#11 - The Élavive Edit - Building Nice Days with Aleksey Kernes

Aleksey Kernes is a hospitality entrepreneur and experiential marketing strategist known for building culture-driven brands at the intersection of coffee, nightlife, and lifestyle.

As the founder of Have A Nice Day Coffee and Nice Day Moto, he creates high-impact, revenue-generating experiences—from nitro cold brew and espresso martini systems used in top venues, to a one-of-a-kind motorcycle coffee shop that blends rebellion with hospitality.

Previously, Aleksey co-founded HOOCH, scaling it to thousands of venues nationwide through strategic partnerships and large-scale events.

His work lives where energy, community, and execution meet—designing concepts that are activation-ready, built to travel, and impossible to ignore.

It’s a nice day to have a nice day.

You can find Aleksey on Instagram @alekseykernes and his work here

@haveanicedaycoffee + @nicedaymoto + @theconcord.nyc 

Explore the future of wellness and performance at www.elavive.com, and join our community on Instagram @elaviveus.

Original music by Emily Gabriele.

#LiveElevated #ElevateYourTeam

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Here's something that most people don't know. It takes just 90 seconds for an emotion to move through the body. Everything after that is a story we choose to keep repeating. So if you've been hearing stress, pause, take a breath and then let the wave move through. Welcome to the Elevated Edit. I'm so excited to have you here with me. I'm Jessica O'Santa, and today is Monday, January 5th.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Alexi, great to see you. Thanks for joining me today. Alexi, you are an entrepreneur. You have your hands in a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Happy Monday. Thanks for having me here.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Let's start. Where are you from? How did we get to where you are now?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

From Ukraine. Moved here 25 years ago. And I came from Kiev, capital, to New York City. We lived in Brooklyn. And I grew up in Bay Ridge. Lovely area. Big fan. Very uh homey, very neighborhood. I live now in Midtown, not a neighborhood.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

A little different.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

No mind. Just it it doesn't have the personality.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yeah. The connection. That's too mass commercial. And yeah, from there I went to high school, went to borough college. Didn't like borough college.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

It's funny, you're the second, you're the second guest to say that. I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

When did you study?

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Entrepreneurship. I think we met in college.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Quite possibly, yes. When I was posting party flowers all over town.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

That actually sounds familiar. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

So one of the things I've done. I had a normal boring job factory that does like replacement parts for blue planes. And part of my job there was to print contracts and look at which ones have the best yield for business. And at some point when I started promoting, I would print. Sorry, dude, if you're if you're watching this, I'm so sorry. I'll bring you some paper. I would print thousands of ads, and those are very open with my number back then. It's funny because no one actually blasted me then. Like now someone put me on a shit list because I keep getting like spam calls and non-stop. But I would put like do it, David What uh my number ticket, and uh yeah, sold a lot of tickets that way. There was a few parties that way. That was good times. Yes, that was definitely before social media changed the game. Actually putting up flyers and flyers, thousands of them all the time. Yeah, it was it was an interesting thing.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Brings back a lot of memories for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

But Baruch for me was not a good experience, mostly because I am always leaning towards on marketing entertainment side of things, and in marketing, I'll read and learn and practice more than the class in six months. It's just it's just the commitment of like that class in six months versus like okay, I write a book in two days and I learn more, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Right. Did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_00 3:11

No. Okay, maybe that's probably like most people. I didn't really know what I want. Not like most people, I am generally comfortable being uncomfortable and trying new things often. That's been a part of my DNA. Before I moved to here, I was in Ukraine in a private school and I had to wear suits all the time. Now I love wearing suits, right? You just most of the time you see me in like really nice suits. Back then, not so much, mostly because it wasn't like a custom fit and it was like itchy. Anyway, didn't like to school. My uh mom was like, There's a school in Israel. Before much like research, I just yes, just because I wanted to get that. So I lived in Israel for six months when I was a kid. Oh no, and part of it, yeah, I think that is definitely in my DNA trying things.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

What how old were you when you 11?

SPEAKER_00 4:02

11. And I lived in yeah, what now I obviously understand it's a boarding school and yeah, I it was like a magical experience because as an 11-year-old with everyone being the same age and boarding school and your parents are not there, love it. Okay, but you were excited about it, yeah, because it was just a boarding school in a different country. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The weekends I spent Shabbat with like families doing Shabbat things and getting that like culture in and yeah. As soon as he came back from this role, don't when I knew what agnostic was, said I was agnostic. I could believe something's out there. And I think now more than ever, it's important that people have some kind of like ethics class. Because religion was that for a lot of people. But now with social media and everything, I feel like ethics is dying. And if religion doesn't step in, we have to find other ways to almost force people into having some kind of right.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Where do you get that foundation from? Because you're right, religion did do that for a long time, and I think people maybe poked holes in it. That's a good good point. Where do you get your ethics from?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah. At some point, now I'm a slightly better Jew, but at some point I was a terrible Jew because when we came to the United States and like food culture is so wild, you're shocking because Ukraine had a time when I left when we came to 2001, so it wasn't as diverse. Um having so many options is interesting. But when I was a kid, they took away my candy and gave me kosher candy. And the kosher candy was shit. Am I allowed to curse on this? But it was fun memories. I've been back to Israel since then. But yes, having ethics, some kind of like level like tradition. Right. I think one of the things that took away from that uh stuck by me, just a few things that in that tradition gets the person through the ultimate doors at some point, and the big ones are giving someone a job, so creating the opportunity for someone to be themselves is important. And I guess the other big one is getting people connected, connected, yeah connected. Which in my later career career, nightlife and promoting and entrepreneurship and working at clubs, there was a lot of that.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

There was a lot of that.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

So how did you go from so you went from nightlife to more entrepreneurship? How did that path unfold?

SPEAKER_00 6:41

It's very much still unfolding.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

So yeah, as I mentioned, working with my dad, he's an engineer, so he was a company that prints replacement parts, and it was boring because it's it's the same, same every day, day in, day in, day out. I think early on I accepted that that's not my path. Just I cannot be a clog. Whether the money is great or not, it just does not feel fulfilling. But I I was a kid jump. I've done a variety of things. Lifeguard. I had a paper route when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

In high school, I wasn't as social, and then during college, my best friend introduced me to nightlife.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Who's your best friend?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

My best friend Arden, and the introduction to nightlife is interesting. He's this extremely agone, flumpoyant man who's been partying all throughout high school. And in high school, I was very like at the swim team, volleyball team, school. Like I was trying to be a good kid. He was already out in the city partying. And then my senior year of high school, I got injured playing beach volleyball. I am very active. Like I pride myself on just being out there very active. Playing beach volleyball, had an ACL, and I had surgery basically sometime later. I was freshman in college, and it was time except the fact that I had surgery. So my bestie knowing that like I'm gonna be, I think I'm pretty sure he called me an invalid. Because you take everything so much, so much serious so much gravity there. So yeah. A day before my surgery, he decided that we need to go up, and so he took me out to like first it was Marc Jacobs' Christmas party, okay, and I did not fit or belong there, or at least at that time I felt like it did, because I was a freshman in college who didn't have a sense of style and wasn't invited to these parties all the time, so it was just like holy shit.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

So here I am at Mark Jacobs' Christmas party, like the man that most people like to read about and still don't have access to, and uh didn't stick around there much, but uh went out to HM, bought some clothes, changed, went to a place back then called Plum. It was season one of America's next stop model, and so they were celebrating, and I basically was in that world, like thrown in. And I distinctly remember my doctor was like, There's no drinking after midnight. So it was up in the bar, I drank until midnight. After midnight, now drinks by 2 a.m. I realized how thirsty it was and having the drinks, and I couldn't brush my teeth or anything. Left the party, came home at 3:30, something, tried to shower, didn't drink any water, woke up an hour later, went to get surgery. The doctor goes, Did you drink? No, I did not. Meanwhile, I'm like clearly alcoholic, like very much clearly alcohol. I'm surprised they didn't stop. Performed surgery, came out of surgery. That cup of water was the best cup of water I've ever had. That was my first, like, interesting big party and nightlife. And like it was holy shit. It was wow. It was like everything was like wow. How does a kid from Ukraine and you know modest apartment in in Brooklyn now just like in this world? It was like, wow. So there's entertainment, it's entertaining, and there was a lot of excitement. And as a kid, holy shit. So I started promoting in college pretty much like that year. I was 18. By 21, I was already doing pretty big parties. At 24, I started running a a door to the club, so Hotel Chantel, and I stayed there for 10 years until COVID. You were there for 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Oh my goodness, it's been that long, huh? I guess so.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

You always have to balance the things you wouldn't like with the big shiny objects and and possibilities. So did the door. I guess my first real entrepreneurship was hooch drinking app.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

That was that was the first big one. Yeah, there's plenty more, but first big one. Yeah, the concept made sense because at that point I was already in hospitality for so long. So yeah, so you remember we did $10 a month, get to you, one drink, one today at any participating place.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Lunched in 10 cities, raised quite a bit of money, and then essentially, yeah, COVID changed the path like it did for everyone. Because the whole business was go somewhere, have a drink somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

But that was the first big one. Learned a lot from operational and sale, everything, everything there is sale, right? Like getting the end user to sign up is sale, getting the venues on board is sale. But right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

And did you have a team working with you on the product itself? 15. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

15. The first prototype, I remember I put together a few bucks to just get this thing out there, and it's before the days of AI.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Someone sees this interview and next week, they'll be like, what are you talking about? It takes me two minutes. Did not take two minutes. Right. I think it took like two years. Just to get the just to get something that people can use and and it was still broken.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Um, I think that's partly why Hoosh wasn't as big of a hit as it should have been. I think tech was always room to improve. I would just put it there. Room always room to improve. And I also live by those words. Just always there's always room to improve no better one. But in this case, tech was, I think, the bottleneck to our greatest success. Yeah, we built the first one, it took two years. And partly it's because I wasn't in that space. So finding the right people, and it's all about the right people because it they're not just doing a job for you. You have to talk to people. And do they want to be managed? Do they have an interpersonal relationship? Are you gonna be sitting in the same office for god knows how long? You better be getting along.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

So yeah. That was early. My first partner for the concept was a marketing guy. We we get along splendidly. Jared, love him. He's he's I guess we bonded over somewhat being party bros. We met through a common friend, Bill Hooch, scaled it up. We got to ten cities. It was New York first, then LA, Miami, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and a few other states in the US. Hong Kong was to show investors that can go international. And then spent some time in Hong Kong.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

How long were you there for?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Two weeks, yeah. And then it was uh went with wifey, and she lived there when she was a kid. So it was one of those like good trips. Mixing business and pleasure. Yeah, Hong Kong. Big big fan of everything Hong Kong. I have a funny story in Hong Kong too. On on a on tea.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

On tea?

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Yeah. Like certain cultures have like certain traditions, and Asian culture is big on tea, right? Like you sit down and there's tea. And in America, you go to every place and you want tap water or fancy bottled water, but there it's tea. So everyone went tea, tea, tea. Oh, amazing tea. And on one of the last my big trips in Hong Kong, we went to see the biggest Buddha in that side of the hemisphere, and it's so many stairs up, and on the way down, you see where monks live, and there's signs there, no meat, no alcohol, because monks and everything, so it's like genuine, right? It's not like Disney. And as a vegan, it was cool because like they don't eat meat, so everything was very either vegetarian and vegan friendly. Okay. We'll talk about that too. Because certain things are a driving force in my life. Being vegan, I guess, is one of them. And yeah, so we're like, oh, let's get some tea. Pull that ellipton bag from all the places in China. I've been stinkling around, but they they put that ellipton back.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Classic.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Again, right? Like the westernization of the world. Lipton. Right. Is liptin even American? No, is it?

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Either way, it was I grew up with that in my house. Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Yeah. Man. Some things are just part of our culture. Maybe one day have Nazday coffee will be one of those things. We'll see. So yeah, so the first one, the big one was huge. COVID changed the path. The business is out there performing in a different category, building blockchain technologies for larger organizations. So really cool stuff. Yeah. It wasn't something that I'm particularly passionate about. Yes, passion. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Yeah. Yeah, it's funny. Actually, a friend from Baruch when a Bitcoin started to become a thing. He's trying to get me to invest it in. I'm like, I wasn't honest. Yeah, obviously I should have. It didn't seem like something that could be so big in today's entire universe of all these different coins and pretty fascinating stuff.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yeah. Yeah, it's just like you said, it some things are not for you, and some things are just good business, and they don't have to be there for you, and I accept it, but why not love it? Be passionate. Yeah. So from there, stepped away and started a coffee company. So that drug you was both passion and business because because of Hooch, I had so many data points of bars and restaurants or across America. So thousands of data points and the large really strong relationships. Because a lot of times we most of the time, all the time, we had to go to a place, pitch the owner, talk to the bartenders, train the bartenders. So yeah, it was really that that product put me in the center of like hospitality, and I'm very proud of it. Proud of like the investors that came on board and believed in it at the right time. Hopefully, there's an exit to justify it all to everyone. Yeah, but yeah, we it was it was special. When I exited, I got into coffee. Part of it was I love coffee. Drink it all the time. There's an interesting connotation that happens with it. When I had the drinking app, everyone thought I was like an alcoholic. It's a thing.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

It's definitely a thing. Like industries have certain connotations, and right you can't change it.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

And I would uh I would get asked all the time, oh I like to eat, drink all the time. No. No, just build something that supports an ecosystem.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Someone out there is enjoying it, great. With coffee, I love it. Do you drink a lot of coffee? Yeah. For whatever reason, coffee, it comes with like productivity, right? Yeah. That means you're up early. Yeah. That means you're out there doing somehow, it just has that, and I love it. So I started coffee, and part of it was I have access to so many places so I can do my own sales. Part of it was because I love it. I've made so many friends who are artists and professionals and brochures, scientists of the craft, and so yeah, got into it that way. My mind is always like marketing mind. So like the way I approached it was how do we embody our spirit in in a coffee bag? So the coffee bags were like our dog on it, called the man's best friend. Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

And it was always yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Like it was always touching someone's feelings, and then the sale comes secondary. So it's like the dog there. Obviously, the motorcycle is a big part of the life, so it's just designed around the motorcycle.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Right. Yeah, I remember during COVID, he dropped off the coffee beans. That was awesome, yeah. Nothing else going on.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Nothing else going on. Yeah. My my partner at the time were the roasted coffee. I would hop in the bike and just make a route and drive around on on a time I had a Moto Goosey V7 stone. Love the bike, it was my first bike, and I would just zoom around, deliver coffee.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Very cool.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yeah. It's great. And then ultimately, about 90 day motor, but yeah, build a motorcycle coffee shop in 21. And that one, that's I guess at some point if you do enough things consistently, people know. Oh yeah, yeah, they sort of expect certain things. So it's it's no longer a shock. So when we build a motorcycle coffee shop, I guess for a lot of people it wasn't a surprise because it was like, oh, Alexia rides more circles the time and drinks coffee all the time. It kind of makes sense. Right. When I guess when you see it, it doesn't always make sense because it's just a strange cat and a wild thing, and I love it for it.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

Natural progression for you, but also every time I tell somebody about the concept, they're like, oh, that is so cool. They love it. It's just something that I think it makes people in awe, right? Yeah, because it's it's not normal.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Right. It's not supposed to be, and I think that's part of the magic of it. Right. It's just like, why does this thing have to make sense? And and and it does. So happy about that, and so for everyone who's not aware of it, Tukin Ural, which is a motorcycle originally made in Russia, and now they have a different factory, but comes with a sidecar. One of the reasons why I picked that bike is because it has reverse. So we figured when we like load it in, we need like all that weight, we need something to get out easily. So it was a strategic play. I won't say it comes with a sidecar, so it kind of like helps us achieve the the goal of having a sidecar and coffee business. The first version, yeah, speaking of emotion, so painful because my setup time was like 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

And we had like this big grinder that went in the trunk of the motorcycle, and like a the coffee machine was the only easy one because it was like you know, we use decent espresso machine, and it goes in the suitcase, so everything is just kind of compact, and with the suitcase it was 30 pounds. So it was that was probably throw it gut out. But it was just between all the connections, I I thought 45 minutes was a long time setup. And mind you, like right now in coffee businesses are popular in carts, but this was a motorcycle, so everything that we do on the road had to live in the motorcycle. It's it's not like we have a van and everything gets unloaded and and you set up and like like everything has to fit into this thing, scrapped in into this thing.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

So really creative, make sure everything packs in perfectly.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Yeah. Great. Yeah. This season, year five, season five. And season five, not year five, because it's more simple seasons. March is kind of early because God knows I froze my dick off this winter and like doing the events. It really did. Oh my god. Like the ones in January.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

I don't know how you did that. It's one thing to set up, but to actually ride a motorcycle in the dead of winter. And this was one of the most brutal winters that we've had.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Yeah, I'll have those warm thoughts when I'm in front of the pool this summer.

SPEAKER_03 22:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Sometimes in an entrepreneurship, you just have to get out and do it.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

That's it. And and that's one thing that you've always been consistent since I've known you is you say you're gonna do something and you go for it. A lot of people run into problems and it can't they just think we can't do this, and you always seem to find a way to do the impossible.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Yes. We just have to make the impossible bigger. Yeah. So we'll get there. And I guess it does help that it's two passions, right? It's the more riding the motorcycle and the coffee. I'm sure if I hated either one of them, it wouldn't happen like that. Or just having an affinity for just the that journey specifically, not letting it just stay idle in the garage and figure out what else to do with it. And it helps that like the the team that I kind of got together. Everyone's like that. I mean, everyone's a motorcycle rider, coffee rider, right? Everyone's in hospitality. So there's a bit of like camaraderie there, and I guess it helps professionally, and it's not the only thing, and it's like part of the ecosystem, but yeah. I've had some good stories with it where it's like, oh my god, I would show up to an event and there's hundreds of people already waiting for this experience, or being four hours away doing an event, and I I ride the motorcycle to the event, and then on the way back the motorcycle dies, and then I would spend the whole day waiting for the tow truck because it's coming from New York, because it's ultimately coming back to New York in the middle of nowhere, and yeah, this has definitely been extremely long, tiring days, extremely long, proud days.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so then how do you decide this is a project that I want to work on? Because I'm sure you have tons of ideas. How do you decide? Okay, this is one that I'm actually gonna move forward with.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

There's an old book of ideas. Yeah, there's a lot, and I date them, and sometimes you actually have a physical book. Uh-huh. With ideas, yeah. And sometimes I accept that I'm not the right person, but it it's still nice to know that okay, I had the idea. So then years later, when someone does it, I can be like, well, I I thought of it. I was I just I'm way off. I'm like not the right person. Right. Some ideas are just accepting that you have to live in a certain ecosystem. It's uh to accept that when when things are gonna be hard. Do you want like are you gonna just throw in a tower towel or uh are you gonna try and stick it out, right? Like nothing is ever easy. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

What is gonna be worth sticking out?

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Yeah. And if you believe that the money ultimately is gonna be make sense, great. Or like you just somehow love this thing and hopefully it becomes a business, right? Because a lot of people start things and not really thinking about the financials, it's just they like the idea of it. Like they romanticize what it's gonna look like if they're in that space.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Yeah. As I'm exploring ideas, there's definitely an old book. I do what the with the what the Greeks used to do, but slightly different. So the Greeks they would get fucked up and then talk about ideas, and then next day they would do the same thing sober, and if the ideas passed, then I was don't check them down. Legit, like that's a thing. Okay. In the evening, when everything is done, I'll smoke a joint and have the best idea, and I'll write it down and see you in the morning. Yeah, tell wifey about it, and she's like, please don't. But yeah, but then we'll talk about over breakfast, and if I can still logically explain why the ideas I might actually pursue my own checks and balances.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

And that's happened.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

So you have a process.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

There's a process, yeah. I'm pretty sure that's how Hush was born. My co-founders would not want me. But yeah, sometimes the process just you end up in that intersection because you've taken enough like opportunities that may have been at that time not like a linear path. Yeah, just opportunities. Yeah. Sometimes I just yeah, I go through a process like I just now I think I'm in that apex. Um it looks like I'm about to turn into like the next big project, and sometimes it just comes out like that. You just keep pushing it, and yeah, suddenly the idea that it did make sense because you kept on pushing on it makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Right. Yeah, you're you're right, and having the right people, having being in the right environment and having the right team, and it all plays a part.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Environment is big. Environment, yeah. If I don't think I will write a book, but if I were to write a book, environment would be a proper chapter. Because it changes the direction.

SPEAKER_03 28:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

For me, hospitality has been my environment for as long as you've known me and much longer than that. I I think my my I call my business partner for nightlife, even though we're not like LLC together, we've just been doing things together micro-menting. Right. So we've been doing this thing now for close to 20 years. And it's crazy to say this out loud.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

20 years.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

Right?

SPEAKER_02 28:37

I don't go past 10 years when I tell somebody how long I've done something.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

It's mental. It's yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

And then one day it just I mean, a hot wall of hospitality, the whole industry just seemed to disappear.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

Yeah. And we're in now in the in the vortex. We're definitely in the IO tiger, we're that there's changes happening between the way people are going on, the way people are speaking to each other and connecting with each other, and like it is change. I mean, I guess I have the right personality and I always try to encourage people to like stay positive in their own universe. And if you can't control things you can't control, stressing about them is pointless. That's right. Like, but environment for me, nightlife has again hospitality has been an environment. So post-COVID when I joined purple, I think that was the wrong environment. I ultimately got hurt there. That was the wrong environment. And because that environment, I do love this industry. So it was weird that I got hurt in the industry, and I didn't want to be in this environment.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Now, before you got hurt, did you know it was the wrong environment? Yeah. Yeah. That was the universe just giving you a chance.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Oh, the universe just kicked me out. Push. Oh my god, it kicked me in the ass. Like it was a real Yeah. Yeah, that's basically what happened. And we said, fuck out of here. Time to move on. And and mind you, like everyone else has politely tried and saying, like, like, let's see, you you're maybe there's other things, and sometimes you don't listen. Sometimes it's a matter of comfort. And it's kind of interesting where like you're excellent and you at your game. Right. And if other people see it, they'll make you partner. There's these moves, but sometimes your own comfort like prevents you. Put the brakes on it. On my end, yeah, I I knew that it wasn't the right place because there was a lot of variables. But yeah, in this case, the universe kicked me out. I learned a lot, and for the following two years, I wasn't in nightlife. I just came back now into the space, and it's so s it's weird, yeah. Because there's like pivotal moments, I guess, in life, too. Like, yeah, sometimes you have to lean on them. So what uh weird in what way, in the industry or just being back at the being at a hotel chantel now, I'd like to consider it a form of redemption because going into COVID, as someone who prides himself on uh learning and growing in the space always. And when I was at a door, I'm priding myself and learning how to communicate better with guests. And how do I invite people back more often? How do I create that connection between how do I create that virtual or in-person handshake so they as a guest comes back more often? I would read and I try to read it a lot and then I'll put it to use and try to practice it. So this was great. Uh and I thought at that time I was reaching a little expert level for my one of the things I was doing professionally. So for COVID to just be like, nope, that's it. I guess it wasn't done in that capacity, and then I wasn't knowing the place because I love the place. And it's not like every day over 10 years shit hasn't happened. I wouldn't tell I've gotten hit with the head with a skateboard. Like that has happened. There's there's a lot of people, and things happen occasionally. It's just, I think overall, it's always been just fun, bubbly memories.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Yeah, it was a great space. I still have a little key. You have the key, I still have the key, yeah. Yep, and the the uh the upstairs space, and then you guys got really good too over time. It was it was a great space for sure. Have you seen a change in nightlife overall?

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Yeah, yeah, so much change. It's different now.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

In what way?

SPEAKER_00 32:53

I think the consumer behavior post-COVID has changed a lot. There's definitely a generational gap where we're definitely not drinking the same way.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

I think when and it's probably for the best. Like I'm as someone who's a fitness nut these days and my vegan and everything, they're like not drinking, oh great, I get it. As a businessman, it's like, well, and we run the bar now. Well, I've seen so many more non-alcoholic beverages, there's and they're very kind of funny too, because it's like, why are we charging 16 to 18 dollars for a soda? Okay, and like in the space, so like I know what's in this thing, it's a soda, like we're selling oranges for like 18 now. Like it doesn't have to be that, right? The industry hasn't figured out a way or a lot of it how to adjust because the the check temperature's down, right? Right, people are not drinking as much. There's for health reasons or not, for other substances, a lot of people are definitely smoking. I was never a drinker in for smoking was rare. Now it's like okay, it's a dog walker at night when I'm walking a dog, but I'm still not a drinker. I think a lot of people just like the the way they feel after a joint as opposed to liquor. So there's that, and I think the economy is kind of shit. The the actual connection with all the apps these days, there's an app for everything, right? There's an app you like reading books, and there's a meeting place for everyone that reads books, and they're in the same room reading books, but they're not talking to each other. Right. So much of just niche focus. Yes, for nightlife, it's strange. Like a lot of places have to do tickets. Like I said, there's no other they know that they're you're not gonna be spending as much money anymore. Right. We're talking about things like bottle service, and whether it was a a luxury in the first place or a convenience and a variety of reasons why bottle service was a thing, right? Does not feel like it's a thing anymore. From everyone I talk to every day as I'm going about my business selling coffee, that is a conversation. Bottle service is not a thing, which is a big ticket item, yeah. Which is I think it's part of it, right? Like, you kind of know if it's a big ticket item, like why you spending something that like people understand the matrix of it more, and it's not it's not a flex anymore to like pop a bottle. So I'm sure I'm don't remember there's still places where it's popular, but like largely it's not a thing as much anymore. So adjusting to that, like what does it look like? How do people find places? What does that look like these days? Like that's completely different, and that one's kind of exciting too, because some people beat up social media, and but at the same time, how many places do you know that goes viral and now they're just bonkers, business, and right it it has the opposite effect? Yeah. Really does and definitely goes both ways. Right. What is the future of hospitality? We're definitely getting to a place where in other states are getting closer, faster, where you can smoke and eat and drink at the same place.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

So you can smoke wheat. Is that legal?

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Not in New York.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Because walk weed on the street in New York.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Okay, but not inside legally.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

Yeah, just walk and do a thing, but not inside, no.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

So like giving people what they want, right? Okay, if we accept that that's what people are doing these days, how do we just put it in our culture so that you can smoke your joint while you're waiting for a burger?

SPEAKER_03 36:23

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

I guess it touches on like what does it look like for secondary smokers and the people in the environment, and like how do you justify that?

SPEAKER_03 36:33

But smoking room, huh?

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Smoking room, yeah. Like, yeah, we have dogs. There's the the dock, I guess, right? Like in one side, it's like all the dogs running around and they can do whatever you want and through the glasses to clean the environment with coffee. Yeah, totally makes sense. I don't think no anyone has a solution for it yet. I I I know people are preparing for solutions for it actively, with cannabis hopefully going in a direction that supports that. Obviously, there's mixed feelings in that too, how how cannabis affects people. That's uh it's another thing, like most people don't know. I smoke and eat it. Yeah, and when they do find out, uh you can almost see the change in their facial expression because there's a weird connotation that industry still has, and yeah, it's not like smoke and crush it. That's the never I think it's associated with right, yeah. Lazy, yeah, relaxation. Right. Yeah, yeah. So if you're smoking every day, are you relaxing every day? What does that look like? Me, I'm just hurting from all the surgeries.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Yeah, some people use it too for sleep. I know there's a lot of different benefits, and uh, I I think it's safer than drinking, right? If you're gonna yam all night, I'd rather you be more cautious than belligerent.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

There's that. The type of um I did a big conference in Vegas in December, and on the flight back, I was next to a government official who had and showed me incredible data on like smoking in places like Colorado. You can see the types of crimes and the shift in types of crimes since like the smoking because weed is very like passive kind of crime where you're just not paying attention when you're driving, which is a big deal, but they're not mylot.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

There's there's definitely like a change in what does that look like, right? So it's uh we we live in a really interesting space. I'd love to see this video in 10 years and see if we can like predict anything that's gonna happen in 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

It's interesting. When I was in Japan, something that they had that was very cool was a tea tasting with dinner. So I'm like, oh let me try they have a tea pairing with dinner, and they were surprisingly very interesting, it was not lifted, and yeah, they had these like hundred-dollar bottles of tea that there were only like very few made. Yeah, it was it was a cool experience, and and when I go out, I'll try all these. Like you said, they have like like orange, some kind of a non-alcoholic beverage, but a lot of them have sugars in it too, which I'm like if I'm not drinking, I don't want to have a sugar hangover either. So there's a I think there's definitely an opportunity there for a new type of beverage or something to enjoy when you're going out and something different, something to to try, right? Because experiences too are a lot more than a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

How much different can we get? Like, I feel like I've seen everything possible now. As someone who's in coffee, I've seen everything being milked. There's right, everything in milk. Sometimes it's like what watermelon is like why why do we have it's just empty.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

You know, you it's the same product, but you put a new label on it and rebrand it and make it exciting and fair enough and fun.

SPEAKER_00 40:00

So yeah, it's Chantel, now we're called Concord and the main floor. Concord, yes. The main floor has the restaurant that went live and called Amba, and the chef there, incredible human being. She created a program, and one of the things is fermented tea. So it's it's different. So like it's when I tried that, I was okay, like it's not capucho, it's not really, but it's it's it's got a different flavor to it.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

And Mormon, obviously, I'm a coffee person. Wifey always like laugh at me for Ember. She's like, Yeah, and you open a coffee shop, I'm gonna open it up at tea shop next to you. She was for a while like only teas. And now she like demands her espresso before her. Oh, really? So she has coffee now?

SPEAKER_02 40:43

She's definitely but yeah, tea.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

Okay. I'll look into that.

SPEAKER_02 40:47

Yeah, yeah, I'll send you the name of the hotel. It's a cool, cool concept.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Well, Japan, right? Like, I refer to Japan a lot because they have like certain customs, certain traditions, certain like ways of just behaviors. And I think living in New York and see constantly being in in a surrounded by so many people, it's mind-blowing how many people just don't have any ethics. Yeah, that is like an interesting challenge to me. Like, how do we encourage people to act nice, to be nicer? Like, my approach is always happy Monday, high five. How do I I feel like on my end, what you put out there is what you give back. It's a boomerang, right? So if I'm approaching the situation in a nice positive manner and trying to be cordial about it, hopefully it comes back. It doesn't always happen, but hopefully it comes back. I uh so many interesting cases. Like I was just I don't do doors at clubs anymore, except for one party, and I'm a big fan of Metine. So it's a culturally 30 plus party, 21 plus party, and it just was born with with the idea of like as you get older, you don't want to stay out until 2 a.m. So it's 5 to 10. And I love this thing.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

Oh, that's the main type of party. Right, yeah, that's what everyone says.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

That's why they went viral so many times. I've done this exam, I like exercise a few times. When I do the party at music for a while, when the party happened and they asked me to do the dorm, I would put my jacket on a chair. And every single time, for the duration of the party, no one looks at it, no one touches it, no one sits next to it. Like it's just a jacket and a chair because like everyone's adult. You're like, okay, let's do this ticket. You don't ask questions. Maybe it just it's like safe. As soon as the party was over, and this happened this Friday, an audience game that's just not part of this party that didn't have the party host put out like the message of the connection and being next to each other, like everything is top down. As soon as it was just a regular person, they try to move the thing, they move the t like it just so clearly obvious that like it's just a regular guest from the hotel and multiple people who are doing it. It's just it's amazing. Yeah, yeah, those things worry me like on a grandiose and on a big scale, like without getting political, if the people in power can do things that are clearly not positive.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Right. What's that? And is that what message?

SPEAKER_00 43:10

What's the long tail of that? Like if everyone else is well, if so, yeah. I'm not gonna try and be a positive voice and just generally good habits. That's what I'm gonna show off.

SPEAKER_02 43:23

What would you what do you say is really exciting for you for the future? I know you've got a few ideas.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Always. Always you gotta test them all.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

What do we have for the future? I've accepted I'm gonna try a cannabis club because I have to.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Okay, a cannabis club.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Yeah, I have to. Interesting. For a while I was definitely pushing back. And part of it is I again we meant we talked connect connotation of what that industry holds and what does that mean when people think of me and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

That's awesome. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

See how that goes. Uh my mind generally Because of marketing mind, I'm definitely not rolling out across the country until like I've proven that it works. There's no like bottlenecks, there's no gaps in service. So yeah, trying trying that one. And and that one, just to like go back to the original, a lot of these things happen like almost naturally. Like the motorcycle coffee shop Nazi Mono has done now a cannabis store at least once a week. And there's a relationship between the wake, the wake and bake, the coffee, and and the that one I don't quite understand because like I think they're on opposite spectrums of what they do to your mind. So I I don't I understand that.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

I've never done both together. That would be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

We'll find an open space and test it out one day. So the the more cycle, it's been doing these stores once a week. And the more I'm in that universe, and then the more and as I'm like learning about you know, to be a marketer, you have to understand what the person is coming from, the brand is coming from to drive them forward. So as I'm learning about all these challenges, it was like, okay, but there's an opportunity here because everyone's fighting the same thing. You it's hard to bring in people in the stores and how the marketing relations are on that end. It's hard for brands to like put a sample in your mouth, and what does that look like? Again, like the ads and the way the environment is set up. So yeah, it's not like I woke up and like, okay, well, now I'm gonna start doing this. There's like a gradual, yeah. There it's just I guess we live in an interesting world, so many opportunities, and the more you pay attention, the more you can just kind of insert your five cents and make it into something bigger. So yeah, I'm I'm definitely testing that.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

I'm gonna call it I'm calling it Nice Day Club.

SPEAKER_02 45:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Uh to go with the vibes. Well, yeah, coffee was have a nice day coffee, and a lot of people have said that come from that space that that would be a great good name for cannabis.

SPEAKER_03 46:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Don't know enough about the actual cannabis. So yeah, learning about like the actual product and the technology, that makes sense. Like creating the handshake between the guest, the brand, and the location, that makes sense. I think connecting those dots for my universe. So, yeah, that one's exciting. Obviously, the Moore Cycle and Moto is having an interesting season. Thrilled about that. It's one of those things, it's it's hard to explain it, but when you see it and you see the effect it has on people when they're passing by, it's just awesome. It just creates conversation as soon as you see it. How many things can you build that in?

SPEAKER_02 46:43

Especially in New York that people have not seen. We're jaded. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

Like from my windows, I see the vessel in the Empire State one day, and it hopefully I'm lucky enough to have the family edition one day. What is for for the kids, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_03 46:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

Like when I was growing up, right? TV was I was watching reruns of 18, right? Now it's you you have everything that you can possibly imagine on your phone. What is what does that look like? It doesn't make you brighter, dumber.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

What a place how you use it, right? What a place. It's funny. Someone I joined Toastmasters, and someone gave a speech last week about the when they first discovered the internet and typing in yahoo.com and how you wanted to do something and the internet gave you that opportunity. He said, Yeah, now with AI, you tell AI this is what I wanted to do, and AI says, Okay, let me do that for you. Now, does that give you an advantage or does it hinder you because you're not using your mind as often?

SPEAKER_00 47:52

It's so interesting. Yesterday, case point, I did a yoga event on the rooftop because it looked up so pretty.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

I saw that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

And and like setting up the yoga event, simple mats, sponsored by Well Hydration, cool yoga instructor. Yoga instructor is trying to plug in her mic to my sound system. And I've never seen this brand of mic, and I haven't really played around with the sound system in a while because I just rejoined. I have my meta glasses, a meta, what am I looking at? And this is the mic I have. Where do I plug it in? And it just like takes a picture of it in that case. It was oh cool, and in a minute, we were in a book, plug it here, plug in there, turn in here.

SPEAKER_03 48:35

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 48:35

And we didn't need like a tech, which means that the EV tech doesn't have a job anymore, but like it's crazy because yeah, like we can solve more things. I think more people have to get comfortable being uncomfortable a lot, but knowing that the solution is just around the corner with everything that's around with like technology, just ask the right questions, and whether it's AI or someone else, like, but yeah, it's solved it.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Kind of amazing.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

It's definitely changing a lot.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

It is.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

You want a business needs AI? Easy pass. Oh what the hell is wrong with it? And like, hopefully the government gives me a call after this. It's just some industries are uh were meant to be disrupted because it's like why am I on the phone plugging in all these things with you? I waited an hour and a half a few days ago to get to a representative. I don't have a thing anymore. This should have been solved right within two minutes. It's the most mundane, boring thing, like things like that. I understand we live in a world where like government officials and like I guess easy pass is a government agency, as far as I know.

SPEAKER_03 49:49

Is it actually not true?

SPEAKER_00 49:51

I don't think it's a private institution.

SPEAKER_02 49:53

Either way, definitely an antiquated one.

SPEAKER_00 49:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Oh my god. Like some of these things is just what are we doing?

SPEAKER_02 50:02

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

That should be someone else.

SPEAKER_02 50:05

I have games too. It's an old school game with notebook and I'm gonna ask you some questions. We're gonna play a little game. Okay. So pick a number from one to eleven.

SPEAKER_00 50:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 50:20

And then tell me.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Eight.

SPEAKER_02 50:25

What's a quote or mantra that's stuck with you lately? This is very fitting for you.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

Yes, it is. Don't put off until tomorrow the things you can do today. Having lazy days are pro procrastination common and it happens, and sometimes you just can't solve it in a day. I have a few mentors, I'm very fortunate where I'm surrounded by people that as I was growing up, I was looking up to them, and somehow in some universe of chance and luck, and they're actual mentors now, pretty much all of them live by some version of this. Just get it done today. Don't put like, oh, to-do list tomorrow. Just do it. Just do it. And sometimes I it's it's a good thing and a bad thing. I've definitely messaged people at midnight because like maybe that's not the best professional thing, but sometimes it's okay. Well, if it just means just getting it done, getting it in mind.

SPEAKER_03 51:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

You kind of feel accomplished if you don't just keep putting things until next day.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

Definitely. I've tried to favorite feature on the phone is where you can send later. Okay. Sometimes at night I'll have a block of time and I'll go through and send out everything for first thing in the morning. This way when I wake up, I feel like I've already had a head start to the day, and it gives me some mental clarity to work on other things.

SPEAKER_03 52:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

So one more number.

unknown 52:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

Three.

SPEAKER_02 52:09

Three. What's one word to describe how you feel when you're fully aligned?

SPEAKER_00 52:16

Empowered. It's uh how I how am I goodness?

SPEAKER_02 52:25

I think that's a good word, right?

SPEAKER_00 52:29

I'm telling I am the best when I am in power. Not in a position of being in power, but like when the universe feels like, okay, I'm putting it out, the universe is catching in, and now I have these opportunities coming to me because like things feel aligned. I think that that maybe that goes back to like the first thing about the quotes, but I went through this exercise recently to put myself out as much as possible for any sorts of collaboration. It was really just to kind of try to find a job, but any collaboration. And in that time I tried more things that kind of made me uncomfortable. Uh but I guess ultimately it it feels like things are online, I guess because I gave it a shot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:27

That's important.

SPEAKER_00 53:29

Empowered. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 53:30

I love that. Well, Alexi, thank you for joining. I hope you had fun. And the next time we'll have to do this again with Odin. Actually, you know Artem Majka.

unknown 53:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:40

He has a Shiva also. He brought it? No. We didn't even talk about it. We'll have to have a Shiva Shiva podcast. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:51

You cannot join the podcast until you have a Shiva.

SPEAKER_02 53:55

That's a good one. That's a good rule for life.

SPEAKER_01 53:58

Before you go, take one more deep breath. Whatever you're carrying, remember it only takes 90 seconds to let it move through. So pause, reset, and begin again. Thank you for joining me on the Elevate Edit. I'm Jessica Ostatter. If today's conversation inspired you, share it with someone who can use a moment of calm and clarity. I'll see you next week.