How Zach Tolen Turned a Food Truck Into a Cult Favorite

Zach Tolen didn’t just work in a restaurant—the restaurant raised him.

In this episode of Pursue Vegas, we sit down with the man behind Vanilla Rice Hibachi to talk about what it really takes to go from scrubbing dishes at 15 to owning one of the most hyped hibachi spots in Las Vegas.

“Even on your worst days as an entrepreneur, you’re still living your dreams,” he says.

Zach’s journey isn’t polished. It’s raw, real, and built from chaos. From food truck breakdowns to bootstrapping a brand people now line up for, he shares how he turned a side hustle into a full-blown movement. Spoiler: it wasn’t luck—it was grit, consistency, and showing up like your name’s on the building.

We dive into:

• What it means to evolve from cook to CEO
• Why branding and social media aren’t optional in the Vegas food game
• How he’s laying the foundation to franchise like the greats—Chipotle, Chick-fil-A style “I still hop on the grill from time to time, but I want to be a businessman, not just a cook.”

If you're in the trenches of building something—or trying to find the courage to start—this one’s your blueprint. Hustle is the entry ticket. Staying power is the strategy.

What You’ll Take Away:

• Consistency builds trust. In food and business—people come back when they know what to expect.
• Systems = Freedom. Zach went from chaos to clarity with processes that let him scale.
• Hype fades. Hustle doesn’t. Building a brand takes more than a logo—it takes a long game.
• Vegas rewards bold. Your brand better talk loud and hit hard if you want attention.
• You don’t need it all figured out. You just need to start.

Resources:

• Vanilla Rice Hibachi
• Follow on IG: @vanillaricelv
• Behind-the-scenes: @realvanillarice

Hit play and learn from someone who’s not just chasing a dream—he’s cooking it up daily, with a spatula in one hand and a scaling plan in the other.

Thanks for tuning in to The Pursue Vegas Podcast!

Transcript

0:00:00 - (Zach Tolen): What's going on? It's Zach Tolen, AKA Vanilla Rice, and you are listening to the Pursue Vegas podcast.

0:00:07 - (Dave Burlin): The idea of Pursue Vegas was to really highlight the local people that really make Vegas Vegas.

0:00:13 - (Tawni Nguyen): I love that aspect of how these visionaries are actually bringing people together.

0:00:18 - (Dave Burlin): When we hit record, our responsibility is to connect the people of our city so we can show the world who we really are.

0:00:26 - (Tawni Nguyen): Boom.

0:00:26 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. You. You win the championship belt for that.

0:00:28 - (Zach Tolen): Thanks.

0:00:29 - (Dave Burlin): I love it.

0:00:29 - (Tawni Nguyen): I think I'm gonna hire him now.

0:00:30 - (Zach Tolen): I like being on camera.

0:00:31 - (Dave Burlin): Right. I've officially been canceled. Tawni, I heart you. I treasure our friendship and I'm so grateful for all of our time together.

0:00:38 - (Tawni Nguyen): But it's time to let each other go. I know.

0:00:40 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. Get the fuck out of here.

0:00:42 - (Dave Burlin): You're gonna break up with me the day before Valentine's Day?

0:00:45 - (Tawni Nguyen): That's the best time.

0:00:46 - (Dave Burlin): It's two days. It's two days.

0:00:47 - (Tawni Nguyen): That saves me money. I was gonna get you flowers, but it saves me 20 bucks.

0:00:53 - (Dave Burlin): Get them at Trader Joe's. It's only 418 paces. You missed that one.

0:01:00 - (Zach Tolen): Dang.

0:01:00 - (Dave Burlin): You alright?

0:01:01 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. Trying to text me.

0:01:02 - (Dave Burlin): Oh. You good?

0:01:03 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, I'm good now. You all right?

0:01:05 - (Tawni Nguyen): Is everyone okay in this room?

0:01:07 - (Dave Burlin): Are we ready?

0:01:08 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, we're good.

0:01:11 - (Tawni Nguyen): I'm not okay.

0:01:13 - (Zach Tolen): You're good. You need a hug?

0:01:15 - (Dave Burlin): Action. All right, welcome back to the Pursue Vegas podcast. I'm your host, Dave Berlin.

0:01:21 - (Tawni Nguyen): And I'm your co host, Tahny Nguyen.

0:01:23 - (Dave Burlin): And we are.

0:01:26 - (Tawni Nguyen): Pick a word. Any word.

0:01:28 - (Dave Burlin): Beyond excited. Beyond excited for today's guest. I got my food industry sweatshirt on and everything. It's 85 degrees outside, but I'm wearing this for you.

0:01:39 - (Tawni Nguyen): With Wind chill.

0:01:41 - (Dave Burlin): With Winchell, it feels like 105. No, man, I was really trying to pin this down. And I feel bad because we got. Got Zach Tolan, AKA Vanilla Rice in the house. I. I was trying to figure out exactly when we met.

0:01:58 - (Zach Tolen): We met at. At a restaurant.

0:02:01 - (Dave Burlin): At which restaurant?

0:02:02 - (Tawni Nguyen): That is so specific.

0:02:05 - (Dave Burlin): Was it In n Out? It wasn't In N Out that we met.

0:02:07 - (Zach Tolen): It was in and out. It was.

0:02:08 - (Dave Burlin): We were. Was that where we met?

0:02:09 - (Zach Tolen): We met at Dave Meltzer's event in front of In N Out.

0:02:11 - (Dave Burlin): In front of the In N Out. Right? That's like. It's right. Right next to acquisition.com, which is where Alex and Leila, their whole layer is. But it just happens to be the In N Out burger. Right outside of that was where David Meltzer was hosting one of the meetup groups. And we. I don't even know how we got. We met at that event.

0:02:29 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. I. And I must have opted into one of his text message blasts.

0:02:34 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:02:35 - (Zach Tolen): Randomly. One day I get a text message being like, hey, it's Dave Meltzer. It's Dave Meltzer. I'm going to be at In N Out tomorrow. You're going to be there. And I mean, I know that it's not really him, you know, sending this message, but I'm like, I'll. I'll show up. I want to go hang out with Dave Meltzer.

0:02:47 - (Tawni Nguyen): You're like, yeah, I'm in the funnel.

0:02:49 - (Zach Tolen): I made it.

0:02:50 - (Tawni Nguyen): Yeah, I made it.

0:02:51 - (Zach Tolen): I made it to his top 500.

0:02:52 - (Dave Burlin): Text a day, you know, and it's a proximity text.

0:02:56 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. He did all of Vegas that, you know, has entrepreneur in their bio and. Yeah. And then I just showed up and I. That's. Yeah, that's how we met. I think we met.

0:03:05 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. You asked a question or something and then I was like, wait. And then you told your story. Yeah. You talked all about your restaurants, and I was like, oh, my gosh, we need to connect. Yeah. And ever since then, we run into each other all the time.

0:03:15 - (Zach Tolen): All the time.

0:03:16 - (Dave Burlin): I have made it by your shop, which is fabulous, by the way. I even tried to help you open a second location, but that didn't work out.

0:03:23 - (Zach Tolen): Well, you know what I say? It's like. It's like leads, right? You gotta have hundreds of leads coming in to actually land a deal. And that's the way I look at restaurant opportunities. Like, I used to be. Like, oh, I'm gonna go sign this lease today and I'm gonna be in this tomorrow. It doesn't work like that. Yeah, I gotta look at hundreds of restaurants to be able to sign one or two leases, you know?

0:03:40 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, welcome to the show, my friend. Tell us all things you. What are you excited about?

0:03:48 - (Zach Tolen): Oh, man, I'm excited about growth. Right. I'm excited about growing. I'm excited about expansion. I'm excited about meeting new people and, you know, networking and getting out of my comfort zone, meeting different types of entrepreneurs, also helping people in the food industry.

0:04:04 - (Tawni Nguyen): How is your experience in Vegas in the food industry? Just because it's so highly saturated and every other day and every other corner you look, it's a new restaurant that comes up, and a week later it's gone.

0:04:15 - (Zach Tolen): I feel bad.

0:04:15 - (Tawni Nguyen): It's exaggeration. But maybe like a month.

0:04:18 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:04:18 - (Tawni Nguyen): Because it's high turnover.

0:04:20 - (Zach Tolen): My experience has actually been great because I don't know exactly if it's because I'm younger and I understand this aspect. But I always wanted to create the hottest spot, right to be, and one of the hottest spots to be, and I wanted to give that perception through social media. And not only did I give that perception through social media, when they show up, it's like, oh, damn, this is the hottest spot to be.

0:04:41 - (Zach Tolen): And so with that, and also, I did grow up out here, so people, you know, I went to high school, and out here, everywhere, everything. I mean, and people know me, so they always saw me on social media doing things. They're like, zach's doing something. He's always doing something. And so once I eventually opened a restaurant, you know, people, they, you know, want to come check it out to support me. And then other people that didn't know me from social media, they, you know, like I said, I gave that perception of this is the hottest spot, and then once they showed up, I delivered on that, and I've actually had an amazing experience.

0:05:11 - (Tawni Nguyen): I got to ask, why vanilla Rice? So I. Bitches love rice.

0:05:17 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. Yeah. And I'm vanilla, baby. So. And I. I worked at a hibachi restaurant since I was 15 years old. Started as a dishwasher all the way up to everything in between, all the way to. Made it to head chef for three years. And, you know, I was the only, you know, if you look at me, I'm not Asian, but I am. I'm Caucasian. No. And so technically I am, but I was the only, you know, white guy, hibachi chef. And people would just come in and they would, you know, they would just, yo, Vanilla Rice. Vanilla Rice. They said, I look like Vanilla Ice and this and, you know, and that just stuck. I had my Instagram at the time as, like, Zach the chef. Cuz I don't know, everybody was chef this chef that's like, I want to be a little different. So I did Zach the chef.

0:05:58 - (Zach Tolen): It was lame. And then once I did Vanilla Rice, that's when he really, like, took off.

0:06:02 - (Tawni Nguyen): Ah, that's so cute. I love it. I didn't want to assume because I always have to question assumptions, but, yeah.

0:06:08 - (Zach Tolen): You know, that's why Vanilla Rice. Yeah.

0:06:10 - (Dave Burlin): Has. Has the real Vanilla Ice ever, like, commented or like, said, yo, take it down?

0:06:17 - (Zach Tolen): Not yet. Not yet. Because technically I don't. I don't know how it works, but technically, vanilla is a word and rice is a word. So I don't like. It's like, it's like a useful word. It's not like a made up phrase. Technically, Words put together. It is technically a made up phrase, but it's not legally, if that.

0:06:32 - (Tawni Nguyen): I don't know know if he has his name, patent or anything.

0:06:35 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, I don't think you can when it's too like.

0:06:39 - (Dave Burlin): I mean, but if you serve him right, that'll break the Internet.

0:06:42 - (Zach Tolen): That'd be dope.

0:06:42 - (Dave Burlin): If we came over.

0:06:44 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. Vanilla Ice, if you out there. Vanilla Rice. Vanilla Ice. We did a collab. Open a restaurant. That'd be crazy. That would be like the craziest thing ever.

0:06:50 - (Tawni Nguyen): And an ice cream shop.

0:06:51 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, yeah, right. Working on that as well.

0:06:53 - (Dave Burlin): Oh, I see what you did there. Now all we got to do is find the property and we're. Yeah, we're in a totally different market, so. Okay, talk to me about this because this. I've never asked you this, this before. I've always known you as Vanilla Rice because I've only met you in the last couple years. But you say you grew up here. Where did you. Had you always been pretty? Because you have a great social media presence. I mean, your energy is fire. There's always people that are connected. You've also kind of figured out how to play the algorithms and just stay current with everything that's going on.

0:07:27 - (Dave Burlin): Has it always been like that? Did you. When did you really get, like, turned on to social media? Was there something where you clicked and you're like, oh, wow, there's like a. There's a stage here.

0:07:35 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. Well, I actually wish that, you know, when I see like Logan Paul's and Jake Paul's these days, I wish I would have started doing what I'm doing now a lot sooner. You know, I wasn't actually. Because video when Instagram came out wasn't popular. But obviously now the people that are doing video, like the Jake Paul's and Logan Paul's back then, they're the ones that really blew up. So it was really pictures. And so I always wanted to post the coolest picture. I had my own Instagram. It was called like the. The tag, like West Coast Z. That was my name. I wanted to be a rapper. You know, I was gonna ask. We all wanted to be rappers, but I was a little hip hop, you know, and.

0:08:06 - (Zach Tolen): But I always. I remember the first day I got like 100 likes. Like, that was my goal. I want to get to 100 likes. But it was only pictures. It wasn't really video. And so I guess I've always tried to stay up on the trends. I stayed up on fashion trends and stuff like that. And I would post And I would get likes and people enjoyed following me. And I got up to about 3,000 followers at the time, which is apparently nothing but 3,000 people. That's a lot of people.

0:08:25 - (Tawni Nguyen): Real people. Yeah, sorry, we have to.

0:08:26 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, no, I never.

0:08:28 - (Tawni Nguyen): We emphasize that these things.

0:08:29 - (Zach Tolen): No, no, I don't do that. I just, it's just. I want real. I want customers. You know, I don't want just. Just the flashy stuff. But then eventually, once I became. Once I started cooking, I switched into having. I switched. I made a new Instagram so I had both pages. But then I really started to notice that I was getting a lot more feedback on the cooking page. And so I just started just, just going, going, posting as much as I could.

0:08:50 - (Zach Tolen): Maybe not as much as I do now, but I think I've always just had a knack of like, maybe not that I don't say I didn't get enough attention when I was growing up, but maybe. Right. Like, I was always the class clown. I was getting kicked out of school or not school, but like kicked out, know, and stuff like that. And I guess social media was just a place where I could express myself and I just always knew that that was a tool and that was going to be popular. So I just made sure to always hone in on that and make it a priority of my existence.

0:09:15 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, well, it's definitely something that's not easy to do, especially in a city like Las Vegas. So what's been kind of the key to your success? What do you think has really helped you become such a. A brand across social media?

0:09:32 - (Zach Tolen): Consistency. Consistency, right.

0:09:34 - (Dave Burlin): Talk about that.

0:09:35 - (Zach Tolen): I have friends that own food brands. I won't. They're not restaurants. They're. Sometimes they're like, you know, startup kitchens that are in the share kitchens or little food trucks, which, sorry, not little food trucks. Food trucks. And, you know, they're open two days a week, this week, the next week they're only open one day a week. The next week they're only open three days a week. And it's to the point where it's like, well, you know, you sell wings and your wings are great, but when I want wings on Tuesday, I'm gonna go to Wingstop. Because they got their together, you know, they're. They're open every single day. It's trustworthy. I can know that. So I don't say that because I understand that a lot of people, they still work a job and start the food business. But you. Even when I did that, I was still consistent. I was open On Sunday and Monday, my two days off. Every single week, there would be. Once in a while I'd close one day or maybe close the whole weekend because I was burnt out. I was doing seven days a week. But it was like I was stayed consistent in my two days being open because then customers could expect like, hey, Zach's, you know, Sunday, Monday's coming up. Sunday, Monday's coming up. Sunday, Monday's coming up. And I always delivered. And so I think that was a, you know, very proponent key to my success and to grow because like I said, I wasn't unpredictable. And at the end of the day, I mean, like you said, there's so many restaurants out here, there's so many food brands. It's like, dude, if I can't, if I'm expecting you and like, you let me down three times, I'm just gonna go somewhere else, you know, like, screw this.

0:10:50 - (Dave Burlin): I love it. So, so first of all, so location, where's it at and when are you open?

0:10:56 - (Zach Tolen): Right now? Yeah, right now we're. We're on Flamingo and Pecos, in between Pecos and Sandhill, and we're open seven days a week, 12 to 12, 1145. We take the last order. But yeah, 12:12pm to 12:00am I love it.

0:11:07 - (Dave Burlin): And you bring that up. It's a, It's a great point, you know that I do a lot of stuff in the, in the restaurant industry as well. Mike Bausch, he talks about this. He. He's like, for the people that are off one day.

0:11:19 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:11:19 - (Dave Burlin): It creates this confusion that will stick with people forever. Like, he. There's a time where when he first opened his first pizzeria, they had to close. They were always open seven days a week, except for the major, major holidays. But, like, if he ever posted, like, hey, sorry, we're closed today for a private event, or any of that stuff, there would be people five years later that still be like, wait, are they open? On, like, it creates this.

0:11:44 - (Dave Burlin): Are they open? And that little bit of resistance might make them go somewhere else.

0:11:48 - (Zach Tolen): Correct.

0:11:48 - (Dave Burlin): The reason why I asked you where it's at and tell us your hours. Like, we're going to plug that like five times in the episode so people know. Because I've, I've been there, and it's great.

0:11:57 - (Zach Tolen): Thank you.

0:11:58 - (Dave Burlin): So when it comes to how long have you been in that location, it's.

0:12:02 - (Zach Tolen): Coming up on three years.

0:12:03 - (Dave Burlin): Nice. Yeah.

0:12:04 - (Zach Tolen): Well, one thing I did want to say is when, when, you know, I preach this to my employees, right? I'm like, look, there's a reason we need to be consistent because, you know, people live a very mundane life, right? And going out to restaurants could be and probably is the highlight of their week, month, you know, day, right? Or, or that dinner was like what they were looking forward to all day. So if you're like you said, like if you're closing, it's like, it's the biggest disappointment ever to some people. It's a lot more of a disappointment than it is to others.

0:12:33 - (Zach Tolen): You know, like so some, an employee, oh, we're just closing today. Like, oh, we're just closing a little earlier. And we just told that customer we closed five minutes earlier. But that was their. They were looking forward to this all day long. And I used to, I used to operate my food truck by selling out, right? Like it was so cool. Like, oh, we sold out. And at first it's cool, right? Like, oh, Zach selling out. He's busy selling out. That's so dope.

0:12:52 - (Zach Tolen): But then I was getting customers that were driving all the way across town and I sold out of lobsters. And they're like, yo, what the, what the. And then once a few times after that I said, never again, I'll never sell out again. I'll always over have everything. And that's when I started operating it like a business versus just like a pop ups, basically.

0:13:07 - (Dave Burlin): I love it.

0:13:08 - (Zach Tolen): I want to add that. Yeah.

0:13:09 - (Dave Burlin): How long were you doing the, the food truck before you went with full brick and mortar?

0:13:13 - (Zach Tolen): Well, so I had the food truck for 10 months and then it actually broke down. The food truck broke down while my restaurant was being built. And it was only. My restaurant was only supposed to take four months. It ended up taking an entire year. So I had to go from that, from the food truck. Once it broke down, I had to go into, back into the commercial kitchen and I had to do that for an hour. But, but my brand would have failed if I didn't keep being open and being consistent.

0:13:36 - (Dave Burlin): So it's, it's interesting you, you tell the fragments of the story because I remember when I came to your location, you kind of gave me the whole backstory and you like broke it down for me like over time. So here you go, bro. You got the mic monologue. It. What's the easy timeline of when you launched the pivots, the perseverance and kind of all that that to where you're at now today? Well, freestyle it.

0:14:03 - (Zach Tolen): I mean I can give you like from when I was 15 till now. I mean it was 15 dishwashers 16, prep cook, learning how to cook. Then 17, I cooked my first table at the restaurant that I worked at. 19 I became head chef. 23 was when Covet happened. And my buddy. And, well, when I was 22, I started cooking in my homies backyard. You know, friends and business don't really mix, so we stopped doing that. 23.

0:14:24 - (Zach Tolen): 23, almost 24 is when covet happened. Another buddy of mine was like, hey, you should. Should. You should go cook your plates again in the backyard. I was like, I don't know if I want to do that. I had such a traumatic. I lost all my friends. This and that would do. And I eventually, like, it just kept playing in my head, begged my mom, mom, can I please cook this? Because I lived in an apartment at the time, I couldn't cook out front of the apartment and begged her to cook in the backyard. Then she finally agreed. I paid her rent. If I broke a sprinkler head, I paid her for that as well.

0:14:51 - (Zach Tolen): And then we went from there. Then we went to the commercial kitchen. But I was prepping in the commercial kitchen and still cooking in my mom's backyard because I didn't have anywhere to store all the food. I was storing it in my mom's fridge, my apartment fridge, my uncle's fridge, my girl's fridge. Like, it was crazy, right? And I'd have to go. And I was like, this is insane. So anyway, long story short, I'll keep going. Then I eventually fully went into the commercial kitchen. That was a hard pivot because that was all the way in North Las Vegas. I was on the east side.

0:15:15 - (Zach Tolen): So now all my customers had to go over there. Then from that, somebody called me and was like, yo, I got this food truck. I'll. I'll build it. And I don't want to do anything with it, but we could do a partnership. Boom, got in the food truck. Food truck was the best and worst time of my entire life, because it was. It. My brand was growing, but it was. I had so many headaches with health department and the truck not actually working and all this kind of stuff.

0:15:36 - (Zach Tolen): And then the health department ended up shutting me down because my truck wasn't operational. And, I mean, I'm just the kind of guy that's like, we gonna open. I mean, they go, they gonna. They're gonna have to come tell us to shut down.

0:15:46 - (Tawni Nguyen): You know, east side mentality right there.

0:15:48 - (Dave Burlin): Like, I don't know what this piece of paper is. I don't even read it.

0:15:51 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, well, what happened happened was So a funny story is when we when went from the commercial kitchen to the food truck. We have an A grade for our, for our commercial kitchen, right? And the guy was like. The guy was like, yeah, it's going to take like four weeks for us to come out and do an inspection. So I just, I don't know what came to me. I was like, well, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put the A from the commercial kitchen. I'll put that in the window of the food truck so nobody could question me. And then when the health department shows up to. Because they get a call or something and they seem were operating and they never like, like inspected us, they'll just do the inspection right there.

0:16:24 - (Zach Tolen): I was like. And that's ended up actually what happened? Right? They pull up, they go, where's this A from? I go, I don't know. They said I could use, you know, I'm just playing dumb. They said I can use it. And we'll see about that. Yeah. Well then he goes, well, he goes, well, since we're here, we might as well do the inspection. I'm like, oh my God, that's amazing. That was the same day my hot water didn't work.

0:16:39 - (Zach Tolen): Automatic shut down. So anyway, to make, to keep going. Then it went from. So then it went back to commercial kitchen. And then for my restaurant to eventually open about three years ago. Then I got into a second location that didn't work. And now I'm back to one. And now I'm about to have another two more. Well, in the next month and then hundreds.

0:16:57 - (Tawni Nguyen): Sometimes you got to take it just like that. You take steps forward.

0:16:59 - (Zach Tolen): Well, and what it was, was it was the systems and processes. You know what, what Mike talks about, right. I didn't have the systems and processes in play. I didn't even know what that was. I came from a mom and pop shop. Mom and pop shop, they just. You just get told what to do by the next guy.

0:17:11 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:17:11 - (Zach Tolen): And then telephone happens. And then, you know, you're like, I think I'm doing this right. I don't know. The boss didn't even show up. He'd come in, he'd be like, how are you doing today? But good. He's like, cool. Ski walking. Okay. And I didn't know anything about systems and processes. Right. I had no clue what any of that was. And so that's the ultimately the reason why the second location didn't work. But it wasn't a loss, it was a lesson. Because now I have systems and processes, to even clean the bathroom, you know, and to open the door and to do everything, you know, I love it. Yeah, yeah.

0:17:37 - (Tawni Nguyen): We're going to talk after this because I grew up in the back of a restaurant, but it's Asian and obviously they're. If you say systems and process, they're going to think it's like the biggest disrespect ever because it's just a grind of 16 hour days and just working.

0:17:49 - (Zach Tolen): Know what you're supposed to do. Like that's.

0:17:50 - (Tawni Nguyen): And you're supposed to know every single thing. You're supposed to touch every single part of the business. But if one thing falls apart, like one person doesn't show up, then you're kind of screwed because now you're doing like 18 different things rather than six different things. So I think I understand that coming from, you know, like with my parents. So right now that's what I'm doing is documenting their systems and process. I'm just, I'm just not calling it that.

0:18:09 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, yeah.

0:18:11 - (Zach Tolen): Different names, like, you know, procedures.

0:18:15 - (Tawni Nguyen): What are you doing? Tell me everything you're doing from the minute you step in.

0:18:19 - (Zach Tolen): You know what I mean?

0:18:19 - (Tawni Nguyen): Like, so it's just how you approach, like you give them a different perspective.

0:18:23 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. And then I can go to sleep at night now. You know what I mean? Before I couldn't go to sleep because I'm like, oh my God, I hope they know what to do. I hope to. Call me if you need anything. Call me if anything. Now it's like, don't call me at all. Yeah, it's all, it's all down. If you need it, it's right there. It's, it's, it's. We have it printed out and we also have it on an iPad as well.

0:18:38 - (Dave Burlin): So that's great. That's great. Now how, how are you taking kind of the next generation? So the. Do you have. How your team. Tell me about your team.

0:18:48 - (Zach Tolen): Oh, I'm just kidding. I mean, they're great. You know, like I, I was brought up. I mean, I made a joke to my mom the other day. She said something about raising me. I said, mom, you didn't raise me. She's like, she looks at me crazy. I said, the restaurant raised me, you know, And I mean, it's true though, you know, like, obviously my mom did raise me. I'm just talking. But you know, I grew up in the restaurant industry and, and I had to grow up really fast. I was like 15 years old in the back of a kitchen with guys that are 40. That three kids. They have kids my age. Right. Ye had to go up really fast. So I try to teach, you know, the younger generation, the mentality. I mean, all my cooks I have now, I've never cooked ever before. Ever.

0:19:20 - (Dave Burlin): Do you prefer that?

0:19:22 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, yeah. I've had a few that I've cooked before, and they're just.

0:19:25 - (Dave Burlin): I, I ran into the. Even though that's the restaurant industry, we ran into that in the wedding industry. In the wedding industry, especially DJing weddings, if you have people with an ego and if with bad habits, you know.

0:19:39 - (Tawni Nguyen): That'S every single industry. It's like the. Yeah, the one. One diva, one mic type of thing. So when there's two divas, one mic, it's just like you can't get your message across.

0:19:48 - (Dave Burlin): And yeah, yeah, they're resilient or they're resilient to it. Right. They won't change. But you feel like you're getting a good. Like getting people that haven't cooked before.

0:19:56 - (Zach Tolen): Is it.

0:19:56 - (Dave Burlin): Is it personality that you're looking for? Are you just looking for, like, overall emotional intelligence?

0:20:01 - (Zach Tolen): More of that. Yeah, it's. I mean, the personality. Yes. I. So they all. My social media presence is obviously there. They all follow me on social media. Most people that work for me, they seen us on social media, so they know what. And obviously in meetings, we, you know, portray what the vision is and what the brand is and how we want to be perceived. So that's there. But I just want somebody that just has a little bit of common sense, that just wants to cook. They want to come in. They. They care about cooking at least enough to just care about what's going on the plate. You know, I don't. You don't got to care enough to learn and go to court on bleu or. Or, you know, I don't care.

0:20:31 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, I don't care. Like, if that's not what you want to do. I just want you to come in, cook the food. I mean, we have a very small menu. It's. We were just talking about in our meeting this morning, one of our cooks that is or one of our prep guys that is there.

0:20:41 - (Dave Burlin): He's.

0:20:42 - (Zach Tolen): He's worked at restaurants. TGI Fridays, handy menu items. We have five. So, you know, we try to portray that this is very simple. The. The one big challenge of them never working in a restaurant before is that they don't understand how easy it is here at the restaurant. I have. Because I work. The restaurants I worked at is like, so hard to. Where I'm like, this is like, nothing. So they think it's the hardest thing ever. And I'm like, I wish we could do that. You guys ever seen the show Wife Swap?

0:21:05 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:21:05 - (Zach Tolen): It's like, I want to do, like, a restaurant swap. Like, I want to send one of my employees to a busy ass restaurant where the chef's a dick and then bring them back, and he'll be like, zach, I never want to leave again. Don't ever send me that. I'm so appreciative, because, you know, that's the. That's what I'm kind of dealing with now. Because, like I said, I'm like, bro, you just. There's just like 10 simple things you got to do. But to them, because there's not that threshold. Right. Like, I've been pushed to the limit.

0:21:28 - (Zach Tolen): To the limit to where? When I come to my restaurant, like, obviously I'm more calloused and I have more years, but it's like, it's so simple.

0:21:33 - (Tawni Nguyen): So you can come cook behind our Asian restaurant and get yelled at.

0:21:36 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, I've been yelled at my whole life. I yelled at my whole life.

0:21:38 - (Tawni Nguyen): I mean, so it sounds like we were cut from the same path. You know, get yelled at enough, you just.

0:21:42 - (Zach Tolen): I would get yelled at in languages. I didn't even know what they were saying. I mean, I was the only white guy in the restaurant. And they used to joke and be like, man, Zach, white guys usually don't last, like, six weeks. And I'm like, yeah. And they're like, yeah, it's been six years. What the. Like, you know, I'm like, I don't know. I just enjoy it. And I guess maybe being like, ADHD and then, you know, kind of always being able to multitask. And then also, I guess, you know, I have a cook in front of people, so I talk a lot, and I like to entertain and all that kind of stuff. So I really fell in love with that. And that's what just.

0:22:11 - (Zach Tolen): And I just kept getting raises, honestly. Yeah, kept getting raises.

0:22:14 - (Dave Burlin): Great. Well, and it's one of those feedback loops, right? Where, like, if you. If you're in the back cooking.

0:22:20 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:22:20 - (Dave Burlin): It can be not as great. Right. Because then all you have is the chefs. But if you're doing hibachi, you're. It's kind of a show at the same time. Yeah. You get to meet great people. So there is a different feedback loop there. So you're. You've got the physical location, and then that's carry out only. Correct.

0:22:38 - (Zach Tolen): Correct.

0:22:39 - (Dave Burlin): So it's carry out. But you do third party as well. Right. So people. Where can people order?

0:22:44 - (Zach Tolen): Well, so they can order on our website, vanilla rice, hibachi.com. we also have a delivery option on there as well.

0:22:49 - (Dave Burlin): Okay.

0:22:50 - (Zach Tolen): And then, yeah, we're on Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, all.

0:22:53 - (Dave Burlin): All the above, all the majors. Okay. And then you also do catering.

0:22:57 - (Zach Tolen): Yes.

0:22:57 - (Dave Burlin): So talk about that, because I know that's you have an interesting spin on it because you do hibachi. You can do it where it's not the show, Right. It's. It's the pans and all that stuff. But talk about catering and.

0:23:09 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, no, catering is a big part of our business this year. We're definitely going to be ramping it up. But we have three layers and three tiers, basically, of catering. Where we have one. Well, we have four, technically, where you can order a bunch of bowls. Right. Like 100 bowls. And then, you know, it is catering, but you're ordering from our regular menu. We drop the price a little bit. And then we also have obviously the platters where we can just come. We put your big platter food, we just drop it off. Then we have, you know, white glove buffet service where we bring the food, we set up the warmer trays, we'll serve it to you. And then the most fun and the most pricey is the full live hibachi experience.

0:23:41 - (Dave Burlin): The best value. The best value. Yes.

0:23:44 - (Zach Tolen): Yes. I'm working on my sales words. Yes, the best value for your. But I mean, and it's a great time. You know, it's. I always say you can eat hibachi in your pajamas and socks. You can't do that anywhere else, you know?

0:23:53 - (Dave Burlin): And how many people can you do that for? Like, what's the normal size of that? Because most people, I mean, from some of the people are like, oh, what is like one. One person? Like 10 people in somebody's backyard or how big can you accommodate for the full show?

0:24:08 - (Zach Tolen): So the most I've ever done was 120. It wasn't by myself. I had three cooks, including myself, but by myself, I could do 25. I've done 30. It's just not as fun, you know.

0:24:18 - (Tawni Nguyen): Because you want to be throwing shrimp.

0:24:20 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. And what happens. What happens when you get over 20 people? It's like you're not really doing a show anymore because, like, you have all these people you have to feed and you're just head down cooking. Need to get the food out.

0:24:30 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:24:31 - (Zach Tolen): And so as much as I want to entertain you know, Uncle Jimmy is over there like, yo, hurry up. You have 20 different personalities that are like, yo. Yeah, you know, the kids are having a great time, but the uncles are just getting so drunk and they're just pissed because they're so hungry because they.

0:24:43 - (Tawni Nguyen): Don'T give a about the show.

0:24:45 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. They're like, this is.

0:24:46 - (Dave Burlin): What the is this?

0:24:47 - (Zach Tolen): But when it is 15 to 10, it's more intimate and I'm more. They're closer to me. Like. Like I'll be cooking right here. And this is the grill and they're sitting right here. So they're seeing everything. They're hearing my jokes where it's like this, where we're hanging out.

0:24:58 - (Dave Burlin): So, like, a baker's dozen is like, perfect.

0:25:00 - (Zach Tolen): I would say that. Yeah, about 12.

0:25:02 - (Tawni Nguyen): 12 is about good.

0:25:03 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. Over that, I would try to hire a second chef, but it is a little, you know, we charge an upcharge for that. And some people are like, nah, just bring the one chef.

0:25:11 - (Tawni Nguyen): We got 150 people.

0:25:12 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:25:13 - (Zach Tolen): I'm like, okay, we can do that if you don't mind the food coming out. But that's the. That's the best. I mean, that's the one. I've gotten to cook for celebrities. I've cooked for all damn near every Raider player, Boxers, UFC fighters, you name it.

0:25:27 - (Dave Burlin): Nice. And is that something. Is that. Do they find you or do you just, like, knock on their door?

0:25:33 - (Zach Tolen): No, they find me.

0:25:34 - (Dave Burlin): Okay.

0:25:35 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, it's all organic. Very cool. I. And it's also a snowball effect. You know, you cook for one and then it's just kind of. Because this is the way I explain when it comes to cooking for celebrities. High profile people, you know, they're bringing you into their house, and if they have a great experience, they're not going to bring 10 different taco guys to the house. Because now 10 different hibachi or taco guys know where they live.

0:25:55 - (Zach Tolen): So they find one that's not weird. He's not going to fangirl out on them. They can trust them around his family and his resident. His. Her residence. And so they just keep calling me back every single time.

0:26:05 - (Dave Burlin): I love it.

0:26:05 - (Zach Tolen): And then referring to the next person that's the best.

0:26:08 - (Tawni Nguyen): Marketing is like, if, like we always say, like, if one person likes your product, then expect 10 more. But if one person doesn't like your. Your products, expect at least three to five.

0:26:16 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:26:17 - (Tawni Nguyen): Negative. Word of mouth has such a much higher scale than positive, you know, so in this town, it's very small and it's Just it's a close niche out here, you know?

0:26:25 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:26:25 - (Tawni Nguyen): Because I know I grew up behind the bar too. And for me, like, they always think, like, the nightlife version of being a bartender is the best. I'm like, no, I work the day shift, man. I opened the bar at like 11.

0:26:35 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:26:35 - (Tawni Nguyen): We're like drunk at 12. And it's just the best because it's like 10, 15, 20 people. And you can actually have conversations.

0:26:41 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:26:41 - (Tawni Nguyen): I know everything about them, Their family, their kids. And it's just so much more intimate rather than having a slammed, like, you know, midnight, 10, 10pm crowd. And I'm like, nobody has money to spend and they're just getting drunk and throwing up in my bathroom. Get the hell out.

0:26:58 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, sometimes more intimate is better.

0:27:00 - (Dave Burlin): Well, let's talk about that. The PSA in this case is Vegas. Right. And how it pertains. You grew up here. So I think there's this interesting thing where people that aren't from here, they can. They'll fangirl.

0:27:14 - (Zach Tolen): Oh, yeah.

0:27:14 - (Dave Burlin): And one thing that I've learned, I learned this way before I got here. But it's like when you fangirl, you immediately take away the opportunity to probably ever work with that person in a professional capacity. Right. So it's, it's something you got to be really mindful of.

0:27:29 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:27:30 - (Dave Burlin): And. And with that, like, you got to be respectful of their, of their time, their space. It's not always like taking selfies and stuff like that. Like, if they want to, you know, they don't need to do a referral for you, like on social media, like, they're going to refer you to, you know, their network of people.

0:27:46 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, yeah. Don't get me wrong. Like, I do get my pictures because, you know, they, they understand that, you know, hey, I mean, it's a big deal for me, right? Like cooking for a celebrity. And they also understand the position that they're in. Like, they are celebrities, you know, they are high profile people. But yeah, I know if I just walked in there, I was like, yeah, what's up? I'm good. This is crazy. That's so nice to meet you. Oh, my God.

0:28:04 - (Zach Tolen): You know, it's like. Yeah, your credibility just goes completely down.

0:28:07 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:28:07 - (Zach Tolen): Damn. I don't want to bring this dude back.

0:28:09 - (Dave Burlin): You gotta. You got a wish list of the people that you, that you want to cook with and cook for. You don't have to say it on the show. This is a manifesting show. We're manifesting generators here. But yeah, I mean, don't be too modest. I know there's a couple people I.

0:28:21 - (Zach Tolen): Definitely want to cook for. Dana White. I mean, I've met him a few times, got some content with him, but I haven't. I've gotten so close, and we're getting closer, and I definitely want to cook for him and then eventually get into the ufc. Yeah, that's the goal. And I'm around him. I'm around all his people. Yeah.

0:28:36 - (Dave Burlin): Some of that cross crosses over into the. Into the Meltzer world as well, which you did a phenomenal job.

0:28:42 - (Zach Tolen): Thank you.

0:28:42 - (Dave Burlin): Cooking it at his VIP dinner. Five stars publicly here on the show. That was great. No, I went back for. I went back for three plates.

0:28:52 - (Zach Tolen): That's why we ran out of plates. That's why 50 people there. I brought 60 plates. And then at the end, they're coming back up. I go, I don't know, you're going to have to put this in your shirt or something. I don't know.

0:29:04 - (Dave Burlin): You always got to bring.

0:29:06 - (Zach Tolen): You know. Yeah. I learned that I'm bringing more plates every single time now after that one. Well, it's funny because we had the little mini plates. You remember that? Yeah, the little mini plates. And the guy goes, there's no more plates. And I'm like. And we got these, like, big dudes with these little tiny plates. You got, like, three of them. It was the funniest thing ever.

0:29:19 - (Dave Burlin): But look at the little hands.

0:29:21 - (Zach Tolen): But even. Even. Even like that, right? You know, I've met Dave a bunch of times. He knows who I am. And, you know, I just try to keep in proximity. Always kept in proximity with him, and. But that was the first time I've actually, actually physically cooked for an event. And I'm not going to lie. At the end, I get in the car and I'm like, that was crazy. I can't believe I did that.

0:29:38 - (Dave Burlin): Well, I remember, you know, one of the events that we. That he came to, right, Was one of the NFL Alumni association events, which you had samples at that one, and you're in the big sumo suit, which is great branding, by the way, and they love that. And it's stayed top of mind. Tip of tongue. The challenge was. Is normally when they do VIP events, they normally host those at somewhere in proximity of the studio and stuff like that. So it just happened to be. They were doing one completely off the strip over at the Global Gaming League.

0:30:05 - (Dave Burlin): And with that, they. It was like, okay, we got to do outside catering on that one.

0:30:09 - (Zach Tolen): And I always kept a good relationship with Nick, you know, Just on social media. I'll always try to like his stuff, you know, show love and just.

0:30:15 - (Tawni Nguyen): Nick.

0:30:15 - (Zach Tolen): Who?

0:30:15 - (Tawni Nguyen): Nick Diaz.

0:30:16 - (Zach Tolen): Oh, no, soon. No, one of Nick Glaser.

0:30:21 - (Dave Burlin): Nick Diaz. The reason why that's right. Relevant is because he runs the podcast studio over at the Wynn.

0:30:27 - (Zach Tolen): Oh, really?

0:30:27 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. So, yeah.

0:30:28 - (Zach Tolen): Oh, he does now.

0:30:29 - (Tawni Nguyen): He was on my show. He runs Blue Wire and his over there.

0:30:31 - (Zach Tolen): Oh, yeah. Well, that's where I. That's where I first, like, that's funny, the Blue Wire, because that's where I was always going for the Dave Meltzer events. Yeah. That's where I met my good friend now, Ike.

0:30:39 - (Dave Burlin): Yep.

0:30:39 - (Zach Tolen): Good friend I met. So funny story. I'm asked Dave a question about, you know, how to get my brand from seven to multiple seven figures. Restaurant brand. I've already seen Dave a few times at this time. David. Sorry. David. David. He's like. He's like, probably see me a bunch. This is Dave. And so obviously he knew me, recognized me. He's like, what's up, Vanilla Rice, by the way. This is Vanilla Rice, which is like the coolest thing ever. You know, all these people trying to ask him questions. And when he goes, this is Vanilla Rice. Everybody owns a restaurant. I'm like. I'm like, that's the coolest thing ever. And I asked him about restaurant business and how to get from, you know, seven figures to multiple seven figures. And he literally looks at me and goes, well, you know who you're standing next to, right?

0:31:17 - (Zach Tolen): And I look over and it's a short, bald dude. And I go, no, how you doing? I shake his hand. He goes, yeah, that's ike. He owns 117 restaurants. I'm like, hey, nice to meet you.

0:31:27 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. Shout out. Shout out to Ike Subs.

0:31:30 - (Zach Tolen): He's dope.

0:31:31 - (Tawni Nguyen): Oh, that's the guy.

0:31:32 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. So cool.

0:31:34 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:31:35 - (Zach Tolen): And I. I'll say this. I remember the first time I ever called him. I'm like. Because he gave me his number. What? He did, you know, obviously Dave was still talking and we didn't converse a lot, but he wrote down his card, his number on his card, gave to me. He's like, call me. And I'm like, oh, my God. Right? Like, this is insane.

0:31:48 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:31:48 - (Zach Tolen): And first time I call him, I'm in my house. And he's like, yeah, man. I'm just. I'm about to hop on the jet right now with Andrew Cheng, Andrew Chang. I'm like. He's like, you know, that is right. And I'm like, the CEO of Panda Express.

0:31:59 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:32:00 - (Zach Tolen): He's like, yeah, we're just hopping on the jet, going to Hawaii. You're going to look at some locations. I'm like, okay.

0:32:04 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:32:05 - (Zach Tolen): I'm like, sweet, man. Have fun.

0:32:07 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:32:08 - (Zach Tolen): Can I come? Yeah. And so it's just cool that, like, I just. I don't know. I. I guess I just know how to get into proximity. I always wanted to be in the room. I mean, I even did that with parties growing up. I knew that sometimes, like, all my friends would want to go to parties, but I go with these guys. I'm not getting in.

0:32:23 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:32:23 - (Zach Tolen): So I gotta go by myself. And so I'd be like, oh, my God, guys, I got here 20 minutes early. My bad. And like, you're not letting us in. Where you at? I'm like, I tried, bro, but I just always knew, like, you know, you kind of sometimes. And that's the thing, right? I didn't go to those events with anybody. I just went by myself because I just, you know, just sometimes you got to just jump off the porch.

0:32:42 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, it's. It's. It's a lot different. And that's. It's very interesting that there are different circles like that across Vegas. And you growing up here, you've been able to see that, you know, your whole life.

0:32:53 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, I was always, like. I was always, like, popular, but I wasn't like, the most popular. That makes sense.

0:32:58 - (Tawni Nguyen): Yeah. I would beat you up.

0:32:59 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:33:00 - (Dave Burlin): T be t beat a lot of people up.

0:33:03 - (Zach Tolen): I only got swirly twice, but that was. I was a freshman and as a seniors, and that's just what they did. Yeah. Super skinny and they're like, get ass. And I didn't run fast or anything, so. Yeah.

0:33:12 - (Tawni Nguyen): Throw your shoe at them.

0:33:13 - (Dave Burlin): They ever come into the store. Now you just.

0:33:15 - (Zach Tolen): Oh, yeah. Everybody every. You know, it's crazy is like, not people that like. Well, let me go back. Yeah, everybody comes.

0:33:22 - (Dave Burlin): If they don't, they should.

0:33:23 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. No, everybody.

0:33:24 - (Dave Burlin): That's great.

0:33:25 - (Tawni Nguyen): This is my official invite since, like, Dave always, like, goes eat without me, you know, and he's like, guess why I went today.

0:33:31 - (Dave Burlin): It's. Well, it's funny. I went to the gym last night after studio, and I was like, I'm kind of in the area, but it was late, and I. I try not to eat too much. That late.

0:33:40 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:33:41 - (Dave Burlin): But I'll definitely have to swing through right after this show.

0:33:45 - (Zach Tolen): We just got. We just got a new glass too, so I can want everybody to come because we had this, like, this, like, Plexiglas and, you know, we scrub it Right. We clean it and. But over time, like, it got stained. Yeah, right. It got stained.

0:33:58 - (Tawni Nguyen): So there's a little micro scratches.

0:34:00 - (Zach Tolen): Exactly. And it was really foggy, and it just looks so ghetto. It was the. And it honestly looked gross. And we just got brand new glass yesterday. Like, glass. And it's, like, beautiful. It's like, I'm just joking with my cooks. I'm like, they're gonna be walking up, going. Because now they can see each other, the customers. That's what my restaurant is. I know you've never been, but I have it to where it is takeout. But I put the grill in, like, the. The order area so you could still watch them cook your food.

0:34:24 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, I still wanted to give the hibachi type of experience, but with the.

0:34:28 - (Tawni Nguyen): Takeout aspect, I think the next thing I was thinking of, like, John Orland always does parties at his house. I'm just gonna hit him up like, hey, bro. Like, yeah, have this at your next party. Yeah, Super Bowls.

0:34:39 - (Dave Burlin): I've got it. Yeah. There's a couple people that I think of that that could probably benefit from doing something like that with that. Where. What. I guess, what's next for you? Do you have. You said you've got a couple more locations that you're looking at. Is that all here in Vegas?

0:34:54 - (Zach Tolen): Nice. The two that are almost done, I'll have. I'll have two done. It sounds crazy, but, I mean, I am crazy, but I have two done by the end of this month, and both in Vegas. One's a food truck, and then one's a full restaurant with seating and liquor license.

0:35:07 - (Dave Burlin): So same concept. All, all same menu. Love it.

0:35:10 - (Zach Tolen): And I mean, like you said, man, I earlier, I get so many people that, like, Zach, I want to open a restaurant. Let's franchise. Let's franchise. And I think I might either I intimidate them on how fast I'm ready to move, or they just bullshitting and just want to say that, you know, but it's just, I got to get through all the no's to get to the yes. And I fully understand that because I don't ever look at it as a way. I used to at first look at it as a waste of time. Like, yeah, people wasting my time. It's. They're not even ready. But then once I change the mindset of like, no, I just got to get through all these people wasting my. Wasting my time to get to that yes, then that's when it. It doesn't bother me because I go, oh, man, if I got to talk to 100 people to get one restaurant. I'm like, yo, keep starting. Keep wasting my time. Hit me up so I can get to that.

0:35:51 - (Tawni Nguyen): One out of the hundred Practicing discernment for you. That's how I put things into perspective, because that's how you make better decision. And just keep practicing the person you say you want to be.

0:36:01 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. And I get. And you're right. I. I talk to people differently now than at first. At first I was like, yeah, it's this. This much. Is that much you want to go, you know, and they're like, oh, whoa, whoa. Like.

0:36:10 - (Tawni Nguyen): Like the dopamine high, like crack squirrel.

0:36:13 - (Zach Tolen): Or what do they call the commission breath? Yeah, let's do a restaurant. Yeah, but now it's like, Exactly. But now it's like, oh, so what makes you want to open a restaurant? Okay, why. Why would you choose Vanilla Rice? Okay. And then either it weeds them out or. Weeds?

0:36:26 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:36:26 - (Zach Tolen): You know, I'm basically. What's the sales term?

0:36:29 - (Dave Burlin): I'm qualifying.

0:36:32 - (Zach Tolen): Qualifying? Yeah. Qualifying. Yes. I'm qualifying them.

0:36:34 - (Dave Burlin): Well, it's interesting because, like, Tony. Tony Gimignani with the Tony Slice Houses, right. With Pizza Rock and all that stuff. Like, on his website, if you're looking at franchise, as soon as you go to it, it's just like, check a box and you must check this box. It's like, do you have $250,000 to invest to get started? And it's like if you click no, it just takes you to a thank you screen. Yeah, thank you.

0:36:56 - (Dave Burlin): That's great.

0:36:57 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:36:58 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. Most people don't realize it's going. Like, in restaurants, it's going to take way longer than you expect. It's probably going to cost 10 times more than you originally anticipate. And that's the thing. It's like people can sit there and be like, oh, my gosh, like. Like this. I make the best pizza ever. And it's like. And. And when you look at. And most people are like, why pizza? And it's like, it is very profitable if you do it right.

0:37:20 - (Dave Burlin): But still, like a lot of people, it's like they don't realize all the costs that go into everything. And then it's like, oh, you're losing a dollar every time the pizza goes in the oven and 10 cents every time it comes out. And most people are like, what happened?

0:37:33 - (Zach Tolen): I made more money profitable profit percentage wise, when I was in my mom's backyard. Then you didn't have any overheads. This is great. I'm getting rich. And the next thing you know, I had to buy more gloves. I had to buy more trash. I didn't factor that in. You know, when you sit there and go, well, chicken's a dollar a pound. If I put teriyaki, it's 20 cents. And then if I sell it for $4, oh, my God, I'm winning. What about the gloves that you wore? That has nothing to do technically with the plate. The customer isn't getting the glove. I mean, we could put them in the box.

0:38:00 - (Dave Burlin): You have all the cleaning supplies in the basket.

0:38:03 - (Zach Tolen): They don't. I didn't. I didn't know it. Any of that. I didn't. Not that I didn't know it. I just didn't realize it. Obviously, at the restaurant I worked at, we had all that stuff, but I didn't think. To think that that goes into the profit margin.

0:38:12 - (Dave Burlin): You know, it's funny. I feel like you're right. There's so many things that happen across all industries. I feel like that's also, like, you could just describe that exact same challenge and put it in the cannabis industry, where, like, I remember when cannabis went legal, everybody in the world thought I was a drug dealer in high school, and I was really good at it, and now I can do this. But then it's like.

0:38:34 - (Dave Burlin): Then the overhead.

0:38:35 - (Zach Tolen): What about the facility? What about.

0:38:37 - (Dave Burlin): You know, but then it's insurance, security, all those things, and it's like.

0:38:41 - (Tawni Nguyen): And hiring people and.

0:38:42 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, not just hiring people. Hiring stoned people.

0:38:46 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:38:47 - (Dave Burlin): Which.

0:38:47 - (Tawni Nguyen): Oh, yeah, the Bud Clippers, they're just like, yeah, yeah. I remember on the bigger scale, they're like, oh, we're hiring the. The clippers for, like, 20 bucks an hour. And people were like, flooding to that.

0:38:56 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:38:57 - (Tawni Nguyen): They're like, this is the best $20 an hour I can make. I was like, really? Like, you're just cutting shit.

0:39:03 - (Zach Tolen): Well.

0:39:04 - (Dave Burlin): And again, down that rabbit hole, down that rabbit hole, there was a. There was somebody who. I had. It was a celebrity rapper who was looking at hosting. They have a. They have a brand and everything they need. They're traveling. They needed a venue so they could host an event, promote their brand, all that stuff. They needed a dispensary, and I had a friend who worked at one of the dispensaries. Well, let it remain nameless.

0:39:27 - (Dave Burlin): They were trying to get with the events people two weeks ago, and I said, hey, who's your contact over there? Like, they still haven't reached back. And I'm just like, that's par for that industry.

0:39:35 - (Zach Tolen): It's just like Everybody's like, I get back to when I can, brah.

0:39:39 - (Dave Burlin): We're so busy, bro. Yeah.

0:39:41 - (Zach Tolen): And that's the one thing.

0:39:42 - (Dave Burlin): But the restaurant industry, completely opposite. Like, you are on.

0:39:47 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, I have to get back to the, to the customers that are. Even if I know that they like some outlandish request. Some lady calls me, he's like, I need a catering for 150 people, every protein and I need it for like next week. In my head I'm like, what the. This is an automatic. No, but I still gotta send it to her. Because I'm like, okay. And she's like, well, what about if we just did three proteins? And then what? And then I get them down to just chicken. I'm like, we could have started there.

0:40:14 - (Dave Burlin): Remember? I taught you. I taught you. What's the number one question that you.

0:40:17 - (Zach Tolen): You can ask the anchor?

0:40:18 - (Dave Burlin): That was. Yeah, it's what have you guys done in the past?

0:40:20 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, yeah.

0:40:21 - (Dave Burlin): And then as soon as you ask what have you done in the past, you'll get kind of an idea of where they've been before. Because sometimes like, well, a lot of times we could shoot low when we don't need to because then you find out that like, oh, they can afford to go to. Yeah, yeah, this tier. And you're like, oh, well then at.

0:40:37 - (Zach Tolen): Least, then at least if they're like mid tier then you can at least be like, okay, well I can match that, you know? You know, and. But I. Yeah. God, dude, some people hit me up.

0:40:46 - (Tawni Nguyen): I love your impression by the way. I can feel the Karen in the voice. I have to pick these up and everything.

0:40:53 - (Zach Tolen): It's like a 25000 catering. Yeah, this lady's hitting me up for next week. I'm like. And she's like, oh, but it's my eight year old's birthday. Like, that's the best. What is my eight year old's birthday?

0:41:03 - (Tawni Nguyen): I'm like, cool, man.

0:41:05 - (Zach Tolen): I'm like, that's the most unrealistic catering request I've ever heard. But okay. Yeah, I just did a six year old birthday last week. It was funny.

0:41:13 - (Tawni Nguyen): You ever do it in your sumo suit?

0:41:15 - (Zach Tolen): No. It'll light on fire.

0:41:17 - (Dave Burlin): Oh, that's fair. Yeah, that's fair.

0:41:20 - (Tawni Nguyen): For my birthday I was gonna say.

0:41:21 - (Dave Burlin): You should hire Tanya to just like be over to the side. Yeah, we could do in the sumo suit and just be like, what up?

0:41:27 - (Tawni Nguyen): I don't think anybody wants to see.

0:41:31 - (Zach Tolen): Well, the problem with that sumo suit is I didn't realize until I put it on the day of that, it was a size small. And so, like, I just want to tackle. I had to like, cut the arms. Like my. My circulation was cutting off. And you would never know I was having the greatest time ever. But yeah, that was rough. Yeah.

0:41:47 - (Dave Burlin): You don't have to commit to this, but, like, in my mind now I'm seeing the sumo suit pursue Vegas cape.

0:41:52 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, right.

0:41:53 - (Dave Burlin): And then we just.

0:41:55 - (Tawni Nguyen): You.

0:41:55 - (Dave Burlin): I. Yeah, a little bit. I went to that. That dispensary. That was just a dispensary you were cooking the week I was trying to get. I was trying to go straight to the source.

0:42:07 - (Tawni Nguyen): I was really talking about him, you know?

0:42:08 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, that's exactly what it was. No, I love it.

0:42:12 - (Dave Burlin): No, man, I love it. And first of all, I keep going back to the restaurant because the brand is on point, the food is delicious. So if you have not been, definitely go. But. And you're starting to expand now. I was curious about the food truck. Is that gonna be. Because I know there's some food trucks that kind of always post up at the same spot. Is that the feel that you're going for or is that gonna be one that kind of bounces. Bounces around a little bit?

0:42:37 - (Zach Tolen): I'm not sure yet. I thought. I thought to do both. Like, so maybe morning times, I bounce around in the night time. I have my strict spot. And what's funny is because of consistency, right? Like, I want to make consistent income because then it's. You can hire consistent employees. Right. Like, I'm just bouncing around and just giving people side jobs here and there. It's not. It's possible, but it's not consistent. Yeah. And then I'm going to end up having to do a lot of stuff myself.

0:43:05 - (Zach Tolen): With a funny story. Is that my food truck, actually, when I first had it, the first one I had, it actually never drove, ever. It drove halfway to the place that I parked it and I had to buy a rope with a truck.

0:43:16 - (Dave Burlin): And then you just left it there.

0:43:17 - (Zach Tolen): And I just left it there.

0:43:18 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:43:18 - (Zach Tolen): I never told anybody that. I mean, I've told them now.

0:43:20 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:43:20 - (Zach Tolen): Now that it's gone and it's over with. But that was a big hurdle because I. Well, here. And I'll go on this rabbit hole real quick. But, you know, you got to fill up water. You have to fill up propane. You have to empty the water. Right. You need a generator. Okay. That requires gas. And my truck doesn't drive. How does that work? Yeah, I drive to the propane people. How do I drive to Go fill up the water.

0:43:43 - (Zach Tolen): So what happened was where I was parked at, the landlord, he's like, hey, I have this Subway restaurant that you know isn't being in use right now. Do you want to use it? I was like, oh, hell yeah. Which isn't legal at all. Wasn't legally allowed to use it. It was half under construction.

0:43:55 - (Tawni Nguyen): Allegedly. Yeah, you allegedly deleted that.

0:43:57 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, exactly, yeah.

0:43:58 - (Dave Burlin): And did I say Subway? I meant.

0:44:05 - (Zach Tolen): And that's actually the restaurant I'm in now though. I turned it into the restaurant.

0:44:08 - (Dave Burlin): Oh, the subway is down there. Okay. Humble beginning.

0:44:12 - (Zach Tolen): So he goes, he goes, you need refrigeration. I'm like, hell yeah. He's got these two big ass walk ins. I'm like, hell yeah. So that means I don't got to drive to the commercial kitchen in North Las Vegas no more. Then I go, hey, can we put a plug on the wall that I can just put plug my food truck into every day instead of having to use the generator? He's like, yeah, I'll charge an extra 100 bucks a month. He's like, just pay for it. I was like, cool.

0:44:29 - (Zach Tolen): Then what we would do is the gray water is supposed to go into a specific, like basically sewer, sewage in the ground and it separates everything. We had a mini trash can. We, we'd empty it out. So you pull the lever over, it's just disgusting water, right? Just pouring out because it's all your, you know, grease water, lobster water, everything. And we would just walk it over to the bathroom and pour it in the toilet and flush the toilet. We do that every morning.

0:44:51 - (Zach Tolen): Then to fill the water, I put four hoses together. I put four hoses together. Had to go all the way from the inside of the restaurant all the way to the thing. But we would have to do this at four in the morning every day because the health department and health department.

0:45:05 - (Dave Burlin): Doesn'T open dope till 5.

0:45:08 - (Tawni Nguyen): Did I tell you it was my new job?

0:45:09 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:45:11 - (Zach Tolen): And that was the biggest hurdle in that food. That's why I said it was the best and worst time in my life. Because the brand was growing. We were so popular. But like I was on the brink of tears every morning cuz something just kept going wrong with this food truck, you know, one thing after another, having to figure out the next obstacle. Obstacle. So what happened? And then I had a, a propane guy from Vegas. Propane buddy would pull up, he'd be like, he filled me up one time. It was hella expensive, right?

0:45:34 - (Zach Tolen): And he goes, bro, he's like, he's like, bro, you only required 30 gallons. He's like, I could stop here. He's like, give me cash. He's like, they won't even notice it's gone out of my tank. He's like, I drive past her every day. And he was like, unless it messes with my job. He's like, what's the mess with my job? I can't do it no more. So we had a tattoo artist that's still in our parking lot. He was right next to my, my restaurant. He was a hater. He was calling the health department on us. He was calling the, the. He called Vegas propane.

0:46:03 - (Dave Burlin): There's always a hater.

0:46:04 - (Zach Tolen): Snitched on the guy. And so he's like, yo, I can't come no more. Someone called. I'm like, well, what do I do? He's I goes, come to my house. I'll build you a big ass cord. I got this propane tank this tall and we'll just, we'll run the whole line to the back. But in the process of that, I had to. He was like, it's going to take me a week. I'm like, what the fuck? A week? My propane runs out every day. So luckily, because I do private parties, I have the little mini propane tanks. So what I have to do go to Costco was no. Well. So yes, I would go fill up eight of them at Costco. Those things ran out in an hour.

0:46:32 - (Zach Tolen): We were open for seven hours. So I had seven of them in the back of my truck. And every hour I have to roll it under the truck. I would barrel roll under the truck. I'm upside down, twisting, untwisting one, twisting it back in. While the customers. There's a line out front of my food truck. I'm telling the cooks, I go, look, I go, crank your heat up. That's what I would say. Crank your heat up. So they crank it up, the grill be hella hot. I'd have to turn off everything.

0:46:53 - (Zach Tolen): I would swap it out. Boom. Get out of the truck like nothing happened. I have to do that six times a day for a week. I'm back. I don't know what's on the ground.

0:47:00 - (Dave Burlin): You know, now, now for everyone listening, I just want you to stop and think about that part only for one week. That's why you're doing what you're doing and that's where you're at. Because so many people would stop, so many people would give up.

0:47:18 - (Zach Tolen): Waited a week.

0:47:21 - (Dave Burlin): And that's why they don't make it a year for, for a lot of restaurants. So my hat goes off to you because I, I feel like every single time I, there's a whole new element to your story that I'm just like, completely blown away by. But also, I'm numb to it to a certain point, but still I'm like, whoa, that's, that's a lot to overcome. Where most people, you know, like halfway through the interview, I was gonna be like, dude, I think my son should, like, try and come and apply and work for you. But then now I'm like, I don't think, hey, he's too soft. Yeah, he's too soft.

0:47:52 - (Dave Burlin): He's afraid to take the trash out when it's dark outside.

0:47:54 - (Tawni Nguyen): I met your son. I'm sorry.

0:47:56 - (Dave Burlin): I know.

0:47:58 - (Zach Tolen): I will say this. Yeah. Where our trash can is, it is a little sketchy. I can tell the cook to bring a knife with them if you want. You can bring a knife with you. You know what I mean? Okay. I'm like, I don't think, I think you'll be fine, but can't bring guns. Yeah, bring a knife with you. Just grab one from the thing. But, yeah, I mean, it's a lot of adversity. It's a lot of, you know, I give even hats off to all the cooks that I have because, I mean, last night, the new girl, I mean, she got, she got whooped. It was so busy. She's been there for about three weeks. She handled it. I came and did save the day. I helped her out.

0:48:25 - (Zach Tolen): But like, they go, you know, cooks go through a lot. You know, they're not paid as much as they should be, unfortunately. I, I, my goal one day is to pay and let me backtrack a little bit. Most cooks, or most people in the restaurant industry have two jobs because they enjoy cooking, right? But unfortunately, with profit margins and food being so expensive, I mean, we can't pay top dollar. I mean, we can pay the best we can, right? And my goal one day, and this would be, this would mean that all my plates would be 150 bucks. But I want to be able to pay my employees a full time wage that is livable that you live off of. And unfortunately, that's not where we're at right now, but that'd be an amazing goal one day that I'd like to do.

0:49:06 - (Dave Burlin): I love that. Well, and to, to that point, your stuff is great. It's, it's affordable, right? It's prices on everything are high right now. Compared to what, you know, what we were paying 10 years ago, but no, I think that I. That's ambitious, but it's. I mean, it's where you're at, and that's what you want to pull off. So I think that's also the opportunity there is. Maybe not all of your employees all down the line will always be able to have that, but the ones that really build with you and stick with you through this process, they're going to be able to go run their own, you know, operation underneath you. So I think that's.

0:49:45 - (Tawni Nguyen): I think that's amazing realism, though, I think for age too, because a lot of the restaurateurs in this town have been doing it for 10 tens and 20 years, and then they kind of start hitting challenges that you've hit what.

0:49:57 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:49:57 - (Tawni Nguyen): Within your first decade.

0:49:58 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:49:59 - (Tawni Nguyen): In the whole restaurant business. So I think it kind of shows a testament to, like, the level of ambition, because people quit before they know what quitting is, because they're like, oh, this is too hard. I'm gonna go do something else and call it pivoting. But I think for us to establish fundamental, like, foundational goals for you in your restaurants, with your employees, the people that you, you know, are responsible for their livelihood is a different story.

0:50:26 - (Tawni Nguyen): And like, as much fun and entertaining as we all have this conversation be about, but it kind of shows, like, it's actual grit. That's what Vegas is about. And the people that's lived here kind of understands the grit. And that's why, you know. You know what. What it's like to work 16 hours, like, crawling under that. I'm like. I'd be like, crying and shit like that. But if I was to get to tell that story is epic.

0:50:47 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. Right.

0:50:48 - (Tawni Nguyen): Congratulations on being able to tell this epic story as you're sitting here. Because if you didn't go through that, we wouldn't have this story.

0:50:54 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:50:54 - (Tawni Nguyen): For me and Dave to be like, haha. Giggles. You know, But I wanted it amazing.

0:50:58 - (Zach Tolen): And I wanted to not like, I never quit or thought, like, today's the day, I'm gonna throw it in. But I mean, there's plenty of times I'm like, this ain't worth it.

0:51:06 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:51:07 - (Zach Tolen): This, like, I could go get a job at the restaurant.

0:51:09 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:51:10 - (Zach Tolen): Clock in, clock out, leave. Don't gotta worry about nothing. Restaurant lights on fire. Damn, that sucks. You know, like, you got insurance. Yeah, I could have done that plenty of times. And I mean, even still, to this day, I have days where I wake up, I'm like, you know, but then I Have days where I wake up and I'm like, this is the best. I'm. I saw this. One thing is like, even on your worst days as an entrepreneur, you're still living your dreams.

0:51:29 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. No, you're 100. Right? Well, and even to, you know, testament to right now, your. Your shop's open right now and you're here, so you're able to walk away when you need to and continue to build the brand in the ways that you need to. As it comes back to, as we start to close, what's the signature item that people got to try when they come in? What's. What's. What's the one that you love the most or you put the most passion into?

0:51:53 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah. Our number one, Our number one seller that we've sold thousands of is a steak and shrimp. Steak and shrimp. Half rice, half noodles. You can get veggies if you want. I don't get veggies.

0:52:01 - (Tawni Nguyen): That's my love language. Yeah, I'm a veggie girl, though.

0:52:04 - (Zach Tolen): You can get veggies. Yeah.

0:52:05 - (Tawni Nguyen): You got to put love in my vegetables. I want it from you.

0:52:08 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:52:08 - (Tawni Nguyen): I want your slave hand to do it. Your sweat and tears.

0:52:14 - (Dave Burlin): You got a 14 minute head start.

0:52:15 - (Zach Tolen): We'll be there.

0:52:16 - (Dave Burlin): We'll be there in 30 minutes.

0:52:18 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, I, I still hop on the grill. Like, I still do it from time to time. I still cook all the caterings and stuff like that. But, you know, I, I don't want to grow. I don't want to just have one restaurant. You know, I always say that people just need to know where they want to be in life and they just got to reverse engineer it. And I want to have one of the biggest companies in the world. And so if I want to have the biggest companies in the world, I have to leverage people. I have to build brands. I have to, you know, really put in sweat equity, and I have to not make any money until it really is popping. And, you know, once I have 10, 20, 30, and people like, oh, shit. I'm like, well, I sacrificed a lot.

0:52:51 - (Tawni Nguyen): Oh, and you forgot the sexy word systems.

0:52:54 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh, exactly. Yep, the systems are sexy. And that's what I want to do. I want to build the biggest company to ever exist. I want to be the next chicken filet, the next Chipotle. I want to be. I want. My name is going to be for sure in those. In those names.

0:53:06 - (Dave Burlin): So I'll paraphrase this because one of my mentors and good friends from Global Entrepreneurship Network, she always said this. I'M going to change it, right? She would always say stories open up the hearts and mind, but data opens up the checkbook. In this case, food will open up people's mouths and hearts and minds. But systems are going to be what really make people, you know, put their money down and buy into that. So whether you, Whether you do private or franchise or any of that stuff, like, that's, that's what people are looking for, is consistency.

0:53:40 - (Zach Tolen): And that's the joke I've said with my business partner before. It's like, you know, it's like, hey, man, you know, like, I have these systems and processes. I have this, I have that, I have all my data. It's like, oh, that's, that's sexy. That's amazing. Or I could be like, so, what you got for me? Yeah, you see what's going on? Come on, you throw me some money, you know, like, what you mean right here?

0:53:59 - (Tawni Nguyen): You know, like, I would pay the top dollars to see a reality show.

0:54:05 - (Zach Tolen): Get the out of here, you know? Well, here, here's, here's. Here's a big, big pivotal moment for me. Obviously, there's a lot, there's hundreds. But my business partner, right, he invested with me, and we're going. We're going to go to the moon together. And we were trying to raise prices right before we opened the restaurant. And you know me, I'm like, I don't know. I don't know, man. I can't do it. I raise prices. That's, that's, that's. That's tough, you know, where prices are already up there, you know, and.

0:54:32 - (Zach Tolen): And he goes, look, Zach, he goes, you're a cook. I'm a businessman. And I. That to this day, still, like, rattled my bones. To this day. I've brought it up to him so many times that, like, that me up. Yeah, because I want to be a businessman. I don't want to just be a cook, chef, any, like, not anymore. I still enjoy it, but I want to be a businessman. And so that was like when I had the. Okay, I need to start thinking like that.

0:54:55 - (Dave Burlin): You know, it's a. It's a different. It's a whole different mentality.

0:54:59 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:54:59 - (Dave Burlin): Welcome to level one.

0:55:00 - (Zach Tolen): Let's go.

0:55:01 - (Dave Burlin): That's the joke. That's always the joke.

0:55:03 - (Zach Tolen): Welcome to level one.

0:55:05 - (Dave Burlin): Perfect. Well, where can people find you? Normally, it's all in the show notes, by the way, but hit them again with the cross streets. Hit them again with your social media, everywhere they can go to get started.

0:55:17 - (Zach Tolen): So Flamingo and Pecos3654 East Flamingo Road. We're open there. It's takeout only, so you eat in your car, eat at your house. We're open from 12pm to 12am you can follow us on. On Instagram or all social media platforms. At Vanilla Rice lv, You can follow my personal page, which ties into the restaurant brand as well as personal. You know, my personal brand that's at Real Vanillarise underscore. And, you know, just keep watching the journey. Just keep watching us as we go up. And, you know, I'm not afraid of any challenges, and I hope nobody out there can do if they can take anything from this. The challenges are just. Just there to help you grow.

0:55:52 - (Dave Burlin): I love it.

0:55:52 - (Tawni Nguyen): I love you to be a part of this journey. And that steak and shrimp.

0:55:55 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:55:56 - (Tawni Nguyen): Half these plates calling, let's go.

0:55:58 - (Dave Burlin): We're. We're going.

0:56:04 - (Zach Tolen): To be there tomorrow. I'll be there tonight, actually. I'm gonna. We're training some people and just, you know, one thing that is crazy to me, I'll say is once I had those systems and processes made me think, like, why did I have this before?

0:56:18 - (Tawni Nguyen): Change your life.

0:56:20 - (Zach Tolen): I go in, I go, hey, fuck. Follow step one to seven. The guy's like, okay, done. I'm like, that was cool. I didn't even have to talk to him or. You weed out the people. I go. He goes, hey, Zach, I'm done. I go, okay, you did one to seven. No, I did one to four. So do four to seven. And then I'm like, okay, this guy ain't getting it.

0:56:36 - (Tawni Nguyen): Well, I love it.

0:56:37 - (Zach Tolen): Thank you.

0:56:38 - (Tawni Nguyen): I love that. I can see your mind just, like, opened up.

0:56:41 - (Zach Tolen): It was amazing. Yeah, it's amazing. It's all growth. And I'm super happy that also I can share the stories on. On platforms like this. So thank you, guys.

0:56:47 - (Dave Burlin): I love it.

0:56:47 - (Tawni Nguyen): Cool. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your expansion with us.

0:56:50 - (Zach Tolen): Yeah.

0:56:51 - (Tawni Nguyen): Because, you know, we'd be right there now. I'm all excited. I'm all, like, geeked out. Anyways, how big's your backyard?

0:56:56 - (Dave Burlin): I'm just kidding.

0:56:58 - (Tawni Nguyen): I live at the Cosmopolitan, so that.

0:57:01 - (Zach Tolen): Was actually funny you say that because I've done not Cosmo, but my first private event I ever did, before I even had my business, was at Not Cosmo, Bellagio, Palms. Palms Place on their grills, inside of their suite. Not the grills, their stove. And then I've done backyards. I mean, they're like, hey, Zach, can you come to the house? Look at my backyard. I'm like, yeah, sure. I go there. I'm like, oh, it's a little tight, you know, I'm like, how many people you think? And she's like, 25. Like, we can fit in here. So I've done everything.

0:57:28 - (Tawni Nguyen): Like, you guys can stand on each other's lap.

0:57:30 - (Zach Tolen): Every size backyard possible. We make it work. We'll sit some people inside. You know, it is what it is. We'll make it happen.

0:57:35 - (Dave Burlin): I love it.

0:57:36 - (Tawni Nguyen): Very nice. There you have it. So please reach out, slide into our DMs. Dave and Iursue Vegas. Please reach out to him. Vanilla rice. That's right.

0:57:44 - (Zach Tolen): Rice. Rice, baby.

0:57:45 - (Tawni Nguyen): This is literally the personality. I just.

0:57:49 - (Zach Tolen): I love it.

0:57:50 - (Tawni Nguyen): I love it. Let us know if you want to join us for lunch or dinner. Reach out to us. Let us know how we can connect you with any resource or anyone in our network that could help you.

0:58:02 - (Dave Burlin): The idea of Pursue Vegas was to really highlight the local people that really make Vegas Vegas.

0:58:08 - (Tawni Nguyen): I love that aspect of how these visionaries are actually bringing people together.

0:58:12 - (Dave Burlin): When we hit record, our responsibility is to connect the people of our city so we can show the world who we really are.