How The Glen Ellen Star Won 12 Straight Michelin Bib’s

DANO WEIR: So I asked AI in 2025, I had to ask AI how many restaurants there are in Sonoma County. And shocker, it couldn't actually tell me. But it gave me an estimate of hundreds there, depending on what you qualify as restaurant.

DANO WEIR: I then asked out of those hundreds, how many have won a Bib Gourmand from Michelin? And there's only right now eight. And then I said, how many have won a Bib Gourmand 12 years in a row? And that would be them.

DANO WEIR: Financial confidence for your hip pocket.

SPENCER WAITE: Money is really just energy. Thanks for checking out It's All Money.

DANO WEIR: Welcome to It's All Money. My name is Daniel Weir from Sonoma Wealth Advisors. It's All Money is where life and finance meet. The story therein, sometimes we're talking about personal finance, sometimes we're talking about... Business and the stories behind business, the great people of Sonoma County.

DANO WEIR: I am, for our listening audience, I'm sitting in an indoor-outdoor dining space. There's a beautiful wood wall with a pattern on it. And I am in the restaurant of the Glen Ellyn Star in the town of Glen Ellyn. I am looking at Arnold Drive to tell the story of the Glen Ellyn Star.

DANO WEIR: We have a James Beard semifinalist from 2025 with stops in New York, Philadelphia, and a few years of the French Laundry. We've got a hospitality pro with 15 years in the business. They're currently running two successful restaurants, including the one we're in now. Please welcome chef proprietor, Ari Weiswasser and Spencer Waite.

SPENCER WAITE: Thank you.

DANO WEIR: Yeah. Guys, let's start with the now. Let's start with the Michelin Bib Gourmand, your 12th in a row. Spencer, for people who don't know, what is a Bib Gourmand? Yeah, I think it's classified as somewhere you want to eat often with really great food.

SPENCER WAITE: I, as people who don't know about Michelin in general, or they just know about the stars, kind of explain it as an affordable one star where you're getting really great food at an affordable price and it's not over the top Fancy.

DANO WEIR: Eric, what is the process like for a Bib Gourmand? I mean, this is clearly someone's coming to judge you at some point. Do you know who they are? Are you serving them? Or is it a secret? Do you have to apply for it? How does that work?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah, no, it's a very non-transparent process, we'll call it. There are Michelin judges in every state or city that they offer a Michelin award or a ranking. And yeah, they come throughout the calendar year. They dine. There's plenty of legend and lore about what they do.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Sometimes they die in solo with a single AirPod in their ear. Sometimes they'll drop a fork 30 seconds into them sitting down to see if there's some responsive service. But nobody knows if any of that's true. There's aliases out there. So there's a lot of hype.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: But no, it's a secretive process.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: They come. They They dine, we don't know how many times, we don't know when. And sure enough, they just change it. I believe it's June now when they announced California. Missionary used to be later.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: It's a moving process. But yeah, and so it always keeps you on your toes. And the best you can do is make sure that you're maintaining your quality standards throughout the year, no matter what.

DANO WEIR: So it's high quality food, it's high quality service, and it's at an affordable price. Which is becoming more and more difficult, I would imagine, as 2025 bears on.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I think neutral agenda is the coin term.

DANO WEIR: Have you found challenges in the economic environment with everything going up to meet that affordable price with your quality standards? Is that a moving target for you?

SPENCER WAITE: You want to take that one? Yeah, I think every year it's.

SPENCER WAITE: More challenging in the last pupils that's patients and price don't adjust as fast as the actual food prices do so when we had to raise something up a certain percentage they're still trained to think that maybe at least the same prices as last year but in all reality it's not and oftentimes it's not the food prices that are changing menu prices it's actually the labor labor in California is you know more difficult than a lot of the other states and we had a lot of tourists that don't realize that they're going into a state where where they might be coming from the East Coast, where they're paying $3 an hour for servers.

SPENCER WAITE: Right. Or paying minimum wage, which is itself high in California, so $17 an hour for the course of the free. So your $50 steak in Rhode Island or Massachusetts is going to cost $70 here or some variation.

DANO WEIR: I'll give you a chance to say this on camera. You, as a chef proprietor, Do you want to raise your prices? And do you want to pay your staff a living wage?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Okay, so raising our prices, that's the last metric. We do monthly sometimes, bi-monthly projections and numbers, and we're always crunching, always evaluating invoices. That's the last stop to do. And yes, of course, I think... We wouldn't be in business in California if we didn't believe in paying a living wage.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I think from a tipped employee standpoint, there's eight states in the country that do not recognize tips that go toward wages. And so like Spencer was saying, I think it's actually $2.83 in Pennsylvania where a server is getting paid. That's the hourly rate. I think the federal minimum.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Is seven and change still might not even be eight dollars so some states just fall back on the federal minimum wage which is i think is absolutely ridiculous to pay somebody we all know that that's a very difficult way to make a living but the tips or the gratuitous the voluntary gratuities would make up most if not all of the server's you know income and so that's the the dynamics.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So to answer your question, yes, living wage, no, It's not in our, that's not part of our main strategy is to increase pricing every year. There's a lot that goes into the pork chop price.

DANO WEIR: Let's jump in the DeLorean. Let's take a time travel back to 2012. How do Aerie and Spencer know each other and who says, let's start the Cornell star?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. So, my wife, Erin, and I, we started it went on star. It was just two of us.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Spencer, you might have to correct me here, you came on board in 2019, right? So seven years, we were in this restaurant pretty much every single day. I think I had three years until I took a day off. I know I closed on 4th of July one year just to take a day. We always closed on Thanksgiving and we always closed on Christmas.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: But that was about it. And so that was a pretty decent grind.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: To find establish the restaurant find and you know staff and and employees that kind of assimilate or that buy into the vision and what we do they're really the reason why we started the restaurant was i was done working for other people i just i could not do it anymore and i worked for some great chefs you know in New York and you kind of touched on thomas keller the French Laundry love you know that was that was my introduction to the area And I have nothing but great things to say about that experience.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Really an institution, amazing, well-oiled machine, amazing, you know, SOPs. And just, I learned a lot there. Got introduced to wonderful purveyors, networks. Some of their staff actually came on board with me to help open. And so lots to do. But going in and punching a clock and being at the mercy of somebody, I wouldn't have done that. I'd done that. It was, um...

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: That was more fearful. I was more scared to do that than to risk everything I had to open another restaurant.

DANO WEIR: So you were done working for somebody else, but then the trade-off was you didn't have a day off for seven years.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Right. Well, it wasn't about the days off. It was about the control of my schedule and my valuable time. That was the calculation. I knew there was a three-year buy-in to get to a place where. You could have some kind of a balance. In that process, we had three amazing children. Congratulations. Yeah, I have three daughters. Currently, Noah's 14, Haley and Riley are 12, so identical twin girls.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So we had Noah in 2011, opened the restaurant in 2012, and had the twins in 2013. So there was no real days off at home or in the restaurant. And then we started to get our feet under us. We started catering. Which allowed us to have more flexibility, hire an executive. So we didn't have a shut the machine at the time and take a step back. Right.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So we, we had some financial freedom a little bit. But our top. Our executive studios, eventually a chef de cuisine and our general managers would rotate every two years, right? It was like this, okay, what's next? More money. You know, we're only so big. And so we decided to look for a partner. And so by 2019, so that's about seven years, Spencer answered, was it like an Indeed ad maybe?

 SPENCER WAITE: It was.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Or a Craigslist ad, something like that. Yeah. So Spencer answered the ad. I think he came in before.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Kind of like just to check it out i think you didn't you came in at the counter before you before i had yeah before you had talked to me yeah and so make sure that the place was legit yeah it was a legit it wasn't some kind of a front and yeah and so we met Spencer Spencer was on board for about two years and then it was time yeah and then we then then we became officially became partners all right so Spencer yes.

DANO WEIR: You get involved in 2019. When you walked in the door, what was your first impression of the restaurant and of the business as a whole?

 SPENCER WAITE: Yeah, I mean, I sat at the counter. I was a walk-in, not knowing you had a reservation for the chef's counter. The host was running after me saying, do you have a reservation? And so once I sat at the counter, I noticed that Ari was behind the line. And I think I might have researched him knowing that he was the owner.

 SPENCER WAITE: I think I got basic pizza and an ice cream quick.

 SPENCER WAITE: In and out and i thought it was a you know a really cool looking place open kitchen is always fun to be in how was how's the pizza you just good yeah he still wants to know yeah the server that served me had been here since opening so stuff like that kind of drew me in knowing that longevity was important and retention and things like that by the end of my meal He had must have recognized me from him stalking me on Facebook or whatever it was.

 SPENCER WAITE: Researching. Researching.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Researching.

 SPENCER WAITE: And by the end of the meal.

DANO WEIR: We were outside talking about opportunities and things like that.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Well, I mean, to be fair, the ad did say looking for a general manager and partner. Yes. Right. Yes. You now have to, you got to do your research.

DANO WEIR: Take me back to the very first night, which is May 18th, 2012. Can you remember your first menu?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah, I can. We did two friends and families, which is an opportunity for your closest friends and critics to experience your restaurant free of charge. I don't even think we charge for wine back then. We just had two nights, 36 guests, felt like 150. And the menu, the pricing, we had five wood-roasted vegetables, which was kind of new at the time.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: It was it was vegetable centric and i think they were priced at eight dollars a cast iron and now they're 19 just to give you an idea of just i mean same everything just everything's more expensive i think we had a black bass on them and you want real details or do you yeah yeah let's see it was very important because we had a small kitchen to from an execution and logistics standpoint to be very limited on touches on the plate so three items But very well thought out, well sourced.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And that was how we were successful in executing volume out of that kitchen. If you've ever seen that kitchen, it's a wood oven and a saute station. And that's it. And so we had three people in the kitchen for a long time. And then we could afford a fourth. We couldn't really afford Snake River, like American Wagyu.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So we think had something like, you know, it was Creekstone. I don't remember the ranch, but... At the time, it was like, you know, something that was that you could at least lean on from a credibility standpoint. And Mary's Chicken was on the menu and it was like very, very simple. You know, brick chicken, grilled flat iron, black bass, pizzas.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: There was pizza, margarita, tomato cream pie, and a white with guanciale and arugula that was on the opening menu. We also had an ice cream program. So couldn't afford a pastry chef, but... We decided to have an ice cream program and package them. At that time, they were in half pints or in eight-ounce containers. And that was our only dessert.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: We didn't have anything else. And I'm thinking from a dishwashing standpoint and from a plate in the silver, it's like, this is great. Like, there's nothing to wash. And from a table-turning standpoint, because we were a small restaurant, they could take it, finish it, or not finish it, and go. And so it was like a fast exit.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: It felt I don't know if it felt rushed, but it felt like It's an option, they can stay and have it So we had fast turn times, we were able to you know, get the second seating in pretty fast if you don't have a big dessert, you know, pastry menu, right? And then our price point started to creep up because I think my opening wage for line cooks was $10 an hour.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: We are an open kitchen. And so the back of the house, because they're interactive in the service, are entitled to gratuities. So that helps. So the front of the house decided to chip in and, you know, so it felt like... If we were busier, the cooks were making more money. And so everybody was incentivized to be busy.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: It worked, but really fast every year, almost that, that wage just escalated and, you know, things start costing more money. And so we got to a point where we had to expand our pastry program because we were getting comments back then on TripAdvisor And Yelp, which were like the two main, you know, comment platforms that I used to read every single day.

DANO WEIR: The chef really reads it.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Well. When we were open, I read it every single day. Now I don't, but Spencer's wife Ashley does.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Was it valuable? It is. There was a lot of gold nuggets that we took, and then there were just a lot of people that were very, very upset for just anything. It's still valuable. It's still valuable. But you can also siphon out the people that are just angry and just literally want to just, you know. Air their grievances.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: They had a bad day and there's nothing, you know, that you can do. And I think you can, you can point that out, but then there also, there's a lot of good constructive criticism out there. And I think the platforms have evolved and the diners have evolved where they can, they can tell you, you know, good things. So we, we certainly learned from those.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I do remember one incident. This is our first one-star review where, they said the best thing about this restaurant was the martini.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And I remember thinking, we don't have a full liquor license.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Are you sure? And so we contacted them and they said, yeah, it was, everything was terrible. And the bar was the light. And I was like, I don't think you have the right restaurant. I think you have a different restaurant. It's not, we don't have martinis and we're not on open table. And there's all these things. And they, I think they hung up on me actually.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so of course you call Yelp and you're like, Hey, this is, and. That was a back and forth and back then Yelp was like okay we'll we'll remove this for you if you pay us a hundred dollars yeah right and that's and i said you know what i'm not interested so that it might still be up there i'm like so this is how it works like this is how okay did you send this person in yeah is this.

DANO WEIR: A setup that's what it felt like yeah there was a lot of that the early days of Yelp i might have a few hot takes on there haven't taken them down Let's talk a little bit more about food too. So that was your first menu. What is for people, for our clients, cinema wealth clients, our viewers, someone who hasn't been to, Glenn Allen star before describe the menu now, what, what can they expect when they come here?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. So we've come a long way. We developed, a sourdough program with our pizza dough and we bake all of our bread in house. That's, that's, that's a big undertaking. And so that's something that we're very proud of our sourdough starter is now almost as old as the restaurant and it only gets better every year.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So, you know, the pizza and the bread you have today is going to be great. And the one that you have tomorrow is going to be better. And you can pretty much consistently say that. That's true.

 SPENCER WAITE: I, six years ago when I was here, pizza wasn't nearly as good as it is today.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. It's, it's, it's kind of a, it's an interesting, or I guess it's a wonderful addition. The, our pastry program has expanded. So now we have two, sometimes three, offerings in addition to our ice cream.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: We have a farm now. My father-in-law, Mike Benziger, he's, we have a six acre farm. We have two acres planted. So, a lot of the times, especially in the summer, a lot of our produce comes right from the farm.

SPENCER WAITE: Wow.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so it's tailored, it's planned out one year in advance, you know. We plan on very detail-oriented. There's specific varieties of eggplant that we want it grown and peppers and tomatoes. I think we did 2,200 tomato plants this year up there.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: All of our salad, all of our greens, all of our chicories this time of year, different types of pumpkins and squash, pomegranate, persimmon, figs, basil, arugula, all that kind of stuff. So that's a wonderful asset. Very, very strong and just woven into our menu today.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Snake River Farm, it's one of my favorite ranches. I was introduced to them at the French Laundry. After four years here, we could finally afford to put that on the menu.

DANO WEIR: Right.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so that's Black Angus American Wagyu Cross. It's a wonderful ranch. They've made quite a name for themselves. So most people that are in tune would know.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Mary's Chicken and a Rocky's Chicken is kind of still the local go-to.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Bronzino or Dorad is kind of our favorite. Whole fish that we do out of the wood oven. Cause I think when you walk into a restaurant with a wood oven, you would expect to have a whole fish.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And really we just, we, we branched out into, we have a wonderful kind of, collection of purveyors that specialize in everything you can possibly imagine from spices to fish, to mushrooms, to everything. And so we've gotten to know what they're good at and what we can rely on.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And, and we, we, you know, utilize them to their fullest extent. We're very seasonal. I mean, wine country, provides a wider and a longer season than what I'm accustomed to from the East Coast. So it's interesting. You get asparagus earlier, use it later.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: You get, so you get these interesting opportunities to use, you know, seasonal ingredients and it's always, it's always like who can get it on first. That's I think that's among the restaurants, right? Like you see a restaurant in LA featuring tomatoes in May and you're like, where are they getting the tomatoes from. So it's, it's kind of a funny.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Competition a fun competition and yeah so and and it's also you know the create i was the creating the creative driving force for a long time and now one of the interesting techniques or at least the the methods from the French Laundry is and i've taken this here is to share that creative you know you can call it opportunity or burden depending on on how you look at it With your team.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so... Our chef de cuisine, Matt Cardona and Diego, our sous chef, they are very integral in driving the menu against the backdrop of what we know kind of works and what doesn't.

DANO WEIR: But you're open to that input. A hundred percent.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah, we have a meeting every Friday and they really, at this point, are the driving force. And then we have kind of check-ins and we meet and we make, and we just, you know, I offer some tweaks and advice and sometimes we'll go back to the classics. And, you know, have some fun.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: But yeah, yeah, because between Park Avenue Catering, our catering business, Stella, and this restaurant, there's a lot of creativity and there's a lot of, there's a lot of energy that goes into all of that. Right. So it's wonderful to have, you know, people that are passionate about that part. And that really does drive and distinguish our restaurant from many, many other restaurants.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: You've probably eaten in restaurants and seen the same menu over and over and over again. And that's fine. Sometimes that works. But at this level, with our recognition and our price point now, I think we feel more of a responsibility to move that along and really impress and just kind of meet that standard, especially when you've guests that return multiple times a week.

DANO WEIR: Right, right. Spencer, for our clients or viewers who have not been here before, we've talked a little bit about the food. Sure. Describe the vibe to me. What is a feeling that you want your guests to have, both when they enter and when they leave? Yeah, I think there's... Am I uptight? No, it's a very... It's just white tablecloth and we're all not having any fun.

 SPENCER WAITE: No, it's great service, great food, and I think pretty casual atmosphere. You feel like you're at home when you're dining here, especially with being an open kitchen.

 SPENCER WAITE: It's maybe a little louder and...

 SPENCER WAITE: More upbeat than maybe another restaurant next door would be, but that's what people are looking for when they're dining here. And in some place that has an open kitchen, you know, they're hearing their chef called hands or.

DANO WEIR: You know, calling out the orders. And I think it gives up that really special vibe that a lot of places don't have. Yeah.

DANO WEIR: I think there's, if, if you were going to describe Sonoma casual per se, that Sonoma restaurant vibe, it's unbelievable food you're sort of able to be yourself there's energy but it's not overbearing right it's just it's all kind of you know kind of like the weather it's all kind of just right in that sweet spot you know it's just it's it's unique i think to the area it wasn't enough though because you you said you know what let's do it again so at the beginning of this year You say, we're expanding to Kenwood, so tell me about Stella.

DANO WEIR: Well, that happened more than... Three years ago now, we had the idea of it, and the hard part was finding the right location.

 SPENCER WAITE: And that took, what, I think, a half year to figure out where we're going?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah, I think we kind of went to the square first. That would have been our first choice.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Sonoma Square? Sonoma Square, yeah. Lots of challenges getting in there. We spent about three months doing diligence on a location, and we decided that was not the right location for us. And then Kenwood popped up.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I think they, they had, they had a tenant, so they took it off the table and then something happened and then it opened up where, nine zero four nine Sonoma highway is that's where Stella is.

 SPENCER WAITE: And it's about old cafe Chidi.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. The old, the old cafe Chidi. It's about three miles North of here. So really close. So there's always a risk in the town like this, when you open your sister restaurant, three miles North that you're going to be eating into your right. Your original restaurant, which, you know, we took a chance.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: It looks like it's, it's, it's stabilized and, you know, there's a little bit of a, of a hit in the beginning, but, yeah, I think it was overall, it was a great, it was a, I think it was a great move. Like Spencer said, three years ago, we wanted to open a second restaurant and, it took almost every bit of three years to open. Yeah. It's not, it's, it's not an easy process.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: It's everything, you know, you find your, your location, you need to sign a lease. You don't have the money raised yet. Might have the staff or an idea of the concept and so there's a lot of parts that go into it and it's it's a very complicated and the last time we did that was 12 years ago and it's a completely different process now Italian right why i mean there was a hole for you.

 SPENCER WAITE: Know Italian there was there was no one fulfilling that need and we thought we could do a good job with it and i think we do and it's been really successful yeah and Stella The reason we named it Stella is to kind of play off the star. So in Italian.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Stella means star.

 SPENCER WAITE: Okay. Yeah. Seeing the connection.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And we've been leaning Italian here for a long time. We extrude all of our own pasta, pizza. But I feel like that was... Well, first of all, I've always wanted to have an Italian restaurant. And I don't have a romantic story like traveling to Italy and working for a grandmother. There's none of that. But There's an appetite for Italian cuisine out there, and I feel like everybody loves a good Italian restaurant.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: But a lot of our inspiration pushed us into Italy for a long time here. And when we did get Stella open, we had to unwind some of that here. So we kept the trousseau, but we wanted to distinguish ourselves.

DANO WEIR: So that menu affects this menu. Oh, yeah.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And anytime we price something over there, it's like, we have to be conscious of what it's priced here, even though this different, it's just your, you have a direct comparison now to both restaurants.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And I would imagine, you know, the clientele that know both restaurants, they're probably looking at both menus and pricing and they're probably, you know, making some comparisons and they'll determine where they're going to eat.

 SPENCER WAITE: We'll get a lot of those guests though, two nights in a row, first night here, second night at cellar or vice versa. Wow. The summer brings in a lot of tourists and there's not a lot of restaurants in the Glen Ellen Kenwood area.

 SPENCER WAITE: So when they're doing some research on Yelp or whatever it is, they'll book both restaurants, you know, one after the other or, you know, somewhere in between the two. But yeah, it's great to see both guests and our systems talk to each other. So we know they've been to one restaurant and.

DANO WEIR: Oh, that's awesome.

 SPENCER WAITE: Yeah.

DANO WEIR: Okay. You mentioned that for Stella, there was a capital raise you took on investors. This one is all, it was all you from the ground up. So what was that process like? And was, I mean, you totally different approach to starting that restaurant than this one.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. So this restaurant learning curve. Yeah. This restaurant, well, we were fortunate enough to, to buy this location. So we don't, we don't have a land. We are our landlord. Right. And so, and we did this in stages. We, the building that we're sitting in now was not when we opened, it was not here. And so. It was the building. It was sinking into the back corner.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So the founder, everything had to be redone. There was some work done, but for the most part, it was me, my wife, my dad, and my father-in-law. And that's it. So it was the four of us kind of pulling together resources. And my wife and I were in the restaurant when we started. So I was the chef. She was the, you know, she was, we had a young kid, so she couldn't be the GM, but she was the AGM.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so I had a general manager and I had staff and that was it. And so the, it was.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Financially viable and that was really the only way we could do it which is why i was in the restaurant for three years just you know building and trying to trying to build value here and so that was a different experience Stella we had to take on investors and you know we that the landlord really we we which i thought was fair they they gave us a shell of a building so they did all the behind the wall work which is expensive you know for everything from hoods to HVAC.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: To plumbing and electrical and all the things you don't think about when you walk into a space. There's a lot that goes into, into that. And so behind all these walls, there's a lot going on, right. And that costs a lot of money. The tenant us, we, we finished the space. So we designed it.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: We built the kitchen, in that case, it was an open kitchen with a, with a wood fire grill. So what theme similar we would have in here and, you know, custom banquets, beautiful design. We worked with an architect and designer, which I... Didn't really work with here. I had an architect for the main stuff, but the design was, that was me.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: The original. That's beautiful.

 SPENCER WAITE: Yeah, it's totally stunning.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Except this room, we had a designer, Brittany Bijan did this room. But that was it. That was very pieced together. Over here, it was full on. It was architect design, like a very well-known established contractor that had a process. Here, I met the contractor on site every day and I asked him what's happening today. And he would tell me, and then two hours passed when the plumber was supposed to be here.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I said, where's the plumber? He's like, I don't know. He's texting the plumber. And this guy, it was, it was, it was more of a mess. Here was like, this is the schedule. It'll be done at this. And it was very rigid and it was refreshing to see that. There were some delays there always are, but they were kind of out of our control.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so we had a great team.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: To open in order to do that of course you need money right so we we raised a significant amount of of money to to you know to get open and to give us a a cushion on opening day because you don't want to start with zero dollars in the bank right there's a lot of pre even when you get to opening day and you have you know your restaurant you need two weeks of training So you're paying employees in here.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I mean, there's other ways to do it. We decided to do it this way.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Bring in the front of the house, bring in the back of the house and cook, execute menus, storage, take deliveries, get our systems in place, get the service standards in place, training, wine tasting, food tasting, employee services, then friends and family services.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And then we open. So there's a good chunk of change and investment that's critical and essential. So when you open on day one, you're not, you know.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Guests aren't coming in here paying full price and saying, wow, they need to get their hack together. Or a hacked project. Exactly. And so that, yeah, we put a lot of thought into that. So back to your question, what you wanted to know, was it like the structure?

DANO WEIR: Was it like for you to go from, it's a completely different business model, you know, completely different start. So you bootstrap this one, investors on the second one. So as someone whose vision is this restaurant, was it? Do you feel like you were letting go a little bit? Did you feel like it was a little bit more? How did you feel about doing it differently versus how you did it here?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: No, I don't think we're letting go. I mean, I think you have to find the right type of person that wants to invest in a restaurant. That's the first thing. And being in business here for 12 years or 11 years at that time, we have a wonderful clientele.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And we We have people occasionally ask us, when are you doing your next restaurant? So that's literally how it starts. And two of those, you know, sometimes people just say that, but two of those people actually invested in our second restaurant. So it's just, you know, refreshing.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so that was a real boost of confidence when you can, you know, we sold four shares and we sold 32% of our restaurant. So when you sell the first two shares before even construction begins, that's a huge boost to confidence, right? All of a sudden, you know, you can start, right? And then you need to find the other two.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so that was really what gave us the confidence to sign the lease and like, and get into. In fact, I think, I don't know if we had the money when we signed the lease. I think I committed first.

 SPENCER WAITE: Yeah, we didn't.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And then we had the money, but we had, we had talks and I had enough momentum behind us and people that were. Inquiring. So I knew something was going to happen.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And you know, when you do a deal like that, you have a rent holiday, right? You have, you don't pay, you don't pay rent on day one.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: It's either 12 months or 18 months, or there's some kind of a trigger in the contract that says when you start repairs or when you start construction or when you get your use permit, there's all kinds of ways to do it. And it takes, you know, having some mentors and understanding that process before you go into a lease, just completely blind and just sign away.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: There's a lot more into it than just the number, right? There's, there's, there's a lot that can happen. So it's important to understand all of those. And this was a little bit, I don't think we understood. Everything. I mean, we understood most of it, but going into another deal, I think we're a lot more prepared and we know what to ask for. Going into another deal.

DANO WEIR: Wait, are you telling me you're doing it a third time? Is that what you're indicating here?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. Yeah, sure.

DANO WEIR: We're kind of crazy.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. Why not?

DANO WEIR: What's the, what's the deal sponsor? You guys are looking at a third restaurant.

SPENCER WAITE: Once you have momentum behind you, it would be silly to not do something sooner than later. Especially with our knowledge and how the process worked. We're so fresh coming out of the build at Stella and knowing all the ins and outs of whether it's PG&E or the county or Caltrans, all these things that help you get set up or don't.

 SPENCER WAITE: Forgetting that knowledge five years down the road might hurt us. Getting this done now, I think, is a smart move. We have some great momentum. And like I said before, we found a hole at this other space in Sonoma County that I think we can fill.

 SPENCER WAITE: And that's what we're going to try to do.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And also, just as important as having momentum is having your team. We have an incredible team. We're executing on all cylinders. And for me, when I chart the course, I'm looking two years from now. And I'm either going to establish a pathway to grow or I'm going to be having a conversation with everybody in this team and saying, I think it's just inevitable human nature that people want more every year.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so it's kind of, it's a problem that I never saw coming when I opened this restaurant, thinking that it would just be one and I could just, you know, have a balanced, it's just kind of not the case. If you're going to attract great employees, especially at the top level, you need to chart a course where there's some growth and opportunity. And that could mean ownership. That could mean more money.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: That could be tailored to whatever motivates said employee, honestly. And so a lot of that work goes into knowing your team, knowing what they want, seeing if it's compatible and seeing if you can offer something down the road that keeps people interested and motivated. Part of the organization. I think that's, that's how you grow, you know, one to two, two to three, three to four.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Otherwise, you know, there's only four walls, right? You're, you're, you're, at some point you're gonna, you're gonna max out your top line. Right. And it's only going to get more expensive to operate. And so that's, that's also more terrifying for me than, not doing it. So I'd rather take another risk and I'd rather go do it again than just sit and wait for the end to come and have a difficult conversation in two years.

DANO WEIR: Well, you mentioned your team a couple of times. You're going to send this to all of them and they're going to watch this.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: You want to shout out anybody that really shines on your team and say some names? Yeah, sure.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Here at Glen Ellens Star, we have our general manager, Anthony.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Is is phenomenal i'll leave the last names out maybe chef innocent chef matt chef matt and chef Diego are are incredible let's see in the morning they're here right now my buddies carlos and chewy they've been with us for 13 years pretty much yeah since since day one day one since day one which is phenomenal and they're kind of the backbone of and the eyes and ears in in the am you know receiving prep you know they they get and keep the restaurant on track, on the front of the house side, Emily has stepped up.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: She's, our kind of our, our AGM, if you will. And kind of, you know, she knows every, she, she, she was a great example. She was a server. She ascended to this kind of AGM role and she does expo and she, she's knows. Ins and outs of the whole restaurant. Cause that's kind of what it takes. Spencer's wife, Ashley.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: She's, she started. Just doing kind of marketing, you know, social media, things like that. And now she takes on all the private events for both restaurants and all the marketing and social media. So if you've ever gotten an email from Glenn Onstar and Stella or you've ever booked a party.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: She's responsible for you know the graphics and the the the neighborhood night menus and just all the all of the correspondence that and that really define and and kind of distinguish both brands over on the stealth side of things Steve is our general manager we brought him on to glenn on stars about six months before we opened and he really kind of assimilated and knew the systems and we got to meet him and trust him and He's doing an incredible job over at Stella.

 SPENCER WAITE: He actually moved out here from the Boston area to be part of the Stella project. Wow. Yeah. We worked together on the East Coast, and we were able to convince him to move out here.

DANO WEIR: You know, they usually say yes when you say Sonoma.

 SPENCER WAITE: Yeah.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I mean, you know, how many Boston winters do you want to sit there? And then we have Greg, who started as a server here. He's our assistant general manager over at Stella. And the kitchen team is super strong, and Antonio's our sous chef. And, and Martine, we just promoted to Sue. So that's the management. I can't list all. We have 80 employees between both restaurants.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So we'd be here for another 40 minutes, but they're all there. They really are doing an incredible job. There's, there's really, there's no weak links really. I mean, we've been around long enough where the people that we've kind of siphoned through a lot, there's been a lot of people that can't come and go. I think we, we know who we're looking for, what we want and they know who we are. So I think there's no surprises.

DANO WEIR: Right.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: When they're here and you get three months in and you're like, oh, you're a real restaurant. Okay. I wasn't looking for a real restaurant. I was looking for something else.

DANO WEIR: I'm just trying to collect tips. Yeah. I just want to make money.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Right.

 SPENCER WAITE: And on that front, I think we had really good luck. Oh, wait, wait. I'm sorry. Before we go on.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: My wife, Erin, I have to throw my wife, Erin in. She's a disaster.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: No, Erin, Erin runs the household and she does all of her HR and payroll. Aaron's Erin, she's the quintessential HR face. That's who you want to talk to. You don't want to talk to me. You want to talk to my wife. That's like the, yeah. So she plays a very important role for both restaurants and manages 80 employees as well. So, okay, sorry.

 SPENCER WAITE: No, I was just saying we had, when we had first decided to open Stella, I think one of the biggest concerns was hiring 60 people going from zero. And that's a tall feat, I think, in the town of Kenwood. Not a lot of people live in Kenwood. Santa Rosa's 15 minutes away, south of Kenwood. We got Glen Ellyn, so you're really pulling from Sonoma or Napa, long drives.

SPENCER WAITE: But we were super fortunate when we posted ads. We got an overwhelming response of people. And I think that Glen Ellyn Star plays a huge factor in credibility. And that's, I think, why we were so lucky finding all these people that work with us now. A huge part of both restaurants. Glen Ellinstar, Stella, and whatever the third restaurant is going to be, is the wine list your wine portfolio?

DANO WEIR: And Spencer, I know that's your task for the company. If we're reading headlines, that industry is struggling right now.

 SPENCER WAITE: Sure.

DANO WEIR: So is that real, one, in your experience so far, and two, are there any brands, any wineries you want to shout out just for support right now?

 SPENCER WAITE: Yeah, so both Stella and Glen Ellen Star focus on just Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino counties, so we keep it. Hyper-local. We don't take, anything beyond, beyond those three counties. We don't even bring, imports in from Italy for our Italian concept. We'll find Italian varietals grown in Sonoma County or Napa County, and put those on the list.

SPENCER WAITE: So that's our biggest focus, I think.

SPENCER WAITE: So when I first started, I was in charge of the wine list here. Right now, Anthony, our general manager, handles it here. And then Steve. Over at Stella handles the wine list there. So the buyers of all wine things and beer.

SPENCER WAITE: But yeah, I mean, local producers, you know, we try to focus on things that produce maybe less than 500 cases. So super small production.

SPENCER WAITE: Bart from Dane Cellars does a great job. The Lassiters produce some really cool Rhone varietals across the street. Talisman.

SPENCER WAITE: All these guys, I mean, they walk over the wine to the restaurants. That's how local it is. So cool. Yeah. So we try not to deal with massive distributors, if at all possible, I would say probably 70% of the list is what I just talked about where the winemakers dropping off the wine.

DANO WEIR: That's amazing.

SPENCER WAITE: And yeah, I think the industry has taken a small hit, maybe more than a small hit, over the past couple of years. But, some of these smaller producers have seen less of a hit than those, those big guys that are, all over the country or, you know, we're trying to sell in Canada. That's not happening anymore. So, some of the smaller producers aren't seeing as much of a hit as I think some of the big guys are.

DANO WEIR: Interesting.

SPENCER WAITE: Yeah.

DANO WEIR: Spencer, you mentioned some brand names and wine brand names. And, Ari, I watched, I stalked your Instagram, I'm sorry.

DANO WEIR: You were asked some of your favorite restaurants in Sonoma and started naming other restaurants other than your own, obviously.

DANO WEIR: I can think of no other industry outside of restaurants where there's like this greater brotherhood, this greater sisterhood of like, yes, we have a restaurant, we love our restaurants. But also, I'm part of this bigger culture of restaurants in general. Do you feel that? Is that real? And why is it important to you?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I would give, so when I'd spent about a decade cooking in New York City and after work, there was a couple of bars you would go to depending on the area. And this is uptown. And I met, when I was at restaurant Danielle, we'd go to a bar and meet all the other kind of just like the three and the four star New York Times restaurants, right?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: All the cooks. And we had a great camaraderie and we would eat in each other's restaurants. We would promote. Somebody would come in and say, where would you eat? I would say, oh, you know, La Bernardin, Jean Jour, like all the, you know, and I feel like that was a wonderful community to be a part of, to just promote.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: When I moved back to Philadelphia, it was not like that at all. It was completely on guard. You know, you were in this restaurant.

DANO WEIR: Philadelphia was on guard. I can't.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I'm shocked. Now, I can't speak now because I don't, I'm not in that.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Community now but when i was my own experience which was 2005 or 6 2007 it was not the same you went out with your restaurant group and there was another restaurant oh they're from there and it was not like that at all now it might be different and i really liked that part of New York where you would talk up great restaurants because you know somebody's here for five days they're going to eat as a tourist you know they're going to eat in not going to come to your restaurant every day right It's like, you're not going to get five days.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: You might as well give them some great tips and you want them to experience Sonoma as a whole and return to Sonoma and say, hey, I ate in five amazing restaurants when I was there. You have to go check this out. Not one great restaurant. And then everything else was blah, blah, blah. So, you know, that helps. Having more great restaurants in Glen Ellyn and Kenwood is also great.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: You know, there's not a whole lot of restaurants here. I mean, this is a, we would love to, we'd welcome, you know, more, honestly. And I think it just brings a more kind of collaborative buzz and draw to the area. And so I think I'm a believer. I don't see it. There are obviously competition, but I think it's a healthy competition.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And it also keeps you on your guard. You know, a new restaurant opens. It's like, all right, tighten it down. Let's make sure it's like we're kicking some ass right now because, you know, we can't let them steal our thunder. But I think it's fun. And I also, I know that there's enough business to go around. It's not a, you know. I exceed and you fail kind of environment.

SPENCER WAITE: So yeah, that's my stance.

DANO WEIR: A restaurant doesn't make it 13 years without their regulars, without their people, their tribe, as you want to call it. What do those guests, what do those regulars mean to you, especially now that you've been able to expand it and maybe expanding more in the future?

SPENCER WAITE: Yeah. I mean, we see regulars every day, but in particular on Wednesdays, I think since you opened Did you have neighborhood night? No.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So neighborhood night, we'll talk about that because this plays into your regular question. Neighborhood night is every Wednesday here. It's a two course prefix menu, $49. And we waive corkage. Corkage is a very, you know, a lot of winemakers, a lot of people like to bring their wine to restaurants. And corkage is, if you don't know out there, it's, you know, it's what you pay to open a bottle in the restaurant, right?

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So you bring your bottle in, you know, we charge a certain amount of money because it's an opportunity cost to the restaurant to not sell wine. And it's, you know, there's glassware and breakage and it's time servers off the floor and it all plays into the factor when you're sitting down.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so there's a restaurant called Olive And Vine just down the road. That's where Songbird is now. And they had this neighborhood night, this awesome promotion where they would wave corkage one night and they would do a simple menu. And she was closing down and I asked her if I could go into her restaurant for her last neighborhood night and just observe, just watch it. And I said, there'll be 2014 maybe.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And I went in there and it was awesome. It was like great community coming in, sharing. They did like a fried chicken dinner. It was more casual than what we do here. And with her blessing, I took neighborhood night the very next Wednesday. And she even gave us her email list. And we just, wow. I mean, cause she's done. She's closing up. So we tapped into that.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: We started us following. Some of them were like, it wasn't for us. It was a different brand. But you know, most people got. The memo, they could bring the wine in. We put some creative energy into a great menu. And a lot of those dishes make it onto the menu in some version or another. So it's a good creative catalyst. Testing ground. And it keeps us sharp and on our toes.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: That we've generated a lot of regulars we've met. Just, you know, I mean, I can't name how many.

SPENCER WAITE: But I would say Wednesday is a very, very busy night. The first turn of a Wednesday, so the first seating of a Wednesday, 90% of the tables are regulars that come every Wednesday.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Wow.

SPENCER WAITE: Yeah. And really, Wednesday is the worst day for a restaurant. That is a.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: That's a day where usually you're your slowest and we're full.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And Wednesday is like smart Wednesday is like a Saturday.

DANO WEIR: I think the reason why I ask is you know there it's a more and more digital world right that's probably how you're watching this right now and so there's a lot of things in our lives for good reason that are just drawing us further and further and further and further apart and restaurants what you're describing the regulars and neighborhood aspect you know is a place where you're all once again finally because we can be we're in the room together you're running into people from All different walks of life, all different parts of the stratosphere.

DANO WEIR: And it is a communal thing. And there's something even if you don't talk to somebody, there's something just about being around different types of people and having a place where you can gather and connect with new people. You bump into people, you see people you weren't thinking about, and it's not something based on an algorithm. And I think it's a really cool thing. So it seems like that's the vibe.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I will say there's a lot of examples of... You know people that live back here on snow mountain where they're on several acres and they can't see your neighbor kind of thing but they are neighbors and they've never met and they'll meet at the counter here yeah and they'll say hey where do you live oh i live on snow mountain oh i live on snow which address oh i'm your neighbor we haven't met you yet no they are having dinner.

SPENCER WAITE: They can't i think that's everyone sharing wine on wednesdays you'll get someone coming up from this table all the way to the back of the restaurant pouring their wine or they may have made the wine they may have just bought it or been sitting in their cellar for 10 years but A lot of sharing going around and people moving around and it's pretty cool atmosphere.

DANO WEIR: I think, I think the last 10 years, understanding that that made that type of stuff matters a lot. So you kind of just always took it for granted growing up, but like, but now, especially I think we are seeing the value of it. So it's cool that you have that going here.

DANO WEIR: Two restaurants, a third on the way. And you mentioned, in my research. You're also doing catering as well. So you can bring this to your event. We can bring this to the Glen Ellen Star Vibe. It can come to wherever you are if you're having an event. Tell me about Park Avenue Catering.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah, Park Avenue Catering. My wife and I got married up here in 2007.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Okay, got that right. September 8, 2007.

DANO WEIR: Remember that, buddy.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And our caterer was Park Avenue Catering. So that's when we first met. And I always knew I'd end up here.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Some way and when we started we used to cater out of the restaurant and it became a burden we would do about 40 events a year out of the restaurant and i'd have a truck and bring everything back here and store everything here and we just outgrew it and so we took on i partnered with Park Avenue Catering to start for about five years and so business that was already existed they did your wedding yeah so Park Avenue is 30 years old now founded by my partner he's now our CEO I already bought him out but but Bruce Reisman.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So he starts Park Avenue Catering and 30 years ago, I'm not doing math right now, but maybe the 90s early. And he started doing, he was the logistics and the infrastructure for all the catering. And so we would sell the events to the restaurant, their sales team would handle it. And we grew quite a business.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And in 2020, our favorite year, COVID, we ended up buying part of the controlling interest in Park Avenue and my two partners there jose and diane are they're they're so the three of us now own Park Avenue and a lot of the inspiration from the restaurants we we put into that into the catering model and a lot of things have to change because of logistics and volume and where we do it but it's it's a very unique to have a catering company that has its finger on the pulse and can change so quickly a lot of times it's just the same format and the same portfolio forever.

DANO WEIR: Chicken, marsala, steam, veggies, sliced bread.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. And, you know, I mean, we'll do that too. But really what we're focused on is, you know, what's current and what's modern. And there's a lot of customization. It's a big team. We have about 300 employees over there.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And a lot of them are seasonal, but a lot of them, we actually have our holiday party tonight. So we get to celebrate them tonight. That's awesome. But there's... There's a lot that goes into an event and to produce it at volume. And I just, yeah, we have to shout out to Park Avenue because they're an incredible, you know.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Team and they execute and and and that's a that's a big part of our business and it really they all fold into each other to the restaurants we do a lot of events on-site off-site and so yeah i think it's it's a wonderful place to be you know positioned.

DANO WEIR: To be able to yeah to say yes to pretty much anything off-site Spencer we've touched on the third restaurant a couple times can you tell me anything about it Do we have a name? Can you, I know you're not going to tell me a location. Do we have a menu? Do we have, I mean, we have a theme. What can you say?

SPENCER WAITE: Yeah, I think we're looking to find a space that can accommodate, you know, regular dining guests, but also maybe offer some event potential, in a space that's, needing another restaurant, you know, fill, filling that hole that we talked about earlier.

SPENCER WAITE: And it, you know, it will be local or, you know, being, you know. Using the same staff a lot of the times or transferring people over. So certainly local still.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I mean, you can tell me that it's in the city. In the City Of Sonoma. Yeah.

SPENCER WAITE: Yeah. Downtown Sonoma.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. City Of Sonoma. We've been trying. We've been knocking on Sonoma's door for a long time. There's a lot of challenges getting into that city. And some are hermiting, some are, you know, compliance, and some are landlords.

SPENCER WAITE: Plumbing. Yeah.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: A lot of old buildings, a lot of old buildings.

DANO WEIR: That's where we are. We're right on the Sonoma Square. We're just off the square on Broadway.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So, I mean, a lot of those buildings are not, you know, when you take ownership and you have a new use, new operator, you're subject to current code. And, see, this is, if you were just a chef and you moved to some, we want to open a restaurant and you thought you were just going to open a restaurant, you're not going to open a restaurant. It's just not going to happen.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: So there, there are a lot of things that you have to understand. In that process. And there's a big barrier in Sonoma and there's, there's a lot of buildings that are old. They're not up to code. There's millions of dollars of work, you know, to, to, to get it to a place where you can actually start designing it.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And so there's, it's, it's hard, which is why our second restaurant is in Kenwood and we're happy to be there, but our first, so this, hopefully this will work out. We're not, we can't really release any details because we're at the very beginning stages, but we are raising money for a third restaurant. So if anybody out there is, you know. Once, once the talk, we're happy to, happy to talk to you.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And it's an exciting concept. I think it's sorely needed.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And it's a big step up. It's, you know, we're, it's, it's, there's 78 seats here, 106 in Stella, and this is a 200 seat restaurant.

DANO WEIR: Wow.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: In Sonoma. Yeah.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: Yeah. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's an exciting, it would be an exciting next step. But again, we're at the very beginning stages. We're just starting to talk about it cause we're, we're. Once you say it out loud and you tell people, especially in this format, no, it has to happen.

DANO WEIR: You're committed.

SPENCER WAITE: No turning back now.

DANO WEIR: I think it's funny you say that about Sonoma because I feel like there are so many people who come and visit here or they cruise through and they just have that Sonoma moment where they get a little idea.

DANO WEIR: I was successful over in this part of the world. I'm just going to come. These people don't know anything.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I'm just going to come cruise in here and do this. And it's like, I've seen this before. Like there's, it's, there's a lot of hidden pitfalls, I think.

SPENCER WAITE: Yeah. For good reason.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I don't want to cloud that.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: It is a manageable process if you understand it. And the fact that we just went through it.

SPENCER WAITE: Yeah.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: And it's too much to even say out loud. It's more, you have to be reactive and you have to, you just have to know what the right, it's like ChachiBT. You have to know how to prompt the question to the county, right? You have to know what and when to ask the question and you need to understand the order of things.

SPENCER WAITE: Right.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: You can't get ahead of it. So it's there. It's a convoluted.

SPENCER WAITE: Crazy, complicated process that we just happen to be right off the heels. And it's managing expectations. A lot of restaurateurs will say, hey, I don't open up a restaurant. Let's do it in six months.

SPENCER WAITE: It's never going to happen in Sonoma County. I don't think.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: I mean, unless you unless you turn key and buy it. Right.

SPENCER WAITE: If you want to establish a brand, I mean, the harder way is to establish your identity and establish the brand. You have to do that. If you want to really, I mean, there are examples where people don't do that and that's fine.

CHEF ARI WEISWASSER: But for what we're doing, yeah, that's part of the process and that takes time for sure.

DANO WEIR: If you're one of our viewers, Sonoma Wells client, you can eat here. You can have dinner here. You can have memories here. You can come and check it out if you've not been before. I'm sure you have. But if you haven't, it's the Glen Ellen Star on Arnold Drive in Glen Ellen. Glenellenstar.com. Stella is in Kenwood.

DANO WEIR: You can learn about them at StellaKenwood. Com. If you're watching because you know these guys, if you're a fan of the star and Stella, my name is Dan O'Weir. I'm from Sonoma Wealth Advisors. We're a fiduciary financial advisor. We help individuals and families navigate the complexities of personal finance.

DANO WEIR: And you can learn about us at SonomaWealth. Com. Wherever you found this show, whether it's YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts, subscribe. If you've enjoyed today's episode, your way to say thank you is to subscribe and interact with the episode. And it really does help the show. So thank you so much.

SPENCER WAITE: Ari Weiswasser. Now that's good. It's great.

DANO WEIR: Thanks for watching and listening to It's All Money. We hope today's episode shared information to increase your financial confidence. Now is the time in the show for the voiceover with a bunch of words at the end. Listen close though, you might find out something you didn't know.

DANO WEIR: It's All Money is powered by Sonoma Wealth Advisors. Sonoma Wealth Advisors helps individuals and families in Northern California and across the country with building, managing, and sustaining wealth.

DANO WEIR: Sonoma Wealth is a comprehensive, holistic finance solution offering financial planning, asset management, tax planning, 401k solutions, and appropriate insurance. Take our free wealth analysis now at SonomaWealth. Com. If you haven't already, like and subscribe to It's All Money on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

DANO WEIR: It's All Money features human hosts, musicians, editors, video crew, and voiceover talent. Video production by Forz Media in Roanoke Park, California. Online at ForzMedia. Com. Music by Neon Beach, Sparkle Rising. On Soundstripe. Voice over by me, Dano.

DANO WEIR: Thank you for listening to the very end. We appreciate diligent viewers and listeners. Fermata Advisors LLC is registered as an investment advisor with the SEC and only transacts business in states where it is properly registered or is excluded or exempted from registration requirements.

DANO WEIR: This content was produced by Fermata Advisors LLC, DBA Sinema Wealth Advisors, DBA Fermata 401K, DBA Firmata Tax. The opinions expressed by Firmata Advisors LLC on this show are their own.

DANO WEIR: Information presented on this program is believed to be factual and up-to-date, but we do not guarantee its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. Discussions and answers to questions do not involve the rendering of personalized investment advice, but are limited to the dissemination of general information.

DANO WEIR: A professional advisor should be consulted before implementing any of the options presented. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies.

DANO WEIR: Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Information expressed does not take into account your specific situation or objectives and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for any individual.

DANO WEIR: Viewers and listeners are encouraged to seek advice from a qualified tax, legal, or investment advisor to determine whether any information presented may be suitable for their specific situation. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.