Episode 85
Ben Long Tended Bar at the Ends of the Earth
Breweries are actually in the hospitality business. Ben Long, former tap room manager at McFleshman's, shares his journey into the hospitality world and the team reminisces on his impact on the taproom. Including board games on the tables, pub club perks, and adding tipping back!
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TIMELINE
00:00 Welcome!
00:38 A Long Journey in the Hospitality Industry
04:25 Adventures in Alaska
12:11 Joining McFleshman's Brewery
22:03 Navigating Politics at the Brewery
24:45 The Tipping Policy Debate
33:19 Farewell and Future Plans
35:32 Support us on Patreon!
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CREDITS
Hosts:
Joel Hermansen
Music by Sarah Lynn Huss
Recorded & Produced by David Kalsow
Brought to you by McFleshman's Brewing Co
Transcript
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Respecting the Beer.
Gary Arndt:My name is Gary Arndt.
Gary Arndt:With me back on the show are the good doctors Allison and Bobby Fleshman who are both in competition to become the next doctor on BBC.
Gary Arndt:So, yeah, on they're getting a real doctor to beat the doctor.
Gary Arndt:Oh my God.
Gary Arndt:They're taking a new step.
Gary Arndt:And the man who used to be what was, what was your title?
Gary Arndt:The?
Ben Long:The Taproom Manager?
Gary Arndt:Yes.
Gary Arndt:All, all things.
Gary Arndt:Sure.
Gary Arndt:Let's call it that.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:The former taproom manager here at McFleshman's, Ben Long
Ben Long:Thanks for having me.
Ben Long:Appreciate it.
Allison Fleshman:So Ben started working with us.
Allison Fleshman:Good.
Allison Fleshman:No, it's 2, 3, 3 years ago.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:February 14th was my first day.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:Of 2020.
Allison Fleshman:4, 3,
Ben Long:2, 20, 23, I think.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Right.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Anyway, so Ben worked with us came from a lot of experience, but oh my gosh, we learned so much.
Allison Fleshman:And we're excited to have him back in the tap room.
Allison Fleshman:Yay.
Allison Fleshman:But yeah, so I guess what, where did you come from to, to catch the audience up?
Allison Fleshman:Yeah,
Bobby Fleshman:Allison and I are not from the hospitality world.
Bobby Fleshman:No, we're not.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh my God.
Bobby Fleshman:The
Allison Fleshman:stuff we learned from Ben, it was like, there was, there's MLE men's before Ben, and there's MLE men's after Ben, and if you've enjoyed the tap room experience anytime recently, it is because of Ben Long.
Allison Fleshman:So we couldn't be more thankful.
Allison Fleshman:So anyway, so how did you get to here?
Ben Long:Well, I appreciate that both of you.
Ben Long:This was awesome.
Ben Long:I loved working here.
Ben Long:It was so much fun.
Ben Long:These two are definitely the smartest people I've ever met when it comes to the beer side of things.
Ben Long:And I, I feel like I was just in the right moment looking for a, a quote unquote fun job.
Ben Long:Something that would gimme the freedom to.
Ben Long:Yeah, experiment with what I've learned in my industry.
Ben Long:Uh, I've been in the hospitality industry right at, since I was 13.
Ben Long:Really?
Ben Long:I was busting tables.
Ben Long:I started cooking food when I was 16 years old.
Ben Long:Um, and then I took a four year hiatus.
Ben Long:When was the 2007.
Ben Long:I was in the Army for 2007 to 2011, but then immediately, I think freshman year of college, six months in, I became a general manager of a college bar.
Ben Long:And if anyone's been to University of Illinois, you understand what Big 10 country is and that party lifestyle.
Ben Long:So you, there's a lot of learning there.
Ben Long:And then I kind of just traveled around.
Ben Long:I did three or four years at a bunch of different spots.
Ben Long:I was in California, I was in Hawaii.
Ben Long:Previous to here I was in, uh, Alaska.
Ben Long:And Alaska was, that was a fun one.
Ben Long:That was where COVID had just hit.
Ben Long:I was living in Chicago.
Ben Long:I thought I would never leave Chicago.
Ben Long:Uh, I was working at a spot called Fat Poor Tap Works.
Ben Long:Shout out Fat Poor.
Ben Long:Think they just opened up like their fifth and sixth location in Chicago.
Ben Long:It was my kickoff to craft beer, even though I wasn't aware of it.
Ben Long:I was still late twenties, still living my Ben Long Wildlife, just like three years get bored, be like, all right, time to pack my bags and go to the next spot.
Ben Long:But then COVID happened.
Gary Arndt:I figured you'd wanna stay in Chicago for Malort.
Ben Long:Yeah, and you can beat the Malort prices there.
Ben Long:Dollar Malorts.
Ben Long:And I did bring a bottom Malort to McFleshman's, uh, behind the bar for some of the pub clubbers
Allison Fleshman:Happen to order one today from a distributor and the penalty to replace it.
Bobby Fleshman:That's the, so that's the penalty for dropping dice on the floor between our pub club, is that right?
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:They have to do a shot of that.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yep,
Ben Long:yep.
Ben Long:So at least once a week there'll be a couple yelling people and you're like, what's going on?
Ben Long:It's just like, gimme some Malort It's like, oh, that's dangerous.
Gary Arndt:Right now as we're speaking.
Gary Arndt:The na, the Mensa National Gathering is being held in Chicago and I'm on like their group 'cause I'm a member and all these people are like, where can we find Malort?
Gary Arndt:I'm like, these people are supposed to be smart.
Gary Arndt:Why are you doing this?
Bobby Fleshman:Talk about a brand who's laid in or leaned into that.
Bobby Fleshman:Just medicine.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gary Arndt:They're not about, and and for those of you and you to have who don't know what it is and are listening, it's, it's awful.
Gary Arndt:And it's the reason why all the sport teams in Chicago suck.
Ben Long:Wow.
Ben Long:Well it's debatable.
Ben Long:Cubs are in first place this year, baby.
Ben Long:We're rocking and rolling.
Gary Arndt:They're the Cubs.
Gary Arndt:That's true.
Gary Arndt:They win.
Gary Arndt:That's true.
Gary Arndt:A championship once a century.
Gary Arndt:I don't think that's,
Allison Fleshman:that's better record than some.
Ben Long:It's true.
Ben Long:Milwaukee still.
Ben Long:Huh?
Ben Long:Looking,
Gary Arndt:the pope is probably gonna be using Malort for communion.
Allison Fleshman:So you were in Alaska to connect the new base, go back to Alaska.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:So yeah, I leave Chicago and I go to Alaska.
Ben Long:I end up in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I started working as.
Ben Long:An assistant general manager, um, at this point, like I had left Chicago and I'd been at GM or an A GM in those roles for seven years probably give or take.
Ben Long:And so when I got to Alaska, I got into a sports bar.
Ben Long:I had 40, it was a sports bar, but craft bar as well.
Ben Long:They had 40 taps and all 40 were only Alaskan beers.
Ben Long:So you had to be an Alaska brewery just to be on tap there.
Gary Arndt:I don't think I've ever asked you this.
Gary Arndt:Why Fairbanks?
Gary Arndt:Because that's the end of the road, the end
Ben Long:it's man, pretty literally.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:It's actually really funny.
Ben Long:I love just adventures and I love doing new things.
Ben Long:So I went in, on Indeed, I was at my sister's right at the pandemic hit.
Ben Long:I went, helped her out in Georgia.
Ben Long:And then while I'm there for a couple months, I'm like applying to the States with the lease restrictions.
Ben Long:Being in the hospitality industry, Chicago was shut down.
Ben Long:I was like, all right.
Ben Long:So I went Florida, houston, Texas, and Fairbanks, Alaska, but it wasn't Fairbanks, it was more or less just Alaska in general.
Ben Long:I just jump on Indeed and I type in general manager bar or sports bar, something like that.
Ben Long:And this job popped up and in my head, I'm just like sitting there for probably a week and I send in my application.
Ben Long:'cause I send in 10 applications a day, just like everybody else looking for a job.
Ben Long:And as they're one of the first ones to respond.
Ben Long:And I'm thinking, where is Fairbanks, Alaska?
Ben Long:Like, I had no idea.
Ben Long:I was like, oh, it's in Alaska.
Bobby Fleshman:Is it above the circle?
Bobby Fleshman:The Arctic circle?
Ben Long:Not quite.
Gary Arndt:Not quite.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:But it is the farthest northern city.
Allison Fleshman:But close enough.
Allison Fleshman:I mean, if you're, yeah, it's right there.
Allison Fleshman:If you have to ask that, they're pretty damn far north.
Ben Long:Yes.
Ben Long:It's two hours, an hour and a half, give or take from Denali State Park.
Ben Long:So it's like you're, and it's in a crater.
Ben Long:So in Fairbanks you could drive up two miles just up the mountain and it's probably 20 degrees warmer.
Ben Long:Then during the winter where for six months, minus 20 to minus 30 is your high.
Gary Arndt:I had a friend from college who was from Fairbanks and he said that they would leave their cars run overnight.
Ben Long:Yep.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:If you didn't have a plugin to keep your battery and your oil Yep.
Ben Long:Warm.
Ben Long:Yep.
Ben Long:You a hundred percent.
Ben Long:I couldn't count the times that I forgot to leave the car running or to plug it in.
Ben Long:And then you go outside and you're like, well, I got a dead battery.
Ben Long:And luckily like, you're so far north, it's kind of like when I lived in Hawaii, it's Hawaiian time.
Ben Long:It's Alaskan time.
Ben Long:People are just like, well, as long as you show it to work, you're here.
Ben Long:'cause we can't really ask or depend on anybody else.
Ben Long:'cause Yeah, you're in the ice sheets.
Ben Long:But yeah, up there I, I mean I dove straight in work full time.
Ben Long:I, oh, let's go back.
Ben Long:So the reason why I went was after I applied to the job, the general manager called me up one time because there's a four, six hour difference, something like that.
Ben Long:And.
Ben Long:He called me up and it was 2:00 AM his time, which was like 6:00 AM for me.
Ben Long:And so I'm up starting my day and I'm getting a FaceTime from a an Alaska number.
Ben Long:And I take it, he's a little tipsy.
Ben Long:Go Steve.
Ben Long:And he's just talked to me about just like, Hey, I'm from Ohio.
Ben Long:I've never been up here.
Ben Long:'cause I, I told my worries.
Ben Long:I was like, dude, Alaska, like, do I really want to do it?
Ben Long:And he's just like, what else are you gonna do?
Ben Long:He's like, everything's closed.
Ben Long:Like this is the adventure.
Ben Long:And he was similar to my age and I was like, all right, you know what?
Ben Long:If my boss is gonna drunk, call me at 2:00 AM I think this is gonna be fun to work for a guy and get paid to live in Alaska.
Ben Long:And that's essentially the reason why I chose to go to Alaska,
Bobby Fleshman:To, to connect my previous life with.
Bobby Fleshman:So I was a scientist, a astronomer, astrophysicist Aurora was, was my thing.
Bobby Fleshman:A lot of Aurora, right?
Bobby Fleshman:In Fairbanks.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Also known as the Northern Lights.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Northern Lights.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:The, yeah, the Aurora Boal Northern Lights.
Gary Arndt:The university there is the one that does the, uh, online weather
Bobby Fleshman:Yep.
Gary Arndt:For Auroras.
Bobby Fleshman:Yep.
Bobby Fleshman:Yep.
Bobby Fleshman:And I have colleagues who worked there, university Fairbanks last.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:Um, beautiful.
Ben Long:So during the winter, from September 1st, I would say until probably April 1st, you would get to see the Aurora Borealis four days a week minimum.
Ben Long:If the, oh my gosh.
Ben Long:If it was clear.
Ben Long:I mean, my pho, the photos on my phone, I'm talking translucent colors, you, you'll never see in this world.
Ben Long:It makes you think of a higher power.
Allison Fleshman:Wow.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:So what brought you back?
Ben Long:Oh man.
Ben Long:What brought me back?
Ben Long:So being in Alaska, I worked as the a GM for like six months, and within that six months, the owner of the tavern that I was working for, he also owned this dispensary that needed a kitchen.
Ben Long:Um, so this is kind of where I jumped in and I saw an opportunity.
Ben Long:I was like, well, I can work for myself and make the same amount of money.
Ben Long:Not knowing that being an owner operator is a lot tougher and so I respect Allison and Bobby a lot 'cause it is H E double hockey sticks.
Allison Fleshman:Right?
Allison Fleshman:It is.
Allison Fleshman:I feel seen.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:It is everything in anything you think you have a day off and that's not, that doesn't exist.
Ben Long:It never does.
Ben Long:Even on your days off, you are on your phone doing something.
Bobby Fleshman:It's a child that never grows up.
Bobby Fleshman:Yes.
Bobby Fleshman:It's 100%
Allison Fleshman:always a always nursing infant that will not wean.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:So I did that for two years.
Ben Long:And then I was coming up on my lease slash the laws in Alaska.
Ben Long:We changing.
Ben Long:So I came to visit my brother James.
Ben Long:He lived in Kaukauna just a town 15 minutes from here.
Ben Long:I came visit him in November and realized that Appleton is very much like Fairbanks except there are a lot more bars and everyone loves old fashions, and I did not know what that was.
Ben Long:And so I was just like, well, this would be fun, it'd be new.
Ben Long:Plus all the rules had started, people started opening up again.
Ben Long:The pandemic was kind of getting controlled, and I saw an opportunity to sell my company and move back down here.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Bobby Fleshman:Wait, did you skip over your menu, because that's important to this story.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, well, my menu You opened next to it with a dispensary, so, yeah, so
Ben Long:I, I opened a kitchen inside a dispensary, and so this was the first s smoking bar inside a dispensary in the nation.
Ben Long:So they, I mean, it took them probably three or four years to get all the permits.
Ben Long:And I opened up, it was called the Cheesehead joint.
Ben Long:I am a Packers fan, even though I'm from Illinois and.
Ben Long:So when I was there, I was like, well, I know the Green Bay Packers would never find me up here, so I'm gonna call it the Cheesehead joint and think that worst comes worse.
Ben Long:If I get sued, that's gonna be awesome.
Gary Arndt:That's not a trademark term.
Ben Long:Yeah, well I just, I assume so.
Ben Long:No.
Ben Long:Yeah,
Allison Fleshman:it is.
Allison Fleshman:The Packers, you don't know.
Allison Fleshman:Like it's,
Ben Long:I could see a cease and desist happening.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:They, they have.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Even
Gary Arndt:Packers generically is you can use, but Green Bay Packers, you can't Ah,
Allison Fleshman:oh, so if you just did Cheesehead Yeah.
Gary Arndt:Cheese head's fine.
Ben Long:They don't have any sort.
Ben Long:See, I, I text Gary about this and he did not respond.
Bobby Fleshman:He's very confident.
Bobby Fleshman:So Gary's so confident though.
Bobby Fleshman:He he can get right to the edge Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Of
Gary Arndt:Cheeseheads are just the name that that fans gave themselves.
Gary Arndt:There's no.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Ben Long:Proprietary.
Ben Long:Proprietary.
Ben Long:There's nothing.
Ben Long:But what else did you make?
Bobby Fleshman:What else did you make?
Bobby Fleshman:So, but I, yeah,
Ben Long:so I did, uh, loaded mac and cheeses loaded, grilled cheese, loaded tater tots, and then cereal milkshakes.
Ben Long:We did four things that, that's the punchline.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Cereal milkshakes.
Ben Long:It was, it was so much fun.
Gary Arndt:But I made kitchen at a dispensary is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:Oh, a hundred percent.
Ben Long:Like make it quick.
Ben Long:Built in demand.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:Easy and heavy portions.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:Oh yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Can you do like Cheeto sprinkles on these?
Ben Long:Oh yeah.
Ben Long:Cool.
Ben Long:Ranch Doritos.
Ben Long:And Cheetos and chili cheese.
Ben Long:Fritos.
Ben Long:You'd granulate 'em and those would be your toppings.
Ben Long:Oh my God.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Jump ahead to Mc Fleshman.
Allison Fleshman:So, I don't actually remember when you were hired, because you were, I wasn't part of the interview, I don't think, because we met later.
Allison Fleshman:You'd already been hired when I met you.
Allison Fleshman:But we were looking for a tap room manager and good guy.
Allison Fleshman:I mean, the amount of experience you had, but more than that.
Allison Fleshman:There is an energy that this man brings into a room.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh yeah.
Allison Fleshman:There's something like if you've walked in and he's like, Hey boss, you know, will it be just like there's a make eye contact with the cus the customer immediately feels seen and they're like, he likes me.
Allison Fleshman:It's amazing.
Allison Fleshman:There's a chemistry there,
Bobby Fleshman:but he remembers names, which I can't, he remembers details, which I often can't.
Bobby Fleshman:And that, and that goes with it.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:So he has been, okay.
Allison Fleshman:So Well I said to you and our business manager at the time was like, okay, we've, we've got this guy, he's gonna like dominate the tap room and figure out how to make that sustainable.
Allison Fleshman:Because the hard part is that in the brewing industry we have the, um, the beer production and taproom sales are, it becomes more of an event space.
Allison Fleshman:It's like the taproom sales really carry the beer.
Allison Fleshman:Or carry the business.
Allison Fleshman:And so because we,
Bobby Fleshman:Well, everything's about getting people in the front door,
Allison Fleshman:right?
Allison Fleshman:So all of our distribution, you know, so we sell, you can go to the grocery stores and you can get our six packs there at the grocery store, but that actually doesn't really help the business grow.
Ben Long:No.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:I mean, profit margins, prop margin are so small.
Allison Fleshman:But the tap room, that's where, so the goal is to get folks in the door to this tap room.
Allison Fleshman:And so not only is it like we put all this effort into building the building, but then we were like, wait, we need to invest in the people who know how to run it.
Allison Fleshman:And that's where Ben comes in.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:So that was, that was a fun one.
Ben Long:I was actually, so when I moved here, I actually took a job and I was a general manager of Buffalo Wild Wings.
Ben Long:And so I was doing that for three months while also I started a business with my sister-in-law.
Ben Long:And that was a meal prep business.
Ben Long:So we were doing kind of both of those for four or five months.
Ben Long:Then we had a point where my business was doing well enough.
Ben Long:I was like, all right.
Ben Long:I can't do the standards by Buffalo Wild Wings.
Ben Long:I was like, I don't want to give them my all.
Ben Long:And I went on Indeed again and just typed in manager and I saw this and I was like, huh, they don't do tips.
Ben Long:This was, I was like, 20 bucks an hour.
Ben Long:I was like, I could do this and this.
Ben Long:They're looking for like a bar manager, so somebody be more front of house.
Ben Long:I was at the point where like, again, running, helping run my own business in the meal prep, I'm just like, I can't be an owner again.
Ben Long:It'd be fun if somebody is smart enough to make a good product and me just try to sell it.
Ben Long:And then during the interview, Bobby, the first thing he said was like, Ooh, I need a beer.
Ben Long:Do you need a beer?
Ben Long:And I was like, holy shoot, they're gonna let me drink during this interview.
Ben Long:And I was like, all right, I think I'm sold immediately.
Ben Long:This be fun.
Ben Long:And they're just like, so what's your favorite beer?
Ben Long:And I'm, and in my head I'm like, I've pretty much only drank IPAs.
Ben Long:And at that time it was Space Dust.
Ben Long:Oh yeah.
Ben Long:Which I know isn't like.
Ben Long:That's good stuff.
Gary Arndt:I have never heard of this.
Ben Long:Oh, Elysium, I, it's a great brewing company.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Is it a hazy?
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:So Zombie Dust is Three Floyd's, three Floyds Space Dust.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, so this is,
Gary Arndt:this is not, I, this is not a McManns.
Ben Long:No, no.
Ben Long:Got it, got it.
Ben Long:Oh no.
Ben Long:My first beer here was 5 4 7.
Ben Long:Let's be real.
Ben Long:Wouldn't it be
Gary Arndt:great
Ben Long:if the bell ran right now?
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:Bobby's like, oh, you like IPAs?
Ben Long:Well here, let, let's uh, introduce you to this.
Allison Fleshman:You gave him an 8% beer on his interview.
Bobby Fleshman:Eight.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah,
Ben Long:yeah.
Ben Long:Well, the sign said 8.4, so I mean,
Gary Arndt:Closest thing to a lie detector legally do pretty much serum.
Ben Long:I that one down.
Ben Long:And I was like, well, you know what?
Ben Long:Let's just be honest.
Ben Long:Right guys.
Ben Long:Let's be friends.
Gary Arndt:Okay.
Gary Arndt:So you have all this experience.
Gary Arndt:You've done sports bars, stuff like that.
Gary Arndt:This is not a sports bar.
Gary Arndt:No.
Gary Arndt:So what did you have to do here that was unique to this place and different from all the other places that you've worked?
Gary Arndt:worked.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:So pub club membership, so there was.
Ben Long:The great thing about this place was every Monday, no matter what, give or take, you know, we'll do Tuesday if we're busy, but we have a staff meeting, a manager meeting, quote unquote right on there to talk about goals, what we're expecting, what we're trying to do, how to build the business.
Ben Long:It's there to float ideas, stupid ones or good ones.
Ben Long:It doesn't really matter.
Ben Long:Ideas are ideas.
Ben Long:And the big thing is people need gimmicks to be at a place.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:And this place was the first time that I actually was able to really go into the Imagination Station, which is my brain.
Ben Long:And everybody knows me, you know, conspiracy band, there's a lot up there.
Bobby Fleshman:We'll do a flat Earth after this flat Earth episode.
Ben Long:Well, you know, just look at the phone, look at the maps.
Ben Long:Anyway so this place was like the Pub Club membership was the big one where they explained the Pub Club membership to me.
Ben Long:And they showed me the wall, they showed me the awards, and I was very.
Ben Long:Enthralled enthused.
Ben Long:I was, I was like, holy moly, do what?
Ben Long:And then we started looking at the data, and that was probably two weeks in where we were just like, all right, well let's look how much the pub club are here.
Ben Long:And times that by what they're using, what they're utilizing.
Ben Long:And we're just like, wow.
Ben Long:So we really should invest more into the pub club.
Ben Long:Like they're the ones who keep us open during the cold months.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:Uhhuh
Ben Long:during the summer, I mean, we have the largest beer garden in Appleton.
Ben Long:It's the most beautiful beer garden.
Ben Long:Like you have your hops growing out there.
Ben Long:It's like a German hot, Meeks, Appleton, Wisconsin esque.
Ben Long:And the people, the beer and the product was everything in anything.
Ben Long:So for us, like, how do you capitalize on the pub club membership?
Ben Long:And this was us, we enhanced all of their rewards.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:Um, and then for myself, I lived blocks away.
Ben Long:I lived four blocks away, I think.
Ben Long:And so I would spend every day here no matter what.
Ben Long:And so the pub and being somebody new, I didn't have friends.
Ben Long:So the pub club became my friends because they're about our friends.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:Gary.
Ben Long:We're friends, man.
Ben Long:We sometimes text non,
Gary Arndt:What's my middle name?
Bobby Fleshman:Are friends.
Ben Long:I, I can't say that on the podcast, dude.
Ben Long:It's like asking about your social.
Ben Long:I'm not gonna give it out.
Allison Fleshman:So one of the things that Ben told me years ago, and it just really stuck with me and now I, I like use it to like, if an idea comes my way, he's like, people just want shit to do.
Allison Fleshman:And I'm like, whoa.
Allison Fleshman:There was like this mind blown moment of like, people just want something to do.
Allison Fleshman:And so now, like right now we have, um, printed out 5, 4, 7 black and white coloring pages with crayons on the tables from our 5, 4, 7 day week.
Allison Fleshman:And adults do it more than the kids Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Week.
Allison Fleshman:And adults are loving it.
Allison Fleshman:And so I asked Matt, our beer tenders like, Hey, are people still using the crayons?
Allison Fleshman:He's like, people, yes, there's at least one turned in every day and people just want stuff to do.
Ben Long:People want stuff to do.
Ben Long:And so that was.
Ben Long:We enhanced the table game.
Ben Long:So I was allowed to essentially buy like one table game a month.
Ben Long:That's kind of the budget I gave myself.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:So what, well, I mean, realistically, I probably bought five the first time, and then Allison was like, Hey, what are you doing?
Ben Long:Why are we spending so much here?
Ben Long:It was cool.
Ben Long:I was just like,
Allison Fleshman:Hey, what's up, man?
Allison Fleshman:That's neat.
Allison Fleshman:But it, it totally worked.
Bobby Fleshman:But we, but we're not running like you said, we, we are giving people stuff to do.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:We, we run, we run an event space more than, or as much as we do a taproom.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Long:We want this to be your second home.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:Essentially without the televisions.
Ben Long:Yes.
Ben Long:It's like, you know, serve, we serve great beer and conversation.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:And they created the best beer.
Ben Long:I'll tell Bobby this all the time.
Ben Long:I think it's the top five brewer in the world, and uh so underrated.
Ben Long:This beer is ridiculous.
Ben Long:And so for me at this place, it was easy.
Ben Long:I was just like, all right, sell fun, sell self fun.
Allison Fleshman:Oh my, my sell.
Allison Fleshman:God, that's so true.
Allison Fleshman:Well, and we made the stupid mistake when we first opened, I mean, this is a school of hard knocks where we were like, we have the beer, they will come.
Allison Fleshman:And we didn't think about.
Allison Fleshman:Like the actual
Bobby Fleshman:How to sell it market.
Allison Fleshman:Well, not only how to sell it, but also how to make it to where we're not.
Allison Fleshman:You said before you've been in the hospitality business since you were born practically.
Allison Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Allison Fleshman:And we didn't realize we were getting into the hospitality business.
Allison Fleshman:We were like, oh, we're getting into the beer brewing business.
Allison Fleshman:I'm not sure I'd even, beer nerds were, it was the one that helped us realize, we're like, and I think Bobby and I realized after he'd been with us for about a year or so, I was like, we run a hospitality business.
Allison Fleshman:It was like this light bulb, like ship, Hey, there's a dictionary.
Gary Arndt:The movie Field of Dreams has ruined more businesses.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah, it really has.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:And, and in a place like this, you have to put people in roles that you're not able to fulfill yourself.
Gary Arndt:And this isn't a big community.
Bobby Fleshman:No.
Gary Arndt:In the big scheme of things, no.
Gary Arndt:But there's still.
Gary Arndt:We have a lot of bars.
Gary Arndt:Yep.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:And there's lots of places to go.
Gary Arndt:And you could drive past this a dozen times.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:And I'm sure there's all places like that, that we've all done.
Gary Arndt:We, yeah.
Gary Arndt:We don't know what it is.
Gary Arndt:Like, oh, what is that?
Gary Arndt:And so you really have to put in the effort to, to, to get people in the door.
Bobby Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Bobby Fleshman:And then when they're here, you need people behind the bar to, to represent,
Ben Long:To make a good memory.
Bobby Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Long:You know, like, what is it?
Ben Long:John Tapper.
Ben Long:Jake Tapper, not Jake Tapper, I think that's CNN, John Tavr from, the Bar Rescue.
Ben Long:Bar Rescue.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, yes.
Bobby Fleshman:I don't,
Ben Long:he does to talk about, and this is something that stuck with me, is like, if you can get a customer here three times, they're like 80% likely that this is their regular spot.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:So it's like you have three tries to make it memorable.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:And in my head, I'm just like, all right, so try to make them And me, it's like I'm a jokester, so try to make them laugh, say something inappropriate.
Ben Long:Well within the lines.
Ben Long:And if not, apologize, because also like honesty is a great thing.
Ben Long:Yes.
Ben Long:The amount of people I'd have to apologize to would, but it was just funny.
Ben Long:But then also, like this space in general, I would say once a week you'd have somebody walk in and be like, oh, I put in the app for some other place, but it led me here.
Ben Long:And they're like, alright, well since I'm here, there's no food.
Ben Long:And I'm like, whoa, just go across the street, get some tacos, go next door, ABF get some food.
Ben Long:But this is the place you want beer.
Ben Long:So if you like beer, this is where you wanna be.
Ben Long:Right, right.
Ben Long:And so it was a, it was a good mix.
Ben Long:It was a good combo.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:And, and not to, before we go out on a high note, I'm sure we're going to go down and up.
Bobby Fleshman:I want, I want to bring up the, the idea of politics.
Bobby Fleshman:So our, our brewery, we, we tend to wear our politics on our sleeves.
Bobby Fleshman:We're, we're very liberal, I would say generally Allison and I personally.
Bobby Fleshman:But we, we don't want that to.
Bobby Fleshman:It to bleed into our brand, to the point that it, that it keeps people from coming in the front door.
Bobby Fleshman:So we try to hire across the board and, and, and so Ben and I have had conversations about how do we not make or we make people feel included across the board.
Bobby Fleshman:'cause we build a community top to bottom.
Bobby Fleshman:Yep.
Bobby Fleshman:Left, right, center.
Bobby Fleshman:Exactly.
Bobby Fleshman:100 percents.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:The idea is rock the vote.
Allison Fleshman:We don't necessarily rock.
Allison Fleshman:The vote is up to choice.
Allison Fleshman:How we said hello to the community choice to choose who you vote for, but we want just everyone vote.
Bobby Fleshman:And this and this climate, the world we live in right now to, to, to take any side of an issue is, is a very dangerous thing to do running a business.
Bobby Fleshman:And Ben has helped us navigate those waters, I think really well.
Allison Fleshman:And I think what you said earlier about just.
Allison Fleshman:Open honesty.
Allison Fleshman:So after your first 5, 4, 7, during the interview, you're like, okay, I'm just gonna be honest.
Allison Fleshman:Here we go.
Allison Fleshman:And I think that's one of the things that, that open, honest conversation, at least for running a business, is crucial with your team.
Allison Fleshman:Because it helped us have some hard conversations at times, but honest ones that could help us navigate, like if we're going, if, if a, um, a group representing one particular political affiliation wanted to rent our space, and we were like, oh, that sounds great.
Allison Fleshman:But then we were like, hang on.
Allison Fleshman:We would we do the, would we also say yes to the group we didn't necessarily agree with?
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:And which that never really happened.
Ben Long:It didn't because most people are aware.
Ben Long:But at the same time it's true.
Ben Long:But
Gary Arndt:you still
Ben Long:have
Gary Arndt:to
Ben Long:like, we had that line, it's our
Allison Fleshman:decision making process.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:We were like, okay, so we'll say if we won't say yes to both groups, we are gonna say no to both groups.
Bobby Fleshman:So my goal was never to build a place that brought people of, that were of like mine.
Bobby Fleshman:That may have happened, but we, we wanted to build a public house.
Bobby Fleshman:Yep.
Bobby Fleshman:I actually wanted to see more arguments than I did agreements.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh.
Bobby Fleshman:And that's what happened.
Bobby Fleshman:When you get Gary together, you're a couple.
Bobby Fleshman:Wait, there some good heated?
Bobby Fleshman:There's some seven debates.
Bobby Fleshman:It's pretty, oh my God.
Bobby Fleshman:Wednesdays are good for that.
Ben Long:My first summer I was like working part-time behind the bar, like a part-time bar manager, part-time working my full-time.
Ben Long:Job at the meal prep and oh man, did I love to push buttons.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:I would push some buttons hard.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:And then I'd have to text that Bobby and Allison, and then they'd have to be the grownups in the situation.
Ben Long:Be like, Hey dude.
Ben Long:So, uh, still gotta be open to everybody, buddy.
Ben Long:Just like, don't go, don't go one side.
Ben Long:Don't just be pushing them.
Ben Long:Oh yeah.
Ben Long:Be like, yeah, I had two or 3, 5, 4 sevens and I kind of forgot.
Bobby Fleshman:Don't you love how every other episode becomes a 5 47 advertisement or not?
Ben Long:It's like a love hate thing.
Allison Fleshman:One of the biggest things that Ben did also for us was Bobby and I naively went in this business having all of our tap In this episode of 'Respecting the Beer,' Gary Arndt interviews Ben Long, former taproom manager at McFleshman's Brewery, along with Drs.
Allison Fleshman:Allison and Bobby Fleshman.
Allison Fleshman:The group discusses Ben's dynamic career in hospitality, his impact on the taproom, and the pivotal changes in McFleshman's operations, including embracing a tipping culture and fostering community engagement.
Allison Fleshman:Rooms, staff would not accept tips and the tips would go to charity and we would pay living wage and it was lovely.
Allison Fleshman:But then COVID hit and wages as they should went up.
Allison Fleshman:And we just really couldn't compete with rising inflation and everything.
Allison Fleshman:And then, um, Ben was like having that hard conversation about we really should accept tips.
Gary Arndt:We've never talked about this on this podcast we have.
Allison Fleshman:Now would be the time.
Allison Fleshman:'Cause this is the man that helped, like, convinced us that it was not the best idea
Gary Arndt:When you opened.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:No tipping was a thing.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:Which is very rare in North America.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:And quite frankly having traveled around the world, I kind of prefer.
Gary Arndt:Not tipping, right?
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:People come here from outside the country.
Gary Arndt:It's confusing.
Gary Arndt:Yep.
Gary Arndt:Yep.
Gary Arndt:If you've lived in it your whole life, and I've talked about this, like my relative who's never left the country, and like, what's so confusing?
Gary Arndt:It's like, well, when you go to a restaurant, do you tip like, yeah.
Gary Arndt:What if it's McDonald's?
Gary Arndt:Well then no.
Gary Arndt:Do you tip a cab driver?
Gary Arndt:Do you, you know, what, what about if someone's delivering your, and there's all these little things that we just kind of know.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:That.
Gary Arndt:You don't know, grow up
Allison Fleshman:Well, and typical culture has really Changed over the last decade or two, even more so.
Allison Fleshman:I mean, especially when the digital tipping Canada became a thing.
Allison Fleshman:But we wanted to avoid all that.
Allison Fleshman:We wanted to be like a British pub where you pay what you pay and that's it.
Allison Fleshman:And the staff were getting paid.
Bobby Fleshman:And like Gary, I experienced that and wanted to replicate that.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:And so when we'd travel in Europe, that's what we wanted to try.
Allison Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Allison Fleshman:Um, and it, it worked and didn't work at the same time.
Bobby Fleshman:It's a tough economy because you guys were
Ben Long:Also, it wasn't just, they weren't tipping.
Ben Long:If you were behind the bar, you would get a percentage of the sales.
Ben Long:Oh yeah.
Ben Long:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ben Long:And so like, like it wasn't like, we weren't ever getting tipped.
Ben Long:It was now did not know that.
Ben Long:This is why I loved it here.
Ben Long:'cause I was like, oh wait, you get tipped on your sales percentage, like on the sales.
Ben Long:So, I mean, these guys can attest.
Ben Long:Bobby makes more graphs than I've ever seen in my life.
Ben Long:I don't even know I have this, I have this shirt.
Ben Long:The craftman,
Bobby Fleshman:the, yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Right.
Bobby Fleshman:The staff gave me a shirt that says Freak in the sheets with the spreadsheet.
Bobby Fleshman:So spreadsheet reference.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:So.
Gary Arndt:With, so no tips, but a percentage of sales.
Gary Arndt:Yep.
Gary Arndt:Why did you change?
Gary Arndt:Because you were, you even had a write up in the local newspaper.
Bobby Fleshman:Well, so I, so I put together the press release because this was so important to us, so foundational to us, so identifiable to our brand.
Allison Fleshman:It was no tips and bees.
Allison Fleshman:Those was the two.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:It was no
Bobby Fleshman:tips.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, you have, you have great music and you have bees and you don't do tips.
Bobby Fleshman:We hear all this stuff.
Bobby Fleshman:All And dogs.
Bobby Fleshman:You have dogs.
Bobby Fleshman:Dogs, yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:All the dogs.
Bobby Fleshman:That's our whole brand.
Bobby Fleshman:All the things changed.
Bobby Fleshman:So two of three things all are gone.
Bobby Fleshman:Things changed.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Well, the dog one lost.
Bobby Fleshman:We'll have that one later on.
Allison Fleshman:But, so in the end there were, there were, um, Ben came to me and we had a conversation.
Allison Fleshman:He was like, your staff, like basically the bartenders have to decline tips.
Allison Fleshman:Like, so someone wants to leave.
Allison Fleshman:That was it.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:A $20 bill on the bar because of excellent service that the fun that they've brought.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:People are feeling special.
Allison Fleshman:They're like, here's a 20, you know, I've got a $30 tip.
Allison Fleshman:Here's a 20.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:I mean, and then numerically they're gonna make more.
Bobby Fleshman:I mean, yes, that obviously is more money, but, but it's Right.
Bobby Fleshman:It's.
Bobby Fleshman:Being able to be, to be rewarded for your performance.
Allison Fleshman:Ben told me that it wasn't, that we're, you're basically telling someone who wants to give their money, they have the right to vote with their dollar, they wanna give it, and you're saying, no, you, you we're gonna decide for you.
Allison Fleshman:You can't do that.
Allison Fleshman:And I recognize
Bobby Fleshman:She's right about that.
Bobby Fleshman:It was the customer.
Bobby Fleshman:It was the customer that made us decide.
Allison Fleshman:And at that point I was like, oh, I get it now.
Allison Fleshman:Anyway, so he really has this Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:The customer was being weirded out by the situation.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Long:And that it was so hard to just explain it in a nice way that they weren't like slightly offended.
Ben Long:Right.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:And full disclosure, the, the staff now make 25 to 30% more money than they did before.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Long:And it's like, there's also a minimum.
Ben Long:So it's like if you don't hit X amount, you're gonna make $20 an hour.
Bobby Fleshman:Either a shitty Monday shift.
Bobby Fleshman:Yep.
Bobby Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:You're still gonna make good money.
Gary Arndt:That minimum amount.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:Corollary to people, not, uh, places not accepting tips outside of the us.
Gary Arndt:If you're an American and you travel.
Gary Arndt:People love you.
Gary Arndt:Oh, yeah.
Gary Arndt:Because most people are like, oh, here's a dollar extra or something.
Gary Arndt:And we're like, eh, 20%.
Gary Arndt:And they're like, you know, and, and their attitude changes.
Gary Arndt:And I've seen it many times.
Gary Arndt:Whoa.
Gary Arndt:When they, when they know that you're an American.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:Like, because they know
Ben Long:Get faster service.
Ben Long:Yep.
Ben Long:They're way more friendly with you.
Ben Long:And do they even have friendly, was big like this whenever I went there.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Do they even know how to, to accept money or they just stick it right in their pocket?
Bobby Fleshman:How does that even work in other countries?
Bobby Fleshman:I don't know.
Bobby Fleshman:It's not my problem.
Ben Long:It meant for them to deal with, I just needed a Lucy after 12 beers.
Allison Fleshman:No.
Allison Fleshman:So I think that, I mean, when I, when I,
Bobby Fleshman:But, but, but I would say that press release came out and I was worried about it.
Bobby Fleshman:Not a peep, not a single person came out.
Allison Fleshman:No, no.
Allison Fleshman:A lot of people at a lot of our regulars were like, thank God.
Allison Fleshman:Finally.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:It was the other way around.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Long:There's, it was a pub club.
Ben Long:There's again, like, that's the beauty about this place.
Ben Long:It, it's never like a one or two person decision.
Ben Long:It was.
Ben Long:Sometimes there's gonna be an quote unquote anonymous questionnaire that goes out.
Ben Long:Oh yeah.
Ben Long:It's like we can tell by the answer who it is, like 100%, there's 12 people.
Ben Long:It's all the same, but we wish be pushing more 5, 4, 7.
Ben Long:It's like, okay, Joel..
Gary Arndt:Acknowledgement that we're in the United states.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:And that was the social norm.
Ben Long:That was it.
Ben Long:And the cost of living was growing, going up.
Ben Long:Things weren't getting cheaper.
Bobby Fleshman:I, I don't think that it was a bad idea to try.
Bobby Fleshman:I, I think that it, it, it, it is so much about our brand and, and it, and it reflected our approach to business.
Bobby Fleshman:But in the end, you're right.
Bobby Fleshman:We live in America and our customers spoke.
Bobby Fleshman:Our staff spoke, and Yeah.
Gary Arndt:And the, the big difference is your staff.
Gary Arndt:It's not like.
Gary Arndt:A lot of people who wait tables where they have to get tips.
Gary Arndt:No.
Gary Arndt:Right, right.
Gary Arndt:This is true.
Gary Arndt:We have
Ben Long:And that's, and that's something we pushed onto customers being like,
Ben Long:Hey, if you don't want a tip like the old way Oh yeah.
Ben Long:We don't need it.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:And because, and that's something I would have, I train the staff into think.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:And being like, listen, do not beg for that tip.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:'cause no matter what, even if 30% of people don't tip you, you're making more than what you did before.
Ben Long:Right.
Ben Long:And that's something with, with staff as a manager, it's a lot of chi like childcare.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:And I'm just learning this because I'm having my first kid and yay, we're results excited.
Ben Long:All the daddy books are here.
Ben Long:They come.
Ben Long:But it's, I just repetitive, like you'd have to remind staff just like, Hey dude, like, or dudette, just remember what it was two years ago.
Ben Long:I was like, we can go back to that standard.
Ben Long:And it'd be like, oh yeah, nevermind.
Ben Long:So it's like, not, not something you wanted to enforce people to tip, but it's just like, how do you make tips?
Ben Long:Right?
Ben Long:And it's just like, make a memory, go out and start talking, but make sure you're not talking too much.
Ben Long:And I know there's a line because we only have one person on staff and you're just like, well, I just wanna talk about this.
Ben Long:It's like, listen, sometimes you gotta like hustle and bustle.
Ben Long:Joel, you still got, yeah, she's not here, but trust us.
Ben Long:We will text him this so we're not talking about it's back.
Gary Arndt:And while you're here, you brought this up 'cause I've mentioned this to you many times.
Gary Arndt:I think you should have one screen.
Bobby Fleshman:I think we should have an old tube set up here.
Gary Arndt:Oh, okay.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:Not, not downstairs, but a communal thing.
Gary Arndt:And you would bring in a lot more money.
Gary Arndt:If you had it open for Packer games.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:And I've talked to Chad about this.
Gary Arndt:Well, this is our, you could be the English Premier League thing.
Gary Arndt:Yeah, yeah.
Gary Arndt:Uh, so a projector type thing.
Ben Long:So, so the rules and laws within this, this was our biggest, there's a rule and it's like, whether you show hospitality upstairs has to be seen downstairs.
Ben Long:Mm. So if we were to show a game up here, which we would, what rule rules is this?
Ben Long:Oh, this, this is a law in Wisconsin.
Bobby Fleshman:It's Ada A rules.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:It's ada, a Rules American Disability Association.
Ben Long:'cause we don't have it.
Ben Long:Yeah, we don't have the elevator.
Ben Long:Elevator.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:Which is, it's in the, it's in the business plan.
Ben Long:Plan.
Ben Long:Oh my gosh.
Ben Long:Alley.
Allison Fleshman:If, if any of our listeners would like to have an elevator named after them.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh yes.
Bobby Fleshman:A donation.
Bobby Fleshman:We will gold plate it $150,000.
Allison Fleshman:Follow us on Patreon and then donate more.
Bobby Fleshman:Meanwhile, we have a forklift that goes 18 feet in air.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:So that works.
Allison Fleshman:Do we really
Ben Long:want, allegedly, allegedly.
Ben Long:We may or may not have allowed ADA up here.
Ben Long:We may, may not.
Ben Long:We have a pub cover we should bring up,
Bobby Fleshman:Let's get Evan on this podcast.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Long:It's the Evan rule.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:Um, so yes, we do love, did love that.
Ben Long:Love that idea.
Ben Long:So back to the brewery.
Allison Fleshman:So, um, I have nowhere to go with that.
Allison Fleshman:You have no script?
Allison Fleshman:I have no script.
Allison Fleshman:so Ben is moving on with a new excitement baby on the way.
Allison Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Allison Fleshman:Which we are super, super excited about.
Allison Fleshman:And we are excited to see where you go next.
Bobby Fleshman:Also, bionic Mann surgery, he's getting a new arm.
Bobby Fleshman:That's right.
Ben Long:Yeah.
Ben Long:I gotta get my shoulder worked on.
Ben Long:So that was like, I had a bunch of things coming up.
Ben Long:It's my first kid kind of freaking out about that have, uh, shoulder surgery that I've been ignoring for 15 years now.
Ben Long:And
Allison Fleshman:which is in a couple weeks?
Ben Long:Yeah, July 22nd.
Ben Long:I mean, it was supposed to be in June, now it's end of July, but it, that's a four to six month turnaround.
Ben Long:So it was more or less, a lot of stresses in life hit me and I'm like, you know what?
Ben Long:Maybe I just need to take a break.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:I was like, I need, 'cause as much as I love working here, I mean I love, I was here.
Ben Long:Mm-hmm.
Ben Long:Whether if I wasn't working, I was just here drinking.
Ben Long:I'm here having fun.
Ben Long:I. People to experience that.
Ben Long:Like I even just now when I walked in, haven't been here, well, I, I still come here twice a week just to be safe.
Ben Long:But, um, some of the pub lovers, I still just go outside and hang out and it was like, Hey, let me buy you a beer.
Ben Long:And they're like, Hey, sorry you're leaving.
Ben Long:I'm like, listen, I have a kick on me.
Ben Long:They're like, oh, well we're done with that.
Ben Long:And it was like, good luck.
Ben Long:And I just like,
Gary Arndt:I remember the advice my dad told me when I became an adult.
Gary Arndt:He said, Gary, if you ever have a kid quit your job beforehand.
Ben Long:Really?
Gary Arndt:No, he didn't.
Gary Arndt:No one ever says that.
Ben Long:See, Gary had a straight face when he said that.
Ben Long:Oh, that was good.
Ben Long:Maybe remember?
Ben Long:I was like, that was good.
Ben Long:You know what, man?
Ben Long:Thank you.
Ben Long:I needed to hear that.
Ben Long:'cause Katie needs to hear that.
Bobby Fleshman:Well, but Gary did say it so you can say Katie.
Bobby Fleshman:Gary said it.
Bobby Fleshman:And Gary's smart dude.
Bobby Fleshman:Although we have, we have How many followers do you have, Katie?
Ben Long:And I, and I'm opposite of that.
Ben Long:Like, I've always loved front of house.
Ben Long:I, I worked, I mean I, in this industry itself, I mean, I worked on the line in the kitchen, I worked as a kitchen manager, I worked as server, door guy, bartender.
Ben Long:I was like, the first time I ever served a bartender, I was the only male in a all female staff.
Ben Long:It was like going into Hooters.
Ben Long:And you'd see me because, and there are pictures of me with jorts and cutoffs because I'm like, Hey, but on Fridays and Saturdays I make a lot of money dressed like this.
Ben Long:Boystown.
Bobby Fleshman:Wait, jorts and Cutoffs.
Bobby Fleshman:Where's
Bobby Fleshman:my phone?
Bobby Fleshman:I gotta text Billy.
Gary Arndt:Well, I think that we'll conclude this episode of Respecting the Beer.
Gary Arndt:The producer of Respecting the Beer is David Kalsow Without David, there would be no show.
Gary Arndt:Amen.
Gary Arndt:Make sure to subscribe to the show on your preferred podcast players so you never miss an episode.
Gary Arndt:And feel free to join the Facebook group to get updates between episodes and support the show over on Patreon, where you can get beer and all sorts of stuff that gets cut from these episodes, some of which is actually quite entertaining.
Gary Arndt:Links to both of these are in the show notes.
Gary Arndt:And until next time, please remember to respect the beer.
