Eating at a Meeting
Episode #189: FAB: Giving Women Tools to Navigate the F&B Industry and Succeed


Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:01]:

Hi, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Eating at a Meeting. And if you watched me yesterday, I am not in my home space with my signs on the wall and everything. I am in Washington, DC. This week and at a convention, and I'm actually in an old fashioned phone bank today versus a phone booth yesterday. So here today on my normal day and time, but it's also International Women's Day. And as Randy and I were talking about my guests here, right here. Where's my finger? We should be celebrated all year long, not just today. But I really wanted to share with you what she's doing to celebrate women in the hospitality industry. So Randy Weinstein is the founder of Fab, a three day business workshop for women in the hospitality industry. And she's based in Charles. Hi, Randy.

Randi Weinstein [00:00:52]:

Hi, Tracy. Nice to see you.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:54]:

Nice to see you, too. And this is actually one of the ten of them that I will be doing for celebrating History Month. Women's History Month. So I really appreciate you being on here. So tell me about Fab. What does it mean and why did you start it?

Randi Weinstein [00:01:17]:

That's a load of question that will take the whole time. Fab, as you point out, is a three day business workshop for women in the hospitality industry. Fab is an acronym, and meeting could mean food and beverage, but for our audience, it is females and business. And I wanted to create a business workshop for women to have a place to be able to invest in themselves, to be able to learn from others, make connections. And it'd be very different from any type of food festivals where you just don't get that opportunity because you're just so busy. And I wanted it to be educational because there are so many women in this industry that don't have the business acumen that is needing, the understanding that is needed, and the connections of people that have kind of walked through the coals and can give them those directives. And I wanted it also to be for people at any stage of their career. So it is meant to be from people that are in the beginning stages to those that have been doing it forever and kind of looking for an exit strategy.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:43]:

And you started this in 2017, right?

Randi Weinstein [00:02:47]:

Yes.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:48]:

And how did COVID impact that with so many restaurants closing down? Or pivoting, which I don't think any of us like that word, but how did that impact the process?

Randi Weinstein [00:03:04]:

So I would never use the word pivot. I had actually changed my logo because I called it ReFab. And because you could throw re in front of everything, because everyone had to reinvent themselves, everyone had a design, everyone had to rebudget, everyone had to recalculate and reimagine. So when COVID hit our tickets, they always go on sale March 4 because it is a not so known national holiday. I don't think there's a Hallmark card for it, but it is a day that one should March 4 and invest in themselves and do something to better themselves. So that is always our ticket sale day. And tickets went on sale, and it was really off to the races. I mean, sales were incredible. And then ten days later, truly on the 14th, it came to a grinding halt. And at that point, all of the topics and all the speakers already solidified. And I reimbursed all the ticket holders because we really didn't know how long things were going to last. And I reimagined what FAB would be. I kind of gave everyone a minute to digest what was going on and try to process it. I connected our speakers that we've had from year one to what would have been 2020 year four, and I then kind of recreated the content and took it virtually for seven weeks that we did daily content.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:04:53]:

Wow, that's a lot.

Randi Weinstein [00:04:55]:

It's a lot. I felt like I was on a new show on a daily basis and welcoming people, and we did one to two topics per day, and we made it at a very reasonable price. I knew people didn't have money. I knew it was a big challenge, and it was our way of really giving back. So we charged $25 whether you were going to sit in only on one session or on all probably 40 topics that we wound up doing. Wow, good.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:05:30]:

And then now it's back in person.

Randi Weinstein [00:05:33]:

It is back in person. And truly what happened was we did content beyond the seven weeks. We did content. Small group. We really looked at like, what does Fab do really well? What are the important factors? And it's all about networking. It's all about connectivity. It's all about meeting people. And so we formulated certain round group or roundtable discussions that you would be in your same group for four weeks, and we would actually change out the speakers each week on a certain topic. So that group had that opportunity to meet together every week and build those relationships. We did webinars. We partnered with the Abundance Setting, which is in Chicago, and that is run by Beverly Kim, and we had done a webinar with them, actually, 2021, it takes a full year to put Fab together. So we weren't really in a position in January 21 to position ourselves to come back in June. And I didn't really know vaccines were just coming out. Businesses are really kind of feeling more secure about opening up, and I was just humping it. I was working my ass off, to be honest with you. And I didn't have any downtime. And I needed to see really if I still felt the love I had for this program, this workshop that I developed. And it gave me time to really reassess a lot of what I was doing, how we were acting, and just graphics website, and then I decided that we're going to come back in 2022. So we just had our or last year was our first year back.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:07:33]:

Okay, awesome. And my friend Bonnie has piped in here and says, this is indeed Fab. Sounds wonderful. And I like the fact that you curate it every year and you're getting different speakers, because I've looked at some of the lineup of speakers for the last couple of years, and it's women who've been in the trenches who have succeeded in so many different ways that can share that expertise. And this is going to sound kind of funny, but are the women that are coming I'm assuming the women that are coming are willing to learn from other women because sometimes we have those cat fights. And how does that work?

Randi Weinstein [00:08:15]:

I have to tell you, it is the most harmonious group. People are so excited. There's two aspects of it. So the speakers, to just give you an example, this past year I had 74 speakers and truly out of that group of speakers. And this is really the hardest part of Fab, to be honest, because they're all so dynamic and they're also amazing. And I'm not inviting people that have the name recognition necessarily because there's so many people that are in the trenches that are the ones that are making it all happen. And the speakers are from whether it's the CPG background, attorneys, PR people, architects, HR, chefs, owners, beverage. So it is all truly the cogs that make it happen. And that's how the panels are actually made up. And so when I finish a workshop, I totally dissect it. And I can't say that there's like, a bad speaker, but there are certain positions that there are such a plethora of people doing those positions that I try to change it out. I've had such continuity also in people that have been attending since day one. And Fab has very much taken reshaped itself since day one. And that's all because of the feedback that we get every year. So from that 74, I will take out at least 30 of those speakers and add a fresh 30. There is some content because it's a business workshop at the end of the day. So there are some things that are consistent that are going to be topics each year. But if you have fresh voices, it's fresh viewpoints that people can take. So when Fab started, we had rolled it out, and I had two tracks that people could sign up for, depending upon where you were in your career. And it was 101 and 202. We rolled out ten items or ten panels of content that you would sit through. And people from day one that gave us feedback wanted to carve out their own journey. They wanted to not go through our journey, but they wanted to create their own. And so I wasn't ready to change that from year one to two. But in year three. It was all about what the attendees had been really suggesting. So we went from developing 20 panels of content to developing almost over 36. And now fast forward to this year. We have about 60 different conversations that people could take part of.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:22]:

Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, because then you've got where do I go? And I know I listened to, I think, one of the podcasts you were interviewed on before. It's like figuring out sometimes it's hard to make a decision on which one that you want to go to. Right? But you do want to give the plethora of options for people as well. So it's a balancing act. In what I've read and what you and I talked about, it was like in your former role as event director for Atlanta, not Atlanta. That was the one. I worked at Charleston Wine and Food. You realize that in this hospitality industry, and I see it every single day as a meeting planner, I'm like, there's meeting planners. And then when you look at the top of hospitality and meeting planners are mostly female, and then you get there and even the executive chefs at hotels are men, and I'm going to say white men. Right? And it's really hard to see that. So you saw that from that position and you started this. And so what have you seen change in the people that have attended, especially those ones that have attended from day one to now?

Randi Weinstein [00:12:43]:

So my jump wasn't really, though, from the Wine and Food Festival in Charleston. So I left there and I was doing operations for a local restaurant group that was expanding, and it was really through that lens. The person that I worked with, Michael Shamtov, was really gracious and still wants to educate people in this industry about ownership and what you need and education. So futuristically. Fast forward. When I was still with him, we had done a dinner, a final dinner there for one of our chefs. And we were putting in a female chef after this person Stucy had left. And during that dinner, I had met, or I knew, but met two other women. And they were like, now that Chelsea is going to be promoted, why don't we do an all female dinner? And I said, that's great, but who do we invite? Because there's so many women in Charleston, certainly at that time. And we basically devise something called Bad Bitches and where we want to showcase women's rise through the decades, from the 50s, from their home kitchen into the industry proper. And then in tandem, we want to raise money to be able to provide scholarships to women, to be able to push them forward in their careers. And so that kind of was the impetus of FAB and like all good things, the btheand broke up. But I really was very passionate about being able to provide these scholarships, see them through. And then I thought, like, this is really great. women, what every person and not just women, it's men as well, every person needs to understand the business of the industry and that is such the missing link. And people go into owning a business because my grandmother's recipe is so delicious, everyone's going to love it. But they don't know anything about running a business. They don't know anything about taxes or PNLs or working with an architect or a build out. So I put this curriculum together and then I really kind of shopped it around from both men and women that I had met over the years through my good fortune of being with the festival. And it is like most things, it's not their money. So everyone thought it was a great idea. So that's how FAB really started. And I feel like what I have seen to follow up on your question is I've seen a lot, but I think that one thing is women don't invest in themselves because they don't necessarily always believe and they're not given the opportunity. So through FAB really gives them women to really be able to empower other women and be able to give them the tools or sometimes just the support that they need to have those difficult conversations when they go back. And speak up for themselves, that they're not being paid a fair wage and that they should be actually put in certain positions, that they've been neglected and looked over every year. So it gives them those just that support system to be able to help them navigate it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:47]:

I was actually having that conversation last night with a couple of girlfriends over dinner and there's a couple of organizations somebody pitched me like, hey, come work this event. It's an hour and a half away from you and we're going to pay you to sit there for 3 hours. We're going to pay you $35. I'm like, no. And I'm sure that they get somebody to do that. But no, I'm like, you're going to pay me? One of them says, yeah, I renegotiate the hourly rate. And I'm like, and you're adding my time, you're adding my mileage. We do have to stand up for what we're worth and the work that we do. And I think we do step back and say, oh well, no, I'll just do it, right?

Randi Weinstein [00:17:28]:

Yeah. No one should do anything for free. People should be paid their worth. I'm not a fan of not paying.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:40]:

Right? And even if it's like, hey, you're going to record me, right? Give me something tangible that if you don't have the cash, what can you give me in exchange? Right? Yeah. And some people are like, oh well, no, we don't even pay for your airfare. I'm like, hello, come on, you're utilizing my intellectual property or whatever, right? It's got to do something. Okay, so through Fab and or just through your life experiences, what's your best advice for female entrepreneurs in the hospitality.

Randi Weinstein [00:18:18]:

Industry, my best advice is don't assume that you know everything and that asking for help is actually the smartest thing you could do.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:18:33]:

Yeah. Because you don't know everything. And then asking like, randy, hey, Randy, how did you do this? Right? Yes, it can help.

Randi Weinstein [00:18:42]:

And being collaborative, I think that having some harmonious relationships, whether it's within your network, in your town, like building those bridges and I've seen certain cities where they have such a great working relationship together, and whether it's like someone cutting staff early, but then having a slack group about that. No one else is going to take this employee, but if anyone wants to, it benefits that person that is not going to be getting those wages, but someone else that might be short staffed or about produce or about anything. And so I'm really trying to make it where it's not a competitive world in where you're located and also just expanding your network. I mean, Fab is very much about, like, if someone wants more information and they're considering changing their POS system, that's a huge so isn't it nice to be able to have someone that has gone through that process that can help navigate you or answer those questions? Because what you want to do is women you're certainly talking to that company, be armed with as much information that is going to get you the best deal and be able to put you in that position of power to be able to negotiate well.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:20:17]:

And that reminds me of a little bit of these women in Atlanta who all rep different hotel properties or destinations, and they used to go to lunch. They became great friends, and they used to go to lunch every single month. But they got to know each other's properties so well, even though they were competitors, maybe not in the same cities, but they're like, well, you know what? My property is not going to be really good for you, but Randy's does. Right. And so they helped each other. It was that, like you said, the collaboration of that, and it helps both of you grow. And I call it kind of the Macy's mentality, right. I don't have it, but Macy's might have it and back from the Miracle on 34th street, right?

Randi Weinstein [00:20:57]:

Yeah. I look at Fab as very much I'm a collaborative individual, and I think that there are so many different opportunities for women to take advantage of. Whether you're part of the Beer Foundation's well program, whether it's Map, whether it's Cherry Bomb, whether it is any other organization that is out there that is supplying any type of content that is beneficial to you. We all have something that is going to fit what you're looking for, and that is just going to strengthen you. And at the end of the day, we all have to work collaboratively and to be able to provide what people need. And we all provide different things. And that's why, kind of it's not a one size fits all. I mean, people can either pick from all the trees or be able to look and be like, this is really more of what I'm looking for. And then through that, you make your relationships, and then other people that have been to those other workshops or conferences that you decide to pass over, maybe they'll be able to tell you the virtues of what you would be able to benefit out of attending those. So we need to all work as a team, right?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:22:27]:

Exactly. All right, so I asked you the question of what advice do you have for people? What advice have you gotten from another woman mother, grandmother, or just another woman in the industry that has helped really kind of influenced you going forward?

Randi Weinstein [00:22:45]:

It's very simple, actually. I had gotten this piece of advice from a woman named DaVita Davison, and she used to run Food Lab Detroit, and she was a speaker. And I was going through just a time in my life where I really needed to talk to someone and about a situation. And she said to me that you have to keep your nose out of certain things. And that looking to see what my mission for Fab was and that I need to stay in my own lane on certain things. And I think that there's too many people that swerve and want to have control over everything and that you need to actually constantly go back to ask yourself, what is your mission? What should be like on your drive? And I just reflected on it this past week.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:57]:

Yeah.

Randi Weinstein [00:23:57]:

So I go back.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:59]:

Yeah. That's really powerful. For me, I'm about food safety and sustainability and inclusion, and it's really not about I mean, there's so many aspects that I can take that in. But it's staying true to your mission, right, what you want to accomplish. Yeah. Oh, I love that. So based on what you're doing, how do you want Fab? How do you want yourself to be remembered in history and with what you're accomplishing with Fab?

Randi Weinstein [00:24:34]:

I don't put Fab together for me, take myself out of the equation. I don't like a spotlight. I'm very much, as I call myself, a trench girl. I'm a coordinator, and I am someone that brings people together and wants to truly just to be able to give people the tools. And that's what I do with Fab. And I am not a limelight individual. I like being able to just really, I don't know, help people accomplish their goals and also get them through maybe, like, a hard time, be able to connect them with people that are really going to be able to help them to be able to, like I said, accomplish what they are looking to do. I guess I want just people to remember me for investing in other people. Fab is zero about me. My team will tell you that.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:48]:

Okay, so on a tangent on that, what are some of the joys that you've seen come from these women that have attended south?

Randi Weinstein [00:25:54]:

Oh, my gosh. From year one, I had a huge contingent of speakers that had come in from New York, and I'm assuming that most people really know one another that are in in this industry, especially in New York. And, you know, they didn't. And I saw the relationships that were developed, and then one of the speakers had not just coordinated one, but three Fab reunion dinners of all the speakers that were in New York. So that was probably the first glimpse of it. And then the second is really I was talking to someone last week and that attended Fab, and now she's best friends with someone else that attended Fab who's from Alaska, and that they just totally connected. So for me, it is just the relationships that have been built and that people leave Fab just stronger. They don't take any shit. They go back feeling just renourished and revitalized and that they just I don't know that they just really have these great relationships that have organically unfolded.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:25]:

And I love that because you're far reaching, then what you've done and what you've taught is far reaching. All right, so Bonnie posted on here ten minutes ago. I missed it. Bonnie, you said testify, but the exposure oh, yeah. Talking about doing something for free. The exposure. You'll get exposure from that. Yeah. Frostbite is more like it. I do love that because you never know where it's going to come from, right? And they're like, oh, my God, I talked to Randy and I heard this, and you need to connect that. You never know that. On the flip side of that, what has been the biggest obstacle that you've encountered in creating Fab is that pushback from men, is that pushback from women, or is it just something completely different?

Randi Weinstein [00:28:18]:

I think when you develop up anything from the beginning, I'm an extremely enthusiastic person, and I've always had this idea that if I could visualize it, I could build it, and that if I could believe in it, I could sell anything. And I believed in Fab and to so much. And then in 2017, it took me a year to develop it. And again, I need the male buy on because there are more male owners, and that I want them to invest in their team. I want them to send women that are on their team. I want women, and they should not send, like, no one, male or female. No one should send anyone on their team without a little ROI, and they should be carving. If someone's sending you, Tracy, and you go back, that person should be saying, I want to carve out about an hour and a half, and I want to hear about your experience. I want to hear about what we can implement, what we could do. So that has always been my goal. No one should ever be sent for free without actually having something in return. And so here I am. That the year one exposure was great. PR was great. It's something new. And tickets go on sale and I'm thinking like the festival, we're going to crush it and it's going to sell out in a second or at least like a good amount. And year one tickets went on sale on January like 17th and we sold one ticket and I said, holy shit. I shouldn't have asked you if I could curse, but it's part of my vocabulary, I'm sorry. And I said, what am I doing? What did I do? And I really panicked. And what I have learned and which I knew, but I'm very hard headed about it, is if I believe in it, everyone should believe in it. And so it's been a journey. It's been a journey getting people to understand the virtues of Fab. I could talk to someone blue in the face about what they will get out of it. And the pillars of Fab are very much mirror. Fab has nothing to do with me except for the two pillars of my life. Zero bullshit and total transparency. Those are my two pillars of life. And that's the only thing that of myself that I want to inject into Fab and that every speaker has to follow that suit. If you're not going to come up and you are not going to be honest, I don't want people I want to be a happy occasion too, but I want people to not forget their journey and then to be able to share that with others. I would say that I think my biggest challenge is getting people to understand. And once people have attended, they get it. So it's been a very slow journey and that is obviously it doesn't just exist on attendees, which is my primary you need supporters, you need financial sponsorship. And I am not a nonprofit. I am extremely philanthropic, but I am not a not for profit. And we give out scholarships and a number. I mean, this year we're giving out 48 scholarships.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:09]:

That's amazing.

Randi Weinstein [00:32:10]:

Yeah. And that is with financial partners that are specifically invested in giving scholarships. And then Fab gives out scholarships. So we're really committed to being able and the scholarships also come with hotel rooms, so we try to take out two major obstacles. But it's been a challenge. But all of a sudden this year, when we came back in 2022, it was incredible. Like the atmosphere going back to what you originally asked about women and being in the same room as other women, and sometimes competitive. There is zero competitiveness. Everyone is there to be able to everyone wants to extend their hand. They want to be able to know what your name is, what you do, where are you from, what are you looking for. And I'm never going to let the sponsors run it. It is always going to be driven by what the attendees needs are and it is really bringing the art of conversation back to be able to, again, create your own support system. So I think that the biggest challenge really is getting other people to buy onto it. And I think now it has clicked and now I think my next challenge is making sure the people that are actually buying tickets are the right people. And I have no control over that. That's the hard part. I don't want people coming in and feeling like they could swoop in and I don't want it to be like this clicky event. I wanted to really be able to be able to take away what I initially intended it to be.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:06]:

So on that note, so who do you want to attend?

Randi Weinstein [00:34:11]:

I don't want the people that are looking to have businesses that want to try to get people to buy on to their got you whatever they're selling. I want the business, the people that are working in those businesses or own those businesses to make connection with other people that are feeling that same thing and wanting that same thing. So I don't want it overrun by people necessarily selling something.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:47]:

Right. No, that makes sense.

Randi Weinstein [00:34:50]:

I want them, but I want them there to be part of that organic conversation.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:56]:

Right, well, and even I think that even goes along with your sponsors too. It's like, don't come in and XYZ Company is like, I'm here to sell, sell, sell, and I need you to buy my company. No, it's about relationships, which I think is one of your biggest mantras besides the no bullshit and full transparency. It's like you're going to build a relationship, maybe that relationship, that sale comes seven years later. Right, but because you built that relationship through FAB or wherever, that's where that trust comes in.

Randi Weinstein [00:35:30]:

Yeah. I think my other most heartwarming, to be honest, is when I have speakers that are now friends with other whether they're speakers or attendees or no matter who could be sponsors that have met other people and they'll send me a selfie of themselves and say because of that, now this person is in my world. Which is really interesting. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:35:53]:

Because the world is so small and you don't know who you don't know right. And who you can help through those relationships. So I love that.

Randi Weinstein [00:36:03]:

Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:36:08]:

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Randi Weinstein [00:36:11]:

I don't know. I'm still growing up. I think that's a really hard question because I think that you are continually evolving and your interests and your passions change. And I think that that I mean, I'm a perfect example. I grew up in a garment center New York family and I started in the garment center. And the things that I have done in my life have really probably gotten me to. Where I am, but like owning my own business in the garment center and then coming to moving to Charleston from New York and doing Aunt Specialties and then doing opening up a restaurant because I wanted to do that. And then working in mental health and then owning a fitness company to help teen obesity and to then being a part of building and putting Charleston on the map through this wine and food festival and through all the events that I had done along the way. And then to operations for Butcher and Bee bad bitches and FAB. So it's definitely been a journey for me and I feel like I have definitely found my passion in supporting women, anyone identifying as in this industry to achieve their goals.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:56]:

That's awesome. And I tell a lot of kids coming out of college or coming out of high school, you do not need to have your life defined right now. No, I'm like go to college, get a degree in whatever you want and study or go to trade school or whatever and just go on the journey and figure it out. You don't know where you're going to end up.

Randi Weinstein [00:38:15]:

No, I tell that I go in and talk to a College of Charleston class and I'm like, you don't have to choose anything right now.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:38:26]:

Figure it out. Exactly. So how do you for young women coming into the hospitality industry and food and beverage wise or whatever, what advice do you want to give them? Because there's a wide variety of jobs in this industry and you don't have to be a bartender, you don't have to be a meeting partner. But what advice do you give them coming in specifically into this industry?

Randi Weinstein [00:38:53]:

I think that if they're coming into this industry that they need to be able to work in and environment that's going to give them the opportunity to cross train and that they can then from cross training really find what their passion is. And then once they do that, they can take more of a deeper dive into that position and find a mentor, find someone that can really be that guiding force and be your advocate in this industry and make the time for that.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:33]:

That's really good advice because it's hard to sometimes find that right person. Right. I think I saw in one of your social media that you commented on somebody that she just started oh, she was at the Charleston Place Hotel and she worked in all the different departments and you contacted on LinkedIn.

Randi Weinstein [00:39:53]:

Exactly.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:57]:

And that is really important.

Randi Weinstein [00:39:59]:

Totally. I mean, this is a person that is, I think, Margaret's Title, she's a VP of Experience, which is a new position for her. And I think that's for anyone. How do you tell someone how to do a job that you've never done? Okay. How do you actually go into anywhere and tell someone what they should be doing? You have no idea you don't know what the day is like. You don't know what the challenges are. You don't know anything about it. And for her, specifically and I will just use a hotel, and it's a restaurant too, I believe. Totally. In cross training, my husband used to joke with me that during the festival, I had basically a Bible of every event that I would do and a planning document for every event. And he always joked that if I got hit by a bus and died, we would put me on ice. He would be able to facilitate it because I had this giant book of how to do it. But it's the same thing for especially in an industry where we are experiencing such staffing issues, which is everyone everywhere, but everyone should be cross training people to be able to take on and then you're really able to see where they will flourish and take that interest in people. And in Margaret's case, in taking that interest in and understanding. I mean, for her, it's also like, how can we change this department? What is housekeeping's needs? Like, are we not providing them with the right rolling bins, the right carts, are the washing machines, all the intricacies that people don't think of? And so really looking at that and being able to understand, it good for her.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:03]:

Yeah, exactly. And it reminds me of going to a hotel in San Antonio last year, and there was one woman doing all the laundry for the hotels, and then she looked so exhausted trying to flip all of those things. But nobody's going in there to help her, to see how they can help make that easier for her or ease that challenge of doing that.

Randi Weinstein [00:42:28]:

I went to a hotel in New Orleans, and it was the first time I was ever asked what time I would like housekeeping to come. Okay, what time would be good for me? Instead of like the typical, like, 830 in the morning knock on the door or knowing that they would want to get in, what time would work for me would be best? And I was like, it's kind of brilliant because then it gives that person some assemblance of order that is going to be cleaning those rooms. And I'm like, for me, I'm like, I'm good to go. I don't need anyone coming in my room. But yeah, it was like, well, that's smart. So it's like, all right, these people are more like two in the afternoon. This is what they and so it allows you to prioritize your own schedule and be efficient.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:29]:

Yeah. And I think that empowers you even more. Instead of going all the way down the hallway in those long hotels and just going room to room to room. It empowers you as a housekeeper or whatever job you are to own it.

Randi Weinstein [00:43:43]:

Totally.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:44]:

Yeah, totally. And you can make those little idiosyncrasies of joy in somebody's life, staying in a hotel. Exactly. So, food and beverage in the future, with what you're teaching, how do you see this industry changing?

Randi Weinstein [00:44:12]:

I see it and I don't know, I mean, that's the million dollar question, isn't it? I see people that are understanding what it is to have a quality of life and wanting to be in this industry by reducing hours, which is a direct impact of staffing. But even women, they're fully staffed, especially people in Charleston, I see them being like, you know what, I don't think we're going to open on that 6th day that we want to. We're good with five and being able to not kill themselves because it is such a challenging industry. And I see a lot more kind of quick service, kind of more quality places that are happening with the advent of obviously technology and the impact of QR codes, delivery services and things like that. I see more of a challenge, I think, on that CPG realm, because that was huge during COVID where people had this great idea and it gave them the time to be able to test what they wanted to their product that they were interested in doing. But there's only so much shelf space in so many different spaces. Pop ups are huge, which is a great way to test the waters for people wanting to be able to that think they have this great idea. I think that we're kind of on this course, but I believe that there's only going to be so many large food chains. I hate to say chains, but like the major food groups or I'm not talking about like chain chains, but that are doing these quality restaurants. It takes a lot of money.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:18]:

It does, yeah, it does. And it takes a lot of brain power and thought and like you said, the decorators and all of those people that come into play that you don't think about. And the purveyors like, who are you getting your food from, right? And how are you sourcing that? And who are you sourcing it from? And do you want to buy it locally or do you want to buy it from? And I actually was talking to a young farmer a couple of weeks ago and I said, oh, you should go talk to this catering company because he's growing some great things. He's in his late 20s, he's growing on his grandmother's farm and it's him and one guy and helping him do that. But he went to a caterer and the cater is like, yeah, unless you can beat the big box prices, I'm not going to talk to you.

Randi Weinstein [00:47:10]:

Yeah, that's a challenge. We're lucky in Charleston. We have so many incredible farmers here and that are very much supported by so many of the restaurants. And I think farming has it's a whole new way of farming. And it used to be that this is what I'm planting and this is what you'll buy and that's changed and where it is. What are your needs? What do you like to be able to what can I produce that you will actually purchase? Instead of, like, I've got a million eggplants, that's what I got in peppers. And it's like sorry.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:54]:

Yeah.

Randi Weinstein [00:47:55]:

I think summers have become savvier, and I think in communities, they really want to be able to support those other whether it's the fishermen, whether it's, like, the pig farmers, whether it's the cattle farmers or the produce and be able to showcase that.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:48:19]:

I have two more questions for you.

Randi Weinstein [00:48:22]:

Sure.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:48:23]:

What has been important? I mean, you've got this organization, Fab, females and business or food and beverage, et cetera. But what is really important to you as a woman in the food and beverage industry?

Randi Weinstein [00:48:39]:

That people are educated, that they're taking care of themselves physically and mentally, that they have the right resources, and that they tap into it and utilize them, and that they don't take any shit.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:06]:

Because we take a lot of shit. Women do a lot.

Randi Weinstein [00:49:11]:

All right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:11]:

And then my last question, which I ask everybody, is I was having a conversation with somebody yesterday about the word, so what does safe, sustainable, and inclusive food and beverage hospitality industry look like to you? And it does not have to, as people pigeonhole me into dietary restrictions. But what do those three words mean to you as it relates to what you're doing and just the industry as a whole?

Randi Weinstein [00:49:39]:

If we could have all those, it would be a dream. I mean, it would be an industry where people would want to flock to and work and to be able to be honored to be a part of. And I think achieving all of those, whether they're individual or as a unit, is something that everyone should honestly strive to do.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:02]:

I love that. Yeah. Because everybody does a little bit of whatever. A little bit of each of it. Yeah. Thanks. I love that.

Randi Weinstein [00:50:13]:

Thanks. All right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:15]:

Anything else you want to share about Fab and being Fab?

Randi Weinstein [00:50:19]:

What else? I don't know. Like I said to you earlier, that we should be celebrating women every single day, but happy International Women's Day. And for anyone interested in attending Fab, it's June 11 through the 13th in Charleston Month. Carolina. Yeah, that's it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:43]:

That's it. Well, Brady, thank you so much for what you're doing. I really am inspired by how you're helping women prosper in this industry and grow their businesses and be business owners.

Randi Weinstein [00:50:54]:

Because it's hard, so hard. And like I said, it's okay to ask for help. It's like you should for anything. You should. No one should be an island to themselves.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:09]:

Well, thank you, everybody. Just so you know, this is Randy Weinstein FAB. I just put her information up there. And then also, if you're interested in this platform that I'm using, it's called StreamYard. And I love it, and I will share some more information about that going forward. But thank you all. I have two comments in here, Randy, before we leave. Bonnie, actually, from wisdom. I enjoyed this. Thank you so much. And then she said, you're welcome, Bonnie. And she's another female entrepreneur. So as a meeting planner. Exactly. Everybody stay safe and eat well. And until next week, I will see you. I will actually be back home in the home office, so you will see me there. So until then, stay safe and eat well and check out Randy and attend FAB.

Randi Weinstein [00:52:01]:

Thanks, Tracy.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:03]:

Thanks, Randy.