Episode 9 - Matthew Quigley (Surfside)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This was for the home team. This was for the home team. [00:00:14] Speaker B: Hey, welcome to Tailgate Beers. We got Austin over here. We've got Ryan as usual. We're here, we're back for the first time since we went on Nashville last week. We had a great time and more information and reels and tiktoks and episodes coming to you from our week long in Nashville. Hey, we have a special guest tonight and I want to introduce him to you. We've talked about a certain Surfside drink on our podcast previously and tonight we have the esteemed pleasure of being able to sit down with Matthew Quigley, who is the owner, the CEO of Surfside and I want to introduce him. Matthew, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Surfside, if you haven't tried it yet, go out and find yourself self some. Do yourself the favor. I'm drinking the iced tea and vodka, which is my favorite, but we've got lemonade and vodka. We've got different flavors. Austin, what do you got? [00:01:15] Speaker C: Iced tea and lemonade. [00:01:16] Speaker B: Iced tea and lemonade. We've got more coming over. This is just a great, great drink. We talked about it with Lily Rose a few weeks ago going out in a golf course. She was a huge, huge advocate for, for Surfside. We are very proud to have him with us tonight. So Matthew, welcome to Tailgate Beers. [00:01:35] Speaker A: Thank you very much. [00:01:44] Speaker C: What, what is the actual role or what is your title? I mean, really? [00:01:51] Speaker A: President. Okay. We had never had titles for a very long time. Now I'm, I'm, I'm president of the company. I started it with my brother Brian. But it's, it was important as we've grown up that we start identifying like what this person does or what that person does. But I mean, look, I was the first distiller when we were a company of two people. My brother was the salesperson and I was the distiller. Our very first distiller. So we, you know, have gone from two people to 250, which is wild to even think about. But now I am president of the company. [00:02:33] Speaker B: So when did you start, when did you get your, your ball rolling this one? [00:02:36] Speaker A: So 10 years in the making, right? So we've been, we've been rolling that ball, that heavy ball up the hill. Alcohol industry is a, is a hard one. And so we've been, we've been at it for 10 years now. [00:02:51] Speaker B: So let me jump to Covid just because I am familiar with a lot of the refocuses even on Covid. And how did that affect sales? How did that affect your production? All of that? Within just a few years. [00:03:09] Speaker A: We're crafty people. We think. We think we're good at pivoting and getting down to it when things get tough. And so Covid, actually, we turned our entire staff. We didn't lay off a single person. We turned them all into delivery drivers. And we're delivering vodka to people in Pennsylvania because we're from Philadelphia, so that's where our headquarters are. And they had shut down all the liquor stores, believe it or not. And they deemed us essential, I guess. [00:03:49] Speaker C: Absolutely. I mean, Covid, alcohol essential. [00:03:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. Thank goodness we have like an FDA permit. Right. So we were deemed essential to stay open. And instead of having to tell everyone to go home, we turned them into delivery drivers and we were delivering vodka all over Pennsylvania. So we actually had an incredible boom of business through that period of time. And I think it was just a testament to our employees that everybody's like, okay with just kind of doing an all hands on deck scenario. And we came out the other side and it made the company stronger. [00:04:30] Speaker B: That's awesome. So at some point there, you decided to do get into like the RTD type of market and go down that path. [00:04:41] Speaker A: Yeah, we did. So I got to give credit to my brother Brian. I mean, the day that we, who's my partner, and he was on the sales side, because I'm an awful salesperson, do not ask me to go into a bar and try to sell anything. I just can't. I can't do it. I'm terrifically bad. But anyways, day one, he said, matt, we need to make a vodka soda because he was just drinking. Shoot. I think I forget what the. The name of the. It was just a. Just a unbranded kind of soda. You know, you would get a Walmart or something like that. But he loved it. And he was drinking all drinking that non stop before lacroix got very popular. It's like, we need to make our vodka and a soda. [00:05:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:05:27] Speaker A: And that was 10 years ago. And we said, listen, man, you're. We don't have the money to do this. We can't do it. We don't have the infrastructure. We don't even know how to do it. And then, you know, you blink and all of a sudden White Claw becomes a thing and High Noon becomes a thing. And we said to ourselves, look, if we could just like put our hand up into that jet stream and catch something, this might be like a few million dollars every year. And so that's. That's what Kind of propelled us into that, that industry and so we jumped in and that's what got us started. [00:06:01] Speaker B: So let's go back to making vodka. [00:06:05] Speaker C: Right. [00:06:05] Speaker B: And I'm not a distiller by any means. I've made a little bit of this and that here. You made, let's see. Absolutely. [00:06:12] Speaker A: You got a still? [00:06:13] Speaker B: I have a very, very, very small. Very small. But, but yeah, so. [00:06:20] Speaker C: But not really. But maybe not. [00:06:22] Speaker B: Not a maybe. [00:06:24] Speaker A: Maybe. Possibly. There's a possibly. [00:06:26] Speaker C: We might have a group chat, talk about it. [00:06:29] Speaker B: We can't talk about it. [00:06:30] Speaker A: Nowhere near anywhere that this individual lives. Yeah, nowhere near. [00:06:35] Speaker C: It could be in Texas, it might be in Canada. [00:06:38] Speaker A: We don't know where. [00:06:39] Speaker B: Sunday morning. It will not be running. [00:06:41] Speaker A: Yeah, it's never going to be running. Don't, don't look for it. [00:06:43] Speaker B: But so what, what. So I think of vodka, I think of potatoes. Right. So what is the like the process to distill that into vodka? [00:06:56] Speaker A: So our, our base is corn. I mean look, the America makes a whole bunch of corn, right? Yeah, absolutely. And good corn. [00:07:06] Speaker B: So here in central Illinois and make lycorn here. [00:07:09] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [00:07:10] Speaker C: Corn for days. [00:07:10] Speaker A: So, so I've always found, I, I've tested every single kind of base and I settled on that. I thought corn was the absolute best substance that we could use to, as our, our base ingredient. So, you know, unlike the, you know, still that's not going to be running on Sunday and in undisclosed location that we will never even talk about, that's probably in Canada. I had a still in my parents basement. Okay. They had a workout room that they never fucking used. And I bought a bunch of parts online and built a still and I started mashing corn and fermenting it and making vodka in their basement. So they found that, they kicked me out. Okay. I wasn't living there, but they accused me of making drugs in their basement. And, and so I had to take my still and I had to, I had to find a new, new home for my still. [00:08:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:12] Speaker A: So. But all that process, you know, I tried potato, I tried a bunch of other things and I found that corn was a, was a good substance or a good base ingredient for what I was going for. [00:08:27] Speaker B: So tell us the, the process for that. Right? So I know from more of like a moonshine type of, you know, make it into whiskey, you know, all of that kind of stuff. So what, what would I need to do if I, if, if I had a still? [00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah, if you have one that might. [00:08:44] Speaker B: Be hypothetical somewhere in America, Very small skill still. Not Skill. I have very small skills too. But if I had a very small still, what would I need to do to make a vodka versus just making a simple whiskey? [00:08:58] Speaker A: You just have to distill it up to a certain degree, a certain proof. So by classification, vodka is a, like a clear, odorless liquid that is distilled up to 90% alcohol by volume. So you have to just get it up to that point. So you distill your mash and it comes off your still. When it's 50, 60 alcohol, you take that, you put it back into the pot, you distill it again, and then all of a sudden you might get to 70% or so. Then you take that again, you put it back into the pot, you distill it again, boom. You might get up to around that, that 90, 95% range. And so that process is what takes away the taste and increases the alcohol volume on it. And all the while you're refining it and refining it and refining it and reducing the yield. So, you know, that's why a lot of vodkas are super high priced, right. It takes a lot of time to get it to that kind of degree of quality. [00:10:18] Speaker B: Gotcha, Gotcha. So Surfside itself. So you start making the RTD ready to drink type of drink. Surfside, is it nationwide at this point? [00:10:28] Speaker A: It is. Other than Utah, we're working on that one. And I think we have been gone into Alaska at this point. So we've got a couple states that are on the docket that are, you know, slated for distribution of this product in particular. But for the rest of them, we've pretty much got nationwide distribution. [00:10:53] Speaker C: Okay. [00:10:54] Speaker B: Yeah, so we, we've been hearing about it. I don't know when, when do we start hearing about it? Certainly before, actually. We're friends with Ray Rowdy. Yeah. [00:11:02] Speaker C: So shout out Ray's Rowdy for me. I was going to bring this up that, I mean, I'm an alcohol connoisseur is what I'd call myself like. Yeah, I, I, I, I like to indulge. But I never heard of, I never heard of Surfside ever. I was not, I didn't never drink any other competitors really. Just. I love teas, I love green tea in particular. But I don't know, at one of the festivals they just, they brought it, it was one of those like, hey man, just grab it out of the cooler. Popped one open. Really good. Dude, you got to meet Matthew, you gotta, Matt's a great dude. All right, man. You know, it's one of those things we're busy in the festival and whatnot. And you're just like, yeah, you know, figure it out. And you start drinking them, though, and you're like, this is pretty fucking good. And again, everybody has their own tastes and flavors of what, what suits them and stuff like that, but they pitched it and then you and I talked on the phone. We kind of threw it out of. Man, this could be something kind of cool. Now. Here you sit. Atlas is going to play tonight. We got raised Rowdy here. The whole family's here. Yeah, I love them. I mean, and that's no bullshit. I told you earlier, like, I would tell you if it sucked, I would tell you if I didn't like them. But at the end of the day, I. I like growing with people that we think, you know, have potential and that we're all kind of on the same page. And to me, like, us, you raise Rowdy. I don't know. Just it. It all vibes the same and Ray's Rowdy are good people. We just were down in Nashville and had a week of raise Rowdy. I mean, I think we raised Rowdy while we were there. [00:12:50] Speaker B: Definitely did. [00:12:51] Speaker C: But no. So cheer. Hey. So we haven't even done a cheers yet, but cheers to surfside. [00:12:56] Speaker A: Cheers, guys. [00:12:56] Speaker C: Cheers. [00:12:57] Speaker A: Thank you for having me on air. [00:12:58] Speaker C: Cheers. Yeah, but no. So Matt, you and I talked last night and you know, you told me about your journey of, you know, going to college, your family, you know, you and your brother. I think you even told you talked about surfing. I think you still surf to this day. Talk about very early stages. Surfside doesn't even exist. How did this conversation even come about? Because this is not, this is not a. Just tip your toe in it and we're going to like dabble in alcohol industry. I mean, there's. There's some big dogs in the alcohol industry and in the booze side of things. So how does that conversation come about of like, guys, I think we got. I think we could do this. [00:13:43] Speaker A: So it's an interesting thing. So, you know, I look at. I've been self employed since I got out of college, right. So my very first business ever was a cheesesteak shop in Norman, Oklahoma. So I moved to the University of Oklahoma and was selling Philly cheesesteaks to kids down there because I knew it would, it would work. So. [00:14:06] Speaker B: And you're a Philly native? [00:14:08] Speaker A: I'm a Philly. [00:14:08] Speaker B: We mentioned that earlier, but just want. [00:14:10] Speaker A: To close out there. I had to bring the love across, across the country and with. [00:14:15] Speaker B: With cheese or without cheese. [00:14:18] Speaker A: So I'm. I'm. I'm always wit. So you. You gotta always go wit. For me, for. So that's. That's. That's how I take it. [00:14:26] Speaker C: But, yeah, we'll circle back to this. We'll circle back to this whole Philly cheesesteak thing, because I have a comment on that. But go ahead and talk about. [00:14:33] Speaker A: Figure out the industry cheesesteak scenario, and I will point you guys in the right direction when you come up and visit me in Philadelphia. And. And we can. We can. We can figure that out. We'll go on a tour. [00:14:46] Speaker C: So you got this. Knox. So you got this knockoff cheesesteak thing in Oklahoma, selling the cheesesteaks to the Oklahomans. [00:14:53] Speaker A: First off, it's not a knockoff. [00:14:55] Speaker B: Whatever. [00:14:56] Speaker C: You're over here pitching them. [00:14:57] Speaker A: This is authentic shit. [00:14:58] Speaker C: Oklahomans are probably like, what is this shit? What am I eating? [00:15:02] Speaker A: I'm bringing bread from Philadelphia all the way down to Oklahoma. [00:15:07] Speaker C: Holy shit. [00:15:08] Speaker A: So they have the ultimate experience. Yes. I mean, overnight we were making money, but it wasn't my ultimate dream, and it wasn't what I really wanted to do, so. But getting into these. These RTDs, you know, we've always looked at everything like a campfire scenario, right? You start a little campfire. You got to nurture it. You can't just start a bonfire right out the gate. You have to build it stick by stick, and you have to make sure that it grows and it grows. And so we were very. We were very delicate and specific about our business as we grew it over the years because we couldn't execute cute against this type of brand. Ten years ago, we were poised and ready to do it when we. When we released this brand to your, you know, Comment. Yes. I've been a lifelong surfer, and frankly, I was bored of our branding and our current. Our product line that we had, and I had been branding that for years and years and years, and I was looking for something else. So when we were stateside. [00:16:18] Speaker C: Brand. The vodka brand. [00:16:19] Speaker A: Exactly. I'm our first graphic designer. I've designed every single thing that you see from our company. They're all my designs. So I was itching for something else. Right? Like, it was just like the whole thing was designed in my head. So when I actually started to put it down on into, you know, Photoshop and Illustrator, I did it in 30 minutes. It was already done. Right. It had been done for a long time. And I showed it to my partners, and they were like, yeah, let's fucking go, man. [00:16:57] Speaker C: So it's a great. I mean, even the branding, I mean, it's got a whole vibe to it and I love it. [00:17:04] Speaker B: Yeah. So what is your goal? What is your high end? What are you hoping that that Surfside. [00:17:12] Speaker C: Ends up becoming, hopefully making money? [00:17:14] Speaker A: Well, yeah, but, yeah, yeah, I mean, look, putting, putting food on the table is always goal number one. We're, we're, honestly, we're, we're simple people. So, you know, we've never said, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna make something just to package it up and sell it and, and ride off and, you know, say you to all the employees and whatever. The whole goal was always like, like, let's pay our rent. And then when we had the option to like, buy homes, we're like, oh, let's pay our mortgage. And being able to say, like, oh, we have a mortgage and we can pay our mortgage was like a big deal. And it still is a big deal to me, honestly, so I haven't lost that. And now that I have 250 employees, I want them to have a good quality of life. And so that's the goal. And a lot of these companies, they, they upstart, they, they sell off to, you know, if it's Molson cores or it's Anheuser Busch or whatnot, and that's never really been our strategy or, or our long term, long term plan. And so, you know, our plan is to continue to build it and, and see what, see what happens. I mean, we have innovation in the pipeline that we just haven't released because this brand has stolen the show and there's no room to do anything else. It's like all hands on deck and we can't even put enough hands on deck to give it enough attention. So currently right now, the plan is we want to see what we can do. And that's a cool thing to be able to say. We feel like we've been in the weight room for a long time and we're finally in the game and like, we want to be on the field and we want to perform and we want to see, like, what we're actually capable of. [00:19:08] Speaker C: And you've thrown out 250 employees and you've got like, employee number three max this year. Shout out max. Like, it's crazy to see that there still is as you grow, because I think you can lose that connection with employee number three, where I've been in plenty of places where, like, yeah, I mean, I was employee number three. And then, you know, bosses changed and, you know, they sold out and all this shit. Like, I met Boss, you've got 250 families. [00:19:35] Speaker A: He came to just help out to bottle, okay? So we were like, bottling one day, right? And I'm sitting on the bottle line and I'm running the label machine now. It's like an automated thing where, like, the bottles go down a conveyor belt and they just get labeled. But, like, I, like, had to, like, put the bottle on this thing and it would get labeled. Max came in and he was, like, running circles around everyone, and nobody had to tell him what to do. He could just, like, see, like, oh, this area is backing up. Like, I'll cap over here or I'll box over here, or I'll, like, glue these cases together or whatever. And I could just see it in my peripheral that he just could understand, like, what was needed that day. And so at the end of the day, one day, one single day, at the end of the day, I said to him, I was like, would you like to learn how to make vodka? And he looked at me and he was like, I would fucking love that. And I go, okay, well, then come back tomorrow and I'm going to start teaching you and bring a notebook and a pen and just record everything I tell you and I'll. I'll teach you how to do it. [00:20:44] Speaker C: And he was a bartender at that time. [00:20:46] Speaker A: Yes. And he is an absolute rock star. [00:20:51] Speaker C: He seems like. Because he sits there and he takes it all in, you can tell he's very methodical. He thinks about a lot of stuff. I mean, he kind of sits back, takes it all in. And it's cool to see that you still have that connection. Because when you talk about 250 employees, man, like, when you start really dwelling on that, like, people's college people are putting their kids through college because of you, because of state side, because of Surfside, because of the company, people are getting their mortgage. People are having babies. Like, absolutely. It's crazy to think that that 250 people, that's a lot, man. Congrats. [00:21:34] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:21:34] Speaker C: That's a major achievement. And the fact that there's people who can lose their way as they grow. As an artist, we talk about musicians as they grow. To me, I feel like that goes to that next level and you haven't lost what it means to have this still family business or a startup business that, hey, man, we still all work together. We'll also glue box boxes. We're also going to see that there's a gap over here. And, hey, I'm not I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. And, dude, that's Takes a lot to still have that type of business. [00:22:03] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you. And I appreciate that. [00:22:05] Speaker C: And it's a lot. And the same with our concert business, man. We always talk about. Me and Wayne always harp that I can always tell when people are going to make it or not. Because when we sit around and you're like, the garbage needs taken out. [00:22:20] Speaker A: Take it out. [00:22:21] Speaker C: You will see me and Wayne, like, doing laundry, taking garbage out. And that's the telltale sign that we all are wearing those hats. And we talked about it last week even where people have ranted and raved when they come to the festival and they're kind of looking around like. And who kind of runs this thing? And you're like, did you go to hospitality today? Yeah, Steven, the guy back there grilling and cooking all your food? Yeah, he. He owns this shit. Wayne, who's like, putting fence posts in and running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Yeah, he owns this shit. Like, that's what's crazy is when you have that mentality that, hey, we'll all get. We'll all get our hands dirty, and we're all gonna be out there from morning till late at night, and we're gonna do whatever it takes. So that's cool, man. Ryan asked this question last week. I'll kind of segue into this, and I might as well just throw it out there. Of. Apparently you're a big drinker. You love drinks and all that stuff. But when it comes to Philly, you know, we talked about pizza earlier and stuff like that. What are your thoughts on pineapple? On pizza? [00:23:28] Speaker A: Pineapple and pizza. Okay. So my. Traditionally, it's like ham and pineapple, right? The right mix. [00:23:36] Speaker B: Pizza. [00:23:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And so my. [00:23:40] Speaker C: Don't just assume. [00:23:41] Speaker B: Oh, sorry. [00:23:42] Speaker A: My wife, she introduced me to bacon and pineapple. [00:23:47] Speaker C: Oh, okay. [00:23:48] Speaker A: She's like, look, it's. It's a pork product. It's. But it's like the upper echelon of pork products. It's the best thing you can possibly get. It's bacon. [00:23:57] Speaker C: So you agree with pineapple on pizza. [00:23:59] Speaker A: I am a hard advocate for pineapple. [00:24:03] Speaker C: Because you kind of did a. You kind of danced around that one for a second. I wasn't sure if you're going to. [00:24:06] Speaker A: If you over pineapple, it. It's going to get a soggy slice. I don't like that. [00:24:10] Speaker C: Agreed. [00:24:10] Speaker A: Okay. The slice has to hold up. All right. So the ratio of pineapple and other stuff on the Slice has to be correct, but I'll fuck with it. [00:24:22] Speaker C: Does the rest of Philly agree with that comment? Because it's kind of controversial. Because, I mean, what are the top five pizza cities in the world? I would say I don't know if Philly's up. I mean, I know Philly's known for their. [00:24:36] Speaker A: You have to go back to like the old world cities that exist in America, okay? Like, we're an old colonial town, okay? Our streets were cow paths before they actually got paved. And then they were cobblestone and they were just like, you know, the, the sewers were creeks that just like ran through the, the middle of Philadelphia. So you go back to the original places where Italians were immigrating to America and like setting down and starting up restaurants. You've got Philadelphia, you got New York, you got Boston. Okay, look, I would like to say we're a top five pizza town in America. I'm not going to say we're the best. I would probably say New York is the best pizza town. [00:25:25] Speaker C: But you're a staple when it comes to Chicago style pizza. New York style pizza. Like, I would say Philly still a. [00:25:32] Speaker A: Chicago has incredible pizza. [00:25:37] Speaker C: So what is your favorite place to get pizza in Philly? Like off top of your head? If you want to name two, it's fine. What's the top one? [00:25:47] Speaker A: I like Lorenzo's a lot. Okay, That's a big ass slice. [00:25:50] Speaker C: Is that. Is that. So that's traditionally flat or a thin crust. [00:25:55] Speaker B: Fold over. [00:25:56] Speaker A: It's thin, but they now make like this jumbo. Lorenzo's makes this jumbo, jumbo slice. So it's perfect when you're really fucked. [00:26:04] Speaker C: Up and it's not that big, right? [00:26:07] Speaker A: I don't know, man. [00:26:08] Speaker C: Like, it's three feet big. [00:26:09] Speaker A: Big. It's big. It's a. [00:26:11] Speaker C: Your hands are going from like here to. [00:26:12] Speaker A: I would say, I would say it's probably like your slice is like this, this large. Like it's like 18 inches from like the tip to the crust. It's a big slice. [00:26:21] Speaker C: Jesus. [00:26:22] Speaker A: But these guys have been doing it forever. It's a long standing kind of family business. And I like that, like thin. I've been a thin, crispy crust kind of person, but then when I visit Chicago, you know, people wow me when I, when I go and I get weird deep dish pizza and I'm like, I eat one square and I'm like, I'm full. But that was delicious. [00:26:44] Speaker C: Deep dishes deceiving where. I mean, people like, well, do you want to do this size or you want to do like a 16 inch and you get it and you're like, I ate one piece and I am full blown fucking stuff. [00:26:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm like ready to go to sleep. But there's to go out and like ice skate. [00:26:58] Speaker C: There's people that do it really bad and there's some deep dishes where you're like, I don't know that I can get enough of this. But again, I'm an equal opportunity slice lover when it comes to pizza. [00:27:09] Speaker B: Hey, this is. It's been great conversation. We're learning about the whole distilling process and that's what I'm most. I'm not most interested, but I try to engage myself in distilling. So going back to talking about your process, are you still distilling? I mean, obviously you're distilling vodka for the ready to drink RTD type of drinks. Are you. Are you selling just bottles of vodka too? [00:27:35] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:27:36] Speaker B: Is that still under the same brand as far as Surfside? [00:27:39] Speaker A: Yeah, so that's under our original brand, Stateside. So our company is called Stateside Brands at this point, but our very first product, I wish we had one on here to display, but is is Stateside Vodka and that's where it all started. So it's. That's a, you know, a traditional 40% alcohol by volume, high quality, top shelf vodka in glass product. And that was the bedrock of our organization. And we still manufacture that to this day. And it's a very successful, you know, brand on, I would say more regionally than this product is on a national level. But it's a very successful brand as well. [00:28:32] Speaker B: Regionally, I'm assuming, being northeast in that area. [00:28:36] Speaker A: Yeah, the eastern seaboard, I would say. Okay, so Boston to Florida. [00:28:39] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:28:40] Speaker B: Cause I need to definitely try that out. [00:28:41] Speaker C: Oh, I think we have some over at Ducks. I actually just messaged Wayne and them and seen we can bring some over here. But what is like, what is. I'm Boston known. Known as like such a beer. I mean you think Boston, you think, you know, Philadelphia, all that stuff. I mean it's definitely a beer heavy, you know, industry. What is. And what was your biggest challenge when you got it started? I mean, what was your biggest hurdle of getting it into all the bars of getting it introduced to everybody of. Was that word of mouth? Was that something of you guys just going down? Just, you know, try this. I mean it was a kind of try by error. [00:29:20] Speaker B: I do want to insert to say that for our geographically challenged folks, Boston and Philadelphia are a Little bit. [00:29:28] Speaker C: They're far apart. [00:29:29] Speaker B: Farther apart than what Austin just. Just describes. [00:29:32] Speaker C: So, no, but I'm thinking over in the east coast, what is the challenge of that? [00:29:36] Speaker A: It's okay. We're. Boston and Philly are like kissing cousins. All right? Like, we have. We have similar accents, but they're not the same. [00:29:44] Speaker C: Great. [00:29:45] Speaker A: All right. Cities came up at the same kind of time in America. But look, it's a challenge, and you have to sell one account at a time, and you actually have to care about selling that account and wanting to be there. And so it doesn't matter if it's this fancy steakhouse that everybody is clamoring to get into or if it's a VFW that the good old boys are just sitting out and they're drinking after their shift at the mill. It doesn't matter. Every single account is the same. And we've always taken that mentality, and so that's how we build our brand. In the beginning, we just said, make one sale and come back and let's high five and then go out and let's make another sale and let's high five. And my brother and I did that by ourselves for so long where nobody even was paying attention to us. And we're so under the radar that when we finally popped out on the radar, the big companies that now are paying attention to us were like, oh, fuck, they actually did something substantial. And, you know, now we've built a company and a brand that's a force to be reckoned with. And, well, we'll meet you on the. On. On the dance floor. [00:31:11] Speaker C: Now, what is the. What is the biggest rivalry between Boston and Philly? Is there, like a beef between Philly and Boston? Is it a. Is it a brother? You know, what is. Philly's a city of brotherly love. Right? [00:31:26] Speaker A: Well, I mean, like, we are the city of bro. Brotherly love. And. But, like, our love language is a lot of aggressive, you know, statements. So, you know, if someone tells you to go yourself in Philly, they might actually be saying, like, hey, what's up? You know, you never know. It's all in the inflection, in the. Right in the voice. Boston, Philly. [00:31:52] Speaker C: I mean, look, do you guys get along like you think? [00:31:54] Speaker A: It's absolutely. [00:31:55] Speaker C: To me, you guys are. How far apart. How far apart is Philly? [00:31:58] Speaker A: It's like a five hour train ride. So it depends on what type of transportation you're taking. [00:32:04] Speaker C: So St. Louis and Chicago are six hours apart. I mean, and they fucking hate each other. I mean, like St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis Cardinals. Chicago, like, Chicago Cubs. Like, you have all this rivalry, Go Cardinals. Like, all this stuff. Like, there's a lot of beef. [00:32:20] Speaker A: Go Phillies. [00:32:21] Speaker C: Like, yeah. We all have one thing in common. [00:32:24] Speaker A: Right now between that our teams are not, they're all, they're all out of the playoffs. We understand that. [00:32:31] Speaker C: Yeah. But people do think I. And again, Pennsylvania is a massive state where they are far apart. But, I mean, I don't know, like, is there beef between the two cities? Is it like. [00:32:43] Speaker A: No, there's not, there's not a ton of beef. You know, as we've, as we've grown up as a brand, there might be, like, a little bit of beef between us and Boston Beer, which is, you know, the founding, you know, Sam Adams that everyone would understand. Boston Beer is Sam Adams. Right. You know, that old, like, old colonial guy, like, holding a bullshit, drinking beer looks stupid, whatever. But, you know, they're like, they're very fast followers. So they have, they have a product that looks very much like ours, and that was, that was interesting when they came out with it. And so maybe there's a little beef in our company because there's a product that looks just like ours that they released. But other than that, I mean, we're in different conferences. We, you know, the sports, the sports rivalry never gets to fruition until you meet at the final, final dance at the end of the year. And, you know, I don't know, the last time that Philly saw anything in from, you know, New England, it was when we beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. So that was fine. [00:33:53] Speaker C: That was fun. [00:33:54] Speaker A: Yeah, that was great. [00:33:55] Speaker B: So I, I, I've been, I, I've lived out towards Philly. I was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, which is just up the road from, from Philadelphia. So I've had my, my taste of Philly. I, I've been to the, the Philly cheesesteak places in, in Philadelphia. Yeah, I've, I, I've had my experiences there, which I absolutely love. Right. All of that is absolutely great. So, so circling back to the Philly cheesesteaks. I know, I know my buddy Austin here has, has some further comments and questions about the Philly cheesesteak, so I'll let them go ahead. [00:34:33] Speaker C: So there isn't much, I mean, let's just call spade a spade. Like, it's a Philly cheesesteak. It's got bread, meat and cheese on it. That's me being a Midwesterner. But when I went there, people, I mean, there were there Were trucks. There were places everywhere. They're boasting about it. So what makes a great Philly cheese steak? [00:35:00] Speaker A: Okay, well, yes, you have three main components of that, right? But let's take the first part. You got bread. Okay? So break down the components that make good bread. All right? Anyone can make bread in their kitchen. Tomorrow, go out and get a packet of yeast and some water and mix some flour into it, and you're going to make some bread. Okay. If it tastes good or not, that's up to you and how you did it. So I think that we have a lot of good, really, really talented bread makers on the east coast that have been doing it for centuries. So that's where it starts. Because if the bread tastes like shit, then the cheesesteak, it doesn't matter what's inside it. Like, you know, you're never gonna. You're never gonna go past bite number one. So that's step. Step one. We've great bread makers. Amoroso has been a staple in Philadelphia in the Northeast for years and years and years. And that's like a go to. Okay, so then you got that next? Yes. Select a good cut of shaved ribeye. That is important. If you just go out there and take whatever your food, you know, distributor is going to give to you, you're an idiot. You should. You need to sample a lot. A lot of meat past that. Okay. Philadelphia likes Cheez Whiz. It's weird, right? [00:36:30] Speaker C: Cheez Whiz. [00:36:31] Speaker A: All right. It's liquid cheese. [00:36:31] Speaker B: I don't think it's weird. I don't think it's weird. [00:36:33] Speaker C: I love it. [00:36:34] Speaker B: I'm a wit guy, which is funny for mg. [00:36:36] Speaker C: I'm a wit guy. [00:36:37] Speaker A: Here's the thing. It's weird, okay? It's tasty. [00:36:40] Speaker C: Really? [00:36:40] Speaker B: That's how you order it. [00:36:42] Speaker A: I like cheese. Wit Cheese Whiz. [00:36:43] Speaker C: What does that mean? [00:36:45] Speaker A: Cheez Whiz is a liquid cheese that's made by Kraft. I believe they own that brand. And you just heat it up and you drip it on your cheesesteak. So when I had my shop in Oklahoma, we would melt a whole bunch of American cheese and water and make it into, like a. An American cheese kind of liquid kind of drip thing. And then I would also just buy Cheese Whiz, and that was the alternate. So you're like, do you want Cheez Whiz or do you want American? And I would dip my paddle in there and slap it on. [00:37:24] Speaker C: Damn. [00:37:25] Speaker B: So. So the. [00:37:26] Speaker C: The. [00:37:26] Speaker B: I think there's two. And correct me if I'm Wrong here. I think there's a couple of trailers, trucks that have the. I don't know if it's competition or whatever it is there in Philadelphia with the Philly cheesesteaks. And I can't think of their names off the top of my head. I'm sure you know exactly what they are. [00:37:46] Speaker A: I, I'm, I, I. There's a lot of food trucks. [00:37:48] Speaker B: Okay, but, like, like the, the main. Not, not even food trucks, but, like, the main places. [00:37:53] Speaker A: Yeah, like the brick and mortar. [00:37:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Like big guns. [00:37:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:56] Speaker A: Have been Pats and Genos for years. [00:37:59] Speaker C: Okay. [00:37:59] Speaker A: They're on competing corners. [00:38:00] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:01] Speaker A: You, you got, you got Delos Sandros with. Which is up in the northeast, which is kind of where I. Or North Philly, up by, up by Chestnut Hill, where I grew up. And so, you know, each place kind of takes a different approach to their cheesesteak. Is, Is it like slabs of meat? Is it chopped? All that kind of stuff? And, you know, teach their own. You know, they're all very successful businesses, and, and you got to sample them all and figure out which one you like the best. [00:38:33] Speaker B: Absolutely. But, but my point is, is that when you step up to the, up to the window, you, you should have a 100% idea of what you're ordering or whatever. [00:38:42] Speaker A: Yeah, everyone's a little scared of, like, Philadelphia. Like, you're gonna get yelled at or at the end of the day, look, these people want your money, okay? So, like, if you fuck up, like, you know, you don't have your vernacular correct, you're still good. They're still gonna take your cash and you're gonna get food. So it's okay. I think everyone has, like, an anxiety moment. Like, oh, oh, man, I don't know how to order here. You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get yelled at. But the bottom line is, like, okay, what type of cheese do you want? Do you want onions on it? And then past that, do you want anything else? Yes, and that's. That's it. And look, these, these are people that have been making a living for themselves in Philadelphia for years and years and years. They're family people. Like, they live in the neighborhoods. Like, their job is to. Is take orders and give people a good product. Like, it's not to, like, scare you. So what it's made out to be in the media. It's not that scary. You act like a drunken fool, they're gonna tell you to fucking go away. [00:39:40] Speaker C: So you're telling me, you're telling me that Philadelphia is Not It's Always Sunny. Like, it's always sunny in Philadelphia. [00:39:46] Speaker A: Like, anything from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It's exactly like, which might be the best sitcom that's ever been created. [00:39:53] Speaker C: I mean, so you watch that and you're saying, you're like, yeah, this is. This is every day. [00:39:58] Speaker A: This is. The depravity of that show perfectly encompasses an everyday life of a Philadelphia, because. [00:40:07] Speaker C: The Ozarks or Ozark or whatever the show is. Ozark is not the Ozarks. But when I see It's Always Sunny, because I did. That was one I got sucked into where I'm like, dude, it's always, you know, it's always sunny in Philadelphia. Like, I'm like, when I think of Philadelphia, I'm like, that's it. [00:40:25] Speaker A: Yes. If you ever find a stash of denim, the only way to clean it is to boil it. A pot of water. [00:40:34] Speaker C: I always think of vinegar strokes. I always think of when you sniff vinegar. I can't even use vinegar for cleaning or for anything without thinking of vinegar strokes. Of, if you haven't seen that, go check it out. Vinegar strokes. [00:40:47] Speaker A: I mean, I just look at it as like a rite of passage. If you haven't seen the show full through and through, and you live in Philadelphia and you, like, born and bred and, like, lived there your whole life, you're like, I'm like, I just don't have time for you. [00:40:59] Speaker C: I don't have time for you. [00:41:00] Speaker A: Just go away until you watch this and then come back. [00:41:03] Speaker C: So we'll go away from Philly. We've been talking about Nashville a lot with Ray's Rowdy, with all the music, and that's what we're here for. That's everything we do. And I think we've been on for a hot second here, and we don't want to keep you, but you love music. That's why you're involved in this. That's why you like Razor Rowdy. What are your thoughts on music right now? I mean, what do you. Have you been down to Nashville for a round with Ray's Rowdy? And what are your thoughts on Nashville when you go from Philly to Nashville? [00:41:38] Speaker A: Yeah, so, I mean, the fact that I've. So I've lived all over the country. Right. [00:41:44] Speaker C: Give you surfing in California. [00:41:47] Speaker A: You know, I. I live in Philadelphia now. House on the Jersey shore. Lived in Los Angeles for five years. Had a cheesesteak shop in Oklahoma. Lived in. In. In Michigan for. [00:42:01] Speaker C: For. [00:42:02] Speaker A: For a while as well. So I've been all over and, you know, my. When I go to Nashville, it's like a breath of fresh air for me because I get out of the city and it's a. It's a vibrant atmosphere, but it's a little toned down from the aggravation that a lot of Philadelphians seem to exude every single day. Okay, but the. But the Razor Audi guys have been incredible, and I've been a lifelong, you know, music fan. And when we started to look at what we wanted to do with this company and how we wanted to, you know, start to position it and, you know, as it starts to sell more, you're like, oh, I can do more fun things. So now we have opportunities to do fun things. And getting into the music scene was the fun thing. And so when I presented it to my group and the people I work with, they said, yeah, sure, if you're going to champion, like, go and do it. And so the. You know, Nick and Matt from Ray's Rowdy were the kind of the first guys I ever met in Nashville, and they were just so great. And the minute I met them, I'm like, oh, they do it for the music, and that's why I'm here, too. And when you meet people that are like that, then you're like, okay, then everything else will work out. Because if you're just in it for the love of something, the rest usually falls into place. And that's how it's worked out for the rest of my life. [00:43:39] Speaker C: And they purely are in it for the love of it. And I appreciate the fuck out of them for, you know, I don't know, even things that they've shared with me in this podcast, you know, we reach out to them of, hey, man, we're starting a podcast. Think about it. Hey, man, we're starting a vodka company. [00:43:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:56] Speaker C: And they literally open their arms of, hey, you need to do this. You need to do this. And appreciate the fuck out of them. You know, making this introduction, you know, all that. And it's a. Again, they. They grind. I mean, they are truly grinding every single night. And they're not an artist. They're not trying to be an artist. They're not an alcohol company. They're not a promoter. I mean, they're out there just in their own industry promoting these individuals. And we sat through these writers rounds, and I'm like, holy shit, man. I mean, I was taking notes. I'm like, who's this guy? Who, this girl? Yeah, dude, she's killing it. And they know everybody, and they're quick on all these, you know, the industry. The whole industry as a whole, very great people know, and I appreciate the. Out of them. So you wouldn't. You would not be here if it wasn't for music. I'm, like, here with us with Razor. So I'm assuming you're a music lover. So you're on your, you know, Cessna, you know, Surfside private jet. You know, you're on that plane flying, you know, back to Philly, and you have every album known to man on that Cessna and a parachute, and you got a bail, and you're going to end up on an island for the rest of your life, and you have to grab five albums to listen to for the rest of your life. What are you listening to? [00:45:37] Speaker A: I don't know if I'm going to be able to pick five, but I'll. [00:45:41] Speaker C: Oh, man. [00:45:41] Speaker A: If you. [00:45:42] Speaker C: Bitch. [00:45:42] Speaker A: Definitely. [00:45:43] Speaker C: Come on. [00:45:43] Speaker A: I'll definitely take life after death 100%. Right away. Notorious B.I.G. okay. [00:45:52] Speaker C: Love it. [00:45:52] Speaker A: My brother and I, we. We weren't. Our parents weren't very wealthy, so we lived in the same room and had bunk beds pretty much into high school, which, when we got to be, you. [00:46:05] Speaker C: Know, big, who was top bunk? [00:46:07] Speaker A: It flipped around a lot at time. [00:46:09] Speaker C: The older change beds. [00:46:11] Speaker A: I don't know. It's like sometimes one person wanted the top bunk, and we're. We have a co. We have. Now we're business partners. It was like, is he older, younger? [00:46:19] Speaker B: Yeah, he's older. Younger, younger. [00:46:20] Speaker C: Who wins in a fight? [00:46:22] Speaker A: Brian probably fucking kicked my ass. He's so strong. [00:46:25] Speaker C: So he. It was whatever bed. [00:46:27] Speaker A: Brian, he's little, but he's, like, so wrestler. Yes. [00:46:31] Speaker C: So when Brian walked into the room, he's like, I want top bunk. And Matt's like, all right, I guess I get bottom bunk. All right. We got to get Brian on the podcast. [00:46:41] Speaker A: He's a little beast. Okay? Like, you don't want to. You don't want to mess with Brian. He's. He's just, like, pound for pound, like a. Just an incredibly strong individual. Um, but anyways, my point being, we. We had one boombox, and we would listen to music together. So, like, it was. We were pooling our money. So our first CDs were. Were Notorious B.I.G. i think we. Our very first CD ever was Sir Mix a lot single. Baby Got Back. [00:47:11] Speaker C: Oh, boy. [00:47:12] Speaker A: Played that fucking out. I would not take that out. [00:47:14] Speaker C: It's not going on the island. [00:47:16] Speaker A: That's not coming out. That would not go. [00:47:17] Speaker C: So you have Notorious out of the. [00:47:19] Speaker A: Out of the door of the Cessna with my parachute. [00:47:24] Speaker C: So you have one album so far. [00:47:27] Speaker A: So you need something relaxing. You know, I would probably take something on the. I would probably take one of Garth Brooks is like, can I take Greatest Hits? [00:47:50] Speaker C: Absolutely. It was. It was an album. [00:47:52] Speaker A: I. I love Kenny Chesney, so I probably. I probably take something from him. I'm. I'm thinking about, like, I have a huge jam band side of my personality, which is interesting that, because I just love improvisational music in general. So, I mean, my absolute top band of ever is Grateful Dead. So, I mean, you can't name an album from the Grateful Dead. You would just be doing yourself a disservice. So, I mean, pick a live show. I was lucky enough to find 1972, like, compilation of their shows when they were doing Europe, and that would probably be one of them that I put up on the. Up on the docket, because it's just. It's incredible. It's the first. First concert I ever took my. My son to when he was, you know, six months old. And everyone thought I was crazy, but I'm like, this kid's coming to a Dead show. [00:49:00] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:49:01] Speaker A: So they're. They probably up on the list and then. And then probably behind them is probably like, maybe Fish. I don't know. I. I do love fish as well. [00:49:12] Speaker C: But they're a lot of firsts right now. [00:49:14] Speaker A: They're not. They're not at the top with me, so. [00:49:17] Speaker C: Well, they're your top five. You're grabbing it all. I mean. Yeah, the plane's already literally. The plane is literally about hitting the water. [00:49:23] Speaker A: I would take them as well. Yes. [00:49:24] Speaker C: I love that, man. Have you ever listened to the Elevators? [00:49:28] Speaker A: I do. No. No. [00:49:30] Speaker C: All right, I'll share some of that. I've just recently been getting into kind of some of the GM band type stuff, but that's a good. [00:49:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So you got. You got. You got rap, you got country, and then you got just straight weird improv. [00:49:43] Speaker C: Solid mix. We've never had a Notorious B.I.G. never had Kenny Chesney, never had Fish. Shocker. And, yeah, those are all a lot of firsts. So I don't know if you. Do you have. Do you want to. [00:49:58] Speaker B: No, no, I just. Again, plugged. So. Tailgate Beers. We thank you for. For joining us today. But more importantly, we thank Matthew Quigley from. From Surfside from joining us. If you have not heard enough about Surfside, the rtds that they offer. Ready to drink iced tea and vodka. We've got lemonade. Iced tea and vodka is over here. It's made out of Stateside vodka. So if you're over on the East Coast, Stateside Vodka itself, we, we can't say enough good things about the things that, that Surfside brings to us. And, and the, the taste, the flavors. 100 calories, low calories, low sugars all the way around the bottom. [00:50:44] Speaker C: I pounded three of them. The, you know, guy who started pounded one. So not going to keep track. [00:50:49] Speaker A: You, you pounded three and you haven't gained any weight at all? [00:50:53] Speaker C: Zero. [00:50:53] Speaker A: I mean, that's. [00:50:54] Speaker C: I've actually lost weight, to be honest with you. I've actually lost weight. I've actually closed my belt loop earlier. [00:50:58] Speaker A: Fantastic. [00:50:59] Speaker C: Thank you. So, again, trying my best. [00:51:01] Speaker B: Thank you. Matthew, who is the, can I say, co founder, founder of Surfside. Go out, find yourself some. Try it, put it on ice, take it to the golf course. We've got a lot of friends, mutual friends. Race, Rowdy, which is Matt, Nikki, T. That I've spoke so highly of you and your product for so long to us, Lily Rose, who was just here weeks ago and we've spent a lot of time with, with Lily, who again, spoke very highly of your product as well. Surfside. Go out, get yourself some. Try some. Thank you to Matt Quickley for joining us today. [00:51:40] Speaker A: You guys appreciate it. Cheers. [00:51:42] Speaker C: Cheers. Yeah, Been great. [00:51:43] Speaker A: Thanks for having me on this.