David Grutman: On Relationships, Miami Restaurants & Why Success Is the Hardest Part | TUH #261

I've had more issues with success than I have with failure. People don't talk about enough is once you're on top of the world, how does that affect you? Because that's where, for me, was the most challenging.

You go from the back of the house where you're in the service business to now where you're running multiple service businesses. To manage it at scale, that's what fascinates me.

Listen, it's a grind and there's ups and downs. I think at the end of the day, everything I do is just about building a brand.

I don't think that most people realize the intellectual property they have in themselves.

I love that I've built relationships where people feel like there's a long game with me. Instead, I want to invest in your brand. I want to grow your brand. Relationships meant so much to me that it's the greatest way to push a brand.

Where do you think a lot of entrepreneurs that have their head down are going wrong in building the foundation of their business?

I think the most important thing for people out there is Hey guys, welcome back to The Ultimate Human Podcast.

Every once in a while, somebody sits down in this chair and reminds me that optimizing your life isn't just about what's happening inside your cells. It's about what you're building with the time you've been given. Dave Gruttman was my very first podcast guest. He was one of the first people to believe in me when nobody knew who Gary Brecka was. Today, He runs one of the highest-grossing restaurant empires in America, Groot Hospitality. Live nightclub, Poppy Steak, one of the highest-grossing restaurants per square foot in the entire country. Live Nation is his partner. Kim Kardashian wrote his foreword. Johnny Ive designed his book cover. But here's what sets Dave apart from every other name in the hospitality space. It all comes back to relationships. His new book, Take It Personal, is the blueprint for any entrepreneur who wants to build something that lasts. This conversation is going to change the way you think about business, legacy, and loyalty. Hey guys, welcome back to The Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brecka, where we go down the road of everything anti-aging, biohacking, and everything in between longevity. And today's guest, we're taking you back, we're hearkening you back to my very, very, very first podcast episode. He was my very first guest. He was one of the early believers in Gary Brecka. He was one of my earliest celebrity clients. And before we even start the podcast and introduce this guest, I'm going to give him an enormous thank you because this man helped to put Gary Brecka on the map when nobody knew who Gary Brecka was. The level of trust and confidence he's had in me, my family, my daughter Madison has been second to none. He's become a very good friend and I'm honored to have him back on the podcast. Welcome back, Dave Gruttman.

This makes me happy.

Yeah.

Yes.

And I really do mean that. You know, it's And I got to tell the readers something. I mean, listeners something too. I just got goosebumps thinking about this. In 2021, 2021, I was living in the Porsche Design Tower in—

Yes.

—Sunny Isles. And I got into a skirmish, for lack of better words, with a very major celebrity. A few. I won't say who it is. It was a few at one time because they were all in the same family. Correct. It was devastating. And someone had taken pictures of them in my unit. I didn't police it. Ended up getting put out on social media. Family rightfully flipped out. They called you, said, this guy is a scam. He's using our name. And he flipped out. I will never forget that you called me and you said, the best advice that I can give you is to play the long game. And now here it is manifested in this book. So this is not something that you just threw into words or had some ghostwriter put into print. This is something you've been living your whole career. Correct. And that was 5 years ago. Right. And, and what you told me was, and I'll never forget it, some of the best advice I've ever gotten. You said, when you're working with these people, Gary, focus on the relationship, get into their flow, don't ask them for everything, respond to anything, and it'll all work out. And be honest. Yeah. And I've followed that advice, and it's been some of the best advice I've ever gotten. And that's why I'm a big proponent of your book, and that's why I would really recommend— this is not just for people that are in the hospitality space or want to start a restaurant or a nightclub or be in the entertainment business. This is for any entrepreneur that is not yet aware of the foundational importance of relationships.

It's the start of everything that I do.

Yeah. And we've had a health journey too. Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. I used to know Big Dave. I knew Fat Dave. He was a friend of mine.

I look at those Fat Dave pictures and it still makes me like, ah, like that.

But it makes this part so much more rewarding. Yeah. And I know that. I mean, that's where we started and our journey began there. And I had a very, very, very short stint in the nightclub business. Former. We don't want to talk about those college days. No, we don't want to do that. But you were, you were actually working at Tantra. Yes. I mean, I'm going back now. Um, you did a little Mint thing for a second.

Yeah. And Tantra was my first place I worked at on South Beach where they had the grass on the floor.

The Monday night place, but it was 32 degrees. It was insane.

It was probably the greatest hammocks in the ceiling.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They brought it to another level. You know, when I close my eyes and think of that snapshot to where you are now, maybe the most influential name in the entire hospitality space. It's— don't be humble right now. You're on the Ultimate Human Podcast. The name of the podcast is Ultimate Human. Okay. I only put ultimate humans on here. That's it. So, you know, I want to back up for my listeners, and I want to talk a little bit about that journey. Obviously, I want to get into the book too, but I want to talk a little bit about that journey?

Yeah, I mean, listen, journey was being a back-of-the-house guy, just making sure that you— I used other brands' marketing equity to kind of build my brand because I didn't really have budgets in those kind of restaurants and nightclubs. And by doing partnerships with other brands and using their equity to push, push my brand, I saw the value in that. And I kind of like scaled my whole life to that, that relationships, relationships, relationships meant so much to me. That, yeah, it's, it's, it's the greatest way to push a brand. And I think at the end of the day, we're all just building brands.

Do you— you talk a lot in the book about your own personal brand. You actually talk about your IP being everything, right? Chapter 7 or Chapter 8. And you talk about your IP being everything. And I don't think that most people realize the intellectual property they have in themselves, right? Of course, their name, image, and likeness, their NIL.

Yeah. And whatever business they start either, they need to make sure whatever you're doing, It's about IP. You have to have ownership of the name.

And I think a lot of entrepreneurs are even unaware that you can trademark your name, you can copyright your content. You know, until I got into this business, media, you know, producing media, I didn't even know that I copyright my podcast and I could stop people from republishing it, you know, publishing it. I didn't realize the value in owning my own NIL, my own name, image, and likeness. But, you You talk a lot about that. I wanna understand, like, you know, you go from the back of the house where you're in the service business to now where you're running multiple service businesses. And that is like, that's a long trajectory because I think you did it in the most competitive market and maybe the industry with the most amount of sharks and landmines because you've got employees. And in that space, the nightclub space, the restaurant space, I had a short stint in the restaurant space too. Everybody was sleeping with everybody and everybody was stealing from everybody.

There's a lot of— there's a lot of stuff that goes on.

There's a lot of nonsense to manage it at scale. That's what fascinates me. I think everybody could get one place right, but to do it at scale.

Yeah, I think, listen, it's just about building the team. And I would love to say, hey, look at me, look at me, look what I did. But if I didn't have the team around me, then I would be a zero. And You know, as you keep growing and growing, people also, they want to do their own thing too. So you want to also try to career path people to be in your company for a long time. But also, I love to see when people leave and they, and they go be entrepreneurs as well.

Do you ever have— have you had people that have worked with you, been a part of this journey, left, and have now come back into your life as partners or joint ventures?

So I've had people that were partners that left to go do their own thing and no, they haven't come back, but they do their own thing. And, you know, I don't— I don't know how to—

You can say it, Dave. We can throw them under the bus. We need names.

No, I don't know how that works out for— You know, listen— Stalk them on social media. You know, everybody thinks grass is greener on the other side. And sometimes I'm sure it is. And people have to figure out their own journey, their own path, too. And I can't— like, I don't— of course, I hate it in the beginning. I'm like, oh, this person's leaving. But you know what? Stabbed in the back again. No, it's okay. But I got to tell you, I've had some people that have worked for me for over 20 years, and I love to see that they've come along with me for the whole journey. And I've made some people millionaires. So I think that's a good thing as well.

But on this rise? Because when you were back at the house, were you that guy that actually— did you always think, I'm destined for more? Was it, was it because I wanted to make more money? I saw myself as an owner. Like, what was, what was the vision like? Because, you know, so many entrepreneurs have to— I think they get into this for the wrong reason. They're like, I want to set my own hours. I want to be my own boss.

Right, right. Set your own hours. That's the greatest thing I ever heard. The best thing about being an entrepreneur is setting your own hours, guys. Running your own. If you want to own your own business because you want to set your own hours, entrepreneurship should be for you because you're right, it's from 9 to 9. That's your hours in entrepreneurship. I love that people are like, oh, if I own my own company, I could just take off whenever I want. I could take as long as vacations. I could work remote. No one's going to tell me what to do. Yeah, I love the reality check in something like that. I mean, my phone is I'm answering texts from the second I wake up to the second I go to sleep. And then I wake up in the middle of the night and I go— I have to go to the bathroom and I check my phone then too. The concern and worry you have is not like anything else. Of course, everyone gets paid before you and everyone gets their bonuses before you get. And, you know, hopefully at the end there's a little bit left over for you as well. That being said, I couldn't be any happier doing it my way.

You know, I was interviewing a very wealthy entrepreneur one time and he said, I've never owned a business. All my businesses have owned me. I was like, it's actually kind of an interesting philosophy. Yeah.

And also people are like, you know, like servers, they get 18 to 20% gratuity added to every check. So that means they're my 20% partner on the gross. Yeah. I wish I got— I wish I made my money just on the gross and not on EBITDA or anything like that. But You know, that's how I kind of look at things too. And that's kind of how I try to create hospitality within the place and ownership. I want everyone to take ownership of their place. And if a server, busser, bartender, bar— they all think that they're all part of this, the service charge, this gratuity that is really a percentage of the gross sales. This is their place. They should take as much ownership in it as I am. They're my partners.

Yeah. You know, one of the things I've noticed and I've been fascinated by is, you know, you've You've grown some of these concepts, Poppy Steak. Sure. One of the, and if I misquote it, tell me that I misquoted it, but one of the highest grossing, if not the highest grossing restaurant per square foot.

I think it's by far one of the highest grossing restaurants per square foot with my partner Poppy, David Einhorn, the greatest. Yeah. And what a great story that's been to see him grow and skyrocket and just be there to be his partner and to help put him on the platform that he's just accelerated beyond anything I could have ever expected.

I've never seen somebody wear a diamond T-bone steak. By the way, that's a tomahawk.

It's a tomahawk diamond. And he's given some out to some very famous people that take such pride in it.

Yeah, that's cool. But I'm always looking for not the basic advice, build a good team, work hard, be honest. There had to be. In fact, I know there was because I remember you had a stint with the Opium Group. Sure. While you were at Mansion, um, uh, either Privé or Sky Bar.

Privé, Opium Garden, Mansion, and, uh, Roman Jones, who now— who owned that, you know, now owns, uh, Kiki on the River and Habibi.

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It always stems back to relationships and building those relationships through those years. At that time, it was just Miami was one of these places where people would come to one or two times a year. And I wanted to make sure that experience when they came to Miami was the greatest from the second they got there, even if it wasn't at one of the places I was with. I would take 'em to Wynwood at the time, and Wynwood was just a bustle. It was just starting out then, but it was very underground. And I would take them there. I would take 'em to a meal and order stuff off the menu to just blow them away. All these little things that make people feel like that you care is the, the reason why is how you start to build relationships.

Yeah. You've done this for me a number of times too, for my, for my son's birthday, you know, um, just the way, the way that your staff handled things, cutouts of his head. You, they went and they, they, they, they pulled images of him off of social media, which he doesn't have much on social media.

He doesn't. He was very anti-social media. We had it. I think Madison had to like supply us with some pictures.

Yeah, this is Cole's, which, by the way, was the last time— oh no, I actually did not drink that night. I was the sober skipper that night. Is that true? That is true. I had actually gotten a stem cell IV that morning, so I couldn't drink that night. So I was actually the designated driver. Okay.

Yeah. Well, listen, anything you can make someone feel special, any little thing that you could think of, either a name on a menu, calling them by the name, remembering their favorite drink, remember their favorite, favorite food. Now we have a lot of technology now in the restaurants that help us with that too. Like we are able to now see all your track records, see everything you're doing, see what's your favorite cocktail and make sure we can have those waiting for you when you arrive.

Yeah, but I think what happens to most businesses when they start to scale is you lose the founder's compulsion for these relationships. And, you know, like when I have people on the podcast, I'm always impressed by like great athletes athleticism. I'm even more impressed by someone who can dominate their sport for a long period of time. The, the Tom Bradys, the Lance Armstrongs. Anyone can be great once, who, you know, you, you, you, you spur up a nightclub, but the hospitality group creates these relationships and these environments at scale. So at some point, you've got to create a culture that's actually taking your heart, your desire, your compulsion for relationships, and you got to somehow weave it into that culture because you're not everywhere all the time.

Well, Gary, that's why it's so great to career path people within your own company, because they know your DNA, they know how you think, they know what you're doing. And the longer people have been with me, it's been great. I've had the same chief of staff next to me for 9 years max. And people go to Max instead of me now because Max is great. People love Max. Max Pallett is one of the greatest human beings in the world. And anyone that works with me, whether it's on the hospitality group, on the investment side, they'll tell you right away, Max Pallett keeps everything together. And what's great is you have these people that learn how you think, and you want to keep those people around you because that's how your life is easier. Because if someone's being proactive and not just reactive with everything that that's associated with you, it gets so much more done.

Were there any big tipping points on the journey? Can you point to any and said, you know, that was the milestone, that was a tipping point?

So the first time I sold my company to SFX, which eventually they went bankrupt, they bought all these music festivals and all that, they went bankrupt. I got my, my, my company back and then I, and then I was able to add Comodo and all my restaurants together and start a new hospitality group called Groot Hospitality.

Also, by the way, one of the highest-grossing restaurants in America.

Yes. And then Michael Rapinoe from Live Nation said, why don't we do a deal? And he bought 51% of my company. And the tipping point, not just with my company, but to have someone by your side just to guide you and to know that you got someone that's probably the most powerful person in the hospitality— in the entertainment business. On your side, it's been amazing. And I— and it's been great to use it as leverage to help other artists and stuff like that that want to do stuff or want to play it live or, you know, be part of my ecosystem. They know I have this amazing relationship with Michael Rapinoe. And if— if it's kind of like him signing on that you're— you're a great person, and I'm so glad to be able to have that flag of Live Nation to be able to carry it through my ecosystem as well.

Yeah, what, what sparked that deal? I mean, what, what, what made Live Nation come to— because was it Groot Hospitality at the time?

It was, it was, it had just been Groot Hospitality for almost about a year, and, and Pharrell's like, you have to meet this man Michael Rapinoe, he's, uh, he's going to help you get to the next level. Between Michael Rapinoe and Jeff Sofer at the Fontainebleau, opening up the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, and being able to grow my company on such a major scale that way, has been the two biggest tipping points for me. There you go. And then, of course, marrying my wife, Isabella Gruttman, who has been an amazing partner next to my side. And again, as much as those two people are influential in my life, she's just as much.

Yeah. I mean, it's funny, I was actually watching a podcast that you were on with Isabella, and it was actually almost like a comedy show. She's like, sometimes I have to be really mean, but I'm only mean in short sentences. And then he stops whatever he's doing. Yes, he's very scary. that tiny, beautiful Brazilian model. They can— I know right away, the Latina, that's like, buddy, you don't mess with them, man. They'll straighten you out. And it runs through the thread into your girls. And, you know, she's on—

she's obviously— she has Iza Gretman Jewelry now, and she's just so entrepreneurial. And also her nonprofit, uh, Style Saves, I think has been really great to see. My girls— but this is a girl that could have done sat on the kitchen— I think about all the time she could have just gone out to lunches and done nothing. And instead she said, that's it, I'm going to go do my own business. I'm going to make my own way. And it's great for my girls, my two daughters, to see because not only does it inspire me, but I know it's inspiring them.

She's also got a design eye, though. She's been involved in a lot of the interior design of a lot of your places.

My uniforms, all this stuff. Yeah, there's no one's taste level I trust more than her.

Yeah, I would totally agree with that. She's—

and I mean, it should be more than Christmas, just to be honest.

Okay, so I'll start. I'll start throwing it. Sorry, Isabella. My daughter is decked out head to toe in it, so I'm invested. You're— and she's— for those of you that don't know his wife, she is— I don't want to say the polar opposite of Dave, but she is like a very grounded, very calm, incredible mother. And, you know, when I've had the luxury of seeing behind the curtain, Dave and I lived 4 or 5 floors apart in the 1000 Museum for a few years. And so I was in and out of his place, they were in and out of my place. My daughter's very good friends with them, and, and I just see the intentionality that they have with their family. Yeah, behind the scenes. That's probably what I respect most about you, is that on this climb to the top, you drew your family closer and closer and closer. And I see how you and Isabella are behind the scenes, the way you are with their daughters. And you're a good dude, man. Thank you.

I mean, to me, it's the most— I've done a lot of cool stuff, as I'm sure you know, and I've seen a lot of cool things, but nothing's cooler than being dad. Yeah.

So let's go to the book. Let's go to the book. Let's go to the book. So I actually want to read something for the audience here. Okay, please. And I think it's very telling. In order to be successful in life, you don't need to be special. You just need to know what most people— you just need to be what most people aren't. Consistent, dependable, and willing to work for it. If I know anything about Dave, it's that he works his ass off. He loves people. He loves his family. I'm getting goosebumps. I'm so happy he opens up and shares with others what he's learned on this incredible personal and professional journey. That was Tom Brady. So clearly, it's, it's, it's a book worth reading. I've read it. But I want to talk about the, the impetus for the book. Because you have a course at FIU. I've been to some of your year-end wrap-ups where they bring the celebrities in and your hospitality course. Son and I, my daughter, have been to that several times. You've gone from building this hospitality group now to wanting to give away some of the secrets.

Yeah, I wanted a blueprint. I think the most important thing for people out there is there was nothing like this for myself when I was coming into the business. And I think it's so important to do it now, not after retired and stuff like that. But if I can help share some of the issues I've had or challenges I've had and give it— be able to share it today, because so many people are coming out of school and because of all the different platforms and ways for them to be entrepreneurial. I really love entrepreneurship. To me, that's— I do too. It's inspiring to me. And that's to be able to say, hey guys, these are the challenges I faced through through starting my own business and growing my own business. Here they are. You know, you want to, you want to build relationships, get the book, follow the, follow the steps that I put into place. And some of them you could agree with and some of them you don't have to agree with. But I'm giving you all the steps that I go through because I've broken it down for my college class. You know what I said? I want to teach about, teach people how to have relationships, to break it down. In these kind of steps, I feel is so important to life because it's not something that just comes natural. You have to focus on people. You can't just focus on the celebrity and not the other people at the table. You can't just be in a room and say, oh, I'm networking, I'm networking. No, you're not. You're looking for authentic relationships out there. And when you're talking to somebody, don't be looking at the other people. Oh, who's bigger, better in the room? I hate that. And you could feel when someone's doing that to you and being done to me, it's just I write those people off right away. But listen, it takes work to sit there and have to ask. But for me, I want to know everyone's story. So when I would go out to dinners with like a celebrity or a DJ or an artist, they always have some kind of entourage. But the entourage, I actually love to find out the stories of the entourage. I like to find out the stories of the manager, the publicist, the agents. I want to know what drives them to be able to work with this person. How did they find the talent in this person to be able to grow their lives with that person? Hmm.

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Yeah, they're your guests.

So yeah, I like that. Not customers.

But if you take it as a— if, listen, by taking it personal, that's another thing. Like, you come to my home, I'm going to treat you— it's like you're coming to my home, you're my guest. That's how I try to treat people. Yeah. And that's where people— that's why I think people resonate or why people want to do things with me, because they think it's not just transactional. I think if people think it's just transactional, then it's— then it's— you've really done nothing for your life, right? I love that I've built relationships where people feel like there's a long game with me, that it's not just one show or one DJ gig or one, one deal for, for, for marketing or whatever it is. Instead, I want to invest in your brand. I want to grow your brand.

You've also morphed into a bit of a business tycoon. I mean, you've actually taken brands, some of which you brought to my table. We've co-invested in brands before. One of them just recently 5x'd, so thank you very much for that. And but you have a penchant for spotting trends as well. So you talk about, and you've already done it twice on this podcast, you talk about the ecosystem. Of course. And how you want to control the entire chain in the ecosystem. And now it seems like you're also layering in this almost like a investment banking, you know, fund manager, portfolio manager kind of, kind of role.

Yeah, it's been, it's been a great part of it is I love consumer brand goods and that's like, you know, I love finding these young founders that are, that are starting these new brands that you and I could add a lot of magic to or bring people in to also add magic. And we all kind of take the ride together. And I tell all my celebrity— I tell all my friends, period, that have some kind of influence, stop taking fees and sponsorships. Of course you have to live, and I get all that, of course. But once you get to that point, I think if you could stomach, if you could take the ride, I think having equity in the brand is way better than just getting a sponsorship or a transactional fee. And if you're going to be the one that's turning the needle for that brand, why not, why not be part of that upside?

Taking the equity. What are some brands you're comfortable talking about that you've put into your—

Oh, so many. Like, you know, Skinny Dipped, as you know, that's the one you went into. And of course, you and I both just did Symbiotica, which I think is going to be a $2 billion brand, the liposimo, you know, supplements, liposomal, liposomal, whatever. But again, it goes to— it also goes down to not only the product, but the founders. And we think the founders of Symbiotica are great people. Yeah, they're amazing. And just the fact that when I went to ask people to come in on the deal, everyone's like, I already use it. It's one of my favorite brands. It's like the gold standard of supplements. Yeah. People like The Weeknd has it on his rider. Like, it was easy. Hey, you want to come in on this deal with me? And now that you have all these amazing people as part of this brand, it just grows the brand that much faster, that much quicker, right? Yeah. And I think that's a a cool thing. And when the exits happen, you could say, hey, I put you in that deal. Yeah, it's a great thing.

I've got art on my wall that you put me into. I've got investments. You know what it is?

When I find something special, whether it's a person, a product, a, a, a, anything, I always want to share that with the world.

Yeah. And having this ecosystem provides additional value in addition to capital. Of course. Right. Of course. So, um, you know, getting back to the book for a minute, Where do you think a lot of entrepreneurs that have their head down, sort of shoulder to the grindstone, are going wrong in building the foundation of their business?

Where do they go wrong? I think, you know, one thing I really like to talk about, Gary, with this whole thing is I've had more issues with success than I have with failure. I think that's one thing in the book that they don't tell you in school and in life. Everyone's like, oh, you know, everyone gets up and they talk about their failures, their failures, their failures. And of course, I've had many failures. I have great success, but I have many failures. And what people always want to harp on is, you know, oh, I, you know, I failed, but I got back up and I did it. And yeah, of course, that's, that's how we are as humans. I don't know many people that, that did it once, failed, and didn't try to get back on the horse. Okay, that's fine. But what people don't talk about enough is once you're on top of the world, how does that affect you? Because that's where, for me, was the most challenging, right? I opened Live, I was on fire. That's when your ego comes out. That's when you think you're unstoppable. That's when you don't ask for help because, oh, you know it all. Look at you. You're on top of the world. Why would you need help? And that's also when you get very cocky. And you forget about where you came from.

Did you recognize that?

Oh, I took a really good friend of ours, Wayne Boytz from Reserve, to say to me one time, hey, my man, in the middle of— you know, when LIV was just kicking off, he's like, you're not saving lives. It's not heart surgery you're doing here. It's a nightclub. And I'm like, okay, you're right. And then as you're so cocky and your ego is so driven, but, you know, The ego is a funny thing, Gary, because the ego drives you to do things that normal people wouldn't do and things that if you wrote it down on a piece of paper, probably didn't make sense, but you did it anyway because that was your ego. And that's what changes the world, right? Those are the things that were the miracles come out. It also is the thing where, again, you don't ask for help and you don't look at things in a business sense. You just do it for ego. And that later on hurts you later on. So it's having the people around you that keep you focused, but also in line.

So not just having a bunch of yes-men around you, people that tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

Listen, nobody, when they're at the top of the pyramid, do they want to hear a no from somebody or this. I've learned to take that breath and try to hear someone's other opinion. And a lot of magic's come out of that as well, is when I take that second and I go, you know what, I'm not going to just respond back like I know it all. Let me hear their vision. And I've learned is the youth do bring new ideas to the table. And that's why I try to surround myself with so many youth, because their ideas look at the world differently than you and I look at it. And I have to take a breath back, and I actually put a lot of interest in their ideas.

Yeah, I find that with my kids, too. My kids are in the business. Maddie's got her skincare line.

Same thing with me. Listen, guys, let's be honest. Gary, yes, got me to where I was. But he's so famous now and he's so big, he doesn't have time for me. I use Madison Brecka. She's the most important person in my life is Madison Brecka.

Dude, we are going to clip that from the podcast. Good thing this is not live. No, I agree, man.

I love your daughter so much. She's the smartest girl I know, but she does not give me food dosage shots that I'm like, Madison, I need a higher dosage. And she's like, no, she's a nurse.

She's stays within the guidelines, dude.

I want her to go outside the guidelines.

I know you do. It's a constant struggle with you. Yes, constant struggle. But, um, I mean, that is the greatest gift that God has ever given me, is to have my adult children want to hang out with me and, and to have your adult children in the business and on the journey. And I know your daughters are going to migrate because mom's an entrepreneur, dad's an entrepreneur. You also make entrepreneurialism fun.

Yeah, listen, it's a grind and there's ups and downs and there's, of course, like, how are you going to make this payroll meet and do all this kind of— and is this distributor, is this, is this big box going to take the product or not take this product? Or is this Colossal, them bringing back the Dire Wolf, is that going to really work? I don't know. But yes, I think it does. Yeah. And I think it's the coolest thing when you're— when, when you, when you build a brand. I think at the end of the day, everything I do is just about building a brand.

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Well, listen, I definitely invest in stuff that's not hospitality as well that I think is just cool as shit or is super cool. And, you know, like we just talked about Colossal. I think that investment— you got me into that too. Yeah, another great company. Yeah, they— I think it's just cool when people are, you know, they're, they're doing things that I think will, will people will have a crazy engagement for. That's what I really look for the most is it's not just about food, beverage, this or that. It's about what's the engagement with it. Like if my wife is eating Skinny Dipped nuts at nighttime and my wife doesn't eat anything that's not healthy, then there has to be something to this Skinny Dipped chocolate peanut butter nut or whatever this brand is. And when I did a deep dive and met the founders and I understood Why? Yeah. And so I look for little things like that. Same thing with DJs. Who are the next up-and-coming DJs? Who are the kids today really engaging with? Not so much if they have a billion followers or anything like that, but where's the engagement? Like, are they obsessed? Are they talking about it? Are they talking on their social medias? Are they reposting all their stuff? I think that's my— it's not even about music or this. It's about energy. And I'm great at sensing energy. That's great.

You know, I call it trendspotting. Wow. You know, but you are the best trendspotter I have ever known. I mean, really, you, you are so far ahead of your time on so many things, including, you know, hospitality. I want to draw back into the book for a second because I think it's applicable to any entrepreneur that's starting a business.

I mean, I think whether you're doing a car wash you're starting a paper route, whatever it is, this book gives you a blueprint, Gary, of everything that I look for, everything I do, my failures, my wins, my everything. I put it here. And you know what's so cool about the COVID is Jony Ive did this cover. A lot of people don't know that. Jony Ive designed the iPhone. Wow. Did he really? Yeah. He, he designed everything. He did a great job. He designed the most the most sold watch in the world, which is the Apple Watch. And then he left to go work with Sam at ChatGPT, and he just did a big $6 billion deal to design the devices for ChatGPT. It's funny, when the publisher was sending me all these book covers and I was like, I can't do these book covers. I can't. These are— this is not me.

Face on it or—

No, no, no. I had like a martini. It looked like it was Sex and the City. It was like— it was crazy. And I'm like, what do I do? Who's— who could do this? This is— this is my life. Work I'm putting into a book. I need the right book. And I go— I used a coupon with Johnny Ive, and I said, Johnny, please, I need you to do the COVID And I had just done his kids' 21st birthdays. I just hosted them, did plenty. And anytime he goes to a city, I'm the first guy to say, let me help with whatever I can do. I said, please, man, I can't have my life's work be the Sex and the City cover of a book. And then One day he came back with this, the whole thing. It's the most perfect thing I've ever seen. And just to know that Johnny Ive did my book cover. I remember talking to the publisher. She's like, Johnny Ive did your book? And I go, yeah. She goes, how much are you paying? I'm like, well, he just did a $6 billion deal, so it's either $6 billion or free. So I'm going to go with the free. $6.1 billion or free. Yeah. She's like, okay, let's go with the free. Okay. I love that. And just same thing with Kim. When I said, listen, who am I going to have? Who am I going to have do my forward that's known me, that actually has taken the ride? And I've seen take her ride from the beginning to where they are now was Kim. Yeah. And I think Kim's gone from being a reality star to an entrepreneur and a boss. And she runs a fund and she runs a family and she's a great mom. And she builds business. And what she's done with Skims, I don't care what anybody says, it's the most impressive thing I've seen. Yeah, it is astounding.

And you have a genuine relationship with that family. I'll never forget, I was sitting on your couch one day and Kendall Jenner walked in and she had a mask on during COVID She walked in with a mask on and you go, Kendall, take that off. You look ridiculous.

And I was like, dude, I just—

She goes, no, Dave, I'm not taking the mask off.

Right. In Miami, because we were open first, the COVID mask really bothered me for a while.

Yeah, I think it bothered a lot of people. I think we realized the pendulum swung a little far on that one. Yeah, yeah, we, we're never doing that again. No, when the next pandemic comes.

But we did really well in Miami, so like, not that I wish we were blessed. Yeah, it was pretty good.

We had a good governor. Yeah, and a good mayor. He was also a good friend of yours. Yeah. Um, so I, I think that, you know, entrepreneurs may be knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do. Yeah. And I love the title, Take It Personal. What's behind that tagline?

Because I care so deeply, and I think if you care so deeply, you're going to succeed. I care about the details. I care about everything. If something's going to bother me so in my bones, that's when I'm going to win, and that's when change really happens, right? Yeah. If nothing really bothers you and you're not taking it personal, Do you really change?

Yeah. I've seen you when you're in your restaurants. You're incessant.

Uh, it's either, either you love doing it or you hate doing it. It's one of the two.

It's like OCD on top of OCD. I've seen you go over and straighten napkins, fix, fix silverware, trash, make sure that water, water, uh, glasses are full again. Like, it's like a 3D scanner that's going like this around, and, and you can like spot something, you know, across the room, and you just go over and fix it or have somebody fix it. And I've always admired that about you. I mean, you've been, been doing that, you know, they entire decade that I've known you, like, never taking your eyes off the details.

I think the details is what makes it. I think when people take their eyes off the details, it's when people don't care. And it's the number one sign for me when I go into one of my spots and I see a light bulb out or something like that. That's when I lose my mind. That means they really don't care.

And does that permeate then the culture of your organization? Of course.

And listen, every organization has to keep retweaking, retweaking, retweaking, retweaking, retweaking. And people that you think hold up your entire company that you need, and when they leave and your company thrives even more, is even better. Because, Gary, I've been through this where my number one guy leaves and I think, oh my God, the whole company's going to die. And what happens is all your people step up and it opens it up for people to feel like now they have a say and they can add value. And I think retweaking your company over and over again, don't be afraid of people leaving. And if someone's not wanting to be on the ride, don't try to convince them to stay with you. I've made that mistake too. I have too. I'm like, no, you have to stay with me. We have to do this. No, no, no. And in 6 months, they're gone anyway, no matter what. And you just buy yourself some time. And at the end of the day, once they leave, your life is so much better. And that's where people should not be afraid of. it's happened to me a few times now and I'm just like, oh my God, no, the company actually rises and everyone steps up so much more.

It's almost like when you, when you have—

and you're like, should I have had this layer even there? Yeah. Yeah.

Elon Musk talks about that, about like skimming the layers. Like if you weren't starting the meeting with reducing your department by like 10%, he wouldn't even continue the meeting. You know, it's, you know, it's, it's the simplicity. Like, the complexity is in the simplicity. You have all these amazing people and maybe you haven't pulled all the talent out of them and you pull somebody out of the top and they just rise.

Or those people are saying to them what your message is instead of you saying your message. And no one could ever get your message correct like you do. And having— by taking certain layers out of my business, it's built a relationship with the executive chefs, with my general managers, my director. All those people now feel like they have a say in my company and have— instead of have people, you know, layers in between that could be saying to them different than what you really want them to be hearing.

So you got the nightclubs, you got the restaurants, you got the book, you got the investment funds. You're actually getting into resorts. Actually, they're not funds.

They're not funds. Okay. They're— I'm just— I just invest in brands and I love to share them with my friends. Yeah.

And you brought me into some of those.

What's next? Great questions. I'm working on a members club. We're trying to grow Poppy Steak— not trying, we are growing Poppy Steak out of the country. I'll talk about that at a later date. But we have two locations out there and I'm just really trying to focus in on my brands here and trying to scale my brands that I have now.

Yeah. You know, I noticed that you use the word wellness more often too. Because the— of course, the, the biggest attention trend in the world right now is anti-aging, longevity, wellness.

So we were there a long time ago. That's when you brought it to my attention. Longevity, longevity. I'm like, there's something so cool about this. It's the new luxury.

So how, how is your brand going to— since this is the Ultimate Human Podcast, how is your brand going to incorporate wellness, longevity, anti-aging, that sort of—

I think it's just— I think the fact that it's so much— it's such a big part of my lifestyle. Right. And I magnify that message out there nonstop. And also I invest in those kind of brands from NeuroGum to Symbiotica, Skinny Coconut Cult, the probiotic yogurt. To me, it's just— they're going to win the battle of gut health.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's a huge issue. Monster issue.

As a Jewish boy, it's like the number one issue. What do you mean? All the Jewish boys have bad guts. We always have the worst guts.

Yes. So, you know, your next foray is going to be this members club. Can you say about where it's going to be or what?

No, but it's going to be in Miami. I feel like I need to build—

What's going to make it special?

So for me, you know, I have a lot of great entertainment venues. For me, I just really want super luxury brand. And I think that's the next thing for me. And the one thing, you know, as my audience keeps growing older and different and they're kind of changing too, and they're Taste levels change as well. People want luxury and they just want insane hospitality.

So this is going to be luxury and insane hospitality. Yes. That's amazing, Dave. Whenever I have a guest on the Ultimate Human Podcast, I always ask them one question, and there's no right or wrong answer to this question.

I know.

You know it's coming. What does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

That everything's firing from your personal to your business to your emotions, but everything is firing on all cylinders. And to me, that's what an ultimate human is. Yeah. And that's a great strive to be every day, is to get everything firing. Yeah.

I think you're an ultimate human, man. I've been a part of— not responsible for, but a part of this journey.

Part of my journey? What do you mean?

And well, I've been a part of your health journey.

I could have been— not— I don't know if dead, but I could have been— yeah, definitely wouldn't have had the energy to keep up with what's going on in my life. Thank you.

I appreciate that. But I just want to say with every fabric of my being to my audience, this is one of the most authentic human beings I've ever met. What you see is what you get. What he says is going on behind the scenes is actually going on behind the scenes. You're a great father, great husband. You're an amazing entrepreneur. You've been an incredible friend to my family. I hope everybody goes out and gets this book. I'm going to put a link to it on the site. I'm actually going to do a giveaway on my Instagram. I'm going to buy couple hundred of these books. I'm going to give them out to my audience because I think it's so impactful. I think it's not just applicable to the hospitality space. I think it's applicable to life, and especially if you are an entrepreneur. But it is a great lesson in life. I learned this lesson from Dave 5 years ago. I've applied it every year since. I want to thank you. Thank you for coming on The Ultimate Human Podcast.

Congratulations on all your success, Gary. For me, it's been so nice to see the ride.

Thank you, brother. And until next time, guys, that's just science.