Cheers! Get your cocktail shakers out and join us as we chat with Mike Koon, owner of Koon’s Saloon bartending service! We talk tips and tricks for estimating the right amount of alcohol for guests at events of any size, and get the scoop on his favorite cocktails to serve!
*Below is the automated transcript of the above video
Hey, I’m Brock with Brock entertainment am Amanda with Amanda Reed weddings. And this is the IDOIQ Podcast where each and every week we’re gonna be discussing the latest in wedding and event trend. And we’re going to let you know all the things that you need to know in order to make your event the most special. Yeah, and Indian, you will have the best wedding and event experience ever. And something tells me we’re going to have a little fun along the way. I don’t know about that. I’m a pretty serious guy, man. And this is a serious topic. So only seriousness, serious business. This is the IDOIQ podcast. Let’s begin. Hey, I’m Brock. Amanda, and this is the IDOIQ podcast I am pumped about today, Amanda? Yeah, I know why you’re pumped up home because of this guy right here. I’ll let you introduce it. This is our good friend. Everyone’s good friend of mine. Kuhn. In my case, the coolest kid in saloon like the name is awesome. We want to talk about all that stuff in a minute, too. But Hi, thanks for thanks for coming today. Absolutely. So glad to have always so glad. always glad to see you at any party in life. Everywhere. Yeah, I mean, yeah. So let’s kick it off. This is how we like to do things. What are you obsessed with right now? Mike drinks. Besides that, like are you into anything like in general I quality and freshness. Quality and freshness? What? Oh, my gosh. All right, Amanda, show him how it’s done. I guess that my my current obsession is a company. There’s a couple of companies that do this, but they’re like roses that last a year long. Okay, my mom, this is I have seen those. Yeah, I get this to my mom for Christmas. And I keep checking in every time. So the company that I bought from is called Venus a fluor and you get this pretty little box of roses that last a year or more. How long has she had hers? She’s had it since Christmas. And so we’re you know, we’re still good. Fabulous. They smell amazing. Wow, beautiful. So I know I’ve read into this, but how do they keep them fresh for a year? I can only imagine. I don’t know. I’m sure there’s all kinds of chemicals and stuff. But they are something they’ve done. I need to research it but they’ve cross bred these flowers and got it to where it’s like this amazing. I don’t know combination. And they do they smell amazing. They’re still beautiful. There’s not a bill. They’re not wilty they’re not in water. They’re just in a little box. why they’re not in water and anything. Yeah, it’s really cool. I got my mom flowers that lasts forever is plastic. That is not what this was the flowers. That Rose is no different different. price wise, were they a lot more expensive? They’re very they’re costly, for sure. But if you were to think about how much would it cost to buy the same arrangement? Yes. You know, 12 times a year. I mean, flowers want? I mean, they don’t Yeah, maybe two weeks here. Yeah. Like they’re not gonna. Okay, relative to that. Was it more than $240? Well, I bought a small one. So you know, okay, but an arrangement like hers is like a just a little, you know, what am I doing? What’s that? Six inches. Okay, I’ll be okay. But you mean a larger one? I mean, I’ve seen some that are in the 1000. Oh, my gosh, yeah. But think about that. I mean, if you’re somebody who really loves me, I mean, especially Kim Kardashian. I feel like that’s something she’s all about. Would that be something good for a wedding? Not as cost prohibitive? I think okay, but I think it would be a cool, like, I don’t know, it might be a neat gift to give to the bride or something like that to kind of memorialize it, I think Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I’m kind of obsessed with that right now. Well, okay. Here’s the question. Would it be good for a grave? You know, we just had Memorial Day, you know, not too long ago? I don’t know, I think, I think because you don’t have to water them. But no, but I’ll feel like the rain, you know, being exposed to the enemy. Yeah, that’d be great. Okay, and the way they’re presented beautiful acrylic boxes, and I don’t know, I’m not sure that that would be a great it might be your wife some I like your thinking your long roses. Do you think she’d appreciate that? I got her 24 karat gold dipped one like 25 years ago. And it has not wilted at all. Not even a little bit. All right. So my obsession is showing my seven year old daughter. Yes. At movies. I’m doing the same thing. Yes. Yes. So we started with the Back to the Future series, which I didn’t realize had so much cussing. Yeah, they’re dirtier than you realize. I don’t think in the 80s they had pG 13. It went from G PG and our house. So that was a PG movie. And now it would be pG 13 Yeah, okay, so that is she horrified by the language? Or she No, she just doesn’t even pay attention to it. Okay, she loved him. And then the next one we watched was not an 80s movie, but it was a movie that I grew up with sandlot, oh, God love that. Yes. And then right after that Goonies, not a huge Goonies fan. She loved The Goonies. Hey, she loved it. And then I showed her bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which she did. Like she just didn’t like the way that they talked. Like the valley party on dude. She’s like, why are they talking like that? That’s funny. They sound so dumb. Of course, my seven year old daughter is very sophisticated. She is Yeah, it’s funny. We did the same thing we showed our kids back to the future. And they kind of were like, what? When? Okay, really? Yeah, they didn’t love they liked it. We, we busted them out. Boom, boom, boom. Well, three of them like that. Yeah. Three is not my favorite so we wouldn’t mind gone there but I like to always loved and I remember being like the hoverboard, cool stuff that’s in that and they didn’t like it nearly as much because they were like, wait a minute, Who’s that guy? That’s Biff. But that’s, they thought too much. I was like, quit thinking about it. Just enjoy it. It’s so sorry for your kids. Yeah, you know, my brother just bought speaking of Back to the Future, too. He bought some new Nikes that are self lacing. No, they’re not. Yeah, yeah, that’s so and they have a little.on the side of them that you can change the color. So the color of your soul. That’s like the old he bottoms for and they were not cheap. I’m like, are you gonna keep him? He’s like, no, I bought them to resell but they’re so pleasing. They’re super cool. That’s pretty just like the movie. That’s pretty impressed. That’s what I’m obsessed with. And we just got through family matters. 204 as well. So nine seasons and family matters. Where’s that streaming? on Hulu? It is okay. Do the do the thing. I think mine might like that too. That’s your best impersonation of Urkel and go Kuhn. Did I do that? And I do. That’s good. Manny. Jeez, yeah. I played Urkel when I was in third grade. I think not surprised me in that way. Yeah, it was. I don’t want to go into that story, because then we’ll get Wi Fi canceled. Oh, that’s okay. The 80s a lot of things. Were okay in the 80s. I’ll just, I’ll leave it at that. Okay. All right. Yes. So let’s get into this. So before this ice melts, Mikey Okun saloon you brought some drinks to make for us today. But before you make them I brought my own drink. We talked about this as one of my favorite things last week. And this is a different brand that I haven’t tried. This is Rams point peanut butter whiskey. So Let’s all try this together on it as First time I’ve opened it. Do we want to put a thing ice in it or just leave drinkers alone? How do you take it you know, you can drink it at Boomtown room temp. Neat. Alright, I’ll just pour a little bit so you can just taste it. Just taste it. I’ve never tasted this brand smells really great ball is what I have tried. And that’s excellent. It looks like so but this is a little bit cheaper. So we’ll see if there’s a reason for that. All right. I’ll let you guys try one at a time. Go for it. Oh, go further. You can go first. Look at a shoot that down and doesn’t taste like peanut butter to me. Okay, then this is not a good brand. And if that’s the case, it’s Go ahead. smells a little different than screwball. It’s more on the butterscotch side. Yeah, that’s what it smells like. Yeah. Not as good as as screwball. Yeah, but it was $10 less so we’re not worth I got it as a gift to Brian from go rogue. So I’m basically telling him you’re worth less than a bottle screwball. There you go. Well, that’s not bad. I mean, you can kind of taste the peanut butter a little bit. The aftertaste. Give a shot peanut butter whiskey now what do you have? Yeah, I have, I think I’m wasted. three sheets to the wind already. Fresh infused syrup before I left the house. Okay, because like I said, I do obsess about freshness and quality, that’s good. You make a lot of your own simple syrups and everything. You don’t buy that typically, for an event. Now they don’t last as long because there’s no preservative in them. Okay, but they’re fresh. So I make them right before an event. I know that I’ve controlled it from growth to now and so it cost me 50 cents to make a jar of it where it’s like 12 Yeah, $16 you know, to buy a jar of it. So So in one event, it will last the whole the whole event most of it because I make it really concentrated and you only need a little Uh huh. Anyway, yeah. Hey, you know what Brian just popped in here. Brian, come here for a second. So we just tasted this peanut butter whiskey if you want to jump on that table so we can see you. Eric said he’s pumped. I’m just gonna give it so he bought you the cheap one. Don’t get too excited. There are two brands one that I had I’d never tried this one. So I didn’t know it’s not bad, but try it out. And tell us what you think. If you don’t like it, I’ll keep this I’ll buy the more expensive bottle. Yeah, it’s different. Okay, this episode brought to you by Rams point. Now if you’re looking for cheap peanut butter whiskey All right. Well, it’s like syrup to me though. It’s like that’s a really like he doesn’t love it. I love it. Okay, screwball. I’ll buy I’ll go back after this episode. Buy some screwball bring that over cuz that legit is the best. Okay, I was just here but there’s any other I was hoping just in case anything else was right there. Okay. All right. Well, so we’re making what I thought well, summers basically here I’ve been on pause since mid March. So I’m right stuck in March. A good summer drink is a mohito. Okay, I love mojitos. Yes, no heaters are my favorite actually. Yeah. And if that is the perfect summer drink, do you get a lot of weddings that have this as a specialty drink in the summer. That you know rum is kind of like the black Cheap of the five spirits. It’s number five it goes really? Vodka, whiskey, gin. Uh huh. Tequila, then rum. I love it. I just I don’t know why it’s one of my favorites. gin. So rum and you know, coconut rum and pineapple is probably one of my favorites. And I like it too. So when I was in college, my cheap drink was like Captain Morgan. Oh, pineapple. Dr. Pepper. Oh, Nick. Yeah, it says on screen, but it’s delicious. It was really great light. Yeah, it was great. Yes. Notice I said college or high school. grade school. Back in grade school. My mom used to get us a route 44 cheery Coke, top it off. Now. All right, that is pretty nice pro as we as we toast our drinks here, I want to start I want to hear about you. I want to hear about where this came from. got into the business. Just wear this. I mean, get your story here. So let’s Yeah, how long have you been been doing this? Wait. And I really think back. Since I was about seven or eight, we would go with the parents to the keg parties in the 80s. And I got this idea one day like, Hey, mister, I could go get you a beer from the keg for a quarter. What? Some people be like, oh, give me a drink. And here’s $1 keep them coming off kill sir. And let’s get home like seven eight bucks. Oh my god. I’ve just made a killing. Yeah. How old? Are you? like seven or eight? That’s awesome. Their bartending is seven. And that is I mean, yeah, somebody needs to land on that. I got out of high school went in the Navy. But I still had a just passion for doing events. So I was the M wr rep, which is Morale, Welfare, recreation, I put on the quarterly picnics for our department. Okay, I don’t order all the food from the mess hall and pick out a park and for some reason always fell on my watch that we were off manually. And then you got out of the Navy. And then what do you do with life. So I came back and I went into retail because this is a very retail heavy area. I started at dillards on the loading docks and then ended up moving to I got recruited over to Lowe’s. Okay, I was a sales specialist because being a communicator, it’s easy. It just flows. And after doing retail sales for 20 years, I’ve just my wife’s like you never meet a stranger. what not, I just had to pick up the booze that it’s a good lubricant for social life. So are you a big drinker in general? Not really just like making drinks? Yeah. Okay. So at what point in life did you decide, you know what, I want to be a bartender, I want to start making cocktails and serving drinks. It’s been about 12 years now. I was working at Lowe’s. And a lot of the incentive programs were kind of going away. Like I kind of keep up with a new baby. We got to keep this money coming in. Yeah. And a friend of mine kept coming in with these big trays of food and like, Dude, what do you do? Because all my, my answer, caterer so I was like, dude, get me in on that. needs to get some Yeah, free grub. Little side money. One day, she goes, I need a bartender. Can you borrow 10? I was like I can, sir. I did not know how to Google things. And I know how to watch YouTube videos. So yes, half the battle. So I got into it. And then the next day, she’s like, okay, you’re the head bartender. I was like, sweet. Yes. doesn’t mean anything. It’s just the title. Doesn’t matter. So then I started really obsessing over looking at how to make a good drink. Bar Rescue is a fun research. Okay. And you got to make it the right way. You don’t want to over serve over pour. Yep, exactly. And it was so we started getting more and more refined with it went from free porn with all my people that were like, just like, dude, I need something to measure this with. I’ve been doing it for years. I mean, we’re not talking about and then you refined it. Yeah. And then when did you finally decide to open your own company? It was with a couple of my good catering chef friends were like you keep buying all this equipment because like the caterer would leave and I’d be left behind and I wouldn’t have water dispenser or a pitcher or cooler for the eyes. So I just thought I’d pick one up here. And there we go. I had a garage full. Mm hmm. And they’re like you have all the equipment once you just start a company I was like you really think something like No, I know. So yeah, really? That’s where Luna was born. Yeah. set me up with the person to get my LLC set up sent me with the CPA like talk to this person. They know events. Uh huh. Talk to this insurance agent they know how to do event insurance because I would call insurance companies and be like I couldn’t tell you a kid Really? So you got set up with the right people? Yes. And I think that’s that’s big for anybody who is thinking about starting an events business you got to get with the right people that know your business and you know insurance is big the right CPA that knows you know what you can write off what you can’t what you need to look for. Those are big in this industry. It’s a constant battle. Yeah, tell you that for sure. That’s cool. Okay, so your name could not be more perfect, like the cute little rhyme and everything. How did you even dream that we sat around our little think tank in the garage? We would make drinks on like I got it’s got to have something to do with my name and people are like, it’s too edgy and like it’s my name. It’s true, like cuz the first time I saw Like Khun Khun saloon, yeah, what’s this guy trying to pull? Right? I’m gonna have a mascot. That’s, you know, I’ve got it. Yeah. And it’s spelled a K, right? True. True. So after drink five or six in the garage, you’re like, wondering, what’s pictured this vagabond hobo wreck? Stick. Okay, the rag on the end of, you know, my graphic design, but he’s like Kuhn salute. You’re like, no way. Yes. And I love it. And how long is concilium been around? This is our fifth year. February 24 was the fifth anniversary. Wow. Wow. December 2019, was actually our fifth anniversary for the LLC. But I got my first paying gig in February of okay. 2016. Yeah, nice. And the sky’s been the limit since then. Oh, guys, they’re everywhere. Ever since I, Liz Wilhelm we all know, lighting and all that she worked at Botanical Gardens was like you keep getting busier and busier. You know, you’re gonna have to quit low. So you’re gonna have to make a decision. I was like, no way. Well, yeah, you’re like, another 100% or 200% growth from the year before until I finally everyone knows us everyone. Yeah, our brand and, and that we try to bring just the top shelf of whatever we can in service, right. Oh, yeah. Doing events with you. If something runs out, nobody would ever know. Because you always have a backup. Oh, you always come prepared. Your guys are always there on time. If it’s not you and girls, your people are always there. So you dress the part you looked apart and you serve some of the best drinks definitely. So service is big for Brock entertainment. It’s big for Yeah, what company is your wedding? Amanda Reed weddings. So you know that’s it’s a big thing. Did you ever think that you would grow this big that you would have to quit Lowe’s? Was it ever a thought in your mind? I had what I thought was a five year plan and ended up being like an 18 month. Yeah, right. It was sudden I was like, grow so quickly. Boss, I can’t ask you to keep giving me the weekend off. It’s not fair to all these other people. You know, we’ve all worked with a lot of blood and sweat, literally. Yeah. And here’s what did your wife think? Once all she was all for it? Because I could finally have a home life? Uh huh. Because working a rotating schedule is worse is worse than shift work. Because he one day your seven to four, one day your 10 to seven one day. You’re one of the 10 Yep. Sometimes you get locked in to do overnights. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I’ve had a lot of jobs, while DJing as well. And it can be it can be tough. It’s hard. It’s very difficult. So thinking through the process of starting with a new client, I know how we typically work together. But how if you were to somewhere to call you tomorrow, what’s the process you’re going to go through with helping someone make the right selections for their wedding or event relating to the bar, I have a list of like a standard list of qualifying questions. Okay. And the first thing out is how many guests Do you anticipate? Because we know it’s never going to be spot on? Right? And next is? Well, they’re like what, you know, how do you charge on liquidity? It’s basically labor based. Yeah, it’s a package. But we try to be as value conscious as possible. So next is what do you want to serve? Is it beer, wine, beer, wine cocktails? You want cocktails just for cocktail hour? Do you want cocktails to last all night? That’s part of our factor into how to order because we don’t want to run out. We don’t want to weigh over order. But we don’t want to write out. So how do you know how much to order? I came up with this pretty solid formula. 2.5 drinks per guest. Oh, that makes sense. Which I know I’ve seen. There’s the P word out there. That’s good for decoration ideas and everything. They have this chart that’s 17 drinks per guest. I’m like, What are you trying to write? Yeah, 17 drinks all the time. They’ll buck back. They’re like, No, no, no, we need a lot more than that. Like, we’re really gonna drink. Yeah, I know. You know your people. But now you’re thinking six hours of just unfettered drinking, where they don’t take into mind. There’s gonna be photos, there’s toasts, there’s going to be dinner. And at the end of the night, do you want to remember it? Or do you not want to remember it? Do you want to be sloshed? You know, and you as a bartender, you can’t over serve people. So yeah, it’s the same way with hours. People try to book with us, we know how many hours you’re probably going to need. So trust us because we do this for a living. You’re not gonna need 17 drinks a person for the whole night. Right? You know, so the average is about two two and a half 2.5 what I came up with because you know, anybody’s gonna drink one Yeah, not everybody’s gonna drink. But uncle Bob’s probably gonna have a nine or 10. Right? He’s a lush though. You have a few that aren’t going to stick around. Okay, cutting those people out but those counteract the fraternity brothers who are sticking around so it does all kind of balance out I think and having you on the team helping factor in the actual number of drinks is so helpful because when I’m left to do that by myself, there have even been events that I unfortunately didn’t get to have you on my team, but I was like, help me I like I need help. I think this number looks right. But what do you think about this and Mike always comes to the rescue. He’s like, No, you need for more of this. And I mean, You’re pretty accurate. You’re pretty dead on two I will say. I’ve had a few challenges, sir. We got close. We were in a dry county and yeah, well that happens. Yeah, I need you guys. Here’s my card, find the closest thing or go to the neighbors and ask what they have in their fridge and get anything you can find. So what happens if you were to run out of alcohol? Oh, people start getting mad. not want that to happen? No. Has that ever happened to you? I’ve had for eternity. Okay, well, they were like, No, we, I’m telling you, we need 40 cases. Like I’m telling you, you need 25 cases. It’s all you know, they needed 40 cases. Oh, no. Yeah. Was there a lot of puke at that wedding or that it wasn’t a party? party? It was a frat event. It was mom’s night actually. Oh, of course it was and yeah, mom doing keg stands. You know, we try really hard to discourage cakes. Yes. Because of the logistic nightmare that kegs are. They have to be on site at least three hours to settle. They’ve got to be at the proper Tam. If you don’t know how to pump a keg, you’re gonna over pump it. You’re gonna get off the phone. Right? I’ve been in a lot of weddings like that. Or the pump doesn’t work. Like what do we do? What do we do? Like, I don’t drink beer. So I have no idea. I always bring it back up. Uh huh. Try to stay consistent with it. I built a co2 system. I got real heavy into homebrew for a while because I wanted to learn the process. I so yeah, I started with me. And I went to wine and went to beer. And then me and my buddy bill still out in the woods? Of course you did. Of course you did. consolute. All right. That’s right. I love that. So at least as a bartender, you made it all from scratch yourself. So you know, a little bit more than the average person and what is your favorite thing to make when you’re at an event? Well, my favorite cocktail to make bourbon drink is an old fashion. Okay, love making No, because I found that I couldn’t find a decent or consistent old fashion going out. Now. There’s places all over, you know, like the vault? Uh huh. Well, what’s the key to good old fashioned good ingredients? Uh huh. For sure. Curious will want a rye based bourbon, but it really just needs to be a decent verb. Yeah, you can even use cheap bourbon, but I don’t use sugar, granulated sugar. I use simple syrup because it’s more readily soluble, especially in a cold solution. And then a good bitters which I didn’t realize there’s like 17 plus kinds of bitters. Oh, wow. They all have tastes different or just brands. No, all different flavors. Oh, there’s black walnut. There’s orange. There’s now there’s chocolate. Wow. Hmm. I mean, the sky’s the limit. Really? Yeah, I would like the chocolate and probably probably I don’t drink old fashions too much. I don’t either. I’m not a bourbon drinker. But I hear that the ice matters too. If you have a bigger piece of ice, it dissolves less your diluted water it down and affect your drink. Again, a lot of purists like for scotch. They’ll want like one or two cute and they literally mean one or two. Oh, yeah. Or maybe just a couple drops of water. Like a matter of No. You’ll have somebody come up and ask for a scotch and Diet Coke. I’m like you I think you’re really you’re picturing scotch and soda. What you’ve seen grandpa order your ego. And they like it. And they’re great. Yeah, I mean, I learned a while back. Don’t be pretentious about how you serve drinks. It’s that person’s relationship with that drink. This has helped maybe their favorite person that’s gone now. Drink it or Oh, yeah. What’s your favorite thing to drink? Amanda? I like a 10 and tonic. I’m kind of an old lady like that. Boring. I’ll take two lines. I’m boring. But more the more sugar the better. And my drink. Yeah, just dumped sugar in there. dump a bunch of what’s that red stuff? The red green grenadine don’t care. No, like a gin and tonic. I think it’s just refreshing and light and I don’t have literally that’s one of my favorite drink forever. I’ve had a lot of drinks that you’ve made specialty drinks. Like what was that with blue electric or something that you made that one time? I was blue? electric lemonade. Yeah. So good. Yeah, so good. Any drink with actual flavor? That’s not just a great liquor. I’m all down. How often do you get clients, you brides and grooms wanting you to come up with a signature drink for their wedding? Um, really high percentage. Yeah. And a lot of times we’ll take their favorite drink and we’ll just add a little twist to it. Like maybe we’ll do in your Moscow meal. Well, we’ll add some rosemary infused simple syrup to it. That’s interesting. Kim, I always love those weddings and you do a lot of those weddings where they’ll have a his and hers signature drink. I like that too. I just feel like it gives a little bit of their personality. Yeah, it’s just like a special touch. And I think it also budget wise it’s a lot better on the on the budget. An open bar, right. You know if we can offer a handful of cocktails, you know, with spare I just think that to me, it always seems to be a better budget friendly option. Yeah, no matter what the budget is, but you know, we’ve all had the weddings that unlimited bar open, and it can get expensive, very expensive, very expensive. I like to recommend speaking of that, so there are different types of bars is the open bar. There’s the beer and wine bar. There’s the cash bar, tell us the differences. between all of those in what you know, your clients can expect a beer and wine bar is a pretty safe bet. That’s why a lot of especially moms, let’s just talk for him. But you know, I don’t know, kebab again, you know? Yeah. And you’re less likely to get wasted round of beer and wine bar, you’re gonna get full. Yeah, exactly. before you’re gonna probably get drunk, right? If you are making cocktails, and you let it run out during cocktail hour, that’s fine. And I always tell him like, Hey, we can let it go, you know, or somewhere like no party go all night. Yeah. Yeah. So they do. Yeah, it just depends, really. So how many? How many events do as a company do around each year all together? You know, it started with 20 or 30. And I think last year, we it was over 150. That’s amazing. And how many of those clients percentage wise do cash bar beer and wine or open bar, you’ll find that you’ll nearly never see us at a cash bar? Because to get the license to sell it You okay, brick and mortar? Right? You know, the metro areas in the town centers and places like that they have that already set up in house, but they’ve also kind of gone in house with their service. Right? I don’t typically like a cash bar at a wedding anyway, I feel like those people are your guests. Mm hmm. I don’t know how many have you seen but like you’re inviting them to come. But also you need to bring 20 bucks for more pay your own bill. Right? I try to discourage that when I can and say, let’s just go beer and wine and cut back the hours or, you know, let’s let him limit what we’re serving. And I feel like that’s just a lot better way to include your guests. Well, how about this, if you had a cash bar, but you gave away or you had the beer and wine, you get that but if you want liquor, you had to pay for it. I think that’s more appropriate. I definitely have venues that maybe 21 C, for example, has a bar next door. So you have an event. And this is not gonna be a mic. But for example, like if we’re offering beer and wine, this is what we’re offering at the bottom here. If you don’t like that, you can go by your own passion right in the bar. And I think that’s perfectly appropriate. And I think maybe, you know, at an event too, I think that’s okay, but I just yeah, I it’s hard for me to be like, Oh, yeah, bring your purse, because you’re going to and I’ve had people try to cut off the cash or cut off the open bar at a certain time and switch to cash bar and I’m like that damn points a terrible idea. You’re gonna upset people, you’re gonna have very, you know, these drinks that people have been getting all night for free. Suddenly, it costs $8. That is the first best way to make you happy. So I try to discourage that. Very quickly. You know, a lot of events, not weddings, but events give out tickets, you get two tickets. Have you ever had a wedding do that? I’ve not I’ve had a couple talk about it. But not anybody. Have you? I had somebody recently that was talking about it pretty heavily. And they wanted to be able to sell more tickets. I’m like, I just I can’t even allow that. Me in the room. Can’t touch that. If you’re having a classy wedding. I don’t think I agree. It takes some class. Oh, yeah, definitely does. All right. Do you show me your ticket? And I’m gonna have to take that ticket from you. Yeah, that doesn’t work out now. Not so well. I agree with it, for the most part like carding people. It’s not something that really is. It’s not a problem. Normally. Yeah, he looked like you’re a baby. I’m probably gonna be like, let me see that. Let’s see it. Right. But in a private event like that. It’s not, you know, usually they police themselves. Like, I’m not really you know, you’re not supposed to be at the bar. Mm hmm. Right. So how do you guys deal with that? As a wedding planner, as a bartender? You’re obviously seeing that person is under age, we get a lot out. I mean, he’s, I will say, I feel like I’ve got my eyes on everything happening. He especially as but you’re in one place, you’re seeing the room kind of from a you know, fish islands, watching what’s happening, we kind of communicate about it. I don’t really know. I mean, we rarely just like we talked about previously, we don’t cut people off per se. They might be getting a lot different type of drink, though. Yeah, I think a lot lighter drink or mixer than they right, right? Or only mixer, but we all know, right? But as far as somebody under age, really trying to drink at that point, I’m gonna go to the parent and say something. Yeah, we’re like, Hey, I’m sure you know this, but maybe you don’t. But your your child has been kind of sneaking drinks off the table. And at least they know it’s off my plate is not on the right, right. I mean, I you know, I, I can’t allow that to happen. And the bartender is not going to continue to allow that happening to happen either. So that’s scary, though. When you get into that kind of stuff. It’s really frightening to think about what someone could do, because we’ve all been that person who had too much to drink, whether we were under age or of age. We’ve all been that person. And you know, the less experienced you are with it, the more dangerous it can be, obviously. So what about this? Have you had an experience with somebody that you knew drank too much, and then you watch them walk out and get in their car? Have you ever had that experience? We’ve had people try? Mm hmm. At the places where we’ve been where they have tried to have security president and they’re like, no, and it’s not even. Yeah, yeah, that’s good. They put up a fight. Yeah, I think they, somebody stops them. get you an Uber. It’s not a big deal. $10 ride will get you back to the hotel. Like there’s, you know, a hotel you’re staying at? Well, we’re just gonna come up and ask for a drink and they keep slurring it. Like if you can’t pronounce it, you can’t have it. It’s right, right, right. You don’t even know what you were drinking. No more. What would you say couples need to know when they contact you have an idea what you want to serve. Okay? Definitely a guest menu. Don’t be afraid to order what you like and have your guests drink it Don’t try to cater to every you don’t need 20 different kind of advice. Mm hmm. usually get two to 300 fewer your selections, the faster your folks are gonna make a decision and move along. Right? Instead of retaining their Yeah, nobody’s reading the menu on the bar, except for the person standing there. Right. And they’re probably not reading it. They’re looking at me going What do you have? I know we do all this pretty signage at the bar. And they don’t ever nobody cares, right? My heart. I’m like, Don’t waste your money anymore. No love. barsana just one of my favorite things to do. Because I think it’s so fun. They get up to the bar, and they’re like, get out of the way. What do you have? Well, it was right there in front of you. But cool. Yeah, there’s a lot of things that we could do an episode on that. Do you really need it? Or do you not? Yeah, do you want to spend your money on it? And main thing, a wedding planner? I’m like, I just don’t get it at the top of the I don’t get it at the top of the guest list. Next episode is DJ versus band. Oh, just kidding. Just kidding. I’m sorry. back. Hi. Yeah. So do you get a lot of people that email you and say how much you cost? Yes. They just read. Do you have a price sheet and other goods? subjective, right? Like, I need to know where I’m going. Logistically, am I bringing ice? Is there an ice machine? I never count on the ice machine working? Yeah, or having enough for me and the caterer? Mm hmm. That’s why I have so many 150 quart coolers. I keep them bleached. And I just bring fresh ice. So many questions that you have to have answered before you can give any sort of protein to the narrative on that, though, because we all everyone in the industry deals with, yeah. How do we educate clients, potential clients to know you can’t just say what are your prices? I guess, I mean, that’s a constant battle. And we do that other than just saying it over and over and over. We have to let somebody above us like the knot and places like that know that like, hey, these guys don’t have just a blanket sheet. Yeah, the caterer might but really not. Yeah. And sometimes I see on DJs websites they do. And I get asked that a lot. Where are your prices? Well, like you said, it’s all subjective. It depends. Where are we going? How many hours? Do you need us? What do you need all that kind of stuff. So if you’re listening, and you’re getting married, don’t just email the people you’re looking to hire and say, How much do you cost? Say, Hey, I want more information about you. Right? This is our wedding date. This is where it’s at. Even here’s what I think we might be willing to spend on this. Well, there you go. You might be aware, what is that? Where’s that lambda? And then be prepared for a follow up with a list of questions that does that, too. I’d always call them qualifying questions. Yeah, cuz you that’s how you could start narrowing it down to figure out what they really want. Yeah. How many more? What can you provide? Now? How many more years do you think you’re gonna do this? I feel like keel over. You’re grooming your kids to take over the business. My daughter turns 21 July 1, and she’s already started working with us a while over the last couple years, we would do it a lot. She does, you know, like bussing Irving and but now I’m teaching her how to make the drinks and how to be consistency is a big key for us how you should be able to go to any of the seven people that I have there and get the same drink. Well, so that brings me to this question. What’s your training? Like? How do you train your your people on the job? Okay, I’ll bring them on. If they say I don’t have any experience. Perfect. We’ll set you with beer and wine at first. Uh huh. Let me show you the little cheater lines and the glasses because most of these glasses all have I just learned that I just said you brought three types of glasses. Tell us about these. I did. This is our standard go to you can buy it at the big box club store. Okay, that’s what this 165 for 11 bucks. Yeah, this one is one that you would order from one of those sites a party store. They’re pretty they’re a lot more expensive. Yeah. And if you get excited and you’re talking to a friend, you got a glass of wine and you squeeze it really easy. Oh, they break? Yes. These are very fragile. Yeah. A big one and a little one. Okay, there’s the customized ones. If you’re gonna order glasses, get one that’s, you know, it’s really tough. And also, you can take it on the dishwasher. That’s right. It took a long time. But why it’s a fun memento. I don’t know. Like, is it? Okay, is it worth it? I think it is. I think it’s a fun touch. Although if I were to make a choice between you know, those three items, if I were to like I could only do one I would probably go with the cheapest the cheap cup but get a cute napkin. You know, that would be my choice because otherwise if you’re wanting to spend money on both of these, it just doesn’t make sense. So I probably say here and people that do all three of these and the koozies all the things I know I’m over the koozies koozies are polarizing like some people are like them, I can’t stand them and some are like no, I’ve got a koozie from every wedding I’ve ever Yeah, yeah, no, thank you to some morbid me sometimes wants to lay them all out and see which ones are still valid. Yeah, absolutely. Go back. 12 years. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, I’m just this kind of stuff I don’t get because I would throw it away. Yeah, and most people don’t keep it the only cool one I ever got at a wedding. Id jaida wedding at what’s in Kansas City, the brewery in Kansas City, Boulevard Boulevard, I DJ at a wedding at the brewery, they have a wedding place there. And they gave out glass of beer mugs with their names on it and some logo and some. And that was really neat. That’s pretty cool. And if you can find a way to wash that off, a lot of people ask then how much leave of those with the client every time though, from the wedding with the client? Yeah, I understand. But very few guests want to know, it’s just it, but it does feel a little more upscale, when you’re the only ones I’ve ever kept from wedding and I still have one left. It was a regular plastic cup, like a regular plastic solo cup. No, no, no, no. like a like a stadium. Yes. Yeah, it was it was just a little bit bigger than this. And when you put the drink into it, it changed color. Those are cool. And I like that. So I got one for my daughter and brought it home. And that’s the one she uses all the time, of course, because it’s a bunch of different colors or fabric color shirt. me Yes, I did have a few of those. But I spending the extra money on things like this. Yeah, not. Yeah, spend the money on your DJ, your photographer. And if you have leftover, then you could buy this great. I don’t disagree with that. I don’t disagree with that. Or if you want to buy this spending money on this and then don’t get a wedding planner. You must. You must have over you know, okay, so look up. So for real. I just realized, like this week that there’s lines all along the cup that tells you how much is in there. I had I didn’t know that. No other lines. Were just there. No, no. They’re actually for like one invisible line. There’s no one big energy drink. Yeah, that’s your wine line. I had no idea. This one right here. No, no further down. But we’re that way. Look. There’s like a little lip right there. Do you see that? I do know. Isn’t that crazy? You can’t feel it. Nobody know where to pour them. I didn’t know that. I know. The wine line. And actually that first line at the bottom. Doesn’t shot line on line. Yeah. Isn’t that fascinating? That’s the one that gets used very often because we have pretty firm no shots policy. shot shot, shot shot shot, everybody. Because going back to our fraternity and sorority brothers and sisters. They don’t want to do like 15 in a row. Oh, Lord help us because they want a fresh cup each time. Yeah, I’m gonna keep drinking the same check. Yeah, no, I’m just gonna throw them away right in front of me. Yes, yes. They’re running the earth and others running the earth that cool. I’ll find that I’ll find the image. We put that up on on our website. What’s the beer line? I don’t drink beer out of these. I don’t drink beer. So I don’t know you do a larger cup than that. Yeah, larger. Usually that’s the the 10 or 12 ounce, or 12 or 16 ounce line. You do this is like that’s more and they sold us the big solo cup size. Yeah. Read cups. Just they just strike a nerve. Yeah, they do. They do me too. They do me too. But I’m fascinated by that. So I’ll find the image though. That’s got like the lines on I had no idea. So what are your drinks of the summer for this year? 2020. What are the drinks of the soul? Do you have anything called the corona? No. Do you see Corona? Being a popular drink for the next decade? Probably no, I still get asked like to mix some in because they’re having taco bar. Yeah, it’s you know, they want to definitely go back and beer. Corona is less expensive than like your pacifical and your Modelo. Which I love montello because of the hint of vanilla to it. Oh, I see. I wouldn’t know not a beer drinker. I’ve tasted a bunch of beers before and they’re like was it tastes like and I say it tastes like beer. And they hops and they all taste the same to me. It was nice to have a hint of chocolate. No, I taste hops. That’s a taste that yeah, that’s me too. Yeah. Maybe we need to learn. I don’t know. Maybe we shouldn’t try some field trip when I started brewing. It was just to figure out the flavor profile. Yeah, I don’t get it. I literally on my radio show. We had a brew master from Germany. Oh, come in taste a whole bunch of beers. He’s like, Oh, this one is this. I’m like, like beer. Like I do not like it. It is not good at all. Oh, my God. This one sounds really good. No, not good. No over that. I agree. So summer drinks. What was the top summer drinks this summer? So we got them a heat. Oh, okay. A standby. I’m still working on here, which is probably the clubs that are sitting on top. So it’s all water. It is now. Cucumber coolers. Really? Yeah. It’s a very refreshing drink that can either be gin or vodka, okay? People tend to gravitate to vodka because it’s so versatile. Like it just vanishes into anything true and you can’t smell it on your breath as you can. Okay, can alcohol alcohol? Yes, no what I heard in the movies, lies. Okay, so what else do we have? Do you ever do like a like a margarita? Like the mix like the frozen type drinks? Yes. In fact, I get asked for margaritas pretty often so Miss Anna and I kind of have joint custody of a margarita machine. He’s like I really didn’t know I do rentals and stuff. So I’ll break it out. But that’s another one of my questions like how many guests do you have? Because holds like seven gallons? Yeah. Oh 50. Like let’s just Make margaritas on the rocks. Right? Or 300 lick, let’s make margaritas on the rocks. This machine can’t keep up with, you know,