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Hi everyone, welcome back to 
this week's episode of Inside 

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Thoughts Out Loud. 
I am super excited to talk to 

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Ani and I and Sanyo, the 
founders of Kolkata Chai. 

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For anyone who is South Asian 
like me, you have stayed aware 

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of Kolkata Chai because it 
invigorated you. 

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It lit a fire inside of you of 
realizing how important certain 

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cultural references are. 
There's some things that we just

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grew up with and when we see it 
in an unadulterated form 

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presented to us in the the 
United States, we we go crazy, 

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it goes viral. 
And that's exactly what 

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happened. 
They have grown Kolkata Chai to 

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be so much more than just a 
viral moment, but rather a 

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steadfast representation of just
how important some of our 

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culture can be here in the 
United States. 

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So welcome Ani and I and Sanyo, 
I'm going to let you guys. 

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I said founders, but I'm going 
to let you guys do a quick intro

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of exactly what you do for 
Kolkata Chai. 

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Sure. 
So we're brothers and that makes

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it pretty easy to kind of split 
the business in the things that 

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we do well. 
Does it make it easy? 

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Yeah, we we've been. 
Because my sister and I would 

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never in a million years be able
to run a big. 

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Company this a long time now so 
I. 

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Think the best part about 
working with your sibling is 

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knowing what they're good at and
knowing what you won't touch and

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vice versa. 
So everything you see at the 

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cafe level, the products, the, 
the cafes, the, the menu, the 

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flavors, that's all iron. 
Iron is a product guy. 

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So the entire idea for Coco the 
Chai was irons. 

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He was growing up Chai for his 
roommates, you know, 7-8. 

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Nine years ago. 
Yeah, nine years ago in New 

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York. 
In New York. 

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In New York, yeah. 
So everything you see at the 

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cafe level, the the product 
level is him. 

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And then branding, marketing, 
social fundraising, all of 

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that's on my side, so we split 
it right down the middle. 

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And we talked about this off 
camera, but I'm gonna bring it 

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up again. 
Who's older? 

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I am older, I don't know where 
people you know get get the. 

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I'm bigger so but. 
Yeah, I'm old. 

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Do you? 
Guys fit the stereotypes of 

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like, is there another sibling? 
There, it's just the two of us, 

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OK? 
There's not another sibling. 

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And we've hit the stereotypes. 
I think we got it out of the way

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early on. 
We were always very close. 

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We also fought a lot. 
Yeah. 

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What's? 
The age gap between years. 

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Four years. 
Four years. 

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Yeah, OK. 
Yeah, but I was the I was the 

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kid that had to like burn 
everything down with my parents 

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so that, you know, I ain't had 
it easy. 

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It's like the House of Minaj 
younger sibling me. 

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And, you know, it's like I was 
skateboarding, listening to rap,

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sagging my pants, you know, 
doing all. 

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Types of things in my household.
It's it's the opposite like I 

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was the still am the very 
straight edge eldest daughter of

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immigrant parents did everything
but I mean, I'm a surgeon for 

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Christ's sake. 
Like I did everything I was 

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supposed to do. 
And my sister, who ironically is

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also a surgeon and we're a 
family of but definitely like 

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tested the waters and and 
incredibly bright, but really 

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like created her own path on her
terms, which I think which is 

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which I just think is funny. 
Yeah. 

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No, I, I was, I was the, I was 
your older. 

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I was your sister in our in that
situation, yeah. 

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Yeah, yeah. 
So when you conceived of Kolkata

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Chai, did you know that it was 
going to grow to be what it is 

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today? 
So your question, I think we 

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knew it was going to be big. 
I think once we we started with 

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doing like small pop ups around 
the city. 

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And it was just like it seemed 
at that time there's this like 

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cultural awakening of being, you
know, a third culture kid kind 

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of wanted to represent your 
parents and and what they came 

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from and then also kind of 
integrating and that into 

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American pop culture. 
And nothing like that had really

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existed before. 
And so there was like a really, 

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it was a large need for it. 
I mean, truly nothing like that 

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had existed. 
I remember seeing the stories 

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come across my feed and I I it 
was almost like embarrassing 

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because I'm thinking for how 
many years have people decades 

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have people been ordering Chai 
tea latte? 

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It's just the term Chai. 
Chai tea drives me insane 

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because it's repetitive because 
tea and Chai are the same thing.

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So I'm just going to throw that 
out there for anyone listening 

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is not following that part, but 
it's Chai and it had, it has 

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become clearly the flavor 
profile was necessary because so

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many versions of it had come 
out, yet we didn't have the 

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original, right. 
Yeah, I think we had conviction 

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in what we were doing, but I 
don't think we set out knowing 

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that we would be here today. 
I think there's parts of this 

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journey that we could have never
seen coming, but I think since 

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it was just the two of us 
putting 1 foot in front of the 

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other for, you know, this like 
the first couple years, it 

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almost felt like it would be as 
big as we were going to work at 

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it, if that makes sense. 
And and so, you know, if you had

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asked us, you know, early on, 
like, hey, is how's Minaj going 

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to invest in your business? 
And, and come on, we would have 

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said, you know, no, you know, 
that's not yeah, he's, he's 

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great. 
And we can talk about him. 

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He's incredible. 
But, you know, it's like 

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elements of this journey are 
just totally, you know, foreign 

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to us. 
But I think we really bled out 

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for this business, you know, for
the first couple of years and. 

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Who supported you the most in 
the beginning? 

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We supported each other. 
Ourselves. 

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Yeah, it was fun. 
How did your parents feel about 

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this? 
Yeah, our parents. 

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What are you doing? 
Yeah, our parents are right. 

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I had a feeling you were going 
to say that. 

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I had a feel. 
But say, tell me more. 

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Yeah, go. 
Ahead yeah, our parents today 

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are extremely proud and they 
understand it because it's it's 

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you know, it's an establishment 
in some. 

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Ways. 
They were never not supportive. 

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But I think, you know, with 
immigrant parents, you have to 

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give them a lot of grace because
it's like, what are they going 

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to do? 
Like how, how can they support 

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other than pick up the phone, 
you know, listen to you or tell 

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you it's going to be OK or, you 
know, give you their two cents. 

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There's not too much they can 
do. 

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Well, it's an interesting, I'm 
trying to think who I was 

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speaking to about this, but it 
it's, it was that, you know, my 

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parents came to this country. 
They're an engineer and a 

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doctor, and my dad is an 
engineer in every lifetime. 

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I mean, it's just, it's the core
of who he is. 

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My mother, though, a doctor, a 
successful one, did great. 

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But I think if left to her own 
devices, like if she was born in

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this country, I wonder what she 
would have done. 

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I mean, she's just elegant and 
she's beautiful and she's into 

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fashion and she has all these 
ideas and she's a great speaker.

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And like we always joke she's 
like the shaman of our local 

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Indian community because she 
just does this healing vibe and 

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that's who she is. 
And I, they didn't have that 

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luxury. 
They were these things because 

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that is what defines success for
them. 

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And if they were going to cross 
the ocean to come here, they 

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were going to do these 
traditional successful things, 

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right? 
So I'm lucky because sure, I did

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the the prototypic thing that 
the Indian daughter was supposed

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to do, but now I have all this 
opportunity to do what I want to

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do. 
And had I done it in reverse? 

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Had I not become the surgeon 
first? 

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Had I gone to mom and dad and be
like, OK, I'm going to be an 

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influencer. 
We're going to link makeup 

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products. 
No, no, hear me out, hear me 

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out. 
I'm going to have a podcast 

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soon. 
Like go to school, be quiet. 

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What are you talking about? 
Because for them it's like, I 

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didn't come here for you to have
fantasies. 

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But what I think our our whole 
generation of parents are 

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learning is that is exactly 
where they came. 

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Here. 
So I was going to say I would, I

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would push back a bit and say 
that's exactly why they did come

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here. 
And so for us, like we, we ran a

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business before this, we ran a 
marketing agency together. 

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And so we only know kind of that
route. 

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We never had like a safe career 
in anything and there was never 

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like a, you know, I think our 
parents. 

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Guess what we have? 
Interruption. 

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Delivery I was not going to have
you guys here and not have 

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Kolkata Chai. 
So I ordered a potpourri of 

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things we can talk about the 
flavor profiles because kudos. 

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I mean just reading the menu, 
like my heart is singing, 

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cardamom, saffron masala, like 
these things that just we grew 

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up with. 
Yeah, no, I love this. 

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Thank you so much. 
OK, what do we have here? 

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We have two iced oat milk 
chives. 

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The best selling item. 
Is that the number one item? 

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OK. 
All right. 

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Who wants 1? 
You wanted one, I'll take one. 

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This one. 
Let me tell you what else we 

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have so you can pick. 
We also have a cardamom latte 

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and we have a we have two masala
chives. 

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Amazing. 
Which one you want? 

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Thank you. 
You love a masala, Chives. 

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I think that's the small cup. 
Yeah. 

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I want a masala Chai. 
Go. 

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For it, go for it, it's all 
yours. 

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And then those two are left for 
you guys. 

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Amazing one. 
Well, we, I drink it all the 

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time, so I'll be like. 
I'll take a rush. 

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Yeah, no rush. 
Do this. 

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I'll pass this, got the roll 
back to you but I will be 

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inhaling this later. 
Thanks guys. 

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Yeah. 
Thank you so much. 

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OK. 
Yeah. 

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So you were already so marketing
out very much like an atypical 

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career choice for children of 
first generation immigrants. 

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But again, you know, if we're 
going to talk about the 

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diversity bonus and all of that,
who better than us because we 

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really get how diverse and 
unique our generation is. 

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Sure. 
So you guys were doing that and 

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then brother, little brother 
comes to you and he's like, 

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we're starting a Tri company. 
Yeah, let's talk about. 

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This you said. 
You said what? 

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I said hell no. 
I said. 

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I didn't say hell no. 
I said do what you want, I'm too

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busy. 
We. 

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Were so like. 
How successful was the 

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marketing? 
It was doing really well. 

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Yeah, we were doing really well.
I had like travelled remotely. 

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I spent like a month in Italy 
and France and was like getting 

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my culinary inspiration on over 
there. 

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But like, we were working, we 
were making some money finally. 

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And then I was just like, I want
to do this thing. 

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And Annie was like, I don't 
believe in it. 

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And what made you doubt it? 
I think for us, you know, we had

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built this life earning 
decently, you know, being able 

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to employ other people, working 
on really cool stuff at the 

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agency. 
And food in Bev was like this 

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thing that was a totally 
different lifestyle. 

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You got to work with your hands,
you got to be on your feet. 

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You got to, you know, it's just.
It's just an entirely different 

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market, right? 
I mean, for me, that's what 

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influencing was. 
I'm like, I know how to be a 

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doctor. 
I don't know what this is. 

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Still did it, but it was not. 
Yeah, we had no experience in 

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food. 
And Beth, you know, there's no 

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one in our family that comes 
from the restaurant world. 

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There's there's there was 0. 
This is. 

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Delightful. 
I just OK continuously. 

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No, that's that's that's the 
first SIP reaction is is 

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everything. 
Oh my God this is so good. 

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So yeah, it just felt like, it 
just felt like a why disrupt 

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something that's working, you 
know, like why blow this up with

226
00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:33,880
this like pie in the sky idea 
and then. 

227
00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:37,560
Yeah, so I was like, and then he
kind of egged me on because 

228
00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,000
Annie is. 
So when Annie taught me how to 

229
00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,640
ride a ride a bike, he just 
pushed me off a hill and he was 

230
00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:45,640
like, you'll figure you are. 
The older brother so. 

231
00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:46,880
He definitely is the older 
brother. 

232
00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:49,400
I believe. 
That So with this thing, he was 

233
00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,480
like, I was like, oh, like 
there's a farmers market. 

234
00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:53,920
Like, I have to go to the City 
Hall and get like, he's like, 

235
00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:56,800
you're not going to do it. 
And like kind of brush me off. 

236
00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:00,760
And I was like, so I went and 
actually did it. 

237
00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:04,360
And then for every Sunday we'd 
set up, I had set up the farmers

238
00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:06,080
market. 
Make Chai. 

239
00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,560
Who's recipe? 
Went to U-Haul my recipe, some 

240
00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:11,360
of my mom's we don't really make
masala Chai. 

241
00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:13,560
Like we drink tea in our 
household every single day, but 

242
00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:16,440
it's usually like the British 
style tea and then masala Chai 

243
00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:18,480
was really like we'd go out to 
get. 

244
00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:19,920
And where did you source the 
ingredients? 

245
00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:23,320
All from India. 
So the tea that we got was a 

246
00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:28,760
organic CTCT from Asam and all 
the spices, cardamom, cinnamon 

247
00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,160
are all kind of grown in India 
as well, OK. 

248
00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,440
Have you changed the ingredient 
deck since you started or or 

249
00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,240
formula? 
No, we haven't. 

250
00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:44,280
We have changed the recipe. 
And so over time I realized that

251
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:51,320
people like to try here really 
Milky and Calcutta, like our 

252
00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,080
Bengali Chai is a little bit 
more watery and a little bit 

253
00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:56,960
more tea forward. 
And so we noticed that one like 

254
00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:58,360
this. 
Is very South Indian by the way,

255
00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,200
because I think South Indians 
like we take our Chai quite 

256
00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:01,800
Milky. 
Oh. 

257
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:03,040
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
So we kind of. 

258
00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:03,960
Say South Indian that's there's 
a. 

259
00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:05,880
Lot of like even. 
Thummel Teas. 

260
00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,560
Even on the West Punjab and all 
that stuff, it's like a very 

261
00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:11,160
Milky, Milky Chai. 
And so we kind of adjust the 

262
00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:13,440
recipe to be a little bit more 
like a little bit heavier, a 

263
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:15,840
little bit more still tea 
forward, but a little bit more 

264
00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:17,760
kind of Milky or thicker. 
Yeah. 

265
00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,600
But it's, yeah, so fascinating 
to hear because I hear like how?

266
00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:23,240
Are you going to open a branch 
in Los Angeles? 

267
00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,040
Let me tell you how fast is. 
Poppin working on it. 

268
00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:27,600
We're just on the West Coast 
actually, so. 

269
00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,240
Yeah, we just got back from the 
West Coast on. 

270
00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,240
We were there earlier this week.
So think through things, yeah. 

271
00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:35,520
Yeah, Lai want to be on Abbott 
Kinney, that's my. 

272
00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:37,680
My that would be a great spot, 
definitely. 

273
00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,640
Right in the thick of it, but 
yeah, yeah. 

274
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,280
So, yeah, these things just like
kind of developed over over 

275
00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:45,200
time. 
And then we did it at the 

276
00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,520
farmers market. 
And then you started coming 

277
00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:49,840
along, you'd start showing up a 
little bit more and looking at 

278
00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,920
the lines and be like, huh, His 
business opportunity minds 

279
00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,240
started going off and then, you 
know, we started doing more kind

280
00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,640
of like pop ups and then, you 
know, eventually open the cafe. 

281
00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,960
When you were doing the farmers 
market, the pop ups, what was 

282
00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,040
your scaling plan? 
Did you have a plan? 

283
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:11,240
No, our plan was to create the 
best product and then to see 

284
00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,240
what the market opportunity was 
actually like. 

285
00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:15,840
That was something that I think 
we we like. 

286
00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:20,760
It's so funny when you are first
starting off, you're creating 

287
00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,160
your own blueprint and your own 
rubric for like what makes 

288
00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,280
sense. 
There's this entire world of 

289
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:29,000
like business people who are 
like, you know, lean whatever 

290
00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,760
methodology and this and that. 
There's all these like terms, 

291
00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:33,840
you know, I. 
Feel like you have to ignore all

292
00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:35,360
that shit. 
Yeah. 

293
00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:36,960
I mean, you know, it's always a 
balance. 

294
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:38,640
I think life is always a balance
of everything. 

295
00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,920
But I sell that to say, you 
know, we had 30-40 people at the

296
00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:43,320
farmers market showing up every 
day. 

297
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,480
OK, well, that turned to 80. 
We need a pop up. 

298
00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:48,960
We had 100 people. 
And then the next pop up we had 

299
00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,200
400 people and the next we had, 
you know, 600 people. 

300
00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,360
And so it became this thing 
where we were like, is there 

301
00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,720
enough of a validation in the 
market to put money down for a 

302
00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,480
lease? 
Again, 2019 New York City, this 

303
00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,560
renaissance that we live in now,
South Asian cuisine did not 

304
00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:07,200
exist. 
Did not exist, but the reason I 

305
00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:11,440
so I have a skin care company 
and I got a lot of advice from 

306
00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,480
people on how to do it. 
And again, like all the terms 

307
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:19,480
that you hear with a startup 
and, and I'm self funded and 

308
00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:22,240
what I think that you guys did, 
which is what I did. 

309
00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:24,720
There was a lot of what's your 
market analysis? 

310
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:26,160
What's going to be what's the in
in beauty? 

311
00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:27,480
You always talk about white 
space, right? 

312
00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:28,760
Like what, what void do you 
fill? 

313
00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,240
And I kept saying there's 
nothing like this on the market.

314
00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:34,160
You can run whatever. 
What are you going to analyze? 

315
00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:36,240
We don't have comps for what I'm
trying to do. 

316
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,360
And people they get so nervous 
when you say that they think 

317
00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,600
you're delusional. 
They think that you're, you 

318
00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,680
know, your heads in the clouds 
and I did what you guys did, 

319
00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:47,320
which is I'm just going to do 
it. 

320
00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,560
I'm going to test the I'm going 
to do my own market analysis by 

321
00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:52,280
bringing it to market. 
I'm going to create my own 

322
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,880
little market. 
I'm going to see what sells, how

323
00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:56,320
well it sells. 
I'm going to try a couple of 

324
00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,280
different marketing things and 
if it sucks, I'll know. 

325
00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:03,000
And at most, if I lose X number 
of dollars as well, I have a 

326
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,640
backup job, it'll be fine. 
But if it works well, then I can

327
00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:08,000
think about the next step, which
is scaling. 

328
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,640
Which is why I said I kind of 
feel like to hell with it 

329
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,440
because so many people give you 
advice and they'll want you to 

330
00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:15,160
do all of these. 
And what are you, who are you 

331
00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,160
going to compare to with the 
Chai business, right? 

332
00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:18,160
Right. 
Yeah. 

333
00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:22,440
I think the advantage that we 
had was we had our own capital 

334
00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,720
to an extent to kind of like 
make a make these decisions that

335
00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,400
we wanted to make. 
Yeah, having money saved up from

336
00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:32,800
the agency and just like really 
not caring about a plan BI mean 

337
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:34,200
looking back, it was insane 
like. 

338
00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,120
We was insane. 
Screenshots of our bank. 

339
00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,840
Is the blueprint. 
But that's what I would, I would

340
00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,040
say is I'm very similar stories,
all the different industries. 

341
00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,560
I think that has become the 
blueprint because when you're so

342
00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,560
ferociously dedicated, you're 
just going to make it work. 

343
00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,200
Like you don't know how, but 
you're going to make it work. 

344
00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:54,320
And if you fail, it is because 
you literally tried everything 

345
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,640
and it's your own capital. 
You're not, I don't owe anybody 

346
00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,680
anything. 
Nobody's asking me questions. 

347
00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:03,800
That, I think is the blueprint. 
But like we weren't just yelling

348
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,680
out and to a void like we were 
getting feedback and we were 

349
00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:10,160
seeing the pop ups every day 
getting bigger and bigger every 

350
00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:11,760
time we we did it. 
And so. 

351
00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,400
We did get like positive 
feedback from that and and I 

352
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,160
think that was really 
encouraging for us initially 

353
00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,520
because past lives we've been 
built artists, right? 

354
00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:25,120
We've been both I play guitar 
and Ani used to produce a rap 

355
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:27,040
group. 
And so like when it comes to 

356
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,280
music is really interesting 
because when you're in front of 

357
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,360
a crowd and like you do your 
thing, you get media feedback if

358
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:35,560
people are feeling you or not. 
And like we've been in a lot of 

359
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:37,520
the situations. 
I think just the ability to 

360
00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:41,040
gauge like people's excitement 
and novelty and. 

361
00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:44,040
But sometimes I think you can't 
gauge that until you do it. 

362
00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,840
And so the amount of effort I 
see in other people, again, 

363
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:52,160
running the analysis and looking
at the market and creating 

364
00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:55,160
different scenarios and 
situations like why don't you 

365
00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,240
just do the damn thing? 
Yeah, and see what happens. 

366
00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:59,360
And yes, it takes a certain 
amount of capital to do that 

367
00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,480
because you're never really 
going to know because that real 

368
00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,760
time feedback you get, I think 
at least for me is, is super 

369
00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:08,720
critical. 
No, 1000% I think that was, 

370
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,160
yeah. 
And that was our way of piercing

371
00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:12,760
it together, right? 
People always like, oh, why 

372
00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,800
don't you guys have, you know, 
50 try cafes across America? 

373
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,880
And it's like, well, why are you
still validating parts of that 

374
00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:20,920
market? 
And since we do it in our own 

375
00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:25,079
kind of systematic way, you kind
of have to trust the process 

376
00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:27,280
that got you here and then know 
kind of when to mature that 

377
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:29,640
process. 
So yeah, there's a lot of doing 

378
00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:32,840
1 pop up turn to, you know, 
these these bigger 

379
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:37,240
opportunities. 
And at some point, the biggest 

380
00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:41,000
question was like is there an 
opportunity to open brick and 

381
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:42,600
mortar? 
And that was the last thing I 

382
00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:44,640
think we wanted to do. 
We had no intention of in. 

383
00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:47,360
New York City. 
You know, ever taking on a lease

384
00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:51,160
because it's very scary, right? 
Once you do that, you can't back

385
00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:56,040
out of that. 
And then I don't remember what 

386
00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,640
the moment was. 
Was it that that Brooklyn pop up

387
00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:01,760
that kind of like put us over 
the edge? 

388
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,320
I saw the space and I guess that
was later. 

389
00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:06,520
That was later. 
Literally, it was the smallest 

390
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,280
space. 
And this is where the the 

391
00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,120
Chinese came from today. 
It's our East Village location. 

392
00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,440
And it was like the small space 
that we could find. 

393
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:16,960
And I was just like, we'll make 
this work. 

394
00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:18,480
Yeah. 
And it was just, it was kind of 

395
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,400
just like a very instinctive, 
intuitive thing, which I do not 

396
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,040
recommend opening brick and 
mortar that way at all. 

397
00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,280
I think you should definitely 
hire someone that's done it, or 

398
00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:27,240
like talk to someone that's 
done. 

399
00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:28,920
It Yeah, we we may disagree 
here. 

400
00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:30,520
It's three blocks from here, 
funny enough. 

401
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:35,160
Yeah, I think, I think it takes 
a certain personality type, but 

402
00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,640
I think people who find 
themselves in these creative 

403
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,040
extensions of real ideas tend to
have really good gut instinct. 

404
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:44,320
Yeah. 
That's a. 

405
00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:45,760
That's a great way to to phrase 
it. 

406
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,120
Yeah. 
So I listen to my gut to a 

407
00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:49,760
fault, except not to a fault, 
because I. 

408
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:50,920
Perfect. 
I make all. 

409
00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,200
Of the right decisions and am in
fact the eldest daughter of of 

410
00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,120
immigrant parents to AT. 
But it's something my husband 

411
00:18:57,120 --> 00:18:59,040
had to really get used to 
because I will just say it with 

412
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,800
such conviction and I will not. 
I mean, he gives me feedback. 

413
00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:04,320
I'm like, no, no, it will simply
work. 

414
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:07,280
And he's like, this sounds 
crazy. 

415
00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:09,360
And we'll look back and he goes,
I don't know how you got that, 

416
00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:12,800
but that was right. 
And I think going back to our 

417
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:19,440
parents, I think who they are is
a lot of why so many of us are 

418
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:23,040
like this, like watching them 
play by the rule book, do all 

419
00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,160
the things, build a comfortable 
life, right? 

420
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,720
Give us what we needed. 
So we have that. 

421
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,160
We're smart, we know how to work
hard. 

422
00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,120
We watched our parents do all 
these things, but now we get to 

423
00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:35,720
explore this whole thing that 
they didn't get to, which is 

424
00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,920
creativity and culture and 
social experimentation. 

425
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:41,320
All these things that they just,
they did not have bandwidth or 

426
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,000
capacity or even interest to do 
that. 

427
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:46,600
They were just making the money,
raising the kids, doing the 

428
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:48,160
things, taking care of their 
parents. 

429
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,520
So now we get to take all of 
what we got from them, which is 

430
00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,680
that the work ethic and the 
intelligence, and then take it 

431
00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:56,360
10 steps further, which I think 
is cool. 

432
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:58,240
Absolutely, Yeah. 
I think one more point and we 

433
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,280
can we can move on is I think 
for businesses that come from a 

434
00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,520
cultural perspective, cultural 
point of view, and it doesn't 

435
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,040
have to be diaspora culture. 
It can be any kind of, you know,

436
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:11,920
first Gen. culture since nothing
exists as a precedent for that. 

437
00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:15,800
Investors, consumers, you know, 
the larger market, everyone's 

438
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,080
always confused. 
And that's something that, you 

439
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,760
know, we think a lot about 
where, yeah, you know, Starbucks

440
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,200
has been selling Chive for 20-30
years in this country, but. 

441
00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:28,840
When you know, an authentic kind
of cultural concept comes along,

442
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,880
people are like they're suddenly
confused and or don't believe in

443
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,400
in the market for it. 
And I think that's just like as 

444
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:39,360
a cultural founder, that's the 
challenge that's in front of 

445
00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:41,240
you. 
That's the hurdle and you have 

446
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:42,440
to find a way to get through 
that. 

447
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,320
I don't think there's any. 
Like you can't cry about it, you

448
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,600
know, You can't be like, oh, 
like, you know what was me like?

449
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,240
Well. 
You become the proof of concept.

450
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,600
If you really want to build that
thing for your, you know, 

451
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:54,920
culture for the first time, you 
have to find a way forward. 

452
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:57,520
So I think that's what we did. 
And then today you look around 

453
00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:59,760
and there's so many kind of like
similar concepts. 

454
00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,120
I think it's like very rewarding
for us to see that. 

455
00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:07,200
I think, you know, it's, it's 
tricky because we set out to be 

456
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,320
like, Hey, we want to inspire 
people to do this. 

457
00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:13,920
And now, now people are doing 
it, you know, and it's like they

458
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:15,480
don't. 
Always copy pasting. 

459
00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:16,880
Yeah, they're cop. 
There's some some people are 

460
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,240
copy pasting the concept better 
than the original, you know, and

461
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,360
that's The thing is like, you 
know, often imitated, never 

462
00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:23,360
duplicated. 
And you know, we we take pride 

463
00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:25,040
in like. 
That's what we wanted. 

464
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:26,320
So I don't know. 
We can't really complain. 

465
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,280
That's what I'm saying. 
I also think, and again, just 

466
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:31,880
speaking from my own experience,
even when people do that, it 

467
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,360
just forces me to even that much
more hone in on exactly what my 

468
00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:38,760
craft is, why I do it better, 
how I do it better, and then 

469
00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:40,640
evolve, right? 
Which is which is what 

470
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:42,440
capitalism was meant to be, 
right? 

471
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:45,480
OK. 
And then enter Hassan Minaj. 

472
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:46,600
When? 
Why? 

473
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:48,920
How? 
It's a big leap. 

474
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,520
A lot happened between OK. 
Fill in the gaps. 

475
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,800
Fill in the gaps. 
We opened our second location. 

476
00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:56,800
Open our second location. 
Our first location we opened six

477
00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:58,880
months before COVID. 
And that was the East Village 1.

478
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:02,280
That was the East Village 1 and 
that was when we talk about 

479
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,120
conviction and kind of like a 
true test of do you believe in 

480
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,720
your concept? 
You boost shop a location, New 

481
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,400
York City shuts down, you know 
what next? 

482
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:18,800
And so that really taught us how
to, if you believe in something,

483
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,200
what does that actually require?
And it required a lot. 

484
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,880
We we did pivot the business to 
having an online CPG element as 

485
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:27,160
well. 
Yeah, I was going to ask about. 

486
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,000
That so that you know that 
really took off and then we 

487
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,840
opened our second location in 
2023. 

488
00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:35,280
Whose idea was the the Chai 
kits, The home kits? 

489
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:38,920
We had it on our like. 
Yeah, we were always going. 

490
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,400
To do that dream. 
COVID accelerated that. 

491
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,480
Yeah, and COVID was like, oh, we
got to do it right now. 

492
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,840
Yeah. 
So then we opened in the heart 

493
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,400
of Solo in 2023. 
That was a very important moment

494
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,440
for the brand. 
It was like, you know, we 

495
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,560
thought we knew virality and 
it's just things went to 

496
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:55,400
another. 
Level. 

497
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:56,680
Oh yeah, it was all over my 
feed. 

498
00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,080
Yeah. 
And that was exciting because I 

499
00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:03,080
think, you know, we as young 
founders, it was like you had 

500
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:06,680
opened his first location and 
just been battered by COVID for 

501
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:08,840
2-3 years. 
Like there was no normal, right?

502
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:13,200
Like it was like, you know, and 
remember, like up until 2022, 

503
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:14,880
like that was still a thing, 
like you in New York. 

504
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,320
Before we're really going out. 
Yeah, New York seating, you 

505
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,720
know, outdoor seating indoors, 
it was just, it was just a mess.

506
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:24,120
And so it was almost like this 
refresh and this re imagination 

507
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:27,720
of what it could be and. 
It had been a minute since 

508
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,920
people made it out to have a 
coffee experience for dining. 

509
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:35,080
Exactly. 
And then kind of from second 

510
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,640
cafe to Hus and any anything 
else I'm missing kind of key 

511
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:39,920
moments. 
Well, I think, I think the 

512
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:43,000
second cafe kind of put us on 
his radar a little bit more. 

513
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,760
And then we have a mutual friend
and Econ who kind of had been 

514
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,000
bringing it up and just like, 
yeah, you got to check these 

515
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:50,720
guys out. 
Just like come have a try. 

516
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:56,240
Did you want, did you want the 
investor? 

517
00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:00,200
Did you want the celebrity? 
Did you want the cultural? 

518
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:01,840
Like, did you? 
Because it sounds like you 

519
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,360
didn't need any of that. 
No, we we're a little bit 

520
00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,160
insular to a fault sometimes as 
two brother, you know, we've 

521
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,440
just we've had to shoulder so 
much of this. 

522
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,760
We're just like, as long as 
we're in it and we're good. 

523
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,960
We don't need anybody else. 
And that may or may not be, you 

524
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,720
know, that that may be like a 
thing, something we need to 

525
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,320
mature on. 
But look, early on, Mindy Kaling

526
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,040
was, you know, engaging with the
content and we were like, oh, 

527
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:27,360
dope, cool, She likes it. 
Move on. 

528
00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:30,200
And we had, what was it like Zoe
Kravitz? 

529
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,240
And, you know, like you're, 
you're kind of like New York 

530
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:34,760
celebrity runs. 
They would come to the cafe and 

531
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:36,800
it was like, oh, cool, guess 
who's here today. 

532
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:40,920
Move on. 
Hassan comes by one day with 

533
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:42,880
with our mutual friend Anique. 
And we're just all kind of 

534
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:47,040
hanging out, having Chai. 
And really he was just like 

535
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,600
running his like new jokes on 
us. 

536
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:50,760
Like it wasn't we didn't talk 
about anything with what's 

537
00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,600
called the Chai and it was like 
cool. 

538
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,760
We got to meet Hassan and it was
fun and he enjoyed theCHIVE move

539
00:24:57,760 --> 00:24:59,560
on. 
Like it was always kind of like,

540
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,800
you know, focus on business. 
Never felt like we needed. 

541
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:05,720
It doesn't sound like you needed
it, so that's. 

542
00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:07,440
I think we never even thought 
about it. 

543
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,440
I don't know why. 
Like I think that it's a good 

544
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,560
and a bad thing. 
I think when you're like, you 

545
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,320
know, no sort of the grindstone,
whatever that term is, it's like

546
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:17,640
you're just you're just doing 
the things that you need to do. 

547
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,360
But yeah, I can tell the whole 
story. 

548
00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:25,520
I can tell the short story, 
short story long. 

549
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,320
I get AI get Adm from us in like
a couple months after we meet at

550
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,840
the cafe and he's like, call me.
I got an idea. 

551
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,640
And I was like, OK, well, you 
know, like we have a lot of 

552
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,600
respect for him. 
Just kind of seeing his journey 

553
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:41,960
as a parallel to what we've 
done. 

554
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,000
We've kind of been apparel to 
what he's done, but he's taken 

555
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,280
stories from the margins and 
made the mainstream. 

556
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:51,520
Absolutely. 
I mean, I saw him live in LA. 

557
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,440
It was last year. 
And you know, he makes these 

558
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,000
jokes that you think like, I'm 
only people like me could get 

559
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:00,160
it. 
Like who? 

560
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:05,560
But it's such a diverse crowd, 
people, people from many 

561
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:10,440
different unique backgrounds all
laughing at the joke that I 

562
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,880
thought would only resonate with
like the child of an immigrant, 

563
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,680
right. 
And so if that's true and you 

564
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,720
translate that, then it doesn't 
just have to be things for 

565
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,080
Indian people. 
Correct. 

566
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,480
And that, and that was like the 
thing that we respected about 

567
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:28,600
him from the beginning. 
He was just very much like, for 

568
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,520
my culture to be seen, respected
and understood properly, it 

569
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,720
needs to be accessible. 
And we've always taken the same 

570
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:39,520
approach, you know, to KCC. 
And so he DMS me, we don't end 

571
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:41,000
up talking for another couple 
months. 

572
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,200
And he was just like, I want to 
hear more about what you guys 

573
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,200
are doing. 
I'm interested in being a part 

574
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,920
of it. 
And I was like, OK, you know, 

575
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:56,960
again, like us being like these 
kind of like no frill founders, 

576
00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,680
like we just, we just never, you
know, had the space for that. 

577
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,560
I meet with him November 23. 
We we got lunch. 

578
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,160
We went went to his house and 
hung out and kind of like got to

579
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:10,040
know each other And I called I 
and after and I was like, house 

580
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,920
wants to be a part of this, but 
I'm not really sure. 

581
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,680
And my, our gut instinct was 
like, are we ready to have a 

582
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,000
third brother? 
Like that wasn't really on the 

583
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,520
in the plans. 
And I'm really happy that, you 

584
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,360
know, we brought him on. 
Hudson is an incredible, you 

585
00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:29,440
know, person, high integrity, 
high character. 

586
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,520
Everything that he could have 
done gone above and beyond for 

587
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,560
us, from the day that we started
even talking three years later, 

588
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:39,600
he's always gone above and 
beyond. 

589
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,320
And when we talk about like 
celebrity partners, all the 

590
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,400
horror stories that happened 
kind of in the CPG, you know, 

591
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,920
startup world, like I could not 
have a different experience. 

592
00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:51,840
Like Hudson is just he's 
incredible. 

593
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:53,760
And so there's a lot we did with
him. 

594
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:55,760
We went on tour. 
We, you know, we launched. 

595
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,840
Let's talk about going on tour 
because I feel like that was 

596
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:01,040
such a. 
Unique experience. 

597
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:02,920
OK, what did he do? 
Like, what was it? 

598
00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,160
That was because you guys 
already had something. 

599
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,160
So I'll, I'll, yeah. 
That was his first idea. 

600
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,400
He was like, I want to have he's
like community and 

601
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,320
commiseration. 
He's like all my shows are about

602
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,720
community and commiseration and 
what what better drink is there 

603
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,000
than child like you just like 
it's a social drink. 

604
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,880
You have it around people that 
you you love and and you talk 

605
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,160
shit about stuff. 
I don't know if I can do 

606
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,680
something here. 
OK, cool, sorry. 

607
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:30,360
And he was like, I want it 
basically when my shows get out,

608
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:34,280
I want there to be free Chai 
just like pouring. 

609
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:38,160
And I want this in Chicago, San 
Francisco. 

610
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:44,360
DC, New York, NY City. 
City and we were like how do we 

611
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:49,160
do that and so we figured it out
and every at each of those shows

612
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:54,800
we basically gave about we tried
to 2003 thousand people every 

613
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,000
night and it was like an 
incredible feat and it was so 

614
00:28:58,000 --> 00:28:59,720
unique and I don't think 
anyone's ever done that and I 

615
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,480
don't know if anyone will ever 
do that again yeah. 

616
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,240
It's very cool. 
We set up a Chai cafe outside of

617
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,760
these venues and this was before
we had a contract with him. 

618
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:09,480
This was just like, he's like. 
Just vibes. 

619
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,120
Yeah, it was like we both were 
feeling each other out, like, 

620
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,760
let's see how we work. 
And that was like, that's an A 

621
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,920
list celebrity willing to like, 
take a chance on, you know, two 

622
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,240
young founders. 
And we got to see how each 

623
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,960
other, how both parties worked, 
you know, and, and both parties 

624
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,080
went above and beyond to 
deliver. 

625
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:30,880
And after that, yeah, it was 
kind of it's kind of been a 

626
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,240
crazy. 
Like when we go back and think 

627
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:36,120
about it, like we announced it 
on Bloomberg with partnership on

628
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:38,280
Bloomberg. 
He went on Drew Barrymore with a

629
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,200
cup of Chai. 
We got to meet some of our 

630
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,760
childhood heroes through some of
these, like, you know, private 

631
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,160
retreats and stuff that we've 
been on with him. 

632
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:49,680
We drank child with Pharrell. 
I don't know if we've said that 

633
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,240
before, but that's a real thing.
That's wild. 

634
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:53,600
Yeah. 
So like there's been, there's 

635
00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,440
been all these moments and we've
got to. 

636
00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,200
Learn, but that wasn't on the 
mood board, but here. 

637
00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:58,680
We are right. 
Yeah. 

638
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:00,280
Correct And we got to learn from
him. 

639
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,120
We got to learn from someone 
who's actually done this before,

640
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:07,400
taken this like dream and made 
it, you know, a career and also 

641
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:11,240
made it like a he's changed 
culture forever in America. 

642
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,320
And it's just a privilege to be 
able to do that. 

643
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:17,480
So yeah, there's more common, 
you know, we have so much more 

644
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:21,960
on the works with him and it's 
still a bit surreal sometimes, 

645
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:29,280
but it helped us also kind of 
realign our thesis of we've 

646
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,160
built something incredible in 
New York City within a certain 

647
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:34,040
community. 
But it's way more accessible 

648
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,040
than that. 
So as we look to become the 

649
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,680
name, the household name for 
China America, you know, we, we 

650
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,560
want to do that with a partner 
like him. 

651
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,240
And so that's the whole plan. 
We we want to be on grocery 

652
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:45,040
shelves. 
You want to. 

653
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,280
And I thought you guys should 
have do like weddings, like 

654
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:49,200
people should be able to have 
the Kolkata. 

655
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:50,920
Yeah, we do. 
We do some, we do some wedding 

656
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,080
favors. 
Yeah, I just got a text last 

657
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:54,760
night from a friend who's like, 
I'm at this wedding and they 

658
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,000
have KCC and I was like, I 
didn't know about that, but 

659
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,080
that's awesome. 
So yeah, we're we're working on 

660
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:00,000
that. 
I love that. 

661
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,120
Weddings are intense. 
That's I don't want to do 

662
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:03,440
weddings on weddings. 
Are too intense. 

663
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:06,320
Caring Weddings. 
Caring Weddings is very, very 

664
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:08,520
intense, but we we do them very 
selectively. 

665
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:13,040
Selectively OK, my sister is 
getting married in June, so 

666
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:17,040
we're in the throes of doing 
that now and it's it's funny, I 

667
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:21,040
so as a million filter coffee is
like our love language, right. 

668
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:26,160
So my mom knows I will complain 
if the caterer has not optimized

669
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,000
the filter coffee situation. 
So she's like she made it for 

670
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:30,600
you. 
She sent it in this flask. 

671
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:32,560
So I like I was like, I can't 
drink it right now. 

672
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:34,720
It's at night like I need to 
have it at the right time tell 

673
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:37,160
you wow. 
So I sent her back notes and I 

674
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:39,720
clearly that's crazy. 
That's like, not a normative. 

675
00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:41,920
Notes on filter coffee is like 
you're hired. 

676
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,840
Honestly, like and I and I 
called her back. 

677
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:47,480
I was like I need this, I need 
this. 

678
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,520
The I went through the whole, 
the whole list and I it's just 

679
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,240
certain things are so inherent 
to who we are. 

680
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:59,320
Try filter coffee. 
And the fact that you guys have 

681
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,000
been so well received and 
growing is really all of the 

682
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,440
proof that you need that you 
nailed the product. 

683
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:08,760
Yeah. 
And I think, you know, my, my 

684
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,640
brand is still small, but I 
whether it's surgery or about my

685
00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:13,480
skin care line or about 
Instagram, you know, how do you 

686
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:15,560
do it or what do you? 
And they have all these 

687
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:17,400
questions about everything 
except the product. 

688
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,080
And I always like if you just 
have a really good product, you 

689
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:25,200
will find your way into whatever
it is you're looking for. 

690
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:29,400
But everybody is so distracted 
these days, especially with how 

691
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:33,360
media marketing works right now,
that I find so many people 

692
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,160
forget about the product and 
they're focusing on everything 

693
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:38,160
else. 
And all of those other I think 

694
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,200
antics will only work for a 
short period of time if your 

695
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,280
source product or your hero 
product or whatever it is that 

696
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,560
you stand on isn't actually 
excellent. 

697
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,440
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. 
That's what I obsess about all 

698
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:53,840
the time. 
And like the way we make Chai, 

699
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,360
we make it across different 
locations, different staff 

700
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,920
members, different feelings, 
different things going on. 

701
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,800
And they're making a recipe from
scratch every single day and 

702
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:09,120
across like, no, it's like AI 
don't want to. 

703
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,640
It's like a restaurant. 
It's like a very, very precise 

704
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:15,280
restaurant and it's really hard 
to get right. 

705
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,640
And so we're very, I'm very 
proud of my team and just like 

706
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,680
our ability to like create that 
consistent product every day. 

707
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,040
It's very, very difficult to do.
Have you ever made something or 

708
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,920
tried to add something to the 
menu and you're like, never mind

709
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:29,880
just. 
Kidding all the time. 

710
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:31,880
Yeah, all. 
The time. 

711
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,520
What's your favorite thing other
than the masala? 

712
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:35,200
Like the original? 
What's your favorite? 

713
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaking of coffee, I really 
like our coffee. 

714
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,360
Yeah. 
So we partnered with Drift Away.

715
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:41,640
I don't know if you know Drift 
Away. 

716
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:46,160
They bringing beans from all 
parts of the world, but then 

717
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:48,200
they roast right in Brooklyn. 
Oh cool. 

718
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,240
And so we teamed up with them. 
They made a special filter 

719
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,640
coffee chicory blend for us from
a single. 

720
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,040
I was literally stopping by the 
store later today so now I know 

721
00:33:58,040 --> 00:33:58,960
what to get. 
Come by. 

722
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:00,600
Yeah. 
And like we just recently, like 

723
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:03,960
chicory dialed it, dialed that 
recipe in and it's like actually

724
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,720
went to India. 
We went to India in February. 

725
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,520
And do you know this concept 
called Benedosa out there? 

726
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,920
It's, it's South Indian, but 
it's obviously in Bombay. 

727
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:15,520
It's like this fast casual dosa 
and they have filter coffee 

728
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:17,440
there. 
And I was just like, this filter

729
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,000
coffee is so amazing. 
And I was like, how do I get 

730
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:21,560
this? 
And so I've been working on 

731
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:23,560
dialing that in. 
So I think the coffee is really,

732
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,000
really good at at KCC. 
OK, I love that. 

733
00:34:26,199 --> 00:34:28,880
I love that. 
Where, how are we doing On time 

734
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:35,679
951 couple more minutes. 
OK, can I get like a little 

735
00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:37,520
controversial? 
Is that of course let's. 

736
00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:40,080
Kind I'm going to let you. 
We love controversy. 

737
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:44,800
I mean, I serve, I live on 
controversy and it's my favorite

738
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,040
thing. 
It has been liberating for me. 

739
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:53,960
So I, you know, I recently made 
two videos roasting Priya Patel.

740
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:55,239
Are you familiar? 
Oh God. 

741
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:56,040
OK. 
Yeah, yeah. 

742
00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,080
Oh God, right, Yes. 
Unfortunately, who she. 

743
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:05,360
Is and it's as someone who is so
proud of her culture and it is 

744
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,280
very much a part of who I am. 
I'm also very American. 

745
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:10,160
Like I'm I'm both of these 
things. 

746
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:15,720
People like her just make me 
like viscerally nauseous. 

747
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:20,000
What is your response to people 
like that as two men who have 

748
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:26,040
created and again, a working 
proof of concept that Chai is 

749
00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,560
global and that something so 
beautiful from our culture 

750
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,120
actually has deserves a home 
across the United States. 

751
00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:37,480
What is your response to you 
know little cockroaches like 

752
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,840
pray of vital? 
So honestly, this might be even 

753
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,800
a hotter take, but like when my 
business side is like, go get 

754
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:47,640
your money, you got the 
conservative right wing, 

755
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,760
whatever. 
Like you need to posture for 

756
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,040
that, like cool. 
And then the other side of me is

757
00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:56,400
like, oh, you are really not 
accepting your identity and 

758
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,800
that's like a real problem. 
So I think. 

759
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:01,120
You think she's getting money? 
I think she is, yeah. 

760
00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:03,960
No, nobody would go on on 
whatever Piers Morgan or 

761
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:08,760
whatever and and do that without
like some platform or some kind 

762
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,280
of financial motivation. 
People do insane things for 

763
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:13,440
financial motivation. 
I think she's trying to build 

764
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,800
like some kind of, I don't know 
what she, what does she? 

765
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,040
Do that's the thing I I don't 
actually think she does 

766
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:21,880
anything. 
And so, you know, I usually if 

767
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:23,800
you're an influencer, you have 
brand deals are. 

768
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:27,880
We talking about the British 
politist politician, No. 

769
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:28,600
No, no. 
I. 

770
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,480
Think it's creepy? 
He's not on Instagram anymore 

771
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:33,080
so. 
I mean, God bless. 

772
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:33,840
Him. 
I thought I was. 

773
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:35,000
I thought. 
It was no, there's this like, 

774
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:36,160
oh, I mixed. 
Race. 

775
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:38,400
OK, so we talking about the same
person she was on Piers Morgan? 

776
00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:40,840
Yeah, I think so. 
For for what reason I don't 

777
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:42,200
know. 
She is she always there with the

778
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:44,960
White family, Respectfully so. 
Yeah, she doesn't post her dad, 

779
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:46,680
her dad, she doesn't. 
Post bad but we talk about the 

780
00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:47,520
same person. 
You got it. 

781
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:49,760
Not posted. 
I think the reason he called her

782
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:54,120
on is she had posted I think 
something like immigration with 

783
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,080
that assimilation. 
Yeah, yeah, is. 

784
00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:00,040
Invasion so my bit because 
actually there's a word for that

785
00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:02,920
it's called colonialism, bitch. 
Like that's what the white 

786
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,160
people do is they they come in, 
they don't assimilate they kill 

787
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:08,080
all the natives and then they 
call it their own. 

788
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:13,080
That's invasion. 
So I so she's stupid and what 

789
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,320
she said was not well received. 
And I think that's what Piers 

790
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:16,840
Morgan was getting about getting
AT. 

791
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:19,000
And then he was asking her, you 
know, there's other 

792
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,640
controversial things she said 
about lesser cultures. 

793
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,160
And so she had said, oh, well, I
think the Muslim culture is an 

794
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,200
inferior culture. 
So she's talking about that, you

795
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:29,320
know, I. 
Don't believe it like I just. 

796
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:31,560
No, of course. 
I don't believe that those are 

797
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:33,360
actual beliefs. 
I think it's just like political

798
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:35,440
posturing for you. 
Don't think she. 

799
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,920
Actually believes that, but I'm 
like, who's paying? 

800
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:40,320
I don't know. 
I no brand is going to sign up 

801
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:42,360
for that. 
No, I'll take, I'll take I know 

802
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,800
what I'm saying it what it is, 
is like, it may not be direct 

803
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:48,400
dollars, but it's creating 
influence. 

804
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:52,040
And with that influence, you 
attract the crazies on whatever 

805
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,360
side you're on. 
And and through that thing like 

806
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,520
you'll, you'll find a little 
community of people who are 

807
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,720
willing to validate you, listen 
to you find something you're 

808
00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:02,800
doing. 
So it may not be like a brand 

809
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:06,000
deal, you know, but it's, it's 
in that in that world. 

810
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:10,640
I just, I think like we live in 
such a politically absolutely 

811
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:15,440
insane time that there's no like
there's no sense of making sense

812
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:16,960
of any of this stuff. 
Like I think people are just 

813
00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,920
saying whatever to get views and
it doesn't. 

814
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:24,560
Like there's no actual, the only
way we feed into it is if we are

815
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:26,840
outraged about it, which I 
totally understand you're 

816
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:28,480
outraged. 
Like it's completely ridiculous,

817
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:30,040
but. 
No, but I see what you're 

818
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,040
saying. 
By by giving, by platforming her

819
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,320
further, you're then feeding 
into what is likely her. 

820
00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:38,560
Reasoning, but 100% yeah. 
And so. 

821
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:40,120
That's how. 
That's the age we live. 

822
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:44,960
In I think like the counteract 
to that is just like I, I view 

823
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:46,960
everyone like you should have 
her on the pod, like view 

824
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:50,760
everyone with compassion and 
just like be open, feel open to 

825
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,160
everyone. 
And like I, it's a, it's a skill

826
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:55,360
and it's a, it's a thing that 
we're constantly have to work 

827
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:56,760
on. 
But I would be happy to have 

828
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,200
conservatives on the podcast 
like that is that's totally 

829
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:01,440
fine. 
I can disagree with you and hear

830
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:04,200
what you have to say and be 
like, OK, well, I disagree with 

831
00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:06,200
you, but interesting. 
That's where you're coming from.

832
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:11,480
But I just, perhaps it is 
because I am a child of 

833
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,760
immigrant parents, right? 
That moral compass is strong, 

834
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:16,640
even when I wish that it would 
not be. 

835
00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:18,880
I, there's like so much 
conviction. 

836
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:22,320
I, I just don't think I could do
something if I didn't feel like 

837
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,120
I, I was doing the right thing, 
You know, whether it is for my 

838
00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:28,920
children, my culture, me. 
And so that I think is what what

839
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:33,080
kills me the most is even if she
is just doing it for a persona 

840
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:35,160
like how do you sleep at night? 
No, it is. 

841
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:38,160
It is quite sad, especially like
since that's a member of her 

842
00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:41,400
family and yeah, I wonder, I 
wonder how that works 

843
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:42,960
internally. 
But again. 

844
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:44,200
Yeah, I won't have the dad on 
time. 

845
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:45,960
The brother on the. 
Yeah, the dad we. 

846
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,000
All are listening. 
Just come on down. 

847
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:49,960
I'm staying out of this phone. 
I think. 

848
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:54,120
I think what we've, what we've 
learned in our time is like the 

849
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:58,920
Internet is such a dangerous 
place because everybody is going

850
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,400
through something. 
It's just as human beings, it is

851
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:05,160
the human experience to go 
through things, the ups and 

852
00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:07,720
downs. 
The problem is now we have this 

853
00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:10,920
brick rectangular of sadness 
that we can record and then 

854
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,920
project whatever that is onto 
other people instead of dealing 

855
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:17,880
with it internally. 
And so I think to Ian's point, 

856
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,040
like, yeah, it's not, it's not 
a, it's not a viral take, but 

857
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,920
it's like compassion and, and 
more discussion and less 

858
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,640
divisiveness. 
Is going to keep whatever fabric

859
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:29,360
of society we have left 
together. 

860
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,280
I think if we continue to 
basically use things, these 

861
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,480
things as division, it's not 
going to be much left so. 

862
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:38,640
But my argument to that would be
like, where do you draw the 

863
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:41,320
line? 
She's so egregious on the other 

864
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:42,760
end, it's. 
Just keyboard warriors, like 

865
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:44,520
anyone can say anything online 
and it's like. 

866
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:46,360
No, I agree with that. 
But I'm talking, I mean, she was

867
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:48,360
on Piers Morgan, right? 
There's still a verbal 

868
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,120
discourse. 
There's at the end of the day, 

869
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:52,040
we have politicians that 
represent us, right? 

870
00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:55,360
And they have to be capable of 
of having these conversations. 

871
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:58,360
And what we saw was a complete 
dissolution of of discourse. 

872
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:02,440
You know, you can't have 
reasonable debates when the 

873
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,760
conversation is is at that 
point, right. 

874
00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:09,240
So I agree, you should be able 
to talk through things, but when

875
00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:14,280
people are so egregious, I don't
know, I'm kind of enjoying this 

876
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:18,200
era of like, the Gavin Newsome. 
Just, like, just roast them. 

877
00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:20,520
Like, if you can't beat them, 
you know what I mean? 

878
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:22,320
Like, you want to go low, we'll 
go lower. 

879
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,280
Like, you want to be this 
absurd, OK, we'll fight fire 

880
00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:28,600
with fire, which is something I 
feel like the Democratic Party, 

881
00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:29,920
we really just switched. 
Gears, we did. 

882
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:32,120
Yeah, we're, we're in it. 
But I feel like the Democratic 

883
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:33,640
Party didn't really do that 
well. 

884
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:36,600
And I, I got a little bit sick 
of like trying to play both 

885
00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:38,200
sides. 
I'm like yo, just like need to 

886
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,000
dial down on what is right on 
Israel and Palestine. 

887
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:42,880
Y'all just really need to like 
you. 

888
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:46,000
You think you're going to lose 
all the voters, but I think you 

889
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:50,560
know, we have people like Zaran 
Nandani showing us, right? 

890
00:41:50,720 --> 00:41:54,880
Like you don't need AIPAC money.
You can actually just have an 

891
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,320
opinion and merely having an 
opinion, even if people disagree

892
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:00,480
with you, they will respect you 
for it. 

893
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,080
Because we haven't even seen 
that in a long time, right? 

894
00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:07,680
Right. 
I think Hudson has a podcast and

895
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:09,800
I think one of the early. 
People obsessed with it and. 

896
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,520
Do you think? 
That now that we've met, I will 

897
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,920
not leverage this for some 
opportunity to meet him with you

898
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,040
guys like I'm telling. 
You well, but like Elizabeth 

899
00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:22,880
Warren's on that podcast and 
like Hudson's like you guys are 

900
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,720
getting out message like what's 
the message for for Biden and 

901
00:42:26,720 --> 00:42:28,320
Elizabeth Warren's like? 
He. 

902
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:32,120
Cares. 
And it's just like, like, oh, 

903
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:38,640
like, come on, Trump's like. 
And I'm kind of liking like the 

904
00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:40,640
aggro. 
Yeah, we have an opinion and 

905
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:44,160
this is our opinion. 
And I am very opinionated on my 

906
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:45,920
platform. 
And I love the freedom that I 

907
00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:49,880
have because I fund my life by 
being a surgeon in my real 

908
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:52,000
estate investments. 
Like, if all of this burns down 

909
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,920
tomorrow, great. 
I would be fucking thrilled if I

910
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,800
could delete Instagram and 
TikTok from my phone, right? 

911
00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:01,120
But I do it because I have these
opportunities and I, I don't 

912
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:03,600
want to totally shit talk it 
because it has provided me a lot

913
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:05,120
of great opportunities like 
meeting you gentlemen. 

914
00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:10,560
But in, in being on Instagram 
and seeing just like all of the 

915
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:12,920
opinions and all of the thoughts
and I get to be super 

916
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:14,800
opinionated. 
I really have come to, there are

917
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,920
people who disagree with me, but
they respect the delivery of the

918
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:19,720
message. 
And so they will follow. 

919
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:22,480
And I think that part of the 
culture switch of like not 

920
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:24,240
having to agree with every 
single thing somebody says. 

921
00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:27,080
Or you're just so frustrated 
with the ambiguity that if they 

922
00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:30,640
just have an opinion and they 
can tell you why, you're like, 

923
00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:31,880
you know what? 
Even though I don't agree with 

924
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:35,600
you, I can. 
An informed opinion or just just

925
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:36,120
an? 
Opinion no. 

926
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:37,200
Informed, yeah. 
Informed. 

927
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:39,640
You have to be able to yeah, 
yeah, there has to be nuance to 

928
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:41,040
it, but I think that's really 
helpful. 

929
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,080
And I what I push for is I got 
really frustrated with the last 

930
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:46,600
election when people were, you 
know, the obviously the Israel 

931
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,680
Palestine thing was, was a big 
deal, as it should have been. 

932
00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:52,120
And I I'm also disappointed with
the stance of the Democratic 

933
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:55,720
Party in general took, although 
there were individuals who were 

934
00:43:55,720 --> 00:43:57,960
willing to dissent. 
I think is we have the primaries

935
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:01,760
and we get to have primaries. 
So if we really care about this 

936
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:06,080
thing, now's the time after they
choose the candidate and all of 

937
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:07,640
that. 
Like we go to just like lesser 

938
00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:10,000
of two evils, guys. 
But now that we have this 

939
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:13,240
opportunity, if we really care 
about certain issues, let us be 

940
00:44:13,240 --> 00:44:14,680
opinionated. 
Let us put it out there. 

941
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:18,240
If there's ever a good in social
media, like, put that out in the

942
00:44:18,240 --> 00:44:22,320
world because hopefully now some
people have learned their 

943
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:24,000
lessons and they're listening, 
Yeah. 

944
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:29,520
Yeah, I think content, social, 
all of this makes previous 

945
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:32,640
outcomes possible, right? 
Like in terms of the discourse, 

946
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:36,480
in terms of ability to educate 
people, in terms of being able 

947
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:42,640
to bring people in the middle to
either side, whether that's a 

948
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:45,240
race to the bottom or it's done 
responsibly, we'll see. 

949
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:49,480
These are always a really good 
model of how to use social media

950
00:44:49,560 --> 00:44:54,800
to, to like actually organize 
and like, actually, you know, he

951
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:56,280
canvassed like he had one of the
biggest. 

952
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:57,840
He could do a whole another. 
Episode on the. 

953
00:44:57,840 --> 00:45:01,280
Marketing genius with YouTube 
behind that campaign. 

954
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:05,320
It was insane, but I yes. 
We translated that to actual 

955
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:07,840
win. 
An actual win and I also, I'm so

956
00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,880
sick of people saying like, you 
know, they need the AIPAC money 

957
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,200
they need and I'm like actually 
Talarico and Mandani did not 

958
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:17,800
accept AIPAC money. 
So again, proof of concept that 

959
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:22,480
we don't need it and perhaps, 
just perhaps having like 

960
00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:25,760
listening to what people feel 
and say and, and, and how they 

961
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:28,400
what they verbalize. 
And if you can project that and 

962
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:31,800
have an opinion, I think you can
still win votes from people who 

963
00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,800
disagree with you if you're able
to, you know, to do it in an. 

964
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:35,520
Informed. 
I agree. 

965
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:37,680
Yeah. 
I mean, it's about humanity, not

966
00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:41,360
to make it like super general, 
but I think throughout all this,

967
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:46,240
like, you know, the the digital 
slash social content revolution,

968
00:45:46,240 --> 00:45:47,800
especially how it's affected 
politics. 

969
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:51,320
It also effects food. 
It also effects business, small 

970
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,920
business like it, you know, 
we're always like we live in a 

971
00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:57,200
very polarized time. 
But ultimately it's about 

972
00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:58,880
humanity. 
And I think, you know, whether 

973
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,440
it's, you know, whoever you're 
beefing with, you know, keep 

974
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:05,960
keep beefing with her. 
Ultimately, at some point it's 

975
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:08,880
it comes down to like, I do I 
want to show the person grace or

976
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:11,640
do I want to keep roasting them?
I honestly don't have, you know,

977
00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:14,000
like you could, you could do 
what you feel is best. 

978
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,000
I'm really funny so. 
You got a roast. 

979
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,360
I feel you. 
But entertainment, right? 

980
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:20,480
But it's about humanity. 
And I think with food, with 

981
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:22,960
Chai, you know, all this, like 
what we realized is like 

982
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:27,160
technology really erodes some of
that humanity, or at least it 

983
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:30,520
gives opportunities to a road. 
And then you have to always find

984
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:33,520
ways to bring it back together. 
And so even with us and comedy, 

985
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:35,920
in that moment when you're 
sitting with your family or your

986
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:38,680
friends and you're watching that
show, it's this moment of 

987
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:40,520
humanity. 
Because humanity is experiential

988
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:42,400
in real time, correct? 
And social media is not. 

989
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:45,760
Thank you. 
And so you know, we in this age 

990
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:49,280
of you know, you have AI, you 
have all like this this pending 

991
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:51,920
erosion of. 
Institutions. 

992
00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:54,800
Institutions and white collar 
jobs and there's a lot of things

993
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:56,400
that are very uncertain right 
now. 

994
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:58,840
And and I think we look at, you 
know, the macro of like, well, 

995
00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:04,840
people always going to want to 
come together, chat, drink, eat,

996
00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:09,200
commune, and that humanity 
hopefully will present some type

997
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:11,440
of alternative to, you know, the
race to the bottom. 

998
00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:13,480
So I don't know if that's, you 
know. 

999
00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:14,680
I love that. 
I love that. 

1000
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:16,760
You know. 
What I mean, that's what I do, 

1001
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:19,560
but no, we, we support you 
roasting anybody that's getting 

1002
00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:22,120
out of line. 
I you know the idea. 

1003
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:24,320
My, my, my views do not reflect 
out of my company. 

1004
00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:28,520
And it's just my personal views,
you know, But yeah, I think, I 

1005
00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:30,360
think we have to find a way back
to humanity. 

1006
00:47:30,720 --> 00:47:32,520
And if we could do it with a cup
of Chai, if we could do it 

1007
00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:34,920
through a piece of content, if 
we do it through forums or, you 

1008
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:36,040
know, whatever, like let's do 
it. 

1009
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:38,800
But I love that it's got to be 
we got to get back to being 

1010
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:40,560
human. 
Humanity and Chai, that's what 

1011
00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:42,800
we'll name the episode. 
Cheers to that.