Breaking Barriers: How Ten Ten Wine Bar Champions Black-Owned Wines

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I don't know what it is about wine, but it really does bring people together.

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And I think maybe it's because you can have conversations.

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10 people can try a glass of wine and really have 10

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different things to say about it. And I think that that opens up the door

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to conversations about other things and opens up the door to

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different experiences that people can talk about. And I don't think that

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that's the same with other spirits. Sit back and grab a glass.

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It's Wine Talks with Paul K.

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Hey, welcome to White Talks with Paul K. And we are in studio today in

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beautiful Southern California, about to have a conversation with Leslie and Lee Jones,

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founders of Ten Ten Wine Bar in Inglewood, California, my old stomping

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grounds. Have a listen or look for the release of my

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new show called the Back Label. No

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additives, just the stories. The first episode comes out in

15
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May, and it's about the wine industry, the backstory of the

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industry, what's going on in the behind the scenes, why people do this. And we're

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going to find out now because this is going to be a task at hand.

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Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Excited to be here.

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Thank you. Thank you. Came all the way down from Inglewood. Yes, indeed. Which

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has gone through a major metamorphosis as times change.

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Yes. Definitely looks different from 15 years ago. Yeah.

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Even two years ago. Yeah. Right. You grew up there? Yes. Yeah, we did.

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I left there in the 60s, so I don't get the whole

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Renaissance. But my dad was president of the Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, all that

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stuff. Went to Daniel Freeman School. What has

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happened? Is it SOFI that changed the complexion of

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Inglewood, or is it just a natural metamorphosis? Is what's going on with.

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Yeah, I mean, I think naturally the city was. The

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location of. Inglewood is the perfect location. It's conveniently

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located to freeways, not far from the beach,

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really close to the airport. So Inglewood was already a great

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location. So I think naturally things were going to pop up there

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anyway. But. But with SOFI Stadium coming

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and the Intuit Dome coming, I think that it really just

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accelerated all of that growth in Inglewood. And

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the revamp of the form. Yeah. And the revamp of the form. Yeah. What happened?

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You know, that's interesting. Cause I learned how to ride a bike at the Forum,

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so I learned how to drive there. Yeah. Now they don't

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allow that, but I definitely learned how to drive at the Forum. There was no

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form. It was actually Hollywood park at the time. Yeah, yeah. But in. My

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first lemonade stand was right there on Manchester, near Prairie.

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So it kind of drifted away, and it got a little tougher out

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there in that neighborhood, and now it's coming back, and I suppose Sofi is part

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of it. But you're right. I think the location,

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the natural location is such a great place near the beach. Randy's

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Donuts is right around the corner.

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You have anything you need right in Inglewood. So when you guys were growing

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up, was there a wine culture in your home? No, both of our parents

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didn't drink. Really. And it wasn't like, you know,

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wine was forbidden, but they just didn't drink. And so

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even though we had a lot of gatherings of family and

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friends, people really just didn't bring wine or

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liquor to our house because they knew that our parents didn't drink. So even if

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they drank, we just. We really didn't have liquor. So

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how did this evolve at high school or something? That's where

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it started. You're

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an event planner by trade, right? Yes.

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An attorney by trade. That's right. So you saw

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law school. Yes. This is a huge departure from that. Yeah, just

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a little bit. And your sisters, you get along, which is incredible.

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Yeah. You know, on the most. Most days. Yeah, most days.

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Any. Anything that is,

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like, needed for business, we're able to do together. So.

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Yeah. That's a great combination. It is. So what.

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I mean, look, retail wine, retail

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restaurant. A huge difference from event planning and

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of course, being an attorney. Right. What was his motivation

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from. Where is the wine culture coming from that you guys

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adopted? We created it within ourselves. So we went

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to high school together, college together, all the things. And so that's

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really. Was what we did decompress

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over and is. Let's go to dinner. Let's get a glass of wine. Let's get

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a bottle of wine. Let's like. That's how we

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kind of bonded in adulthood. And so we said, how

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can we recreate the moments that we spent building

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our relationship for others? And that's the evolution of

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1010. And with her doing events, it was a

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space where we can do both. So you can host your event. You can.

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But we also have the restaurant, the retail of it, so it's

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able to. To really do

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both of our expertise, hers and events, mine and wine. Not saying you're not an

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expert in wine, but yeah, we better. Careful.

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But you're. She's like, really, really, really good with events.

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So that's why we're like, let's get a space that we can do both. So

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when you went to law school. Yes, indeed. You were. You

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wanted to be an attorney or you realized when you went to law school, maybe

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there's something else. Yeah, no, through law school, I was like, I'm going to be

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a public defender. This is it for me. And then

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I still practice. I do trademark law,

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but once I graduated, passed the bar, started doing

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family law, criminal law through a private firm, and

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just realized it's not really for me, and just

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wanted to pivot and figure out what it is that I will wake

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up and want to do every day. And that's when

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I was like, yeah, wine bar. I get a lot of. I have a lot

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of winemakers that come through here. French, some of the greatest names you've ever

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heard of. Yeah. And they have the same story. They actually weren't

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planning on being in the family. And this is the people that have been in

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the business. Yeah. They went off to law school, they went off to business school.

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They're going to do their own thing. And it called them back. Yeah. And there's

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something about wine that does that, in my opinion. In fact, you guys mentioned it

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in one of your. One of the bits. One of the TV spots bit,

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what you gather over wine. Yeah. And I always try to figure

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out why that is. Like, what is it about that glass of wine that

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gathers. Now, you have a neat, unique proposition, which is most of your wines are

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from African American vineyards. But it's still.

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There's something unique about this product. Yeah. I mean, I don't know what it

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is about wine, but it really does bring people together. And I think

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maybe it's because you can have conversations

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that, you know, people can try.

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10 people can try a glass of wine and really have 10

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different things to say about it. And I think that that opens up the door

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to conversations about other things and opens up the door to

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different experiences that people can talk about. And I don't think that

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that's the same with other spirits. I think, you know, with tequila, even though

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there's so many different brands, substantially different ideas. Yeah, very, very

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different. But, you know, when you're drinking tequila, the goal is not to sit down

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and chill with your friends. The is what notes is on this. The

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goal is to get wasted. Right. You know, and so I think that

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wine just opens up that door to have that. Those conversations.

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I wonder why that is. I mean, I've tried to have winemakers define

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it. Vineyard men, you know, vineyard guys that tend to the vineyards,

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understand the soil at at some point, you know, that that root

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goes down there, grabs these nutrients, grabs the character of what that wine's going to

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be. Yeah. And must happen there as to why it reaches our

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soul to. To have these conversations. It's so different than

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every other beverage. When did that happen to you guys? Like,

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you're. You're in law school, you're doing events, You're. Those are hectic things. Putting on

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a wedding and putting on. And all of a sudden you're like, wait a minute.

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Yeah. Yeah. When was that? I think our first trip to Napa.

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Oh, yeah. We went to Brown Estate and

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their tasting room. That's back in the day when you used to go on the

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property before they had their downtown location.

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And I remember we were in this literally small tasting

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room, did the tour and had that

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Zinfandel. I was hooked. Yeah. I

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think. Yeah. Just the whole experience, we got to like, what? Yeah,

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yeah. I think. And we had been drinking wine before that. Exactly. Yeah. But we

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had never gone and experienced a tasting or been

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to a vineyard or a winery at all. And so

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I think, you know, visiting Brown and visiting a few other. We went to

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Cade and, you know, a bunch of other wineries. I think

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actually seeing the work that people put in to produce the

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wine and the whole process and

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like, literally just the science and the creativity and the beauty behind

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just creating a bottle of wine that people are gonna enjoy at a. At a

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later time, I think kind of spoke to us, like, individually, but we

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didn' talk about it until we started to think about opening up

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1010. You know, it's interesting. The. The show I was just talking about when we

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launched here. The first episode comes out tomorrow. It's about

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Wine Bar in Armenia, which is my heritage, and

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another show that's going to come out later. The first, like, Cold

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Open, you know, like, in the cinema world, Cold Open was.

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The guy says it doesn't make sense as a business. Yeah,

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right. I mean, winemaking and selling wine, as you know, currently in

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today's industry is pretty tough. Yeah. And the margins

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are, like, that big. Right. I'm sure the margins at your place are that big

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that you have to work with. You know, years ago, I

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can't remember, it was 2005 or something

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social happened, and I wanted to bring on some African American

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winemakers onto the show, which started about five years ago.

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And I went to the African American. The association of African American Vendors

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website. There were like five at that time. And now there's like

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200 or 250 members of the group and there's some

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thriving winemakers. And I will say at the tasting, I went to Napa a couple

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years ago was I tasted every wine there and I thought

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they were great. What is that Renaissance from what,

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why did that happen? Why did it change so rapidly? Because I tried and

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only few years later it was rather dramatic. The

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industry, people reach out. What, what do you think it was? I think it's

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visibility. I think that people have inspired others to

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know that you can do it. So when you see,

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you know, the McBride sisters in Target, when you see Brown

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Estate on a wine menu at,

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in Manhattan beach, then I think it

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starts to inspire you to say, yeah, I

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can do this. Yes, this is a path. And

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like you said before, it's only five. But I think people have seen like,

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yeah, this can happen and this is something they thought about, this is

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something they want to do and it can be done. So let me,

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you know, give it a try. So that's our stance

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is let's support as many as we can support. So

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there's more visibility and, and more people that are

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inspired. So instead of 250, now we're at 500,

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now we're at 1,000. Boom, boom, boom. So I think it's

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visibility. I don't know. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, I think that

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organizations like AAAV have really made an effort to

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expand the wine community, the black wine community. And I

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think at some point AAAV only allowed

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winemakers in and then they decided to expand their

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membership to wine bar owners

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and you know, people that were just really interested in uplifting

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the black wine community. And I think

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since doing that, it really has helped to expand

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the black owned businesses in the wine space and expand

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black people's interests overall in wine. And

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I think spaces like ours also do that. You know, we're the only

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one in Inglewood, but there's definitely others. There's offhand in Santa

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Monica. You know, there's, there's a couple other

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in like the San Fernando Valley. So there's our what

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Rialto area. Like there's other ones that are popping up

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and really their goal is to share the wines that they're drinking at

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home with their community. And I think that that has helped to expand

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people's interest in the wine space. It's interesting

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because I just lost my train of thought.

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Oh, the barriers, right.

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Social barriers for sure. But it's not just for African

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Americans. Wine has that aristocracy about it. Right,

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right. It's what I'm fighting with this new show, the back label, which is. It's

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really about the people and the passion it takes to do this. And we already

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discussed the financial side, which is very positive.

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So those barriers must have been exaggerated for your

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community to get involved, because it does carry aristocracy with

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it. I don't know why it does that, except that maybe

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the psalms of the world, maybe the. The people in the know

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wanted to keep that gay. Yeah, yeah.

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And I mean, also it's been around for so long, you know,

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so. And it has been passed down from generation

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to generation. There's, you know, a lot of wine houses

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that, you know, this is.

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The dad started now as the uncle now. So

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it's just like passing along. And yeah, it has been some gatekeeping.

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But, you know, I think that more

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today it's. You're able to get knowledge. You're able to

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Google this or read this book and things like that. And so I don't think

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the knowledge was as accessible before

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as it is now. And so with technology, it. It

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has allowed for a little bit of the gatekeeping

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to open up a little bit. You know, let me try to

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get to this part about your clientele in a second. But

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those barriers that. That were built are built around, they

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still exist to a certain extent. They always will. I think wine does that

233
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Evidence bio. I went to a recent dinner. It was a port tasting,

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actually. It. In Beverly Hills. I don't know if you know, but one of the

235
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greatest port collections in the world is right here in

236
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Glendale. Yeah. Yeah. Guy named Don Schliff used to run wine

237
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warehouse. Okay. And he's actually putting up for auction soon.

238
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Oh, really? He's getting on an age and he's collecting this stuff forever. But

239
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anyway, that's beside the point. I went to this tasting. It was at Beverly Hills.

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I won't call anybody out on this, but the. The Psalm there

241
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was exactly the person I'm talking about. Yeah. The one that keeps that

242
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barrier up so that you don't know what he's talking about or she's talking about.

243
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And then you. You just have to succumb to their knowledge base and

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not learn anything. And I think this is the part of the industry that.

245
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That is keeping people out from trying to do this. It's so

246
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excited to hear what's happening at aaaav.

247
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Because the wines I tasted, they were really good. Yeah. I thought they were all

248
00:15:26,350 --> 00:15:30,030
over the country. Right. There's some from Virginia and some from Long island. Whatever. The

249
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only one I was having a little trouble understanding was the method

250
00:15:33,140 --> 00:15:36,980
Chaperonois in a can. Oh, yeah. Did you guys taste that? It was

251
00:15:36,980 --> 00:15:39,380
good, but I just know how you do it,

252
00:15:41,300 --> 00:15:43,940
and I know you pour champagne in your place. Yeah, yeah,

253
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that's a hot topic. I don't know. I don't know

254
00:15:48,820 --> 00:15:52,580
either. All right, there you go. Just saying.

255
00:15:53,780 --> 00:15:56,340
I prefer. Mine is 750 milliliters.

256
00:15:57,460 --> 00:16:00,600
So how do you deal with that, then? There's one gentleman on one of the

257
00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:04,480
TV spots that you guys did where he says, I don't drink much wine, but

258
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now that this 1010 is here, I get to come and get to enjoy it.

259
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Do you have a conscious effort to keep the

260
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aristocracy low and keep the doors open

261
00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,560
for people to learn and understand? Yeah, I mean, that's literally our goal. We want

262
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1010 to feel as approachable as we possibly can.

263
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And so, you know, we both have

264
00:16:28,790 --> 00:16:32,510
back. Like, we've done our education and wine. We. Our team has done

265
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their education in wine. But at no time do we want people to

266
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come in and feel like they can't learn from us, that they can't ask questions.

267
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And we tell people, if you feel like you don't know how to pronounce something

268
00:16:43,670 --> 00:16:47,110
at one restaurant, or if you feel like you have a question

269
00:16:47,270 --> 00:16:50,710
when you go to the grocery store, like, come to us and ask us.

270
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And so I think also, too, that we kind of present ourselves

271
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as, like, you know, just down to earth people. Like, yeah, we have this wine

272
00:16:58,460 --> 00:17:02,060
knowledge, but, you know, we don't walk around saying, like, oh, I'm this,

273
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this, this, and this, you know, and so it just makes people feel more

274
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comfortable with asking questions. And we've also been intentional about it as

275
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well. We've hosted free wine education

276
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courses where we've literally walked people

277
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through the whole wine process. We've

278
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hosted different tastings at Free Char at no

279
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charge for people, just so that people can feel more comfortable into

280
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not only our space, but different spaces and ordering wine

281
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and asking more questions about wine. Because, like Lee said,

282
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we really did bond in our adulthood over wine. And we just

283
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don't want people to be robbed of that opportunity just because they don't feel

284
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comfortable or their parents didn't drink wine or,

285
00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:50,040
you know, whatever reason causes people not to explore

286
00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,250
our favorite beverage. Right. Have you found

287
00:17:54,250 --> 00:17:57,770
that almost all conversations, whether

288
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in the store or off the store, this intrigues me

289
00:18:02,570 --> 00:18:06,170
because at the same time that it's in their aristocratic moniker about

290
00:18:06,170 --> 00:18:09,930
the. About the wine trade, you probably experience what

291
00:18:09,930 --> 00:18:13,610
I do, which is almost every conversation at dinner with friends or. Or

292
00:18:13,610 --> 00:18:17,130
people you've never met before. When they find out that you understand

293
00:18:17,130 --> 00:18:20,710
wine, that you're part of the industry, the conversation always goes

294
00:18:20,710 --> 00:18:24,510
there. And it's rather unintimidating at that point. They have legit

295
00:18:24,510 --> 00:18:28,310
questions, they want answers, and you're down to earth people. You get that

296
00:18:28,310 --> 00:18:32,110
down to earth answer, and that becomes a non. What's the word?

297
00:18:32,110 --> 00:18:35,910
I'm looking for a non intimidating environment all of a sudden, which

298
00:18:35,910 --> 00:18:39,670
fascinates me all the time. Yeah, I know. I think people. I mean, wine

299
00:18:39,670 --> 00:18:43,310
is fun. There's so many things that you can know about

300
00:18:43,310 --> 00:18:47,030
wine. And even if you're a master sommelier, there's still things that you can

301
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learn. And I think that that's another reason why people love to

302
00:18:51,130 --> 00:18:54,890
of gather around wine. Because there isn't one answer. There isn't

303
00:18:54,890 --> 00:18:58,610
one direct, like, solution. And so, you know,

304
00:18:58,610 --> 00:19:02,010
to be able to be that for people, whether that be

305
00:19:02,250 --> 00:19:05,890
when we're in the grocery store. And that's definitely happened to us before, where we've

306
00:19:05,890 --> 00:19:09,610
just been at our, like, local vines and someone's like, oh, that's a 1010

307
00:19:09,610 --> 00:19:12,250
girl. Actually, I was trying to pick a bottle of wine. Can you help me?

308
00:19:12,410 --> 00:19:15,610
I'm like, sure. What do you like? No problem.

309
00:19:16,170 --> 00:19:20,000
How can I help? So we'll never say no to that. Like,

310
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,360
to be a part of pushing the wine community

311
00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:27,520
forward, about pushing the black wine community forward. We see it as

312
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,280
a privilege, especially in the times that we're have. In the times that we're in

313
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when our industry is suffering a little bit. I think

314
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we take great pride in being able to do that for people. How many clients

315
00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:42,720
walk in and go, I did not know that there were so many African American

316
00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:46,750
winemakers and that there's an association and that you

317
00:19:46,910 --> 00:19:50,390
actually exist a lot. Yeah, I would say every day it happens, for sure.

318
00:19:50,390 --> 00:19:54,070
Yeah. Sometimes a couple of times a day that light you guys up. Like,

319
00:19:54,070 --> 00:19:57,630
it's like, wow, that's so cool. Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, the cool thing about

320
00:19:57,630 --> 00:20:00,870
where we're located is we are so close to the Forum. We are so close

321
00:20:00,870 --> 00:20:04,590
to Sofi Stadium. We are so close to Intuit Dome. And

322
00:20:04,590 --> 00:20:08,350
so many people really just kind of pop in. They're like, we Googled

323
00:20:08,350 --> 00:20:12,190
where to go before going to a concert at Sofi, and

324
00:20:12,190 --> 00:20:15,990
you guys popped up and you had a reservation available. So we

325
00:20:15,990 --> 00:20:19,670
booked. And so then they end up having a whole experience at

326
00:20:19,670 --> 00:20:23,070
10:10 when they thought they were just coming there to get a bite to eat

327
00:20:23,070 --> 00:20:26,870
before going over to see, you know who Lady Gaga

328
00:20:26,870 --> 00:20:30,670
Yeah, Lady Gaga or Bruno Mars or whoever. And

329
00:20:30,670 --> 00:20:34,110
so then we're able to have that conversation with them. What is the Forum doing

330
00:20:34,110 --> 00:20:37,750
now? What are they. They do concerts. Yes. Really? Yeah.

331
00:20:37,750 --> 00:20:41,150
So it's literally. They had Dave Matthews there. I love Dave

332
00:20:41,150 --> 00:20:44,830
Matthews. So I went. But they redid it as a concert

333
00:20:44,830 --> 00:20:47,240
venue. Yeah. Because it went through some rough times. Right. I mean.

334
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,480
Yeah. The Lakers left and it was kind of closed for a while. A church

335
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:55,160
bought it and it was operating as a church and then it closed again

336
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:59,080
and then the owners of Madison Square Garden

337
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,840
purchased it, re refurbished it and then. Yeah, now it's a

338
00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:06,280
concert venue. It's a great venue. When he was president of the Chamber,

339
00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:10,200
he would sit with Kareem, all those guys. And my dad's

340
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,600
a basketball square. He's from Egypt, so he doesn't even know anything about it.

341
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,520
Chick her and all these guys. That's pretty cool.

342
00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:22,620
What was it? What was the. The clubhouse at the Farm? Oh, the

343
00:21:22,620 --> 00:21:26,380
Form Club. The Form Club, yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up because

344
00:21:26,380 --> 00:21:30,140
on the other side of this wall is a boxed up neon

345
00:21:30,140 --> 00:21:33,900
sign, really cool neon sign that they used

346
00:21:33,900 --> 00:21:37,580
in the TV show, whatever the failed Laker TV show

347
00:21:37,580 --> 00:21:41,140
was. I forgot the name of it now, but I bought it at an auction.

348
00:21:41,140 --> 00:21:44,700
Oh, man. I put it up somewhere. My wife's not

349
00:21:44,700 --> 00:21:48,300
happy. That's awesome. She's not into my

350
00:21:48,300 --> 00:21:52,040
collect. So do you pour by

351
00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,720
the glass as well? Yes, we pour by the glass. So when you went to

352
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:58,480
the ABC for all that? Because I've seen many. There's one in

353
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,760
man beach uncorked, not allowed to pour glasses.

354
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,800
Yeah, we were able to with our

355
00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:08,800
license to be able to pour by the glass,

356
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,400
which is great for us because it allows people to try

357
00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:17,040
the wines. You know, when you buy a bottle is. I feel like that can

358
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,440
be intimidating because you're nervous, like, is this going to be the right one that

359
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,060
I. And even when people do buy the bottle,

360
00:22:24,140 --> 00:22:27,740
if we have it open, I'm like, here, give it a try first before,

361
00:22:28,460 --> 00:22:32,300
you know, you dive in. Because that is an investment. And we want

362
00:22:32,300 --> 00:22:35,660
everybody that comes into our space to be able to enjoy and not

363
00:22:35,900 --> 00:22:39,100
sit there and be like, oh, man, I wish I wouldn't have got this, or

364
00:22:39,180 --> 00:22:42,860
I should have went with that one. So we're very grateful through the

365
00:22:42,860 --> 00:22:46,700
licensing process that we're able to pour body glasses. I saw you have

366
00:22:46,700 --> 00:22:50,550
a tasting flights as well. Yeah. For those people that

367
00:22:50,550 --> 00:22:54,390
want to try that. Yeah, yeah. A lot of our newcomers will dive towards

368
00:22:54,390 --> 00:22:57,910
our flights because it gives them the opportunity to, you know, try several

369
00:22:57,910 --> 00:23:00,830
wines without committing to a glass or a bottle yet.

370
00:23:02,270 --> 00:23:05,950
Or, you know, we change our flights often, so it

371
00:23:05,950 --> 00:23:09,630
also gives our regulars an opportunity to try some wines that they maybe

372
00:23:09,630 --> 00:23:13,470
haven't had before. So, yeah, it works out. Do you

373
00:23:13,470 --> 00:23:16,110
have a corkage fee or you don't allow it? You know, we do have one,

374
00:23:16,110 --> 00:23:19,690
but rarely do people bring in their own wine because.

375
00:23:19,690 --> 00:23:22,210
Interesting. During this time, we'll talk about that. Now, the. The

376
00:23:23,810 --> 00:23:27,610
depression in. In wine sales, which we understand, we

377
00:23:27,610 --> 00:23:31,330
all know has all kinds of reasons why that pressure's on sales right now,

378
00:23:31,330 --> 00:23:34,610
but. Right. Suffice to say, it's suffering a bit.

379
00:23:35,170 --> 00:23:38,450
A lot of restaurants have had to go to starting allowing.

380
00:23:39,890 --> 00:23:43,050
Some don't even charge me. Well, maybe because I'm in the trade. Some people don't

381
00:23:43,050 --> 00:23:46,820
even charge corkage. But at some point, it feels like that

382
00:23:46,820 --> 00:23:50,620
they've loosened that loose because just to

383
00:23:50,620 --> 00:23:53,580
get people to come in and bring a bottle of wine. Yeah, yeah. I mean,

384
00:23:53,580 --> 00:23:57,380
I think a large part of our clientele is still being introduced to

385
00:23:57,380 --> 00:24:00,900
wine, and so we don't have

386
00:24:01,700 --> 00:24:05,300
a ton of people that come in and want to pour their own bottles.

387
00:24:05,460 --> 00:24:08,700
It happens, but it's not as frequent as probably other

388
00:24:08,700 --> 00:24:12,540
spaces, because even though August will make five years that we've been

389
00:24:12,540 --> 00:24:15,740
there, there's still a lot of people in our community that don't know that we're

390
00:24:15,740 --> 00:24:19,440
there and that just kind of stumble because they saw something on the news

391
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:23,040
or they saw something on social media. Our friend told them to pop

392
00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,320
in. So they really come in wanting the whole 10, 10 experience,

393
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,720
doing a flight or, you know, doing a tasting

394
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,000
or something along those lines so that they can try what we have

395
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,960
versus bringing in something that they already know they love. So have you

396
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,640
felt this depression? I mean, I was in Paris, the wine Paris

397
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,410
thing the first time. I. It wasn't difficult to convince my wife

398
00:24:45,410 --> 00:24:49,130
to go with me to friends. We have a lot going on.

399
00:24:49,130 --> 00:24:51,770
Our kids live with us now because of the fires and all this stuff. Oh,

400
00:24:51,770 --> 00:24:53,690
gosh. Yeah. So, like, we wanted to get out, but

401
00:24:55,690 --> 00:24:59,530
have you felt any of this, or has it been pretty steady? You

402
00:24:59,530 --> 00:25:02,970
know, it's. We have, and

403
00:25:03,850 --> 00:25:07,530
it's. It's been something that we just have to pivot through.

404
00:25:07,530 --> 00:25:10,950
The restaurant side or just the wine side or both? I think more so the

405
00:25:10,950 --> 00:25:13,950
restaurant side, like between the fires, the strike,

406
00:25:15,070 --> 00:25:18,350
things like that, I think it's just been uncertainty about spending money,

407
00:25:19,550 --> 00:25:23,150
but tariffs, all the things. Yeah, exactly. You know,

408
00:25:23,150 --> 00:25:26,870
and just really how we navigate that because you can only raise

409
00:25:26,870 --> 00:25:30,710
your prices so high, you know, but we've

410
00:25:30,710 --> 00:25:34,510
been able to navigate and pivot and still

411
00:25:34,510 --> 00:25:38,110
be open, so. Which we're very grateful for because

412
00:25:38,510 --> 00:25:42,190
I feel like sometimes you're on Instagram and you see this person

413
00:25:42,190 --> 00:25:45,870
is closing. This person is closing all the time. Yeah. You're just like, whoa,

414
00:25:45,870 --> 00:25:49,710
that's like, that was a staple of the community. Like, how is this happening? So

415
00:25:49,710 --> 00:25:53,270
we seen. But we've also like been able

416
00:25:53,270 --> 00:25:56,910
to pivot. So we're very grateful for that. And just

417
00:25:56,910 --> 00:26:00,590
like doing. Tasting off sites, doing off site catering,

418
00:26:00,590 --> 00:26:04,210
doing off site events. And, and so then the

419
00:26:04,290 --> 00:26:07,970
impact of the restaurant is not felt as heavy

420
00:26:08,690 --> 00:26:12,370
with us being able to, to market and do more

421
00:26:12,770 --> 00:26:16,370
of those type of events that allow to supplement.

422
00:26:17,090 --> 00:26:19,890
And, and honestly, we have a loyal

423
00:26:20,130 --> 00:26:23,770
clientele, so that has really helped us.

424
00:26:23,770 --> 00:26:27,330
Like, we literally have regulars where we know on

425
00:26:27,330 --> 00:26:30,690
Thursday these people are going to be here, on Friday, these people are going to

426
00:26:30,690 --> 00:26:34,390
be here on Sunday, these people are going to be here and say that

427
00:26:34,390 --> 00:26:38,150
they bring people out is kind of like a

428
00:26:38,150 --> 00:26:40,590
cult following, which we totally support.

429
00:26:41,950 --> 00:26:45,670
Yeah. I mean, and it's not even just supporting us inside the restaurant. Like

430
00:26:45,670 --> 00:26:49,150
they'll say, oh, you know what, my job is having a Christmas party.

431
00:26:50,029 --> 00:26:53,070
I suggested you guys to be the caterers. And so

432
00:26:53,710 --> 00:26:56,430
that has really helped our business, like Lee said.

433
00:26:57,230 --> 00:27:00,850
And we just attribute it to, you know, just having

434
00:27:00,850 --> 00:27:04,450
this community that 1010 is kind of built on its

435
00:27:04,450 --> 00:27:08,170
own. And we're just grateful that people continue to show up and continue

436
00:27:08,170 --> 00:27:11,770
to say our names. I mean, that's. To be flexible

437
00:27:11,770 --> 00:27:15,450
today is so critical. You're able to add legs to the stool to keep things

438
00:27:15,450 --> 00:27:19,210
going really great. Let's face it, the food margins aren't

439
00:27:19,210 --> 00:27:23,010
great. Right. It's a. You have to manage that very closely. And

440
00:27:23,010 --> 00:27:26,610
the wine margins have never been great. Right. So. Yeah,

441
00:27:26,770 --> 00:27:30,560
yeah, yeah. If you, if you go to like,

442
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,840
people ask me all the time, because we're the business, we know what these things

443
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,680
cost. Let's just take a liter of Hendrix gin, which you don't

444
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,520
pour alcohol, you don't pour distilled spirit. Right. It's like 35

445
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,600
wholesale. Right. That's like a dollar an ounce. Right. And you're buying a

446
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,160
martini that's like 3 or 4 ounces, which is a pretty good martini.

447
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,920
Right. And they've got, you know, three to four bucks

448
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,920
in it. And they're selling for 18, 19, sometimes

449
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,560
24y.

450
00:27:59,900 --> 00:28:03,660
Yeah, I mean, I understand. Right. Those you can,

451
00:28:03,820 --> 00:28:07,540
as a restaurateur you can say. You can point to that. In

452
00:28:07,540 --> 00:28:10,060
fact, when I was at USC and I was telling my wife this the other

453
00:28:10,060 --> 00:28:13,540
day, I walked into the nine zero, which is on Figueroa, the

454
00:28:13,540 --> 00:28:17,060
famed. The famous bar back then. And the owner back then.

455
00:28:17,060 --> 00:28:20,740
1980. 1980, says to me, paul, this is the give.

456
00:28:20,740 --> 00:28:24,060
And he points to the burgers that his wife was making. He goes, and that's

457
00:28:24,060 --> 00:28:27,300
the take. And he points at the bar because the margins were in the bar.

458
00:28:27,380 --> 00:28:30,900
Yeah. Like imagine he's only charging $0.50 for a draft back then. So I don't

459
00:28:30,900 --> 00:28:31,620
know what kind of margin

460
00:28:34,580 --> 00:28:38,340
to have that again. Yeah. Right. So. So now

461
00:28:38,340 --> 00:28:41,699
you guys are in that. In. In the side where both these sides of your

462
00:28:41,699 --> 00:28:45,420
business require discreet management. Yeah. At the same

463
00:28:45,420 --> 00:28:48,420
time, taking care of your clientele. And I think that's where you've. Sounds like you've

464
00:28:48,660 --> 00:28:51,540
established yourself as having this repeat customers.

465
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,720
When you walked in on the hallway, you saw Kevin o' Leary's

466
00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,520
picture. He was on the show. And I don't know why. Serendipitously

467
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,480
long story, but one of the pieces of advice he gave me when we decided

468
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,280
we weren't going to do business together was manage that current

469
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,320
customer base. Because the old 80% of your business comes

470
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,120
from 20% of your clients. Right. Keep those people

471
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:19,860
in mind because those are the ones that keep the ship afloat. Exactly.

472
00:29:19,860 --> 00:29:22,820
As you're going through. Yeah. You know, there's been a huge.

473
00:29:23,860 --> 00:29:27,260
I've been doing too much talking right now. The

474
00:29:27,260 --> 00:29:30,740
NBA has become quite prolific in wine.

475
00:29:31,540 --> 00:29:34,980
Absolutely. Dwyane Wade, there's all kinds of players.

476
00:29:36,740 --> 00:29:40,420
Yeah. And Chris Paul and an appreciation for wine. Does that affected

477
00:29:40,900 --> 00:29:44,180
10, 10 at all? Oh, I think that. I mean, James Harden,

478
00:29:44,570 --> 00:29:48,210
when he played for the Clippers, that was, you know, easy,

479
00:29:48,210 --> 00:29:51,770
like, okay, drink his wine. Go see him play. You know,

480
00:29:51,850 --> 00:29:55,290
I think that people are interested in the celebrity

481
00:29:55,290 --> 00:29:59,090
brands to try them to, you know, kind

482
00:29:59,090 --> 00:30:02,650
of, I guess connect with them, for lack of a better word. And

483
00:30:02,810 --> 00:30:05,770
so we do a balance of having,

484
00:30:06,410 --> 00:30:10,250
you know, the. Those brands, the celebrity brands,

485
00:30:10,250 --> 00:30:14,080
things like that. Because a lot of musicians, you know, John Legend, Mary J. Blige,

486
00:30:14,390 --> 00:30:18,070
you know. Exactly. So they're. They're in the. In the wine

487
00:30:18,070 --> 00:30:20,710
industry as well. So they're still making that. It's called Love, isn't it? Called Love?

488
00:30:20,790 --> 00:30:24,630
Yeah. Lv. Yeah. Yeah. They still making it. Yeah.

489
00:30:24,630 --> 00:30:27,830
Yeah. His rose does really well at Tintin, the sparkling one.

490
00:30:28,470 --> 00:30:31,510
So like I said, it's just managing like how we have

491
00:30:31,990 --> 00:30:35,590
that celebrity, you know, familiar faces

492
00:30:35,590 --> 00:30:39,430
with, you Know, the local people are family

493
00:30:39,430 --> 00:30:42,990
owned wines as well, so. But yeah, it is.

494
00:30:42,990 --> 00:30:46,270
There's people that come in, they're like, oh, they want to try Tarazi P. Henson's

495
00:30:46,270 --> 00:30:49,590
wine. It's like, yeah, well, we have it. Here you are. You know, so that's

496
00:30:49,590 --> 00:30:53,150
pretty cool. Early days of

497
00:30:53,710 --> 00:30:57,470
celebrity endorsed wines, it's all it was. Right. They

498
00:30:57,470 --> 00:31:00,430
got 30 off the top or something in them. Right? Yeah. But there seems to

499
00:31:00,430 --> 00:31:04,110
be much more participation with the Dwayne ways of the world.

500
00:31:04,110 --> 00:31:07,800
They're doing this. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think also

501
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,560
even with their celebrity, they understand how hard this business is.

502
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:15,680
And a lot of them have lent their celebrity and lent

503
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,280
their following to kind of help push our business along. For

504
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:23,000
example, Dwyane Wade, he had a series or has a series

505
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,200
called When We Gather. And it was literally just

506
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:30,040
popups of food and wine throughout different parts

507
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,840
of, at first the country, but now it's actually gone globally. And

508
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,320
the first one that they did was at 10. 10. Wow. And so congratulations.

509
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:41,060
Yeah, thank you. But it was what you say. Yeah, yeah. Georgia.

510
00:31:41,060 --> 00:31:44,500
Yeah, yeah. George was there. Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, it got us

511
00:31:44,500 --> 00:31:47,860
publicity in a couple different magazines, it got us local

512
00:31:48,740 --> 00:31:52,540
press, and there was nothing that him and his team

513
00:31:52,540 --> 00:31:56,260
asked for in return. Like, they didn't ask for a portion of a sales.

514
00:31:56,260 --> 00:31:59,940
None of that. It really was just, how can we help expose your brand

515
00:32:00,580 --> 00:32:04,420
because you have supported us in buying our wine. And so I know that

516
00:32:04,420 --> 00:32:06,820
other NBA players and also

517
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:11,800
different celebrities have done the same for us. And so we're

518
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,520
grateful that they understand it's not just about pushing their brand, but how

519
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,320
can they also bring other black people in the wine

520
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:23,040
space up? And we've experienced that. They've done that

521
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,240
for us. Yeah. I mean, who doesn't want to sit down and drink wine with

522
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:29,320
Dwayne Wade and have good food? So it's like easy call,

523
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:33,050
but the fact that they understand it. In fact, when I was in

524
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,000
Bordeaux, not last, which was a couple years ago, but we were having lunch

525
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:42,520
in a chateau and Mikhail Pietros came down, which is a French

526
00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:46,320
basketball player. And it's a long story to get

527
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,200
there. So I won't tell you why he showed up, but he showed up and

528
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:52,040
we. He gave me his card and he says, I want to bring NBA

529
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:55,680
players to Bordeaux, France, to show them this lifestyle.

530
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,130
It took me a while to understand what that meant. What that meant was I

531
00:32:59,130 --> 00:33:02,530
spent 13 years in America learning your lifestyle. I'd like to show

532
00:33:02,850 --> 00:33:06,530
now that, right, the NBA is interested in wine. Bring them to.

533
00:33:07,170 --> 00:33:10,170
To Bordeaux. And I don't know what you. I don't know what the show is

534
00:33:10,170 --> 00:33:13,650
about. So I was trying to pursue that for a little while.

535
00:33:14,210 --> 00:33:17,930
And, you know, Hollywood's tough. No one, they

536
00:33:17,930 --> 00:33:20,890
like the idea, but they're like, no, we're not doing it right. Yeah, I still

537
00:33:20,890 --> 00:33:24,610
think it'd be a good idea. Yeah. Like, that would raise. That

538
00:33:24,610 --> 00:33:27,290
would put the level of wine appreciation, or at least

539
00:33:28,570 --> 00:33:32,410
intrigue at a entry level for people to just

540
00:33:32,410 --> 00:33:36,170
say, hey, what's going on? So when people come in, how many

541
00:33:36,170 --> 00:33:39,850
different celebrity wines do you think you have there? Probably like

542
00:33:40,329 --> 00:33:44,090
maybe 15 labels. How many SKUs total do you guys pour?

543
00:33:44,410 --> 00:33:48,170
About 60. Really? Wow. Yeah, those distributed

544
00:33:48,170 --> 00:33:51,850
through the regular channels, like Wine Warehouse and all these things. Are they

545
00:33:51,850 --> 00:33:55,560
direct? It's a mix. It's a mix. I would

546
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:58,720
say about 50. 50. Yeah. Yeah. We have, you know,

547
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:03,280
Southern Glazers is at our door. You know, I know

548
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:07,240
I can say that because I'm not in the business anymore. They're

549
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,840
at our door, you know, once or twice a week. But we also have people

550
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:13,560
that come in, hand deliver their cases to us. I mean, Amy.

551
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,960
Amy Atwood is an amazing distributor. She. She does really.

552
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:20,849
Yeah, she does great work with International. Like. Like a lot of

553
00:34:20,849 --> 00:34:24,169
our South African wines come from there. And

554
00:34:24,649 --> 00:34:28,489
just how she's had to manage the tariff, shipping, all

555
00:34:28,489 --> 00:34:32,249
the things. And South African wines are very popular at

556
00:34:32,249 --> 00:34:35,929
Tintin. Yeah. And. Yeah, and just

557
00:34:35,929 --> 00:34:39,569
literally creating dinners and highlighting and doing

558
00:34:39,569 --> 00:34:42,409
wine tastings and things like that. But, yeah,

559
00:34:43,849 --> 00:34:46,670
50. 50 of people self distributed, which,

560
00:34:47,470 --> 00:34:50,670
you know, it was just like, give us a call. Y' all open right now?

561
00:34:50,670 --> 00:34:54,110
Yeah. Gonna drop off your wine. Perfect. See you soon. I can tell you that

562
00:34:54,110 --> 00:34:57,630
picture right there was 1975, and

563
00:34:58,270 --> 00:35:01,950
that was very much the way the wine industry was. Yeah.

564
00:35:02,270 --> 00:35:05,750
Dave Stair from Dry Creek, Jim Barrett, who was the

565
00:35:05,750 --> 00:35:09,510
neighbor, would deliver their wines. Chateau de Monteleno.

566
00:35:09,510 --> 00:35:12,990
That's. That's what happened. Maybe that's what the Renaissance is going to be like. Maybe.

567
00:35:13,870 --> 00:35:17,150
Maybe cutting out the middleman and just getting back to

568
00:35:17,470 --> 00:35:21,250
why did this in the first place. Right, right. Very true. What surprised you

569
00:35:21,250 --> 00:35:24,730
when you bit off a restaurant and

570
00:35:25,610 --> 00:35:28,490
a wine bar and the hours and the

571
00:35:29,210 --> 00:35:32,770
bureaucratic headwinds and all that. Was there something. I was like, whoa, I didn't expect

572
00:35:32,770 --> 00:35:36,250
this. Yeah. I mean, I think pretty much everything.

573
00:35:36,250 --> 00:35:39,890
Yeah, everything. Literally everything. I. You know, we've been

574
00:35:39,890 --> 00:35:43,650
quoted saying this before, and it's not really a joke, but when we sat down

575
00:35:43,650 --> 00:35:47,250
and did our initial numbers, we were like, you know, we're born and raised in

576
00:35:47,250 --> 00:35:51,090
the area. We're like, if our family, our friends, and a few

577
00:35:51,090 --> 00:35:54,770
other people come in, like, we'll make ends meet. Right,

578
00:35:54,770 --> 00:35:58,290
Right. We both still had our other careers and jobs, so

579
00:35:58,370 --> 00:36:02,050
we weren't looking to 10, 10 to support our lifestyles.

580
00:36:02,130 --> 00:36:05,290
It was really just a passion that both of us had, and if we made

581
00:36:05,290 --> 00:36:09,010
a little money off of it, great. But that wasn't,

582
00:36:09,010 --> 00:36:11,810
like, the original goal. Our goal was, like, what can we do to make sure

583
00:36:11,810 --> 00:36:15,580
that we pay our employees, pay our vendors, and

584
00:36:15,580 --> 00:36:18,980
keep our lights on? Like, that was literally. There was never an

585
00:36:18,980 --> 00:36:22,620
idea to, like, actually make money from

586
00:36:22,620 --> 00:36:25,620
the business. And so I think, how do you start a restaurant? As a side

587
00:36:25,620 --> 00:36:29,340
hustle? Yeah. I think that we were just so naive. We were very naive. Yeah,

588
00:36:29,340 --> 00:36:33,100
we were very naive. Yeah, we were very naive. We

589
00:36:33,100 --> 00:36:36,940
didn't speak to a lot of people about it, partially because when we

590
00:36:36,940 --> 00:36:40,180
first told someone we were opening a wine bar in Inglewood, they were like, that's

591
00:36:40,180 --> 00:36:43,740
a horrible idea. Black people don't drink wine. You know? And so we just were

592
00:36:43,740 --> 00:36:47,360
like, well, we're not gonna really tell anybody else. We're just gonna navigate the

593
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,120
process between the two of us. You know, maybe some help from our dad,

594
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,920
maybe some help from our other sister. But we really didn't think about it

595
00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:58,160
as, you know, this is a business that we need to build,

596
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,400
you know, a plan to make money or eventually, you know,

597
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,440
build it to scale or to sell it. That was

598
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:09,520
honestly never anything that we thought about until

599
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,400
we were, like, a year into it, and people were like, can you do this?

600
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:16,680
Can you do this? Oh, we'd love for you to do this event. And we

601
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:20,380
actually were making money, and we were like, oh, you know, this is.

602
00:37:20,460 --> 00:37:24,300
This. This could be a thing. Yeah. And we're kind of,

603
00:37:24,300 --> 00:37:28,100
you know, goofing off on our other responsibilities because we're here

604
00:37:28,100 --> 00:37:31,780
so much. So maybe we need to figure out how we can make this profitable

605
00:37:31,780 --> 00:37:35,500
so we can live off of this and kind of, you know, excuse our

606
00:37:35,500 --> 00:37:39,340
other responsibilities. But, you know, when people ask us

607
00:37:39,340 --> 00:37:42,460
now, you know, what's the best advice you can give someone who wants to open

608
00:37:42,460 --> 00:37:46,220
up a wine bar? And I say, don't. And then after that, I said,

609
00:37:46,300 --> 00:37:50,040
yeah, if you get past that, the second thing I would tell

610
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:53,880
you to do is, you know, educate yourself, but don't get a lot

611
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,200
of other people's opinions, because I think that if we really

612
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,880
invested in what other people thought, we would have never opened up Tintin.

613
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:04,960
One of the comments I made to this woman opened the first wine bar in

614
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:07,920
Yerevana Minas, which the street was a dead street.

615
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,200
Nothing was going on. She opened the wine bar, is now very popular. The whole

616
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,850
street's popular. And. And she was told exactly the same

617
00:38:14,850 --> 00:38:18,530
thing. Yeah. By the distributor saying, nobody in Armenia drinks wine.

618
00:38:18,690 --> 00:38:22,090
Yeah. Yerevan, which is the capital, there's no wine

619
00:38:22,090 --> 00:38:25,490
drinkers. And she said, yeah, if I had listened to them.

620
00:38:25,650 --> 00:38:28,610
Right. We wouldn't have done it. Right. And I just read this quote this morning

621
00:38:28,610 --> 00:38:32,410
in a book I was reading. I was a morbid comment, but it's a

622
00:38:32,410 --> 00:38:35,250
quote. Only dead fish swim with the current.

623
00:38:36,850 --> 00:38:39,870
Right. Everybody else, we got to fight the current. And if you don't fight, fight

624
00:38:39,870 --> 00:38:43,710
for something. What's the point? Right, Right.

625
00:38:43,710 --> 00:38:46,390
Right. And look what it's done for you guys. And even if, Even if it

626
00:38:46,390 --> 00:38:49,950
wasn't working at this point, you would have learned so much.

627
00:38:50,350 --> 00:38:53,830
Right. For the next venture. Yeah. Because you don't seem like the type that would

628
00:38:53,830 --> 00:38:57,550
just let you know, idly go by. Yeah. Right. I

629
00:38:57,550 --> 00:39:01,230
don't know. I'm six months pregnant. I've been telling Lee, and I'm ready to retire,

630
00:39:01,310 --> 00:39:05,030
so we'll see. I still, I. I have.

631
00:39:05,030 --> 00:39:06,030
I. I love it.

632
00:39:12,570 --> 00:39:15,010
But no, I mean, we still love what we do. So when you get up

633
00:39:15,010 --> 00:39:18,250
every day, what's that motivation like? Can't wait to get there,

634
00:39:18,970 --> 00:39:22,570
see who's coming in next. What interesting wine we come through.

635
00:39:23,290 --> 00:39:26,890
I think the motivation is one, community, and two, our

636
00:39:26,890 --> 00:39:30,170
team. We have a great team and

637
00:39:30,810 --> 00:39:34,410
they rely on us. We rely on them. And also just community

638
00:39:36,250 --> 00:39:40,030
and our passion and love for. For just

639
00:39:40,030 --> 00:39:43,070
the business. So if one of those things are not

640
00:39:43,230 --> 00:39:46,590
motivating us, then. Then we'll stop doing it. But

641
00:39:46,910 --> 00:39:50,670
usually one of the three. Yeah. Something takes

642
00:39:50,670 --> 00:39:54,230
over. Yeah. And creativity. It's. It's a beauty

643
00:39:54,230 --> 00:39:58,030
to have your own business because you could. I can wake up

644
00:39:58,030 --> 00:40:01,750
and say, hey, we're going to do this today. She might not like the idea,

645
00:40:01,750 --> 00:40:05,150
but it's still, we're able to create.

646
00:40:05,230 --> 00:40:08,560
And I think it's cool to be able to

647
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,080
have that space where it's yours. And you can say, all right, we're going to

648
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:16,160
try this or we're going to try that or let's do this. So this will

649
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:19,640
be cool. Like, we just started doing R B bingo. And I was like, I

650
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,960
don't think this is going to R bingo. Yes.

651
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,280
Everybody's heard of that. Yeah, exactly. So it's just like they play

652
00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:31,120
that. We have a DJ come in. He plays Songs you have to, if you

653
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,290
know the name of the song, then you cross it off on your spot. And

654
00:40:34,290 --> 00:40:37,090
if you get, what is it, four or five in a row, then you get

655
00:40:37,090 --> 00:40:40,130
a gift card to 10, 10. So it's just like,

656
00:40:40,690 --> 00:40:44,490
well, yeah, why not? A friend of ours said, let's do it.

657
00:40:44,490 --> 00:40:48,170
I said, okay, cool, it's working out. But it's just like being able

658
00:40:48,170 --> 00:40:51,650
to do creativity like that, it also is a

659
00:40:51,650 --> 00:40:55,330
motivating factor for us. You know, I think also being able to support

660
00:40:55,330 --> 00:40:59,170
other small businesses, I think that's huge for us. Like

661
00:40:59,170 --> 00:41:02,890
Lee said, our friend that asked us to do bingo, he has his

662
00:41:02,890 --> 00:41:06,620
own DJing company. You know, we have a florist that comes in each week and

663
00:41:06,620 --> 00:41:10,460
does fresh flowers. Of course we have our winemakers that self distribute on

664
00:41:10,460 --> 00:41:14,220
their own and we know that their business has been

665
00:41:14,220 --> 00:41:18,060
impacted by our business being open. And I

666
00:41:18,060 --> 00:41:21,700
sit on the Small Business Commission for Los Angeles County. So small businesses

667
00:41:21,700 --> 00:41:25,420
and you know, furthering the mission of small businesses have always

668
00:41:25,420 --> 00:41:29,260
been a big deal for me. And so to be able to see

669
00:41:29,260 --> 00:41:32,980
other people's business grow because of their interaction with our business

670
00:41:33,220 --> 00:41:37,040
and as we're gearing up for things like FIFA World cup and

671
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:41,160
the super bowl next year and the Olympics, to be able to

672
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:44,720
have those connections with these businesses and see their businesses grow

673
00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:48,560
as our business is growing. I think that that literally is

674
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:52,720
one of my main motivating factors and literally

675
00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:56,400
why we decided to the business model that we built 1010 on

676
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:01,360
showcasing 90% of black owned wines, it's because we

677
00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:05,200
wanted businesses that weren't necessarily getting exposure in other

678
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,700
places around town to have that. And we know

679
00:42:08,860 --> 00:42:12,420
there are winemakers that are like, it is a big deal that we're being

680
00:42:12,420 --> 00:42:16,100
carried at your spot. So thank you. And so I think that

681
00:42:16,100 --> 00:42:19,740
that keeps us going because we want to be able to do that for more

682
00:42:19,740 --> 00:42:23,420
people. It takes a village. Definitely does,

683
00:42:24,060 --> 00:42:27,260
particularly in today's business environment. Yeah.

684
00:42:27,660 --> 00:42:31,340
And I always felt we had, we peaked out at 25 employees here

685
00:42:31,420 --> 00:42:35,030
in our heyday, which is probably 10 years ago. And

686
00:42:35,510 --> 00:42:38,870
I always thought they were family. Yeah, you know, I always took care of them

687
00:42:38,870 --> 00:42:42,390
and off, off camera, so to speak. You know,

688
00:42:42,550 --> 00:42:45,030
they needed things. We tried to help.

689
00:42:46,230 --> 00:42:49,710
One of them used to bring at a difficult time in our life. She had

690
00:42:49,710 --> 00:42:53,550
a child and he would come. I fortunately had a man cave in the

691
00:42:53,550 --> 00:42:56,550
building where I had video games and stuff so the kid could play all the

692
00:42:56,550 --> 00:43:00,300
time. But other than that, you know, it's an important thing. You know, one, one,

693
00:43:00,380 --> 00:43:03,820
one Funny story. We're. We're actually out of time here. It's unbelievable.

694
00:43:05,420 --> 00:43:08,620
We were in Napa years ago, and I was with a friend. And this is

695
00:43:08,620 --> 00:43:11,460
going to go back to maybe some of your clientele that might say something like

696
00:43:11,460 --> 00:43:15,220
my buddy did. He. He'll say. He said, I think what

697
00:43:15,220 --> 00:43:18,940
you guys say in the wine trade, like, character of a wine,

698
00:43:18,940 --> 00:43:22,540
the balance, the, you know, the acid content, all the things that we talk about.

699
00:43:22,780 --> 00:43:26,420
He goes, I think it's. What are you talking about?

700
00:43:26,420 --> 00:43:29,840
He goes. He says, I just think it's just. I don't believe any of that

701
00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,680
stuff. I said, well, let me ask you a question. He happened to have two

702
00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:36,720
2014 cabernets in front of him at this club

703
00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:40,560
Egos we were at. And I said, are those different wines, the same

704
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:44,400
vintage, same winemaker, different plots of land? He goes, yeah, they're different. I

705
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:47,960
said, you're on your way. You may not be able to describe it,

706
00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:49,000
but you notice,

707
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:54,280
I think part of that. And this is. Let me see if I can get

708
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:58,130
your thoughts on this. The term that I've been using lately, and it's

709
00:43:58,130 --> 00:44:01,770
been used also by other people, which is an honest glass of wine,

710
00:44:02,250 --> 00:44:05,450
a real glass of wine that's been made to express

711
00:44:06,010 --> 00:44:09,850
a time and a place by somebody that's passion to do that

712
00:44:10,410 --> 00:44:13,530
are the kinds of wines that people raise their eyebrows at.

713
00:44:14,170 --> 00:44:17,970
You may not like them. You know, the character of it. Like, my

714
00:44:17,970 --> 00:44:21,490
wife won't drink Syrah to save my life. I can give a chateau to Papa.

715
00:44:21,490 --> 00:44:24,560
She still knows it. She like it, but

716
00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:28,960
she recognizes that it's properly made and there's something

717
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:32,800
redeeming about it. She doesn't care for the character. You

718
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:36,000
experience that with people that come into the shop. Oh,

719
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,760
absolutely. Absolutely. And what we

720
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:43,040
try to do is, what do you usually drink?

721
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:46,640
Okay, well, let's open you up to this. And

722
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:51,280
I think that that with that, there is an appreciation.

723
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:55,280
Like, I. I don't drink Chardonnay. I have somebody. I don't drink Chardonnay.

724
00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:59,680
I have a Chardonnay that you actually might like. Yeah. And

725
00:44:59,760 --> 00:45:03,280
it's just being able to expose people that it's fun.

726
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:06,640
And I'll tell people all the time, I'm going to do a blind tasting with

727
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:09,440
you. I'm not going to tell you what wine this is. You say you don't

728
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:13,160
drink Chardonnay, I'm telling you Sauvignon Blanc. And you're like,

729
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:16,920
oh, this is delicious. Actually, it's a Chardonnay. So it's just

730
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:20,720
Fun. It's just like. Like, you know, let's expand from. And

731
00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:24,040
like you said, is an appreciation for the winemaking. And

732
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:27,640
that's what we're very intentional about our menu of.

733
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:31,720
Actually. Who are we carrying? What is the wine when you drink

734
00:45:31,720 --> 00:45:35,560
it? Or you're like, yeah, this is. This is it. So, yeah,

735
00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:39,320
I definitely think that happens a lot to where people, like, they only

736
00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:42,840
usually drink this or that. But it's like, okay, let's. Let's give this a try

737
00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:45,080
and see what you think. I love that. I love that. I don't know. Drink

738
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:48,880
those. Right? I don't drink Cabernet. He's like,

739
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:52,720
all of them. There's a lot. Is. Is.

740
00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:55,360
Do you guys have the balance between.

741
00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:00,080
Life's a party. Like, my. My work is a party,

742
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:05,040
you know, and sort of keep that. It's also business.

743
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:08,640
Yeah, right. Like, you watch Bar rescue, you know, and there's, like,

744
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:13,220
us. They turn it. Yeah. I mean,

745
00:46:13,220 --> 00:46:17,020
I think that, you know, the cool thing about our space is that on any

746
00:46:17,020 --> 00:46:19,940
given day, one of our friends is gonna walk in. It might be a friend

747
00:46:19,940 --> 00:46:22,420
that we just saw yesterday, or it might be a friend that we went to

748
00:46:22,420 --> 00:46:25,900
elementary school with and we're catching up, but

749
00:46:26,460 --> 00:46:30,300
we also know what our mission is. And then we know that we do

750
00:46:30,300 --> 00:46:33,660
want to do whatever we can to be around

751
00:46:33,900 --> 00:46:37,700
for as long as we can, even if I wanna retire. And so

752
00:46:37,700 --> 00:46:41,260
we kind of put that at the forefront. It's crazy.

753
00:46:41,260 --> 00:46:42,780
I'm supposed to.

754
00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:49,720
You want to raise your child? Take an extended break.

755
00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:54,560
Yeah. And I think that we know what our goal is, and

756
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:57,840
so we kind of keep that at the forefront. And don't get me wrong, we

757
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:01,680
are definitely like, work hard, play hard kind of people. But

758
00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:05,320
we know there's a time and place for everything, and we try to make sure

759
00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:08,920
that we're setting an example for our team. If we're, like,

760
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:12,560
crazy and sloppy and all those things, then that kind of opens up the door

761
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:15,280
for our team to do the same. And we want people to have the best

762
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:18,340
experience they can have when they come into our doors. And we can't do that

763
00:47:18,340 --> 00:47:21,940
if we're all over the place. And so our focus

764
00:47:21,940 --> 00:47:25,460
is really, you know, business number one. And so,

765
00:47:25,780 --> 00:47:29,540
you know, having a good time is important. You know, connecting with family and

766
00:47:29,540 --> 00:47:33,380
friends, all of those things are really important to us. But it's also important

767
00:47:33,380 --> 00:47:37,020
for us that we move our business forward for all the reasons that

768
00:47:37,020 --> 00:47:40,780
we've discussed so far up until this point. And so I think that that always

769
00:47:40,780 --> 00:47:44,540
Stays in the forefront of our mind with. And it kind of

770
00:47:44,540 --> 00:47:48,350
skews how our behavior is. Is such an honor to have

771
00:47:48,350 --> 00:47:50,910
you both on the show and. Great.

772
00:47:51,950 --> 00:47:55,710
Thank you. Thank you. Have to get out there. I've never been to Sofi

773
00:47:55,710 --> 00:47:59,270
if it's hard to believe. Right. Oh, wow. Well, we have RAM season tickets and

774
00:47:59,270 --> 00:48:02,469
so if you ever want to go to a game, you come with us, come

775
00:48:02,469 --> 00:48:05,790
have a glass of wine. Absolutely. See what Phil's putting out these days.

776
00:48:05,790 --> 00:48:09,070
Exactly, exactly, exactly. You have to come for sure.

777
00:48:09,390 --> 00:48:12,430
We're going to come see you guys. I really, really appreciate the opportunity and the

778
00:48:12,430 --> 00:48:15,920
time and I. And it sounds like you've gotten over the hump, you know, that

779
00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:19,320
two year hump for startup businesses and you're being

780
00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:23,080
creative in sustaining and being flexible with

781
00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:26,800
what's going on out there. And I'm going to wrap up

782
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:30,360
this thought. I believe this patch here

783
00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:34,120
is from a group back from that wine shop called

784
00:48:34,120 --> 00:48:37,920
Les Amie devant, which was 150 chapters in the

785
00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:41,680
country. If you had a wine bar, if you had a retail store, you could

786
00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:45,090
have a chapter. There's a huge group. Their

787
00:48:45,090 --> 00:48:48,930
magazine was the Spectator of its day. You

788
00:48:48,930 --> 00:48:52,330
know, bore you with the details, why it failed. But the point of this group

789
00:48:52,330 --> 00:48:55,890
was the experiential side of wine. Right.

790
00:48:56,610 --> 00:49:00,410
Somebody comes into your shop and they have Phil's wine. Yeah. And they

791
00:49:00,410 --> 00:49:04,210
didn't know it existed. Every time they join your club, if

792
00:49:04,210 --> 00:49:07,290
they join your club, we get to talk about the subscription side. But we'll do

793
00:49:07,290 --> 00:49:10,270
that next time, which is my passion. But

794
00:49:11,070 --> 00:49:14,710
every time that they open that bottle of Long Vineyards, they're going

795
00:49:14,710 --> 00:49:17,950
to remember this moment that they first tasted it

796
00:49:18,350 --> 00:49:22,190
at 10:10. Right. And that's the experiential side of wine. It has

797
00:49:22,190 --> 00:49:25,790
such memory. Right. When and where and

798
00:49:25,790 --> 00:49:29,270
how. If we can bring that back, we can continue to

799
00:49:29,270 --> 00:49:31,790
propagate that and make that village bigger

800
00:49:33,310 --> 00:49:36,510
wine. Not going away. It's never going to go away.

801
00:49:36,910 --> 00:49:40,700
It's just manifesting itself self in the future and I think it's

802
00:49:40,700 --> 00:49:44,500
behind the experience of what you're doing. So congratulations on. That's really

803
00:49:44,500 --> 00:49:48,140
great. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. Cheers

804
00:49:48,140 --> 00:49:48,620
to that.