This content was created by Victor Justin Rhodes. This content was uploaded by Victor Justin Rhodes. This is a YouTube video titled "Hibachi Chef Went Mobile Then Thrilled my Staff (in a Barn)" (recorded November 13, 2021). It contains an on-site, informal staff appreciation dinner hosted by Victor Justin Rhodes, featuring a traveling hibachi chef (Chef Blue) performing and engaging with staff and family members. The video includes Victor introducing and thanking team members (Heather, Naomi, Dan Omen, Arun referenced, plus guests like Gideon and Jonah), descriptions of their roles supporting the Justin Rhodes brand and Abundance Plus, playful hibachi games/demonstrations, and expressions of gratitude to viewers and supporters (mentions The Rooted Life and Abundance Plus). The clip mixes live performance, staff introductions, and behind-the-scenes appreciation content.
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First time ever, staff dinner.
Woo!
I'm so excited about that. And I'm going to highlight those people who really, like the behind the scenes, put them front and center here because I do not do this alone. I do not want you to think I do this alone. The Justin Rhodes brand and all the content here and the stuff for Abundance Plus, I could not do it alone. Here's the party. Oh, look at this. Hey! Look at this. Well, this is a staff appreciation dinner. I want to thank all y'all with this wonderful dinner that Chef Blue is just gonna—
all for you guys—
knock it out of the park.
He flew me in from Tokyo, Japan last night, literally just got here.
All right, that was quite a bit to fly that on the airplane, huh?
Yeah, that was— yeah, we put that on a boat.
Look at these chairs.
Are these ginormous toothpicks?
Yeah, those are chopsticks. You think you're gonna— you— they eat with those in Japan. Yeah, you could just sit down right here. You gonna try them?
Are you ready?
Yeah.
Avery, are you ready? No. Oh boy, that did not work out. Okay, how about you, Lily? Are you ready?
She's ready.
Time it is. What time is it? Showtime! We call this Japanese Kung Fu Panda. You guys know who that is? No, you do not know. Okay, okay, that's just a test.
Oh, you don't like the mushroom?
Well, good sport for trying.
Good for trying. You like mushrooms, Heather? Oh, I love mushrooms. You like them? Yeah.
What's your name?
Gideon.
Gideon. Oh, oh, you're my— you're my nephew.
Okay, Gideon. You like the mushrooms, Jonah? He's trying to figure it out. It kind of tastes like meat.
Oh no. Yeah.
Oh look, volcano coming. Watch this. It won't hit the roof. Oh, there it goes. Bruce is worried it's gonna hit the roof.
We'll find out.
Is it Tinder?
Whoa, he's got one fan.
You're eating well.
You like it?
Nice. Lily, you like the noodles? 2 eggs.
2 eggs. If you were not here, it would be crickets. So glad you were here.
I'm here for you, man.
All right, so here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna take a piece of chicken, I'm gonna throw it at your face, and you're gonna try and catch it in your mouth. Does that sound like a fun game? Kind of like popcorn?
Kind of like popcorn?
All right, so here's how it works. The rules are you cannot use your hands, you can only use your mouth to catch it. If you catch it in your nose, it's double points. I'll get it close to your face, within 2 feet of your face, this area here. You might have to move a little bit, you probably will have to move a little bit to catch it, okay? Who, who's the best at catching in their mouth? Oh, okay. All right, Jonah, are you ready, my friend?
Watch, get in.
You think you have enough lighting? Do you need more light or is this good? Good.
Get ready.
Okay, Jonah, here we go. It is a team effort, okay? On 3, sit. 1, 2, 3. Oh, that was on me, I will admit. All right, all right, here we go. Go. 1, 2, 3.
Oh my God, you didn't see it, huh?
You didn't see it? Oh, it didn't go. Did you see it? All right, hold on, one more, one more, one more.
Okay, ready?
All right, hold on. Here we go, here we go, you got this, buddy. 1, 2, 3. There it is! Hold on. Okay, 1, 2, 3.
Okay, what?
Here we go. 1, 2, 3, there it is!
Yay!
Good job. We're ready. I'm a little nervous now.
Yeah.
That's called a Japanese mistake. Bounced out of my head. I'm gonna hold it for as long as I can until my hair burns up.
After the party, I asked those who were there, from their perspective, what do they do for the company? This is an employee appreciation dinner. I could not do this without these folks. Hey, hey, Grandma, what do you do for our business? Oh, what do I do? I keep the house clean, separate, do the dishes after dinner.
I babysit me the henry.
Oh, you help chicken butcher? Yes, I run the plucker. Yep, you're the plucker lady. Anyway, we appreciate you.
It was wonderful.
Heather, our OG employee.
I know, we've known Heather since she was like 15. I know, so it's been a very long time that we've known Heather. So she's grown up and had lots of babies.
This is number 4. Okay, she works from home. Yes, virtual assistant. Tell everybody what you do.
Um, so I will— if you ever have a problem with any like technical things with your membership, I help you with that. I help set up some of the website stuff. Um, I do bookkeeping, I do— she does a lot.
I check—
you do everything.
She does.
She checks Justin's emails sometimes.
Yeah, you do.
Well, because sometimes, like, you haven't been on the computer in days. It gets a lot.
Well, you check our bank account. That's just what this is. Sometimes she'll call me and be like, I'm in your bank account.
I'm like, great, what did you find out?
This is a very special friend because, yes, she's in our bank account. Yeah, it's really good to have a friend that you can trust that well.
Yes.
So thank you. You're very loyal and efficient and smart. And all the— all, all of my people that have interacted with you just love you.
Yeah, when we were homesteaders, they're like, is Heather here? I was like, no, but she should come. That's a good idea. People really like you. And they— somebody emailed, and I don't know if they were trying to email you or they told Justin that they needed to give you a raise. Yeah, it was like— I don't know if she was like emailing you or if she emailed Justin and was like, Justin, you need to give her a raise, or if it was like, Heather, you should ask for a raise.
Hi, T. Is that why I gave her a raise that time?
No, we'd just given her a raise when that came up.
We're like, okay, we beat you to it.
Yeah.
Good. Naomi, our newest employee.
Yes.
Heather's sister-in-law.
It's a family ordeal now.
Okay.
Ordeal.
Or as Jessica Sowards would say, sister-in-love.
Yes.
Okay, so what do you do?
I am the data maintenance of Abundance Plus. I do all the subscriptions and Facebook approvals and monitoring and all the, all the tediousness is my job, and I love it.
You work great hours, you're super flexible. Oh, you know, you, you track, um, oh, I ship shipping.
Oh, you do shipping?
I do all the shipping. I send you books.
Yes. And she said to me before we're on camera, I'll just say it, she— if you ever gotten kicked off our Facebook group, it's her. See, you're the heavy, you're the heavy, right? Everybody's gonna behave themselves, right? Yes. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.
My pleasure to do it.
There were two people not there that I'd also like to thank and describe and let them describe what they do. Well, first, uh, Arun, as you know if you watched a couple videos ago, he is moving to India and he is in transition right now and wasn't there. I want to thank Arun for that. As you know, he was a farmhand here and a big help to us. Another one, Dan Omen. He couldn't be here because he lives in Idaho, but still big part of our business, big part as a It wouldn't be a virtual assistant, but virtual worker. Dan, you editor, why don't you insert a clip of who you are for those that don't know and what you do for us?
Hey guys, I'm Dan and I've been working with Justin since 2015 before he even had a YouTube channel. This was during the permaculture chicken days. Primarily I'm Justin's video editor, so I edit all the vlogs that go up on the YouTube channel, all the bonus content, and and most of the content you see going up on Abundance Plus as well. I do all the thumbnails in the videos, I do the descriptions below the videos, and if there's a link that's missing, that's my fault. In addition to Justin's videos, I edit the Justin Rhodes Show podcast that goes out weekly. And lately I've also been producing a homesteading documentary series on Abundance Plus called Discovering Home. Episode 2 is now out, be sure to check that out. Thanks so much, Justin, for this opportunity to work with you. The last 6 years have been great. I look forward to many more. If you guys want to learn more about what else I'm doing, I have a YouTube channel, The Grass-Fed Homestead, that Justin encouraged me to start about 5 years ago. That's about a single dad raising a son and pigs, chickens, and sheep, small-scale homesteading, and cooking good food.
Oh my goodness, blow you a kiss, give you a virtual, uh, Justin hug. Thank you so much. I couldn't do what I do without you guys. And we love and appreciate you so much. Now I can also turn it to you guys watching. Thank you so much. Your time is so valuable and you are taking the time out of your precious day and you are watching these shows and you are being inspired and you are learning and you are doing it. And those of you who have supported us in Abundance Plus and my book, The Rooted Life, and any other thing, thank you, thank you, thank you. I meet you so many times at meetups and stuff and you tell us how we've blessed you. But you have blessed us as well. It's the least I can do. So to everyone, my heart is full with gratitude. Thank you, thank you, thank you. One last thanks, and that's thanks to Chef Blue. He went above and beyond. That was a meal that was organic, it was gluten-free, and because of some of the folks there, dairy-free. And what's the other one? No, that was it. That's enough, isn't it? Organic, gluten-free, dairy-free. That can be difficult. He pulled it off with charm, was hilarious, fun, and you saw that he performed very well. And he offered, he's like, hey, let's call it a wash, get, get me some attention, and I do not mind. He did a wonderful job. Here's his stuff. I'm looking it up right now. He's got a YouTube. You could follow this guy. If you're local, I'm sure he'll travel to some distance. We are in Western North Carolina. His wife is a huge fan. His YouTube is Blue, B-L-U, 3, the number 3, Ninja VA. And so I'll have Dan, thank you, if you'll link that down in the description. He's got an Instagram and Facebook, and that is Hibachi Chef Blue, and we'll link that. Hopefully we're going to see more of him on this channel and on this, in this content, because he does a Korean barbecue that, oh my word, we've got to sign up for. And he does some other amazing things. So I encourage you guys to go check him out.
