality episode because I'm going to throw him under the bus. I'm going to expose, I'm going to depose him and ask him all the tough questions, all
Connect:
- Omniboost: www.omniboost.com
- Rob Napoli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robnap/
- Shawn P. Walchef: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnpwalchef/
- Cali BBQ Media: calibbq.media/podcast-episodes/
- Be The Show Media: https://betheshow.media/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnpwalchef/
Filmed on location by Splice Video (https://www.splicevideo.com)at Cali BBQ Media in San Diego, California: https://calibbq.media/
Show Produced by: Niranjan Deshpande (Nick), Broken Frames Studio, www.brokenframesstudio.com
Creators & Guests
What is Hospitable?
Hospitable is a podcast that discusses how to make hospitality MORE human through technology.
Hospitable focuses on discussing the leading challenges facing the hospitality industry and to explore the latest trends, technologies, and best practices that are shaping the industry. Each episode features interviews with hoteliers, restaurateurs, chefs, industry analysts, and other experts who share their insights and experiences on topics such as customer experience, sustainability, innovation, staffing, and more.
Hosted by Rob Napoli
00:00:00:03 - 00:00:18:13
Shawn
All we need to do is do a better job of understanding. If we're willing to be uncomfortable, if we’re willing to do bring cameras out, if we're willing to go drive to San Diego, fly from New York, come from Tempe, Arizona. If you're willing to do that work, yeah, magic can happen 100%. And it's not just for us in this room.
00:00:18:15 - 00:00:34:11
Shawn
It's once we publish on online, you have no idea of who's watching on the air, you have no idea who's listening on Spotify
00:00:34:13 - 00:00:34:16
Shawn
Spit Hot Fire.
00:00:34:16 - 00:01:04:05
Rob Napoli
All right. We're back for another episode of Hospitable. Hospitable is a podcast where we discover how to make hospitality the hospitality industry more human through technology. And with that, my guest today, we've been running in different circles, and we've realized through meeting here that we have way too many, like random connections which i freaking love. This is Shawn Walchef he is podcast host, founder of Cali Barbecue Media, founder of Cali Barbecue.
00:01:04:07 - 00:01:27:01
Rob Napoli
You're on the customer Advisory board on Toast, you’re content creator for Entrepreneur Media. And we're here at your restaurant in San Diego. So first, I want to say thank you for being hospitable to us. Letting us shoot. Letting us have that run of your shop out there trying to get yelled at. I know you can't not smell this, but I promise you, the smells in here right now have me just drooling.
00:01:27:02 - 00:01:37:18
Rob Napoli
I cannot wait for this. And those that know me being in Kansas city. I love my barbecue, so I'm so excited for this. Thank you so much for being here and for letting us use your space. I appreciate you.
00:01:37:20 - 00:01:48:17
Shawn
Welcome to San Diego. We're going to have a great conversation. We're going to share all the all the secrets I cannot wait, the barbecue secrets, the hospitality secrets and technology secrets and storytelling secrets.
00:01:48:17 - 00:02:04:17
Rob Napoli
I cannot wait. So one of the things that I love about you is you help hospitality brands. And these are some of our stories, and you have this motto of being the show, not the commercial. Where did, walk me back, and we’ll get into your backstory, walk me back? When did that lightbulb click for you?
00:02:04:19 - 00:02:24:18
Shawn
You know, it's we're located in the part of San Diego that most people friends of mine, when I got into this business in 2008. We said, first of all, 2008 terrible time to open up a restaurant. And then they said, You picked a terrible location. And then we started doing barbecue, which is a very difficult project on the West Coast.
00:02:24:20 - 00:02:45:05
Shawn
So odds stacked against us. And even though the odds were stacked against us, the belief that we always had was that if we make incredible barbecue and if we provide phenomenal hospitality, we make memorable moments for people, then we'll start to build a good business. Once we start to build a good business, then other people are going to come and tell our story.
00:02:45:06 - 00:02:57:06
Shawn
Yeah, legacy media, the radio, the newspapers, the local TV. They're going to come and tell our story. We're going to have more people filled our restaurant, be profitable, be able to open up more restaurants.
00:02:57:08 - 00:03:21:18
Rob Napoli
I love that. And you know that, especially when it comes to food. Food is such an experience. Right. Imagine if your childhood reminds you where you're from or just that the people you're with. It can have such an impact and it's such a, it’s word of mouth game, right? So you were telling me a little bit about this location in Mississippi.
00:03:21:20 - 00:03:25:11
Rob Napoli
It has very special meaning for you. So share that with us.
00:03:25:17 - 00:03:44:01
Shawn
Sure. I mean, I grew up busing tables in this restaurant when I was 13 years old. I had a very privileged background. I never met my father, but my grandfather, my Bulgarian grandfather, I call him the Bulgarian mom. But in my life he raised me and he taught me at an early age the value of hard work. I hated hard work when I was a kid
00:03:44:05 - 00:04:04:10
Shawn
You know, all of my kids, all my friends grew up in La Jolla. La Jolla was called the jewel. Very privileged, very affluent neighborhood. And on the weekends I would leave La Jolla. I'd come out here to Spring Valley and bused tables. And every weekend I had to do that. All my friends are playing sports and going to the beach. And for me, I just despised that.
00:04:04:10 - 00:04:29:08
Shawn
It was, you know, something. I was like, I don't want to do this. This is not cool. All my friends are doing something cool. What I learned later on was that I fell in love with hospitality and making memorable moments for people. We had people from all different walks of life, you know, young people, old people, people with different backgrounds, different religions that were coming to our restaurant to enjoy breakfast, to enjoy barbecue.
00:04:29:08 - 00:04:45:19
Shawn
It was even barbecue at the time was just breakfast. But they fell in love with a certain part of the restaurant because that's my table. That's where I sit on the back patio. You know, this is where I celebrate Mom's birthday. Every time Mom's birthday, we come to, you know, back in the day, it was called country comfort.
00:04:45:20 - 00:05:12:22
Shawn
Yeah. Now it's Cali comfort barbecue. Not just Cali BBQ. Cali barbeque media. But one of the things that we learned over that time is to stay true to yourself. If you stay true to yourself and to work on the craft of hospitality, you could build something remarkable even if it does change. You know, I had it's unfortunate that I've done, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of podcasts now, and I get lots of great guests who say, where's Be the show, not the commercial that came from a guest.
00:05:12:22 - 00:05:34:18
Shawn
Eric Shellenberger was on my show and he said, Be the show, not the commercial. And that clicked for me because that was something that registered as somebody that's been trying to get people to come to a place in San Diego, like we want people from all over San Diego, 3 million people to come and enjoy great barbecue. Well, in order to do that, we had to be a show, not a commercial.
00:05:34:20 - 00:05:50:12
Shawn
People don't want to respond. I mean, I have the six year old son and my four year old daughter. And ever since they were little and watch YouTube kids, they know how to hit Skip. And that was the first button that they learned how to interact with. I'm to hit Skip because I don't want my content to interrupt it.
00:05:50:13 - 00:06:13:02
Shawn
Yeah, but, you know, they'll watch a creator, a young kid play with dinosaurs and they'll tell me and my wife, Hey, I want that dinosaur. Yeah, You know, whatever Jimi's playing with this dinosaur. Yeah. So it's like, be the show, not the commercial, show the things that people want to see that they're curious about. So much of what we do today and we look at if you go on Instagram, everything is the same.
00:06:13:02 - 00:06:30:01
Shawn
Yeah, you know what you're going to expect if you come to a barbecue brand, what are you going to see? Meat's coming off the smoker ribs, brisket, beats, the mac and cheese, peach cobbler. Of course, that's what you're going to share. We're going to show pictures of the bar. Yeah, but who's going to show somebody unboxing, toast equipment
00:06:30:03 - 00:06:50:16
Shawn
Yeah, we are. Why? Because we're crazy like that. Yeah. Toast is our primary technology partner. We made a toast unboxing video, literally right here where we're sitting. I have people laughing at me, making fun of me saying, Why are you spending money? Why are you spending time making a video of you and your general manager and business partner unboxing hardware at your restaurant?
00:06:50:18 - 00:07:07:00
Shawn
And I said, Watch me. Yeah, I know that there's other restaurant owners on Earth that are on La Jolla that are wanting to switch. They don't know if they should switch. They have fears. They have concerns. We're going to talk about those fears and concerns that we have. We're going to share that story and we're going to publish it on YouTube.
00:07:07:00 - 00:07:12:17
Shawn
We're to publish it as a podcast, published as a blog, put it on Instagram, put it on Facebook put it on there, put it everywhere.
00:07:12:17 - 00:07:13:09
Rob Napoli
Yeah.
00:07:13:11 - 00:07:21:09
Shawn
And guess what? Once we publish that video within three days, press comparado. The CEO of Toast had shared it through thousands of employees.
00:07:21:09 - 00:07:22:21
Rob Napoli
And that's amazing.
00:07:22:23 - 00:07:40:12
Shawn
Why? Because every business on earth needs social content 100% every business Apple. They need social content. As big as Apple's, as big as Nike is, as big as Tesla's. They need social proof. Yeah, you know, why i bought a peleton during the pandemic, it wasn't because Peloton advertising.
00:07:40:12 - 00:07:41:15
Rob Napoli
Said something to me.
00:07:41:17 - 00:07:57:18
Shawn
It was because one of my friends got their fat ass on the peloton and put on Instagram stories. Hey, this is me riding the peloton and then me and my fat ass going like, Babe, maybe we should get a peloton in the house because I don't have that gym membership. But they had to get my fat ass on the bike.
00:07:57:18 - 00:08:13:05
Shawn
Yeah, yeah, that's why I bought it. And that's social proof that social selling and that's what we're talking about in the B2B space is that business owners, it doesn't matter what business you're in. We have vendor partners. Yeah, but what do we do as a business? We focus on our own content. We want to tell our own story.
00:08:13:07 - 00:08:45:24
Shawn
Yeah, If you get good at storytelling, you can tell all the stories around. Yeah, Stories happen every day. We make decisions on everything we buy. There's a chair company that manufactures. I don't know who the chair company is. If I did, I would namedrop them on this podcast in hopes that I could get a sponsorship deal. But I'm not, because all we need to do is do a better job of understanding if we're willing to be uncomfortable, if we're willing to do bring cameras out, if we're willing to go drive to San Diego, fly from New York, come from Tempe, Arizona, if you're willing to do that work, yeah, magic can happen.
00:08:46:01 - 00:08:58:21
Shawn
And it's not just for us in this room. It's once we publish it online, you have no idea who's watching on Linkedin. You have no idea who's listening on Spotify. Yeah, but once you do it, guess what? That's how you and I are here. Yeah.
00:08:58:22 - 00:08:59:10
Rob Napoli
So we actually.
00:08:59:12 - 00:09:01:10
Shawn
Literally wouldn't be here if it wasnt for the Internet.
00:09:01:11 - 00:09:20:20
Rob Napoli
100% and what's funny is that people aren't social, theyre by nature lurkers. Like there's so many people lurking all the time they're looking for What's that connection point when they see that? And I just the attach of so sent you to what you want to be or become or be a part of in that that is so amazing.
00:09:20:20 - 00:09:41:14
Rob Napoli
And it's funny because you talk about this unboxing hardware right? Why is that so impactful? Well, if the technology and the hardware can actually make your restaurant run more efficiently, it'd be more hospitable. Why would you not want to talk like that? You talk about the story. You walk in the shop like this, this restaurant, it feels like home. All right, I live in New York.
00:09:41:14 - 00:09:57:04
Rob Napoli
I get to go out a lot, of cool spots. And some places are fairly like high end. It's a great experience, but sometimes you just want to go and have food where you just feel comfortable. Yeah, and that's what it feels like. And if you can make that more comfort through technology, that's the game. That's, that's why this podcast addressed it.
00:09:57:06 - 00:10:18:04
Rob Napoli
You talk about social experiences and I think why do you think hospitality brands aren't leveraging this power? I mean, you're seeing it more often because obviously you're a big part of that. But why? Why do you think the hesitation is for these hospitality brands to not be conceptual, to not be sharing that social proof, to not be talking about their problems and their fears of running their businesses?
00:10:18:08 - 00:10:48:12
Shawn
To be honest with you, I think what's happened in the last 16 years, June 29th, 2007, you know what happened was the day the first iPhone was released, June 29th, 2007. And why is that an impact? Well, it's an impactful day for us. Number one is that we opened in 2008, so we literally built our business on the backs of Web 2.0 of all of these different apps that are on a smartphone that allow us to publish on the Internet.
00:10:48:14 - 00:11:06:24
Shawn
I don't need to ask for permission to publish a YouTube video. I don't need to ask for permission to publish the podcast. I don't need to ask for permission for Instagram. Twitter, X spreads whatever you whatever you want to call. Yeah, All I have to do is to be willing to get into the sandbox. Yeah. Most people are unwilling to get into the sandbox to get messy because they don't want to look stupid.
00:11:06:24 - 00:11:24:06
Shawn
They don't want to sound stupid. The same reason people don't want to do a pun. I mean, number one, fear. People don't want to give a public speech, right? Yeah. Why? Because they don't want to look stupid and sound stupid. I too didn't want to look stupid and sound stupid. Being on the West Coast and San Diego and cooking craft barbecue, you know, I mean, people talk shit to me a lot.
00:11:24:08 - 00:11:39:22
Shawn
A lot. Still to this day, a live stream on Tik tok I did just last Sunday. 10,000 people Comments. Texas knows how to barbecue. California doesn't know shit about barbecue. What do you think you're doing? We're from Kansas. You guys don't know what you're doing, right? Well, you're obviously watching me.
00:11:39:22 - 00:11:41:00
Rob Napoli
Yeah, because.
00:11:41:02 - 00:11:58:23
Shawn
You're watching me. Is your local spot in Kansas City live on Tik Tok? No, they're not. Well, why not? Yeah, I'm arguing that they should be because if they are live on Tik Tok, all of a sudden, I literally went live on Tik Tok on Father's Day. I had 100,000 people on a live set up the next day.
00:11:59:00 - 00:12:10:07
Shawn
Somebody that was in North Carolina was watching that Tik Tok. And he said in the comments like, I'm going to visit my daughter in San Diego, I'm coming to your shop, no bullshit. The next day he came.
00:12:10:09 - 00:12:11:02
Rob Napoli
That's amazing.
00:12:11:02 - 00:12:30:15
Shawn
Like, that's not an ROI lot of people go, well, what's the ROI doing this content or how is it going to affect my sales? That is a story. Yeah. That man came with his daughter who's in the Navy and came to sit on the front patio because literally I watched you for free on a Tik Tok live and now he feels connected to me and I feel connected to him.
00:12:30:15 - 00:12:47:14
Shawn
Yeah. And I'll go and I'll tell it on stages and I'll go and tell it on podcast. Why? Because we have the greatest tools in our pocket. If we're willing to do it. Yeah, but your question is, why don't we do it? Because we overthink. We're not willing to look shit like, why didn't we start a barbecue brand?
00:12:47:14 - 00:13:05:09
Shawn
Why on the West Coast, most people aren't willing to make bad barbecue. We made a lot of bad barbecue. Yeah, we made a lot of bad podcast, a lot of bad videos, a lot of bad Instagram posts. We still make posts where people don't watch it. Yeah, And most people would go, Oh, my ego. And like, no one liked my LinkedIn post, so I'm not going to post it.
00:13:05:09 - 00:13:09:22
Shawn
My engagement is down or the algorithm doesn't like. None of that matters.
00:13:09:24 - 00:13:27:06
Rob Napoli
That's why I sent out this letter here. It's like, you know, I, I do a lot of LinkedIn content. I used to run an agency, the sales agency. And the funny thing is, while the videos I was posting and things I was doing never got a lot of engagement. Every time I posted, I had five or six messages in my inbox.
00:13:27:06 - 00:13:46:05
Rob Napoli
People want to work with. They want to have a conversation, ask me advice, and just to have that conversation and to give that value for free and to pick up the phone, That was just an amazing experience that they're doing now. It's left them with one step closer to what they're trying to achieve. Now, whether I saw that or not, being able to get the one step closer was a win for me.
00:13:46:05 - 00:14:05:10
Rob Napoli
And that's similar what you do with free content, right? Put it out. Some other people can learn and feel some kind of way, can learn something, can understand and connect to it. And that that story you talk about is amazing because, you know, they told 15 other people and so at some point somebody told me that for North Carolina but like, yeah, this guy saw you on a Tik tok.
00:14:05:10 - 00:14:11:02
Rob Napoli
He came here, had an amazing meal and said, if you ever in city ten years later here, I'm in San Diego. That's fantastic. And that's.
00:14:11:02 - 00:14:12:14
Shawn
Amazing. That's the story
00:14:12:16 - 00:14:16:07
Rob Napoli
And that is why these things matter. I mean.
00:14:16:11 - 00:14:35:16
Shawn
Before what would you have to do? You'd have to pay $20,000 to get on the local news. To have an advertise. Yeah. To have 10,000 people watch it. Now, if you go live on a platform, you might have ten people watch. What if one of those people wants to invest in your company because you have the courage, you have the balls to do something that no one else is doing?
00:14:35:16 - 00:14:52:24
Rob Napoli
It's amazing. I mean, even to the point where Nick, who who's down here from Arizona with us is, you know, he was like, you should reach out to Shawn. And I was like, I looked at you and I remember like, looking up you’re linkedin. And I was like, I reach out. So but see if he even responds like that.
00:14:53:01 - 00:15:03:23
Rob Napoli
Maybe your to big right? And weirdly available within 5 minutes. Hey, I've got I can do a 15 minute call with you. You actually gave me 35 minutes. You said 20 minutes. Go. 20 minutes call.
00:15:03:24 - 00:15:06:19
Shawn
You had something to said. Yeah, we're actually talking about that.
00:15:06:21 - 00:15:33:08
Rob Napoli
And that's the difference. So it was just it's that. And because of that, so many different things have opened up. We got to meet up in Chicago, the National Restaurant Association show made this magic happen and flew out across the country and then realized so many different interlocking circles in the hospitality space. And now, if I was afraid, if I looked at your profile as like, maybe I shouldn’t shoot my shot instead I shot my shot at a 20 to 35 minutes out of you and look what happened.
00:15:33:10 - 00:16:00:15
Rob Napoli
And these are things that even if it's something simple asking for help, so many people are afraid to even ask for help. And that's why I think the power of content in this space is just talking about it, talking about not like so many people want to talk about wins all the time. It's like me, me, me. It's like talk about real life stuff and we talk about things that matter, even if it's scary for sure it's connected and that connectivity and that emotional graph changes the game.
00:16:00:17 - 00:16:20:20
Shawn
My grandfather, you know, the things that I talk about on our shows, restaurant influencers, digital hospitality, it always comes down to the lessons that he taught me, which is stay curious, get involved, ask for help. If you're not curious, you'll never listen to a podcast, you'll never pick up a book, you'll never attend a seminar. But that's just that's just the tip of the spear.
00:16:20:22 - 00:16:35:09
Shawn
Yeah. Being curious doesn't move you forward. You actually have to get involved. Yeah. You know, one of the greatest lessons my grandfather taught me was. Shawn, are you sitting in front of the class? And I was raised by him. He wanted me to get good grades, and I was like, I don't want to sit in. The cool kids aren't in the front of the class.
00:16:35:11 - 00:16:36:13
Rob Napoli
Cool kids in the back.
00:16:36:13 - 00:16:48:20
Shawn
Sit in the front of the class, raise your hand, ask the question, stay after. If you have a question and now I'm meeting with my son, who's in first grade, and my daughter who's, you know, in daycare. And I'm trying to teach them the same lessons.
00:16:48:20 - 00:16:49:21
Rob Napoli
Yeah.
00:16:49:23 - 00:17:07:20
Shawn
Getting involved, staying after the same thing in sports. Who's the one who who's Kobe? Kobe's the one that's there when no one else is. Yeah, he's the one that's putting in the extra work and then finally asking for help. Yeah. Kobe Bryant, the greatest basketball player, is texting Michael Jordan at 2 a.m., asking him questions about his turn around.
00:17:07:20 - 00:17:10:05
Shawn
Jump? Yeah. Why? So he can level up?
00:17:10:07 - 00:17:10:14
Rob Napoli
Yeah.
00:17:10:20 - 00:17:16:23
Shawn
I mean, if he's not going to ask, he has to have the humility to ask the greatest basketball player, Michael Jordan, at that time.
00:17:17:00 - 00:17:22:02
Rob Napoli
Because if you were trying to be the greatest was Kobe mob mentality, you know, and you could put him up there in that conversation.
00:17:22:02 - 00:17:43:06
Shawn
But if you're not willing to go and find people that are playing the game within the game. Yeah. And willing to go, hey, I don't know. Let me ask a stupid question because what's a stupid question to you might help someone like me better articulate someone else. Yeah, it helps move my business forward and more that, you know, you and me and Nick, we have conversations now.
00:17:43:06 - 00:17:48:24
Shawn
I know. Oh, wow. That's really interesting. Yeah. Maybe I can better help my clients using this.
00:17:48:24 - 00:18:06:07
Rob Napoli
And it ties all those lives together and I love how you bring up, like, asking these things and a stupid question, right? Is I think so much now we're afraid of failure And we have to have everything perfect because we, because we do have all the digital tools that we have to be perfect in this idea of being perfect.
00:18:06:07 - 00:18:28:13
Rob Napoli
How you know what perfection if you havent failed, right? And that challenge goes back to stop trying to be perfect. Good is good enough. And then you can evolve off that like thinking about you. So we talk about getting into it. So you started a barbecue joint, right? And now you're in the media and you are transitioning into the media game.
00:18:28:15 - 00:18:52:01
Rob Napoli
Pretty sure you're early content if you look back this term, that exact reason. So why are you so passionate about and you talk a lot about PR right? The future PR is a video on LinkedIn, not 100% press. Why is it such a big deal to you? Why is it so speaking about where hospitality is going right 2023 we're going to 2024 for looking at a digital age.
00:18:52:01 - 00:18:56:14
Rob Napoli
Why is this so important right now and how is it going to impact what happens in the next decade?
00:18:56:17 - 00:19:18:03
Shawn
The most important thing, I mean, the reason that the thesis of our show, digital hospitality, is every business needs to be digital first, especially brick and mortar businesses. But every business is in the hospitality business, whether they know it or not. Yeah, like as humans, we crave memorable moments, interaction, those memorable moments and those interaction. Hospitality is kindness to a stranger.
00:19:18:03 - 00:19:40:04
Shawn
Yeah. When you and I meet, when we meet whoever this is that listens to this show for the first time, you're going to have a perception of who anyone is. Yeah. How do you get. Well? You know, I think of my son being a first time at a new public school. He's going in knowing no one. Yeah, You know, he actually went to a private kindergarten before, so all of these kids already knew someone.
00:19:40:06 - 00:20:00:13
Shawn
Yeah. So he's walking into a space that he doesn't know, and I have to give him the skills to be a person that understands. You don't have any friends yet. Yeah, but you need to show up. You need to be uncomfortable, you need to observe, you need to see what's going on. But then you also need to get in, need to get in the game.
00:20:00:15 - 00:20:19:15
Shawn
How do you get in the game? You ask questions. Yeah, you know, you be available, you be empathetic, you listen and you find out what is your role in all of this. And when I talk to brands, reason why I'm so passionate about what I do is as much as I love barbecue and the restaurant business, I know from helping my grandfather at the end of his life, right?
00:20:19:15 - 00:20:53:18
Shawn
His life story, that storytelling is what I'm truly most passionate, you know, having the time spending three years with my grandfather and going from Bulgaria to Germany, where he went to medical school all the way across Europe, and then writing a book, self-publishing a book, getting that translated into Bulgarian. So now when my children go back to Bulgaria because my wife's Bulgarian, in my wife's village and in my grandfather's village, there's a book that my grandfather that I helped my grandfather write about his life story, about curiosity, about getting involved, about asking for help.
00:20:53:20 - 00:21:08:12
Shawn
Like that's something that every person we don't need to ask for permission to talk to our mother, to our grandmother, to anyone that we care about, to get their story. Yeah, we always wait until it's too late. Yeah, but we think that no one cares.
00:21:08:13 - 00:21:27:04
Rob Napoli
Yeah, that's a that's a great point. I think it's really easy that life happens so fast. It's easy to get caught up, especially in a digital world. To not pay attention does not pay attention to those stories and to take the time to ask those today. Yeah, and I love the message. And that's so I think that's such an important piece.
00:21:27:06 - 00:21:51:24
Rob Napoli
When we think about hospitality as a whole, when we would love, want to travel, we crave experiences doing these different things. What is that story meet you that when you go to that place, you have that experience. Like what are you going to take away? You go back on What is it you're going to tell? I am. I can't wait to tell that story about the conversation the other day we had on the beach that we're talking about this morning, just sitting on the beach talking business.
00:21:51:24 - 00:22:03:18
Rob Napoli
Yeah. Your wife made a joke. Looks like are in detention right now. Right. Because we were so locked in to just going around and it was flowing. It was like one person and I can never go. Well, what do you think?
00:22:03:18 - 00:22:04:10
Shawn
What do you think? No, it.
00:22:04:15 - 00:22:11:06
Rob Napoli
Was just it was just go. It was a safe space. It was just a lot of things where I look up and we're like, what just happened?
00:22:11:08 - 00:22:22:21
Shawn
We were just on the Coronado Beach with a perfect sunset on the perfect day, talking about the things that we all love to do. Yeah, that literally put us really at that point. At that time.
00:22:22:22 - 00:22:24:22
Rob Napoli
Yeah. Yeah. I'll never forget it. No.
00:22:24:24 - 00:22:30:06
Shawn
And not only you're not going to forget it, but we took out our phones and we took pictures and we took videos of.
00:22:30:08 - 00:22:31:10
Rob Napoli
Yeah. To caputre the moment
00:22:31:10 - 00:22:32:20
Shawn
We need to do that. No.
00:22:32:22 - 00:22:33:14
Rob Napoli
But was it awesome?
00:22:33:14 - 00:22:49:06
Shawn
Because when I look back at that photo or I look back at that video five years from now and go like, Holy shit, look what you made. Yeah, look what you made. Look what we made together. Let's be fun. And the best part is, is that we're willing to share those secrets with people that listen to this content.
00:22:49:08 - 00:23:05:10
Shawn
Because I don't have all the secrets. Yeah, I'm just going to share all the things that I've messed up along the way and all the things that have worked out. We messed up a lot and we're nowhere near where we want to be, but we know that we're on to something that pulls us out of that every single moment.
00:23:05:12 - 00:23:06:16
Shawn
Every single?
00:23:06:18 - 00:23:08:17
Rob Napoli
What is that drives you every day?
00:23:08:19 - 00:23:30:10
Shawn
Every single day. I know that what my grandfather asked me to do, I can help other brands do. Yeah. You know, right now we've been so focused in the hospitality tech space, working with companies like Toast Light Restaurant, 365, Ovation seven Chefs Marquee, some of the incredible brands that have come to us to help them better tell stories on the Internet.
00:23:30:12 - 00:23:51:01
Shawn
But I know that that's just one sector of the business. I know that back to the chair company, back to the alcohol company, all of these companies have a story that they don't think is worthy of the Internet and more and more people are starting to understand that's what people want. Yeah, people don't want a commercial stop. stop with the bullshit.
00:23:51:03 - 00:23:56:07
Shawn
People don't want a commercial. We're tuning out commercials. We have DVR ads like nobody wants.
00:23:56:07 - 00:23:56:14
Rob Napoli
That.
00:23:56:20 - 00:24:08:15
Shawn
We want to show. Yeah, bring the end of the show. I don't care what business you're on. If it's a boring business, if it's whatever, you don't think it is cool. Someone else on earth is trying to build that same business.
00:24:08:15 - 00:24:28:00
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I mean, even think about you use the example, the chairs right? They're selling. So then it's tied to an negative, right? So it's not a sexy B2C like I'm buying this cool chair, but for a restaurant owner, why is it important? What is the look and feel you're looking for? What is the the vibe that it brings and understanding who made it?
00:24:28:00 - 00:24:46:12
Rob Napoli
And their story can also help you be more like, I want more of these chairs, I want to do this company no matter what you tell, because I love that story and the look and feel fits what I'm trying to do. And those are the things that the B2B space that we forget to think about because we think about video is such a a B2C play.
00:24:46:13 - 00:24:51:19
Rob Napoli
Yeah, But really what we think like this experience is technology. For example, you know, other companies you said.
00:24:51:21 - 00:24:56:11
Shawn
It's not B2B, it's not B2C, it's a H2H, Yeah, it's human to human.
00:24:56:13 - 00:24:57:00
Rob Napoli
I love that.
00:24:57:00 - 00:25:07:20
Shawn
Technology is just the thing that helps distribute it. Yeah, it does it for free. Like we have. Like we're fortunate that we have Internet access. We're fortunate that we have smartphones. Why are we not capitalizing?
00:25:07:20 - 00:25:09:10
Rob Napoli
100%, this is H2H
00:25:09:12 - 00:25:12:12
Rob Napoli
I love that you shared Is our founder and I joke.
00:25:12:15 - 00:25:16:22
Shawn
I'm steel that neck.
00:25:16:24 - 00:25:37:08
Rob Napoli
Is it's funny because our founder and I talk all the time like one of the core missions that our company is to give creativity and time back to humans to do the things that they love to do. Right. And we think about what that means. The greatest part of omniboost is that you don't know that you're using omniboost right? But I went with I got up two years with omniboost.
00:25:37:08 - 00:25:59:14
Rob Napoli
I was how and I want people to know our story. Yeah our founder brand, our origin story is how we came about. Why is a SAS platform you should use us to connect the dots in your tech stack. And so it's crazy because for us, that's the human to human thing, right? Is if we do our jobs right, you'll never know is a restaurant aren't you may never know that your toast is connected to something else.
00:25:59:14 - 00:26:02:00
Rob Napoli
Through omniboost but you can know who we are.
00:26:02:02 - 00:26:02:09
Shawn
Yeah.
00:26:02:11 - 00:26:17:02
Rob Napoli
And you can tell our story. And you can know what we do. And that could open up over all the possibilities. And that, to me, is so amazing. Is that human to human piece. And that's how we're all in this room today. And that's such a cool thing. And it's so many brands fail to do that.
00:26:17:04 - 00:26:41:03
Shawn
They're starting to figure it out. And I think the problem that most modern marketers have is the asking for help is understanding that there's a risk of disrupting what's currently happening. When you go and you start talking about tik tok channel, how we do a channel, how do we add video, how do we add, how do we incorporate all the things that we know we need to do?
00:26:41:03 - 00:27:00:18
Shawn
Yeah, it's easy. Like go to the App Store and so you figure out what are the most downloaded apps? Yeah, that's where consumers like, that's Gary V. What's that's basic no matter what we don't need to do to argue that Yeah but how do we do it is a question but we do it by having an uncomfortable conversation that happens.
00:27:00:20 - 00:27:17:22
Shawn
You know, I talk about this all the time, is that most companies, the bigger that they get, the harder it is for a sales team and a marketing team to work together and marketing team makes their own collateral. Sales teams make their own marketing collateral. Why so? Because the marketing team's not talking to the sales team about the pain points.
00:27:17:24 - 00:27:18:13
Rob Napoli
Yeah.
00:27:18:15 - 00:27:29:23
Shawn
The pain points marketers don't think are sexy. It's true. Salespeople know what closes deals. Yeah, what closes deals is the pain points of their customers. Yeah. Let's make content about them.
00:27:30:00 - 00:27:30:16
Rob Napoli
Yeah.
00:27:30:18 - 00:27:32:04
Shawn
What are we. What are we doing here?
00:27:32:04 - 00:27:36:05
Rob Napoli
Yeah. So we need to create content that speaks to them, and that's in times of a disconnect. Why are you.
00:27:36:05 - 00:27:52:15
Shawn
Making a toast Unboxing video? Making a toast. Unboxing video? Because there's a lot of people on a legacy point of sale system that are curious about online audience, that are curious about cloud based POS systems, that are curious about what toast is doing. Yeah, well, if I answer that question, I'm helping a lot of restaurant.
00:27:52:15 - 00:27:56:20
Rob Napoli
On that versus another PDF about something that no one cares about.
00:27:57:00 - 00:28:01:09
Shawn
A DAC in a demo. Yeah, I on.
00:28:01:11 - 00:28:23:21
Rob Napoli
I am so against using decks anymore like a couple of slides. Great. But now, now and so many times, like with deck demo approaches, there's no discovery, there's no conversation, no asking those questions. It's like, here's our solution and it doesn't work. Right? And that's this is where those things change because then the other beautiful thing about creating content is it's now I have something that could reach out to you.
00:28:23:21 - 00:28:36:10
Rob Napoli
Hey, I saw you do it at tik tok but it's a national conversation starter. It right there makes that connection. You're more likely to want to engage back then. Magic can happen. And that's where also for brands to put themselves out, there is an.
00:28:36:10 - 00:28:49:16
Shawn
Easier to share website or is it easier to share video from social platform link? Of course, all day I have 60 seconds for a video. Yeah, if it's got a strong hook, if it's got a story, if it's another business, are solving a problem.
00:28:49:18 - 00:28:50:10
Rob Napoli
Yeah.
00:28:50:12 - 00:28:52:00
Shawn
Done all day show to me.
00:28:52:02 - 00:28:52:09
Rob Napoli
Yeah.
00:28:52:09 - 00:29:11:01
Shawn
Wait they did what. Yeah. Are you telling me they use Davo Davalos the sales tax automation tool for $50 a month that integrates with your point of sale system and all of a sudden they don't have to deal with bullshit sales tax anymore? How do I not know about that? How is this business owner no longer worrying about filing sales tax and they've automated their sales tax?
00:29:11:01 - 00:29:27:10
Shawn
Yeah, why don't I know about that? Well, I do because there's video about. Yeah, there's some other restaurant owner that has multiple restaurants that I wish I could be. Well, he's solved one problem that I'm spending hours, tens of hours, 20 hours of my management time dealing with something. This should be. Yeah.
00:29:27:12 - 00:29:45:24
Rob Napoli
It's amazing and it's game changer. So when you think about where Cali Barbeque Media is going, what is we look at the future, what is the impact that we want to continue to create? What is the thing that you will really want to look back at that made an impact there?
00:29:46:01 - 00:30:10:02
Shawn
I'm so much of what we do right now is brand focus. It's helping brands highlight the humans that are actually working in their brands. Yeah, I like the customers that are actually using their products, using their services. But the bigger goal with Cali Barbeque Media, when I look back on this interview, was going to be how am I helping other humans tell their family story?
00:30:10:04 - 00:30:32:12
Shawn
Because every business is family business. Yeah, every business. We all have families. It's support no matter if you're a solopreneur or if you're a publicly traded company. Yeah, we are all invested in this thing we call life. And I truly believe that every person has a story that should be passed on to the future generations. And that goes from my grandfather.
00:30:32:17 - 00:31:05:23
Shawn
When I'm reading his book that I helped him write to my son and my daughter. I know that other people can do that not just through books, but through audiobooks, through podcasts or video. And we take these steps for granted every single that every single day Thanksgiving's going to come up. People are going to go to their families house, They're going to share the same stories that they've heard mom tell or dad tell or the uncle tell about the war, about the business, and they roll their eyes until it's too late.
00:31:06:00 - 00:31:06:23
Rob Napoli
It's gone.
00:31:07:00 - 00:31:30:09
Shawn
But this Thanksgiving, this Christmas, you can go and have that conversation and take the phone out and be a reporter and ask questions. You can do your due diligence and find out what other things were happening in the world when Mom went through this. And I can ask her questions that will help her tell a different side of the story that then when I have children, I can share.
00:31:30:11 - 00:31:54:14
Rob Napoli
A love, that I love that impact. I know they could talk for hours so I could keep going, but I always like to end that the podcast with a best and worst travel story, and it can be the same. But you know, travel such as, you know, it's just memory for us and creates experience. And I know you've been traveling a lot lately, so what's the what's good and the bad travel story?
00:31:54:16 - 00:32:22:24
Shawn
I've experienced all I can definitely do good, because of content, because of storytelling. You know, one of my now close friends, Matt Rolfe who's in Toronto, Canada, shout out to Matt Rolfe, phenomenal hospitality leader. He followed my content. Him and I connected over LinkedIn and over Instagram. We he said, I need to get you to Toronto to talk to these hoteliers and to these restaurant owners.
00:32:23:01 - 00:32:47:08
Shawn
You know, let's figure out a way to make this happen. And not only did I go about my wife Roseto my son Colleen and my daughter, we went to Toronto, had an incredible conversation. I recorded a restaurant Influencer's episode with him there on the Toronto backdrop. He got to speak to incredible restaurant leaders, Hotel leaders in Toronto, and then took my family to Niagara Falls.
00:32:47:10 - 00:33:06:08
Shawn
You know, it's like being able to go and do something that I love to do, but then bring my kids. And we just absolutely loved being on the boat and seeing, you know, this incredible one of the one wonders of the world. That's a magical thing. And people look at that and they go, Well, how did you bring your family to do that?
00:33:06:08 - 00:33:28:18
Shawn
And I'm like, How could I not bring yeah, if I'm not building a business that allows me to go to Bulgaria every summer where I can digitally still work on my restaurants, to work on my media business, you know, for four weeks to five weeks, I'm in the village, I have Internet access and a smartphone. I can podcast, I can do my clubhouse calls, I can be with my team, I can do business development, I can be with my clients.
00:33:28:18 - 00:33:32:21
Shawn
Yeah, all of those things are available because I'm able to travel.
00:33:32:23 - 00:33:51:07
Rob Napoli
That's awesome. I love that. And it's such an amazing thing, right? Like getting to have those experiences. And I think it's very important to think about when we're traveling, when we have opportunities for business, how can we also tap that? I think the pleasure concept actually also tack that on. To have this experience is not just be, I think for work, but I think for life.
00:33:51:09 - 00:34:02:15
Rob Napoli
I love, I love and appreciate you sharing that. So how can how can our listeners find you work and they get in touch with you or other things and I know a lot. I'll make sure to have all link to the show notes afterwards, but why don't you?
00:34:02:15 - 00:34:32:06
Shawn
Yeah, the easiest way is probably the primary playground Instagram. So it's @shawnpwalchef if you could send me a DM on there, restaurant influencers is the show that we do on Entrepreneur.com. We're very fortunate that show we've been able to interview people like Rob Dyrdek, Jon Taffer, Emeril Lagasse, so many incredible YouTubers, restaurant tours, digital Hospitality's show that we've been doing since 2017.
00:34:32:08 - 00:34:52:02
Shawn
But @ shawnpwalchef LinkedIn, one of my favorite playgrounds and also clubhouse. So clubhouse we host weekly calls on Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. Pacific Time that allows you to come on stage if you're ready to tell your story. If you want more practice with your elevator pitch. LinkedIn. The clubhouse is the place that we do that every single week.
00:34:52:02 - 00:34:53:10
Shawn
So come check us out.
00:34:53:10 - 00:34:55:04
Rob Napoli
Awesome. Make sure to have those all in.
00:34:55:04 - 00:34:57:09
Shawn
You havent been on clubhouse.
00:34:57:11 - 00:35:02:18
Rob Napoli
I was on clubhouse for a while, but haven't been on a while, so you can expect to see me.
00:35:02:18 - 00:35:04:18
Shawn
Rob will be on clubhouse.
00:35:04:20 - 00:35:05:04
Rob Napoli
This is the.
00:35:05:04 - 00:35:07:11
Shawn
callout And so you're on.
00:35:07:11 - 00:35:11:18
Rob Napoli
Im on tik tok, Instagram, threads. Threads.
00:35:11:18 - 00:35:15:04
Shawn
Yeah. X yeah on that Snapchat.
00:35:15:05 - 00:35:39:19
Rob Napoli
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Snapchat mostly for families, Twitch I do not Twitch I follow a lot of people on twitich. I watch a lot of twitch. Call Of Duty Fortnite gamer, so I'm on all the I dabble that all the platforms for me, mostly YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And then LinkedIn's my like hub, right? So those are my kind of my fort because I figured there's so many and I want to play with them all.
00:35:39:19 - 00:35:45:22
Rob Napoli
But focusing on one or two, I can really tell my story and show off who I am allows me to do that and that's going.
00:35:45:22 - 00:35:47:08
Shawn
To do it for me.
00:35:47:10 - 00:36:10:05
Rob Napoli
Mostly. I have fun off recently as a work. Yeah, the traveling a lot and I post I actually post on my stories daily. I also I post my stories daily, so I'm always needing to put something out there, but I don't always have to post. Like that's the difference. I think that's also the key is understanding where you can utilize the daily things versus other content and then slicing that up.
00:36:10:07 - 00:36:11:17
Shawn
How many shows do you do?
00:36:11:19 - 00:36:29:10
Rob Napoli
This is the one show that I do one show. Yeah, well, I have to have a second show, what I call the Bear Necessities, which is on pause right now. But I did 110 episodes and then I put on pause for the year as I built the show beautiful. So this is my second show and I've been on, I can't remember.
00:36:29:10 - 00:36:37:19
Rob Napoli
So I lost count on 50 as it got. So I love getting to do the rounds and traveling to events and all those things. So trying to be everywhere, everything.
00:36:37:21 - 00:36:50:23
Shawn
If you're curious about Rob, you have to listen to our digital hospitality episode because I'm going to throw him under the bus. I'm going to expose I'm going to depose her and ask him all the tough questions, all the things you wanted to know about Rob. He's going to go through the ringer.
00:36:51:03 - 00:37:04:17
Rob Napoli
We're going to have fun with that. Make sure you like subscribe, review the podcast, do all the things be a tier 1 and this is another episode. Hospitable. Shawn, thank you so much for being on the pod and for hosting us here Cali barbecue. We appreciate.