Brian: 0:10

All right. Welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast. This is part two of our interview here with Jeff. This time I'm going to hand it over to Shauna to open up for him.

Shawna: 0:17

Yeah. So I am just going to talk about what this room looks like, the private tasting room that we sneaked on through the kitchen to get back here. Nobody knows it's back here. No, I'm just kidding. I'm sure some people do. So it's such a cool, cozy little space. And there's wooden shelves up above our head with all sorts of um what look like vintage decanters. Yeah. And then the uh beautiful, like what style mirror do you call them?

Jeff: 0:42

So they're just like Victorian. Victorian. Some of them are French, you know, just antique stores, you know.

Shawna: 0:47

And then beautiful antique chairs. And then what looks like a live edge wood tiger, tiger something. And it's like um wax finish, so it feels so smooth. Oh, I love that.

Brian: 1:00

Not like a clear, it's like a like a matte. This is what I did. Like a matte wax, yeah. Very cool. Yeah, I love that.

Shawna: 1:08

It's like satiny feeling.

Brian: 1:09

Not glossy. Not glossy. And I have to say, like, did you notice the ceiling?

Shawna: 1:13

I did. I don't know what to call that though.

Jeff: 1:15

So that's a barrel. So that's those, that those are all staves.

unknown: 1:18

What?

Jeff: 1:19

So that's a bad, those are all whiskey staves.

Shawna: 1:21

That is kind of woven.

Jeff: 1:23

Wow, that is cool.

Shawna: 1:24

That is awesome.

Jeff: 1:25

We can get you guys a barrel if you want to do one at home.

Shawna: 1:27

That's we're renting, so we better not.

Jeff: 1:30

Maybe later.

Brian: 1:32

What did you do to my boys? They might have loved it. I don't know. They might. They probably actually would.

Shawna: 1:36

Yeah, so um, so this is a very cool area. I'm already dreaming up, you know, reasons to use this room. Yes.

Brian: 1:43

And um the doors in.

Shawna: 1:45

As soon as I walked in, I saw the believe, the Ted Lasso believe on the door. I absolutely love that. Now I've described this room, but for someone stepping into the distillery, or do you call it like a tasting room, like the front of house? Not really.

Jeff: 1:59

So I don't know. That that is a thing in our in our, but we don't really call it that. Um, we just, you know, the cocktail lounge. Um, so restaurant and cocktail lounge, that's what we call it. So this is kind of like back of the house back here, our production area. And then the front is, you know, front of the house, uh restaurant, cocktail lounge.

Shawna: 2:18

So how would you describe the atmosphere out there when people first walk in?

Jeff: 2:21

So um, you know, I love uh I love antiques. You know, my mom, again, uh my mother was a big kind of like um, you know, um, not a collector, but she loved antiques. You know, we had them in in in the house and stuff. So she passed that on to me. So I love old things. Um we we're a society. We we get we we just chuck things out, you know. They get they break, you know, the butt you know, it's it's things are built much better back then. So I love I love that. Um so we wanted to we wanted to kind of um uh in a commercial the the the tough thing is in a commercial environment, it's hard to have antiques, right? Oh sure. Because people people beat things up. So um not purposely, but that's just that's just how it is. Yeah. So we I wanted to create um I wanted to kind of blend the two together. So so it's almost like uh it's it's almost like a um modern speakeasy type type feel, a little bit. Um so that's kind of what we were going for.

Shawna: 3:22

It's perfect. It's genius too, because you don't necessarily want to create a space that feels like you're walking into grandma's living room. Right. Right.

Brian: 3:29

Right.

Shawna: 3:30

But it it's got it's such a good mix because just about it.

Brian: 3:33

And like every little like every place that I when we came in that day, uh we we were literally we were having dinner right next door, right? Yeah, we were at Tui's and some with some friends, and then I got a text and said they had some other friends that was over here and said, Hey, would you guys stop by? And they said, Do you guys want to stop? We're like, why not? So we stopped and was like, Yeah, we'll have some other drinks there, why not? So we stopped in and it was a very cool vibe. And I noticed like different, it wasn't like every sit-in area was the same.

Jeff: 3:58

It was like you had different that to create kind of a different, you know, you like a seating, it's unique seating areas. Yeah.

Shawna: 4:05

It's like lots of little experiences, so you can sit somewhere different all the time.

Jeff: 4:08

One of the things about being dyslexic is like my mind, I can I could see something five years ago and remember that and know exactly where it's what wall it should go on.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Really?

Jeff: 4:20

Yeah. It's a weird or or a piece, um, a piece that's been in storage or something, or it or in my garage, and know, okay, that's gonna work in that corner. It's kind of that's cool. It's kind of crazy. It's kind of like a superpower.

Speaker 1: 4:33

I was just gonna say that. It's cool if I had other superpowers, but I'll take that one.

Brian: 4:38

Hey, we take whichever superpowers we can get, right? That's cool. I love that. I love that. That's very cool. You know, a thing that I've heard over and over is about the importance of the team. So explain a little bit to us about that because I think that's a beautiful element. Yeah. The understanding the importance of team.

Jeff: 4:54

So I this is I know it's cliche. I know I I know, like, I don't know how else to say it, but without them, this this doesn't exist. I'm I'm sorry. You you don't you don't do this. You I couldn't do this every day without, you know, uh from from uh Tim, my GM on down, um to to uh every employee has a has a a role that they play. And um without them, it just we we don't we don't we're not able to do this and and deliver. So I'm I'm big on that. I know I appreciate um I appreciate each and every one of them like unbelievably, and and I realize that. I'm not an owner that kind of doesn't realize that. So that that's big to me. But you know, we we it you know, a lot of a lot of folks, um, a lot of guys would say, you know, the guest is the the guest, I I don't mean to sound this is this is a tricky one, but the guest really isn't number one. It's it's what number one is each other. So it has to, we we our our philosophy is here, we have to take care of each other and what we're doing to be able to be number one with the guest. Yeah, that's beautiful. And a lot of people, oh the guest is good. Yes, the guest, the guest is we want to, we want to provide that unreasonable service. But for us, it's we don't have a lot of drama. Um there's you know typical stuff, but we don't, we don't, you know, the the drinking and the drugs, you know, we have we like to have fun after work and whatever, but um we don't deal with a lot of that stuff. So um people know they have a job to do, and you know, we we want to um be a family and make money and and and uh move things forward and progress with each other. It's it's fun. It really is. It's fun, it's fun having a team like this.

Brian: 6:41

I love that you point that out because I think that that is something that is I think can be very easily overlooked, is is the importance of having a team that's happy and enjoys coming because that is going to overflow to the customer experience. If a team's not happy, when people walk in, we've walked in places, and I'm like, hey, I don't think we're gonna come back here because you can just tell the team's not happy, they're not they're not valued, or in and that pours over to the customer experience.

Jeff: 7:06

So they they know that a customer picks that up uh when they walk in the door.

Brian: 7:10

And being honest with your team, I mean that's that's a big deal. It shows them like, hey, like I'm human, we we're we're all gonna go through things, but that helps open up a new type of trust that you don't if you act like I have it all together and it I'm keeping you in the dark.

Jeff: 7:25

You know, it's it's frustrating. Um sometimes I see, you know, when as an owner, I'll go to a place and kind of look around and see, and and you know, you can pick stuff up very easily. But one kind of pet peeve of mine is seeing owners or managers treat their staff um less than desirable. I mean, and that will kill. I don't get it. I I don't I don't understand what they're doing. I I you know, and it's it's really just um their own lack of leadership skills, I think. Um, but it's it's you you're not gonna get very far like that.

Brian: 8:41

So I'm curious, Jeff, with talking about this of teams. You guys have to have something in the back end of the business for your core values because again, this is your first business, and I'm not used to sitting across the table with someone, this is their first business, and they understand the importance of team. I mean, when when I started launching, like we don't have team members, our team members are they're contractors, they work for us. Uh, but I'm always leaning into like I want them to feel connected to me. Uh, but it didn't always start like that. It actually freaked me out when I knew, all right, you're gonna launch your business and you're gonna have more people working underneath you. That terrified me because that's a whole other level, like you mentioned during part one, when it comes to responsibilities. Because now I'm thinking about you know, I want to keep business coming in because it's other people's families and their welfare is on the line with how the business is succeeding. So where did that core value come from?

Jeff: 9:34

Yeah, so it's it's it's not really that difficult. It really isn't. Um, it's it's treating what people are.

Brian: 9:41

It's got to be difficult or people aren't gonna stay tuned in.

Jeff: 9:43

So this is a top secret thing. Blinker, you're staying tuned in. So, so I I think I so first of all, we have an official orientation. We don't, you're going with our top serve. We don't do that. We we we we so they sit with me, they sit with the GM, they have time, they they do a full day just like, what's what's over here? What you know, what's where's the where's the where do you keep this? Where do you keep that? So uh and then they sit with me and we talk about um what this is all about, you know, what what our mission uh is all about, what what our values. Um and they know right out of the gate. We have a book, we have a employee handbook. Um, and it it covers I I could I could give this to you guys, it covers everything from um how we how we like to be, you know, our philanthropy, how we're we we we we volunteer as a team, um, it talks about um steps of service, it talks about um, you know, social media. I mean, we have a policy where you know you you you know you represent 21st Amendment, literally it's probably it's probably 20 pages. And and it actually the it it finishes up with um some of my favorite books. So I have a a book section. So if they feel like, hey, what you know, let me learn a little bit more about a little bit more about Jeff. Um, they can they can it's it's all in there. There's years of that's so cool, years of kind of gems.

Brian: 11:14

That's a pretty cool take on learning a little bit behind the scenes here. I want to ask you a little bit now about the unique experiences because there's a lot of different types of experiences you have here. From uh I was reading on your website from cocktail classes to the speakeasy, which we love speakeasy uh stuff, and uh also the cigars for freedom. I want to touch on that a little bit too. So, yeah, please uh fill us out.

Jeff: 11:34

Yeah, so so uh God. So we we do a cocktail class, which is really fun. It's at like that big table out front. You can do it. I think we do up to like 18 people or something like that. So you can do like do it as a group, yeah. And we do uh three cocktails. So you know, you can you can you can pick from I think a list of like 22 cocktails. Oh wow. Um, so that's fun. There's a bar, you know, bartender leads that. Uh, we have a blend and fill your own bottle. So um we will we will lay out, and it's mostly for whiskey because with you don't really blend anything else. So we'll have you know six, six or seven different whiskies laid out, different proofs. You can you can say, I like you know, A, C, and E, and uh I like E at this proof, I like A at that proof, and kind of mix and match like that, and literally blend it's it's your it's your blend. It's it's a fun experience. We can do like if your fundraiser's colors are red and black, you know, you can come in and dip bottles or you can have your people kind of dip bottles. We've done golf tournaments where people dip bottles, but um, so we do that. We do we do a lot. We do um, you know, dinners in here, so like private dinners in this room, as well as like whiskey tastings, pairing dinners, um, just regular old regular tastings. We do off-site tastings. Um, we used to do, we will do it now, but um, it's tough because if we're if we're in operation, it gets tough sometimes. But what what we call distiller for a day, to where people can come and spend the whole day with the distiller. That's right. I read about that. It's hard because right now we only have one distiller, but but we're we're we're you know, with with some planning, um, we can do that. You know, there's uh and we still we still offer tours and stuff like that as well.

Brian: 13:20

Just uh, you know, those are all very cool experiences. Tell me about because when I was sitting here when we stopped in that day, which I'm gonna buy one before I leave here today because I know you open at four. So I'm like, okay, we don't have too long. Uh, but we were here with some friends, and I'm like, I should have grabbed one of those cigars. So tell me a little bit about the I didn't want I didn't have time to ask about that, but now I can't.

Jeff: 13:40

Like, so tell me about it. So mama, so one of my vices, I I I am uh I I love cigars. It's it's uh I started when I was in the Marine Corps. Um, it's it's you know, it's a bad habit, but I'm on the go all the time. And one of the th one of the things that makes me relax, there's nothing like like I sit down with a cigar, it just it it literally makes me stop in my tracks. And and my wife makes fun of me a little bit, but I go out back on the patio, you know, around the pool, and it just that's the one time I get to just really I don't do it a lot, you know. Um, so I I'm a big cigar fan. I love the whole, I love the whole thing of it, you know. I love the cutting. I love, you know, it's kind of a gentleman's thing. And it's, you know, these days it's it's it's um, you know, we need more men out there, you know what I mean? We need we need more guy things, you know. Men need to be men. And uh and smoking a cigar is like that whole ritual is really special for me. And you know, if you got a good friend that wants to smoke one, it's just oh that takes it to a whole other level. It's it's a whole thing, and then you add whiskey in, and then it's like it's like heaven.

Speaker 1: 14:50

Yeah.

Jeff: 14:51

Um, so I went, I knew I wanted to do this, I knew I wanted to have a humidor, and I contacted uh a couple different cigar companies and found a company. Uh, I love a Nicaragua Nicaraguan cigar, it's one of my favorites. Uh, the soil is very conducive to tobacco um because it's very volcanic. It's it's really good. Uh found a company out there that was willing to sell to me. They have a distribu uh distributor in Tampa. Um, the owner's in Tampa too, as well. So I met with him, he came out, had all these different expressions and whatnot, flew me to Nicaragua. So I'm like this, you know, big, I'm I'm I'm looking the the whole went to the farm, went to the drying barn, went went to here, went to got to see the whole operation. That's so cool. The whole thing. And you're you got a cigar in your hand the whole time. I mean, it's like you're in a restaurant, you're smoking it, you're in the you're in the hotel, you're, you know. So I I we had drank a little bit the night before, and uh I had a I had a very heavy cigar. So um a lot of nicotine. So I went in there and I had, I don't know, like 30 different cigars of different like tried that. Yeah, try this is going with this, this is gonna be with this. Kind of like a tasting, kind of like a tasting. So first of all, hung over, but had just had a I'm I'm you know, a couple puffs out of a heavy cigar, and I went down the line and I got to like cigar number 11. And I was I was done. I was like, so so I I think I did, I think I did get to 11, and I I I you mark them, you know. I put you put a chip, chip, and I I think I had a I had like two chips down or whatever, and I think on number like six, six and nine, um, and I selected which one, and that's our so we have our own um cigar here. It's the 21 AD brand. Okay. And then we have other expressions that they also manufacture and sell. But we have our own, so we have our own cigar, which is awesome. You know what? I picked a uh it I picked a very mild cigar, um, just so it it it kind of hits all hits on all the palettes, you know. If you have something, you know, it's like a it's like uh having a having a whiskey. Most Americans like their uh spirits at 80 proof. You know, you wanna there's a reason for that because you know, there's a reason for that. So um we love our cigar, but I was we went to another place and I was on the back of the van, like curled up for like a couple hours just because I was hurting from that cigar. Oh, yeah.

Shawna: 17:32

Bet you're a little green. Oh, big time.

Brian: 17:34

Not everybody knows the story. The suffering you had to go through to choose that cigarette.

Jeff: 17:40

There's a lot of good that comes from suffering.

Brian: 17:43

Oh uh, but I was reading a little bit about the cigars, about the uh the cigar for freedom. I think cigars for freedom.

Jeff: 17:50

So, how does that work? Tell me a little bit about that. So I had the idea um you buy one of our branded cigars, and I put, I match it. So we put it in a bucket. So you buy the 21 AD, you buy a torpedo, whatever, whatever size, and I I throw one in there. And once a month, we would send those to, you know, someone I knew in the military. And um the the bad news is about uh a couple months ago, um one of my one of my contacts that I was sending cigars to in the military actually got moved and and and sort of promoted to a unit where they can't accept they can't accept cigars anymore. So I'm kind of looking, I'm actually looking for a new uh a new contact. And I just it's it's mostly me. I need to reach out to some of the guys I know that are still in. And we we would send basically care packages and and send the cigars. That's cool, you know, and they're out and you know, wherever they are, they at least they get to have a cigar.

Brian: 18:48

Well, that's cool. That's cool. I can't wait to try one of those. But that's there's so many experiences here. So, I mean, if anybody is listening, they haven't been here, definitely come out. Uh, it's it's an amazing place, amazing establishment. Again, it carries over of your team. And and I love that you've really talked about that a lot, about the importance of that, because without them, like you said, it wouldn't be the same. It just wouldn't. Well, as we get ready to wrap up this episode, Jeff, I've got one more question for you. Uh, when you look uh when you look around on a busy night, so if you're looking around on a busy night, watching people talk, laugh, and enjoy what what you've created, what goes through your mind?

Jeff: 19:21

Oh man, that's tough. It's so it's it's nice to see people smiling and having fun. It's it's for me, it's like they can get away from their lives for a little bit, their their hectic lives, because we're all, it's you know, to some degree, we all have our stuff, you know, we all have our packs to carry. And and uh so I really enjoy people like they can come in and and take their pack off a little bit and relax, and and my guys can um uh can support themselves and their families, and and that's I mean, there's nothing better than that.

Brian: 19:56

That's cool.

Jeff: 19:56

You know, there really isn't.

Brian: 19:58

So I love that. I love that. Well, that wraps up this episode, part number two. We're gonna go ahead and get ready to go into part number three. We're gonna talk about why Vero, what you love about Vero. So, with that, if you guys have enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a review and share it with your friends.

Shawna: 20:13

Catch you next time, neighbor.