Cobi Levy and Will Makris, Prince Street Hospitality

17:25Cobi Levy:It's, it's that experience. It's, it's the memories that it creates.

17:30Will Makris:Right. And all the details in between. so what was your first project that you do the two of you did together the first one was um we did with with our our friend and my partner scott sortian we did broken coconut together okay uh we did a forgettable foray into fast casual it was it was a little it was a little hard to keep going when when um this funny thing called COVID hit as well so it got really tricky but that was the first thing we did together kind of was like experimental in the sense of it wasn't something like that was huge it was a pretty small little space and we worked together to see how it went and then when Kobe came to me with the idea of doing Lola Taverna I really had never been a partner or an owner in a restaurant before I was a little bit hesitant in the sense of I just kind of never did it so I didn't know what my expectations would be other than like you know i'd come and have dinner there so i think kind of started off that way and then i i wanted to learn more i started to really enjoy it i learned a lot from kobe in the sense of you know especially given the fact of the timing of the world we were living when we opened uh how to survive in a time when you know no one could leave your house and we were only allowed outside and and everyone was wearing masks and then there was 25 then there was 50 then it was zero percent it So it was a really, really great learning experience for me.

18:58Will Makris:And watching Colby, who's done this for so many years, figure out ways to keep business going. Not to keep business going, make money during this time and do things that literally no one else in the city was doing. And also probably save the restaurant because I don't know what would have happened if he didn't do that. So I think all those things combined really were a great learning experience and getting to learn about the restaurant side of hospitality. Yeah. And then from there, I mean, you have now how many properties do you all have? You have the Collie, Little Prince.

19:36Cobi Levy:Lola, we did Jibs, which was great. We have Kachina Alba, Acanto. Soon we'll be opening Alba in LA and another project in Los Angeles as well.

19:50Will Makris:Very cool. So it's been a lot of growth in a short amount of time. Yeah.

19:55Cobi Levy:Well, luckily, you know, I think going back to, you know, what we were talking about before is like we are blessed to be amongst friends of ours who are our compatriots, but also are leading the way in the business. So it's pretty, when you're looking around and all your friends are crushing it, just gives you a little extra kick in the ass to get up every morning and push on. So we've seen our friends have just such tremendous success in the last few years that it's, you know, I think success begets success. And we're blessed to be amongst great leaders in the business. Yeah.

20:30Will Makris:With, you know, as you said, like there's a lot of noise, there's a lot of different venues out there. Like how, how are you trying to kind of carve out your own niche, right? Like, are there, is there like an ethos that you try to do in each place? Is it, or each place can be a new concept? Like talk to me about how you, you know, how do you come up with the concept? And is there something you want Prince Street to like represent?

20:59So, you know, look, I'll, if you looked at our restaurants, you would see that there There's a bit of a, you can see growth from like,

21:07Cobi Levy:Little Prince was something I started now at 10 years old. And I was still working with Jeffrey Chattaro and some other friends of mine. But like, if you look at what we did from Lola into Alba, you see a bit of an ascension. And I think Alba will be the sort of the cornerstone of what we do going forward, which is our idea about new luxury. And that is people wanting the best time and the best of all worlds, especially on the food side but they don't want it done in that very traditional uptown way which is a bit stuffy people want all the fun but they also want everything that they could have gotten uptown which is where all the best meals used to be right so now that's where i think we are and if you look at the restaurants i think they are a good they're a good reflection of where where he and Will and I sit together in terms of these ideas where it was a little more casual, a little more formal, but we find this nice middle ground where everyone could have a really good time.

22:09Cobi Levy:And our restaurants are transportive. We do talk about, you know, we do like to take people on that journey with us. We travel a lot, and we think it's really important for people to feel like they can get lost in their restaurants, right? Life in New York could be daunting, and it's nice to have a bit of a release when you get out at night and you're like oh like i don't yeah i don't need to be disneyland but you could you can certainly feel like you're not just living your normal life for a couple hours a night yeah yeah i would i would also

22:44Will Makris:literally coby said exactly what i was going to say watching the transition from little prince and then you would probably go further and then to our last one that we just opened with machine Alba, you can see the progress in what we've done. We've gotten a bit more serious with how we do things, our designs, the food. Things are getting a little more intense, not intense like stuffy, but just more serious about what we're doing. I think when we opened LA in a few months, I think we're going to see another level and another step of things and where we want to be with the next venue we're going to do.

23:17Will Makris:So the progress has been pretty fun to do and cool to watch and and and i think as we've worked together and especially now because alva was really us working together with this one um you you see that coming out in projects and i think even more so coming up in the future you'll see that as well yeah and this new one let's talk a little bit about it like how did you want to evolve the concept and you know what did you hope to create with it we looked at the with the landscape and saw we thought was a hole in the italian market

23:53Cobi Levy:um which is to say that from in terms of like international brands chipriani chiconi's uh maybe casa tua but there wasn't the restaurant that we were we wanted exactly which we thought was holiday italian and we think about all these times there was been this phenomenal trips throughout Italy, whether it be in the north or south. And we didn't want to be necessarily, it wasn't supposed to be regionalized, right? I remember too many of these restaurants in New York, but oh, we're an Emilia Romana restaurant. Great. Now you just set a bunch of new rules for yourself that most people would not know the difference.

24:38Cobi Levy:And the one asshole who does know that we don't use butter here, we use this instead, is like, great. Now you've got that asshole opining to how your restaurant should be. And our approach was more about a celebration of Italy in the way that we felt when we were there. And that kind of celebration of espressatura in style and indolce faliente in approach.

25:05Will Makris:And is the idea, too, to keep expanding outside of New York? Yeah, definitely. we're constantly looking at different cities and and offer different projects I think I think Kobe and I are trying to learn to not expand too fast so that we you know get a little ahead of ourselves but we're trying to find that happy medium but yeah the the idea is definitely to expand the brand into other cities even a little bit out of our comfort zone and and you know continue building that and continue building the brand all over. Yeah, totally. And talk to you, talk to me about how you guys are as leaders with your, you know, with your growing team, you know, after working in all these amazing places, how are you trying to like share that knowledge with them?

25:54Will Makris:And, you know, how do you lead your, your teams to make these experiences what they are?

25:58Cobi Levy:We have taken an approach that is very cooperative. you know, a lot of our, we really want to create, we want to create, we created a place for all of our team to be entrepreneurial and to have a real path forward with us. So a lot of our general managers and chefs are either profit participation or something from a financial standpoint, they feel very much tied to the, to what we're doing. And I think even, even back before that, when you asked like how we do the concepts, like, you know, two years before we did Alba, Will and I took our, what would be the team, like the general manager, our chef, our director of ops, and we started working on it together.

26:43Cobi Levy:And we even went to Italy together to explore and to create that vision. One, I think the results are better when people are, have invested interest in it. Two, when they are part of the actual creative process, they will like, they'll remember like, oh, remember that time? Like I gave that suggestion about that. that has that, you know, there's certainly a great sense of ownership there. And then that actually leads to real potential ownership. So we don't, this is a business that is largely been about kind of, you know, sort of Ronan people racing around, trying to find the next, you know, smaller raise or, you know, whatever slight bump.

27:27Cobi Levy:We were building with great people to, for the future and we're going to keep them, so they're part of something far bigger. And I think the ability to grow faster is purely, you know, like we have money and we have deals, but it's just about how the quality of the team around us. And so we have taken, I think because, you know, I was Jeffrey Chattaro's junior partner, like Will was, you know, Will was a junior partner in some of these other deals that like, we know what that feels like when you're growing, when you're building something. And so incentivizing people to be a part of that has been very important to us.

28:07And the people have left us like, you know, like we're, you know, we're not, it's not like this is, I'm not going to bullshit you tonight.

28:19Cobi Levy:Like people won't leave, I do. But for the most part, our core team has been together for a while, and it's very happy to see them help us grow and be excited to bring their friends all in to the family so that we have more and, sorry, we have better access to talent that way. Yeah.

28:40Will Makris:What did you learn from Chuddera during your days there?

28:46Cobi Levy:Jeffrey was an enigma. and I I learned so much from good and bad you know he was

29:02Cobi Levy:I started with him after I closed Nico and I realized that I couldn't do it on my own at the time I'd failed and I'd failed because I was able to come up with good concepts but I didn't have the infrastructure to really sustain a good business and I needed that. And so when he offered me an opportunity to have a platform to put my ideas forth and also learn from him, I took it up and it was fantastic. We had a great run together. I learned so much from him about deal-making to, you know, certainly when it came to deal-making structure, the guy was a genius. I shouldn't say was a genius, right?

29:46Cobi Levy:and um like when it came to concepts they were all over the place some great some absolutely ridiculous um but he certainly had a passion for it and you know he had the courage of his convictions unlike most people he always used his own money and so as much as anyone might want to like you know people will give him a hard time for some of his goofier concepts like you know he put his money where his mouth is you got to respect that so when you go and write a check for caviar bananas. It's your money. Good on you. Those are real concepts you did.

30:23Will Makris:I think I remember that. That's amazing. English is

30:27Cobi Levy:Italian. Come on, there were some good ones. But, you know, I and then when we did amazing things together, too. And that was like whether it was only things like Little Prince and when we did Babaji and when I helped him open Komodo, like, you know, The guy just, you know, he had that passion every day and he could have retired anytime he wanted, but he kept wanting to grow. And I loved that about him. It's like he was excited to be in the restaurants. He used to love to go to tastings and, you know, wanted to be involved in every aspect of it. And that was something that was, you know, I would look at him sometimes like, yeah, he just retired.

31:08Cobi Levy:I was like, why would I want to do that?

31:10Will Makris:Yeah. Tell us about, I forgot about Nico. was that the first restaurant you opened on your own?

31:17Cobi Levy:I did Charles first, but then I did Nico.

31:20Will Makris:Okay. And I guess the question for both of you is like, you know, starting with you, Kobe, like what made you decide to take that leap, right? Like opening a restaurant on your own as you, you know, just said is no easy task. Like what, you know, what made you decide to take that leap and give yourself a chance?

31:40Cobi Levy:well i'm either really fearless or really stupid or some combination they're in and opening it was something i wanted to do so it's like fuck it i could do this i mean the same way that like when i opened a clothing company like i had no prior knowledge about to do that either but i think that what's what you find and like will's a little too humble to say this about himself but like what i said about it earlier is like you know that hustler mentality it's just like you know what if you scrap and you know you know how to make some moves you'll figure it out and he's done that his whole career right whatever he did he did you know he might want to delve into some of that but um he's a scrapper and you know if you have a little bit if you have some access to some capital some friends of yours some friends who want to get behind you and you can get going you know you have a shot at making it and that's kind of how you know let's you know the first one I think the first one was kind of a joke.

32:36Cobi Levy:Got a little more serious as we went. Now we're in a much better place. But it's desire and a willingness to fight, plus a bit of scrappiness.

32:50Will Makris:Yeah. Bill, you want to talk about that scrappiness? Yeah, I mean, I don't have the same fearlessness as Kobe did. I probably would not have done it without him. Like I don't, I didn't have any desire to do a restaurant by myself. I don't think anybody, I think it would have been a complete and total wreck if it was just me. So I had a little more bravery with it, knowing that I would have someone that was experienced with operations, you know, talent and those kinds of things. Again, I'm not a traditional hospitality restaurant person, but I do, like I said, I do know what works. And, and, and as long as I, I, I got surrounded by the people that I thought would be great with, with Kobe.

33:35Will Makris:I felt like we had a shot and I, I will say, I can, I mean, I can get anyone anywhere so that, that, that I'm never worried about. And I have a lot of friends that support that and support me wherever I go. And we're kind of excited to see me do my own thing and, and continue to watch this process grow. So yeah, that's, I felt a little more comfortable knowing that I had a partner in this that knows what the hell he's doing. always helps surround yourself with others that know more. And can you talk a little bit about Zero Bond and that partnership with Scott? I know that's not Prince Street, but I feel like it's.

34:11Will Makris:Sure. So about this has got to be now six years ago. Scott, you know, kind of came to me and was like, look, I'm looking for this space. I want to I want to I want to do a members club in New York. And I said, okay, I mean, there's only been one thing that's really survived members clubs at SoHouse. But, you know, at the time, I'm saying, now there's a thousand opening up. But, and I said, look, you know, you find the space, you tell me what you want to do, and I'll take a look at it. And if I think it's going to work, I'll do it with you, you know. So he really is the founder and came up with the idea, found the space.

34:47Will Makris:I came to see the space. I was amazed by it. Thought it was a great location. thought it was a great concept and and basically started working on it together you know it was we didn't really have a membership team it was really him and i in a small little office calling our friends and them asking us why they why they're giving us money and this kind of thing so it was it was a really interesting process to start but yeah that's that's kind of how it happened and uh again say relatively the same time where we were had to open and coping was hitting so it was kind of another rough patch of time to be opening something especially this this much of a large venue on top of the fact that our our landlord started rent no matter what so we kind of had to figure it out um on the swing of things but yeah that's how it kind of started and and and we were kind of first to market in new york besides obviously so house and and and things grew very very fast very quickly and really just complemented everything that also kobe and i were working on because anything that we were doing we would compliment zero bond but it was zero bombs wouldn't compliment us and and it just kind of all played off each other so it's a really good time to see both businesses on both sides growing much quicker than we really thought it could actually happen so it was it was pretty special to see yeah and not to like harp on covid as hopefully we're moving far far away from it but you mentioned that um well that kobe did some things for Lola's that made it survive.

36:18Will Makris:And, you know, you just mentioned zero bond. What were some of those things? How did you guys, you know, get through it all? Cause it was not an easy time, especially for restaurants was, you know, as everyone knows, one of the hardest hit. So I was under the impression when COVID, I was like, we're done. It's over. That was fun. You know, I thank you for the opportunity. And Kobe looked at me and he's like, no, we're going to figure this out. We're going to figure this out. So basically he came up with this idea of what we're going to do takeout food we had the park across the street of lola taverno and he said what we're going to do is we're going to we're going to you're going to be able to come you're going to be able to order you're going to be able to get takeout and we're going to you're going to be able to rent some of our chairs for two dollars and we're going to give the two dollars to the first responders and you can eat in the park and this idea became so big so fast that there were days i mean i think we had a swat team come one day right kobe and shut us down right

37:16Cobi Levy:every every government agency tried to shut it down for though they could never figure out what

37:21Will Makris:we were exactly doing wrong yeah we we had we had 400 people in the park i think one day um coming to order they'd order food at lola go grab some chairs and a table sit in the park and eat and and we kind of created something that was did not exist in new york at the time and and and people were flocking from uptown downtown brooklyn everywhere because it was really really you got to see your friends you got out of your house and and it really really sparked the interest in the restaurant as a whole and the food was excellent so it kind of just pushed us right through that and then when we got to open it 25 percent then 50 percent and then we got to open our outdoors and we built this beautiful deck i mean there were there were times where we had three or four thousand people on the wait list on a friday and saturday night to get tables for for a small little restaurant on the corner of you know Princeton 6th so getting getting Kobe coming through and propelling the business through all of that and me thinking it was out of his mind and then watching the process happen was was was pretty cool to see and that still really propels the business to this point because it got so well known it became probably at that time the most popular restaurant in the city I don't think I'm exaggerating in saying that everyone was coming and really push the brand and push that space and then also allowed us and got us enough attention where we were like, wait, we can expand on this.

38:43Will Makris:We can move forward even further. Toby, anything to add? Yeah. Yeah, look, I mean, I was sitting in a house

38:53Cobi Levy:I'd rented inside Harbor thinking about what we needed to do and I'd written a manifesto. um i was uh i was listening to bob dylan's shelter from the storm on repeat thinking about how and all of this negativity restaurants were that shelter and that we needed to bring people some happiness because all you heard at that time was just like it's just like unprecedented death uh everything was negative right and you could only hear more people you don't hear so many people talk about watching tiger king so you know uh it was it seemed obvious to me i was like people are going to want especially young people are going to want to go out again and they're going to want to go out they're going to want to enjoy themselves they're going to need a beacon of some hope and just a place to say fuck it like i just want to get a couple hours away from hearing how terrible the world is and who died today and that was kind of our guide and like we we pushed you know we we're constantly pushing the envelope.

39:56My belief is, if you're waiting for the government

40:00Cobi Levy:to save you, you might as well just lay down and die now. And you got to go save yourself. And we pushed. And we faced every pushback from some people. But as I think Will said, a lot of people really embraced what we were doing. There were some real haters around, and every government agency was up our ass at all times but at the end of the day it was worth it yeah and you know i used to remember reading all these like articles and she was like these woe is me like articles about how terrible everything was and once you have a time with that went from uh from prune or that piece and i was like like stop fucking crying like you know if you're asking go fight yeah i you never made it this business because things were easy and i don't know when people lost that fight because this is not a this is not a this is not a business for you know for the tenant like you know especially a chef who busted their ass in kitchens for that many years like tough so like why was this any different get up get to it yeah amazing and and do you think i

41:10Will Makris:I mean, I feel like restaurants and hospitality, everything is having a renaissance again, you know, and just in terms of like that exact desire of people wanting to get out, wanting to be with others, not, you know, having that freedom taken away. Do you guys see that now? I mean, obviously you all are growing with, you know, who's coming to your restaurants.

41:31Cobi Levy:You're going to see a map, like the changes. This is just continuation. There is like food as a commodity. Like I need to eat. that will be you know that there's that side of the market and then there is food or sorry i shouldn't say there's dining as entertainment and dining as entertainment is more important now than ever and we're amongst the leaders that are pushing that and you see it from in it and it's it's not just one and when i say entertainment that doesn't need to be like nightclub restaurant right it's not just like cow it's like you know it's there's entertainment of all kinds right people as brilliant as chefs as mario and rich are like you're not just going to carbone to eat a veal parm right there's a magic that they've woven that makes you want to go there right and that's the biggest thing you can buy veal parm just about anywhere you want in the city and these guys really, I mean, that scene of dining as entertainment is what is taking off and pushing.

42:39Cobi Levy:And then it's going to come from New York. And that's why all these brands proliferate from New York. Right. We see major patched out all these groups that are growing and growing, you know, growing and growing where they come from. They started right here and, and all kind of making, you know these nights that are for i think we take for granted as to how special it is to be out in new york sometimes you know the people you see you know whether it's you know the most powerful people the best looking people you know the best chefs the best like it's all right here and so when you can when you can really make it here you can make it anywhere right so that's and i think it comes right but there is a it does feel like there is a nerve to the city right now again.

43:27Yeah, I totally agree.

43:29Will Makris:Was there one night that you guys remember as like, I mean, I don't even know if you can pinpoint one night, but like, you know, that was one night.

43:37Cobi Levy:Will's life is a movie, you're asking the wrong person.

43:42Will Makris:Is there one night that like you, you know, of your, you know, best nightlife experience or best, you know, best night out in New York? I've had a lot. You know, there are certain nights I can't really pinpoint one offhand right now. There's just been certain nights where you're like, how the heck did we get this person and that person, all these people together? And I didn't even know half of them were in the city or I didn't even invite some of these people. And you look around the room and you just can't believe that, you know, these kind of things happen. And then there's other times where you work your ass off to get those things.

44:19Will Makris:And then it comes together and you're like, OK, this all paid off. That was really worth it. Let's see how we can improve it and do it again. And I'm fortunate enough to be involved in something that a friend of mine does in the Hamptons every year. And I helped start it with them. And watching that progress into like a worldwide phenomenon and having a crazy press and something I've never seen before in the history of any party at all happened and get that much attention. It's pretty cool to see. So I've definitely had some moments where I was like, this is pretty special of the who's who's and getting all these people in one room in one place.

44:56Will Makris:And I think that's something that we've been really focused on doing. I do it at Zero Bond. I do it with Kobe. We kind of just bring worlds together that you just don't expect. You know, if Meek Mill's sitting next to Barry Stern, look, it's pretty cool in the restaurant. You know, if the chain smokers are there and some VC fun guy who just sold his business for$3 billion and a table of models is there, it's kind of, it's a big mix. So, and we all have these weird networks that all kind of come together in our places. So it's, it's pretty special to do that stuff. So, and it happens pretty often now.

45:27Will Makris:So we kind of look around the room sometimes and laugh and, or, you know, in awe of like how things come together.

45:35Cobi Levy:Certainly during COVID, there were some of those nights where it just, you know, you you look around and like, because I think the, the dichotomy of worlds of seeing, you know, being in the middle of a universe that was in shutdown and then being able to create this like little bubble of insanity. Made you feel like, wow, we, we really could do this. Yeah.

46:03Will Makris:Where do you see Prince street headed? Like, what do you hope this company becomes or evolves to? I think to Will's point earlier, like, you know, we're navigating growth intelligently by, you know, being thoughtful about the deals that we take next.

46:24Cobi Levy:And certainly LA is going to be a big step for us. But we do see this, you know, LA and New York didn't quite, you know, I think in the last 10 years. certainly the connectivity has gotten more and more and so it's gotten stronger so it doesn't seem like a giant leap a lot of our friends are there a lot of our friends have already gone there and done very well with their businesses so that will be a big move for us uh in establishing something on the west coast we'll be able to we'll know then if we have what it takes to to grow this thing into an international brand. Yeah.

47:03Will Makris:Do you ever see yourself in smaller markets too?

47:06Cobi Levy:Yeah, for sure. I would say we're in smaller markets. It's either someone paid really well or we failed and we can't make it in LA anymore so now we're in Fresno. But it depends on how small you mean.

47:18Will Makris:Yeah. Will's going. There's definitely some cities that I think that we'd want to expand in that we've been offered already quite a few times. We just are a little hesitant. We want to test the market. I think LA is a big step for us, especially given the times, because LA, I don't think, is fully still recovered from COVID times. I think they're still in a little transition period, so I think it's not going to be easy. I don't think it's just going to be handed to us. So nothing's been handed to us since we started and started the company and became partners, so why would they start being easy now?

47:53Will Makris:So that part is really going to test us. And then, yeah, it looks like to Kobe's point, if you're going into these smaller markets, they're putting up all the money and they're paying you to be there. So, you know, we're happy to do that. But the ones we really want to expand to the cities that we want to challenge ourselves in and really test the waters and see how big this can be and how far we can go with it. Yeah. And is it to that point, like, is it the place that speaks to you or is it that, you know, the part, you know, how do you figure out which are the right projects and which aren't?

48:26Cobi Levy:Right now, we're in a place where our brands are like, we're not Nobu. So Nobu can open anywhere. They've just got that brand power. The first question for us is when we looked at LA, I was like, Will, do you want to spend time in LA? Because both of us have to get our asses out to LA. So I think that's the first criteria for anything is our personal life choices. It's like, what do we want to do? because we're not in a place yet where you can just say, I'm opening Cipriani on Mars and somehow Martians will figure it out. We actually need to go and do it.

49:05Will Makris:Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. I feel like right now, especially in our business, it's really centered on Kobe and myself being there and showing our faces and people seeing us. So unfortunately, they haven't figured out how to clone us yet. and we've tried to find junior versions of ourselves. It's been pretty tough finding. So until those things happen, we have to be, I feel a need that I have to be there. He feels a need where he has to be there. So again, that goes also to the point where we don't want to expand too fast. But I do think there will be a point where things will kind of run on their own and we will have guys in place that we do have great staff and good people that work with us, but it's just, you know, we don't want to spend our entire lives on airplanes.

49:52Will Makris:So we're trying to kind of balance those things as a whole and take time and be at the places we can be. What do you guys love most about what you do? What part of the process? I think mine will be much different than Kobe's. Kobe is partially insane. He will sit in front of a computer and go through 400 fabrics at midnight to find the right fabric for a chair. It might even be one chair. He might not even do all the chairs that way. It just might be one chair that he likes. And that'll be a special chair. But he does things like this where I have no patience for that. I don't have time. He loves the intricacies of the small little details and things.

50:39Will Makris:I look at a room and I'm like, great, this looks awesome. Maybe change that. i'm good uh where he'll be like you know you know this isn't flowing right or this you know he's much more particular so i think he's very good at the design and working with our designers and the process of doing that stuff um i really enjoy the part where when we open and i get to really like push everybody to get there and show off what we got and and and and really put on the song and dance and and continue to to show that we can do this and we can come up with new concepts we can open new restaurants we can do things and and they're all going to be successful at least we hope so um i think i think kobe enjoys that too but i think you were and kobe speak for yourself but i think you you you love this stuff i mean you love the process of finding these things

51:28Cobi Levy:yeah look i think every time we get a chance to uh you know we get a chance to create to create and and it's and it's evolving right like and we're we did a wonderful event last night which gave us yet another opportunity to create within the, you know, within the context of that evening. So I got to make these like, you know, we have to work with our good artist friend of ours and make a really cool menu on a mirror that like, you know, I had just, I, you know, I look at my plate here that I have from Guy Savoy from last year's visit. I am constantly inspired by what I see by those around us.

52:06Cobi Levy:And I feel like we have this great opportunity and Will's really helped. Will has provided this opportunity to go and like, you know, he drives me to, he pushes me to see how far we can take this. Right. Because when you can literally get anyone to come, and those people have a choice to go anywhere in the world, you have to bring it and so and i don't i don't really care if those people see the details or not like i i know that they're there whether it's good or bad so um i'll see the scratch on the floor or the the nick on the plate and i know it's there so it's got to get fixed but i also when when it comes together in the ways that it's seemingly coming together well for us now it feels fantastic and it is truly i think the best part most rewarding part of what we do is not when our friends tell us how good things are but when you meet someone who doesn't know you and tells you how great an experience they had your restaurant right or you're over here someone like you're literally walking around and you'd be anywhere in the world so it's like oh you know there's this restaurant i went to at the best time there yeah cool great yeah when i always

53:20Will Makris:I interviewed Ian Schrager once and he said, you never know which detail is the one that matters, which I always like keep in mind. So I don't know if that's something for you too, like just like finding all the right details that like kind of seemingly, you know, mix together in the right way. You know,

53:40Cobi Levy:there's a, there's a quote that his old partner had about, you know, that a great, that they said when they were doing Studio 54, their great party was like causing nostalgia a little bit everybody everything to like make it perfect and it's something that we reference a lot and so yeah i think there's this idea that especially in new york these special nights you bring a little bit everyone together you look around the room you're like all right pretty cool yeah all right so we always end the podcast with

54:10Will Makris:the question that is the podcast so what has been or is your greatest lesson learned along the way will i'll let you go first i think one thing is um know yourself um and and who you are and be confident in yourself but also know your your limits and know what you're good at know what you're bad at i think it really and i keep harping on this a lot but it's really it's really true no know what you can do and know what you can't do know when it's time to have somebody else come into your life and help you do this stuff like kobe is to me and and and the people that were around. It's a big part of it.

54:46Will Makris:I think some people try to take too many things on themselves and think they can do everything and make some, some probably can. There are people that can do everything. I, I, I know what I'm, I'm good at knowing who I am and that takes years of learning and knowing what I can do, what I can't do is a big part of, of growing a business as a whole and anything I'm doing. So I think, I think that's, that's probably the number one key for me. Awesome. Kobe?

55:16Cobi Levy:Mine is very much about humility and hunger. I think you have to any business, you have to constantly be vigilant and be hungry. I think one thing that New York certainly teaches you, what I learned from Charles especially, was there was a moment in Charles when we were the hottest restaurant in New York. You start to believe eat your own bullshit, drink your own Kool-Aid, you really think that like these days will never end. And then they end. And suddenly you're like, oh, wow. And New York has that way of doing it to you. So there's a part of me that is, I tend to, I think that I'm sort of driven by, I'm driven sort of like half the time by this belief that I'm the greatest man alive.

56:04Cobi Levy:And half the time I'm in total abject fear of the fact that like I'm not nearly as good as I think I am. I think that you kind of need to have that push and pull at times where you're like, drive to push forward, confident that you could get there, but also remembering that, you know, there's a lot of great people out there and, you know, you're only as good as you're the last hit and you guys got to keep, you got to keep going. And I have a good list of failures to remind me of that all the time.

56:30Will Makris:Yeah. Well, you learn more from your failures than your successes, right?

56:35Cobi Levy:You should be learning from everything you do one way. you don't need to fail to learn you can certainly but you do have to be you have to be present and you have to be thoughtful on a daily basis about constantly looking at yourself and your team and what you can do better and we are certainly blessed to be in a place now where we have we have a great team we're around great people and every day feels like it's exciting and we're and we are moving forward.

57:09Will Makris:Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you both for spending the last hour with me. Really appreciate it. Love learning your stories and can't wait to see the next opening.

57:20Cobi Levy:Thanks so much. Appreciate it, Stacey. Thank you for having us.

57:29Will Makris:Thanks for listening to Hospitality Designs, What I've Learned. If you like what you've heard, subscribe and review us on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find full episodes and transcripts at hospitalitydesign.com.