The Foodfluencers: Gato Dates Went From Shabbat Dinner to Erewhon

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1:24They're a regular. Built Hospitality is available now for restaurant groups everywhere. Learn more at BuiltDining.com backslash hangout. That's BuiltDining.com backslash hangout. And check out what Built Hospitality is going to do for you and your restaurant. They basically use any excuse available to me to ask Gabby to make more. Birthday, every time she's coming over to my house, I'm like, could I get some dates? This is 2021. Didn't launch until 2024. So for three years, you just keep on asking Gabby to give you more dates? I told her that she should launch the product because that way I can pay for the product, which makes me feel a bit better about the whole situation.

2:06Live from Pepsi Studios in New York City, it's the Hospitality Hangout Podcast with the restaurant guy and the finance guy. And we've got a great Food Fluencers series continuing the road to what is influencing everything we eat and drink and do in the world. Jimbo, welcome to the show. We got a great show, Jimmy. I gotta say, I couldn't be more excited. We do it. This is how you kick off a week with a show like this. I have the privilege of welcoming you all more formally at a hospitality hangout. I'm Jimmy Frischling. I'm a branded finance guy, alongside my brother from another mother, Mr. Michael Schatzberg, a.k.a.

2:45Schatzie, a.k.a. the restaurant guy. And today we're continuing our Food Flenser miniseries, the CPG edition. Schatzie, for all you playing at home, that's consumer packaged goods. I love it, sir. I love when you explain to our audience what CPG is. I don't like seeing acronyms used so freely without an explanation or a definition. Getting back to our show, we are spotlighting the brands that are influencing what we eat not just how we discover it. We have two fascinating... We have a duo today. We don't always get... We don't always get the duo. We get co-founders. One is from McKinsey. McKinsey trained strategist.

3:23I think she's from Rome. Well, he's been London. She has worked at McKinsey. She also holds a helicopter license. You have to, Jimmy, to work at McKinsey. You never know. That's a requirement. You never know when it's coming to like, hey, can anyone fly this helicopter? It's like, yes, yes, she can. You know what it's important? The other one, some La Cordon Bleu, and started a music label at age 18. How about them apples? You like apples, Shatzy? Wait, where did she start? So we had, you know, she went to Cordon Bleu. One went to McKinsey. Right. One has a helicopter license. One started a music label at age 18.

3:57And somehow, at a Shabbat dinner, they were brought together and changed everything. At a Shabbat dinner? At a Shabbat dinner. Do you make that shit up, Jimmy? You know what? If I could, you wouldn't believe it. I have no notes. I have nothing. All I have is Tanya was born in Rome and Gabby grew up in the UK. And I'm telling you, it all came. I think I'm missing a page. It all came down. Why don't you flip it over? You know, guys, I don't like two-sided printing, guys. Okay, well, anyway, somehow this dinner brought them together, and as a result, we're going to have a magic and fun conversation.

4:29Well, Jim, I got to tell you one other thing, okay? Because everything is better with Pepsi. You know that. I know that. Go to Pepsi.com and check it out because I got to tell you, When I eat my gato dates, do you know what I wash it down with? Pepsi. Damn right. Damn right. Because everything is better with Pepsi. I like to kind of like go into how do you get here? How do you become the leader in consumer package dates? They're all over the place. Premium. Premium. Premium. And I went somewhere, and I got to tell you, these dates, everything is now like, they're like, like the dried fruits, all this kind of stuff.

5:02It's like hot again. Like, I feel like my grandmother liked this stuff. Like she liked like dried prunes and dried apricots. Right. And like, I would go to my grandma's house and like, all we wanted was a snack. And she had like a tray of like, so a dried apricots and dry bears. So Abuelo Schatzberg, Abuelo Schatzberg was a, was a really, she was an influencer. It was Rose Scheidelman, Jimmy Rose Scheidelman. You went to Rose's house and grandma Rose, may she rest in peace. That's what you got until dinner. It was like, it was apricots and like, and like prunes and like a beautiful tray. And who wanted to eat that?

5:40What kid would want to eat that? This guy. Yeah, exactly. She's like, I'm so hungry. But I got to tell you, it's like they're hot again. So look, Tanya was born in Rome, lived in Italy, raised all over London, Moscow. She's half Russian, half Ukrainian, half Italian, another half English. A lot of halves. Jimmy, is that too many halves? It's a lot of halves. It's a lot of halves. Moved to the U.S., you know, and anyway, and I don't know, something happened. Went to McKinsey. Something happened and changed life. Well, I went to Penn. Met her husband there. At Penn? I believe, yes. Met her husband there.

6:15Connected with mentors. Found every professional thread. Okay, it was unbelievable. There was a lot of stuff going on. And then Gabby grows up in the U.K., moved to L.A. at 18. So she's British. She's got a great accent. I mean, we got to get Gabby in here and talk. You know what I mean? Should we get them both in here? let's get all right let's get them both in well we'll we'll talk about it ladies and gentlemen here we go we've got gabriella lobby and i'm gonna butcher this name it's tanya resnick kovic i'm just going with tanya and gabby labby welcome to the show let's get into it and let's talk about how did we get into the date business um honestly it was a complete accident everything about it was an accident um i was living in la uh working in entertainment tech um never had any dreams of being a founder never needed to scratch that itch that wasn't something that was on my bucket list um and i tried gabby's dates at one of her shabbat dinners and absolutely gabby was making the dates so i'm talking to you i'm even talking to tanya let's bring in gab let's bring The LeCordon Bleu graduate was making the dates.

7:28Yes, the chef was making the dates. Wait, Gabby, you grew up in the UK? Yes. Grew up in London, born in California, but grew up in London. There's that accent. There's what I wanted to hear. Born in California. Born in California. That's what we were looking for. It's almost gone, but she still has. It moved to LA. No, no, I'm holding on to it for dear life. And then I ended up going to culinary school back in 2020. So you want to be a chef? You went to Cordon Bleu? Not on the premise of being a chef, really on the premise of wanting to open up a wellness space in London that had really a 360 approach to wellness and different modalities.

8:05So I wanted it to have a healthy cafe. I wanted it to have a movement space. I went to school to get certified as a Pilates instructor. I went to school for nutrition and gastronomy and food trends at the Cordon Bleu. And then I got certified as a health coach, really because I wanted to open up a space in London that didn't really exist at the time. And I came to L.A. to do market research for that said space because they exist out here. And I met my ex and I ended up staying and he was pretty observant. So we started doing Shabbat dinners on a regular. He gets way too much airtime. let's not talk about him.

8:48Yeah, he gets way too much air time. Oh, really? He's now a very big influencer on Instagram for doing recipes. Like how tall is he? In the food space. No, in the food space. He was always an amazing chef when we dated and I used to record him cooking. Oh, so let's not talk about him. Yeah, we don't want to give him. Enough with this guy. He's got enough followers. So Gabby, so you moved to LA and you wanted to be in the, but I thought you wanted to be in the movie business. When I was 18. and Tanya comes and she's got to be in the movie business we actually had a stint so where's the meet cute let me hear the meet cute we had a stint together let's let Tanya tell the meet cute because I understand that they both end up at a Shabbat dinner Gabby sorry Gabriela brings wait is this one of those times when you're going to ask them to tell a story but you tell them I like his rendition of it though they're at a dinner Shabbat dinner Gabriela brings a delicious I'm hosting it I'm hosting it You're hosting, you serve this dessert Tanya, take it away So let me give a little precursor to that Shabbat dinner Gabby and I We have been running In adjacent circles our entire lives So this was honestly Meant to be and it just took a while For the stars to align So I grew up in London, Gabby grew up in London We both spend time in Sardinia In the summers We have so many mutual friends.

10:17Smell me, Lani. I knew. She had to drop that one in there, Jimmy. We've spent our summers in Sardinia. We Sardinia-ed in the summer. You know how often your accent works? My accent's pretty good. Never works. Never works. Tanya continues. And actually, fun fact, Gabby's sister was married to a Russian who was best friends with my ex, so I knew Gabby's family before I even met her. But anyway, fast forward to 2021. We meet in L.A. We instantly like each other. And there's something about our relationship that makes us think that we could work together and really work in a professional setting. So actually, our first project, we dabbled in the entertainment space.

11:00We optioned a book. We found an amazing showrunner in South Africa. We were going to launch this TV project. But but then we got into dates. And the way that happened was at a Shabbat dinner, which I was invited to. We were just having Shabbat dinners, inviting friends and family. And my ex was very good at cooking. So he would sort of tackle dinner and then I would tackle dessert. And the dessert became the gato date. Okay. And I remember that moment. Did Gabriela invite you directly or use someone's plus one? Oh, no, no. I was the main occasion. I wasn't. My husband was the plus one. Got it.

11:38Your husband was the plus one. You were the main. You were the featured guest. And I still remember her opening the freezer and pulling out a Tupperware with these dates inside the Tupperware. And I'm not someone who goes for healthy dessert and she pitches me this dessert, which is like paleo and kosher and all the things. And I'm like, okay. So I try it. And then I was just like, what is this sorcery? You're at Shabbat dinner. And now you're in the kitchen with Gabby. It's a sneak preview. and stuff why weren't you sitting at the table what's going on i don't understand why were you in the kitchen it's not passover the kitchen is where it happens it's a dinner party yeah exactly it was we were a lot more just like fluid why is she in the kitchen it's casual i got a sneak preview of the dessert you know i needed it so she takes it out and you guys have space to save but you were friends already or you hadn't met yet friends already you're friends already so now you're okay so now you're like oh i can't stand the table i'm next to this guy bob he's so annoying and you went into the kitchen to complain about the guy you were sitting next to Shabbat dinner and now she opens up the freezer and pulls this out you're like oh my god this guy's so annoying how can I get away from him I can't believe you invited him to Shabbat dinner and then you bring the dates out yeah and the dates come out and then I try one with pretty low expectations not because I have any doubt in Gabby's culinary abilities but because I'm like a triple chocolate cake type of dessert person once in a blue moon and i try this date and and then i think i have like five more immediately now but they're in the freezer yeah how come well we we recommend that they're kept in the fridge or freezer they're best enjoyed cold we use uh you know organic no you know other than nut butter fresh medjool dates they're not actually dried medjool dates They're fresh.

13:32We use a high moisture content medjool date. So all of that is best when it's stored in the fridge or freezer so that it doesn't dry out. So I'm just stuffing my face in the kitchen. So you eat the date and then you have five more of these dates. Yep. And then what happens? And then I basically use any excuse available to me to ask Gabby to make more. Every Shabbat dinner, I'm like, oh, can I get an extra batch? every birthday, every time she's coming over to my house. I'm like, could I get some dates? How long has this gone for? Years. This is 2021. So wait a minute. We didn't launch until 2024.

14:09So for three years, you just keep on asking Gabby to give you more dates? And then I run out of favors because at some point it just becomes untenable to make another request. So that's when I suggest that Gabby launches. That's when I tell her that she should launch this as a product because that way I can pay for the product, which makes me feel a bit better about the whole situation. Wait, so those three years, tell me what was going on. Were you, Gabby, you were still trying the acting thing? No, I have a private Pilates studio at the time. So I was building out that business. Oh, so you were doing the whole Pilates thing.

14:45I was doing the whole health and wellness thing, Pilates focused. Okay, okay, I got it. And then Tanya, you were kind of like doing your McKinsey thing? So at that point in time, I was working at a startup that it was a company founded by my ex-professor. I'm sorry I asked the question. Nobody cares. We don't care about the company. So two years. So it took three years. And then what happened? So tell me what happened. Where is the aha moment that you're like, Gabby, we have to make money doing this? Well, it was an email that Tonya sent me. She sent me an email December of 2023. She was asking for more dates and you're like, listen, enough of the free dates.

15:27Basically, she wrote me a business plan Q1 to Q4 2024. This is how we're taking the dates to market. This is what we're going to do. Yeah. And did you have a name yet for them? No name at the time. She was pushing for my middle name, which was Fortunata, which is Fortunata. And then we were sort of playing around with different names and things like that. And we ended up with Gato, which is Gabriella Tanya. It's my two first, you know, letters from my name and the first two letters from her name combined. It's not cat and around. What's cat in Spanish? Isn't that gato? It's gato, yes. That's what I used to think.

16:05That's not what we were aiming for, but it's fine. You know, feline energy is female inherently. So we're okay with that. I like that. I like that. Gato, cake and French, gato, indulgent dessert. Gato. That's the vibe. All right. So now you send the business plan over and Gabby, what do you say? I said, are we seriously going to become partners on dates? That was my exact email response to her. And then we were both, you know, taking a holiday. It was December time. So we were away for the holidays and we launched literally a month after we got back in farmers markets in L.A. Really? Yeah. So you just made them and you brought them to the farmers market?

16:48I want to dive into the business. yes um tanya the business architecture here because as a finance person finance guy branded your path to market i find to be incredibly interesting so you went to mckenzie you spent some time at mckenzie you're the strategy operations and finance person of the gato team your entire marketing budget of 2025 jats we talked about whether the number zero is in fact a number i think you initially said zero is not a number now you agree why would you ever listen to me. So zero is a number. You spend zero. Not a little bit on marketing. We underinvested in marketing.

17:25We're talking zero. You replaced it with collaborations. You replaced paid reach with the community. You launched at farmer's markets. That means you're getting up at 6 a.m. on Sundays. You're standing behind a table, just like you always dreamed about at McKinsey. And you're talking to strangers about dates. So for someone with your background, What did they teach you about building a brand no spreadsheet could ever have predicted or taught you about? I will say that when we went on this full time, it was really hard for me for a couple of months to answer people's question, what do you do? I make dates after the whole pedigree that you just cited, but now there's nothing I'd rather be doing, so whatever.

18:13You've got to lie when people ask what you do. Always lie. Just say you're an astronaut and move on. It's not good for brand awareness. We're building a brand. We have to tell everyone. We have to shout out for the root cause. You're going to go answer someone. What do you do? I sell dates. 100%. There's a whole other can of worms. I'm an astronaut. I'm going to space. What do you do? No one has ever been more interested to ask follow-up questions than now. Because when I used to say I work at McKinsey or I work in AI, people's eyes sort of glazed over. And that was the last question I was asked about what I do.

18:44And now it's like, oh, dates? Like, tell me more. So I think that what McKinsey taught me was definitely just diving in the deep end, problem solving, not knowing anything about the industry and figuring it out. But what was really instrumental was my previous experience at a startup, which was in AI, in software, completely different. But what I learned was even the people who are my role models, who I look up to, have no idea what they're doing when it comes to launching a business. And all you have to do is be smart, but also be ready to pivot and iterate and change the strategy very quickly and read early signals.

19:24So you don't keep going down a path for too long that doesn't necessarily serve you. And I think that's what we do every day. Every day we're like, wait, is this working? Should we change things up? Should we try something new? So, yeah. So you're two years into it now, right? Two? No? Two, 24? Half to two. So 2024 was like our year zero. Where are you selling them? I mean, I found them down at, where was I, Drew? what was the place the shelf the shelf i was at the shelf and i immediately was drawn to it but i will tell you i gotta tell you like my kids are buying dates like crazy and i gotta ask you something about these dates because what is a what med the medjool medjool date from morocco originally from morocco and now california is the second largest producer of medjool dates in the world behind jordan yeah somebody just took a date from uh morocco planted it in california and now you got the dates over there so is that like is there are there any other kind of dates or that's the date like that i know there's so many varieties there's deglet but that's the one i see all over the place because they're they're much they're a different flavor profile so they have a real caramel like sweetness to them they're much larger so if you're trying to stuff any date with anything inside of it the medjool date is what you're going to opt for um they're definitely more expensive and more premium so um they're sort of you know highlighted but dates have been around since the beginning of time yeah like right like a moses i remember because the ten commandments was just dodging and in one of the scenes moses sitting up just eating dates like they like the candies just throwing dates down like everyone likes dates they've been around my grandma was eating dates My mom was eating dates.

21:01Everyone's eating dates. What are you doing differently that's changing dates that my kids are now eating dates? Well, I think we're really lucky to sort of be creating a business around a time where all of a sudden the Western world is excited about this very natural sweetener that doesn't spike your blood sugar levels, is low glycemic, is inherently a superfood, has all of these nutritional benefits. Wait, why is it a superfood? What's super? because it's filled with fiber it's low glycemic doesn't spike your blood sugar it is the natural alternative to all of these sweeteners out there and now that people are more educated about health and wellness and what they're putting in their body people understand that this is something that they can still enjoy that still tastes really really delicious and good and i think for so long we had so many health products on the market that tasted like and now there's something that they can use which is dates in all of these different products as a sweetener or as the product itself that actually tastes delicious and you don't feel like you're having to compromise and how many how many dates how many date combinations do you have we have four flavors four flavors right now peanut butter yep almond butter cashew butter and walnut and then pistachio butter we are relaunching they're all in chocolate they're all dipped in chocolate yeah and they're stuffed with almond butter peanut butter pistachio butter cashew butter and walnut and then we all that stuff is it still good for me oh yeah yeah nut butters uh uh you know nut butters i always tell like when i was working with pilates clients nut butters are great in small quantities and the amount that exists within a gatto date is the perfect size is the perfect amount you don't want to ever overdo it because you know they have a high calorie count but within a gatto date we've We've portioned it out perfectly for you to enjoy that snack and treat and not feel guilty about it.

23:00I don't feel guilty. Exactly. And it's organic and delicious. And where can I buy them? How many stores are you in now? I want to say over 300 now. We're launching in some major grocery stores. Can you tell us where? Can you give us a breaking news? Yeah, we can give you breaking news. Really? We're going to be in Erewhon. Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is just coming in, Jimmy. We've got breaking news here. We've got Gabby Labby and Tanya from Gato Dates with breaking news, Jimmy. And it's live here on the show, Jimmy. Gabby, what can you tell us? We are launching in Erewhon in the next two weeks.

23:38Oh, look at you guys. How'd you get in there? Would you guys go with your dates in there? Who do you know? What do you know? The Kardashians? What'd you do? Hopefully they're eating our dates soon. um we we applied and they typically they emailed back with like an automated response system that's like 60 to 90 days we'll get back to you we have a lot of inbound they got back to me two days after they received samples so really very quickly they were very excited about the product and we're launching in two weeks yeah i feel like you have to send some to uh chris jenner i think yeah She really is the key.

24:16Can you hook it up, Shatsy? Yeah, I was about to say, Shatsy, do you, you, you say that like you know her and can get her dates? Oh, are you kidding me? There's no, there's no one we can't get to. Everyone's an email away. Everyone's an email away, right? It's on. That just seems like, right? Or, or maybe, um, uh, Justin Bieber. Yeah. Bethany Frankel's one over on your side of time. You know, yeah. And Bethany. Bethany, Haley. Those are the people that are like, they control the Irwan strength. Well, Bethany posted a reel about dates saying that they are not an alternative to a Snickers bar. She doesn't get it.

24:55She's not behind it, blah, blah, blah. And I commented and I had everyone sort of drop, like all of our customers dropped us a tag underneath. and the goal is to get Bethany Frankel, our peanut butter dates, to show her that not only are they as good as Snickers, they're better. So I say we get, now Jimmy's very good friends with Andy Cohen. Okay. Jimmy. Jimmy went to school with Andy Cohen. Jimmy. So he's very good. So I think we. Don't be so quiet over that. Jimmy, stop it. He actually, he's mixing up the, I did a, I did a, I hosted an interview with a discussion with Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper.

25:35Okay. Because I went to school with Anderson Cooper. We'll take either. And they're best friends, Jimmy. We'll take either. Yeah, they are best friends. We'll take either. Anyway, I think what we do is Jimmy will put together, you will send Jimmy a box of Gato, right? We will then send it to Andy. Jimmy will write a beautiful handwritten note. Yes. And we will get all the real housewives of Rhode Island, we will get the Atlanta and wherever and the New York all the housewives to get these Gato dates I love that idea and I feel like that's the ticket. Jimmy are you on board with this? I'm very well I'm any way I could help you're new friends we're on we're on the team this is what Jimmy does is what I do but hold on I want to ask Gabriela your entire strategy when you launch was collaborations yes and I want I want you to talk about that because I love if I understand it correctly you would find brands whose customers had the great potential to almost become like your own customers and cross-pollinate you did lto's that's limited time offer shazzy thank you jimmy because you you have a tendency not to let everyone know what these things are so talk about some of the collaborations and and maybe any of the ones that come to mind that you thought were particularly interesting yeah we spent last year like tanya said uh zero dollar spend on marketing.

26:58So for us as a smaller brand at the time, it was let's find other brands that are in the space whose customers care about eating something that is good for them, but is also really delicious. And how can we collaborate with those brands? Sometimes that looked like taking, you know, Seed and Mill, who are a New York based brand, they have tahini, we did a collaboration with them where we use their tahini for a brand new product that we put to market, which was our take on a Dubai chocolate bar, but with a tahini drizzle. We did a collab with Meet the Source. They have these bliss balls that are like cookie dough.

27:35So we stuffed our dates with those bliss balls. They have a huge following. They also started at the farmer's market. So there was a lot of synergy there. And they have a customer base that is a cult. So us being able to tap into their customer base, their audience, getting them to try not only that collaboration, but when they're on their website, they get intrigued with our products that Shatsy is very kindly showing. And they're ordering our products. And now all of a sudden, we've got brand new customers that are excited about what we're making. We did a collab with Coconut Cult, which I'm sure you guys know about.

28:12They have 8 ,500. That's Jimmy's favorite. He loves Coconut. what they've managed to achieve and their subscribers have to have a minimum of two jars of yogurt for every box that gets delivered every month they have 8 500 subscribers and people are paying 70 for two jars of yogurt those are the customer that's the audience that we want to tap so we did a lot of really cool collaborations and now we're at a point that we're a big enough brand that we can sort of collab with brands that are smaller and give them a bit of a platform. We collaborated with a brand that I found at the Brentwood Farmer's Market, which is a nut butter.

28:51And we dropped a banana bread date two weeks ago, sold out in 24 hours. We oversold because we had the wrong amounts on Shopify. So I had to go and refund different people who had ordered five plus pouches so everyone could get some and this guy just started they never refund you never jimmy what's business 101 you never refund you always find one so everyone can get one setting an honest honest standard yeah exactly it's important we've got a great community yes um so you know we do a lot of really cool collabs and we pop up at a lot of cool events and spaces we were just a food festival in LA that's hosted by um Jack's Dining Room he's a huge food influencer right so now I want to ask both you guys oh um I guess my the headline question is where does Gato you know go from here um when I look at the product I I can visualize it truly like I don't know everywhere like I can see it in airports I can see it in convenience stores and grab and go I can see it hotel mini bars.

30:00I can see sweet green, you know, having, I can see gifting. So you guys, I think are already have penetrated hotels. You've talked about a pop-up you shared. Now some groceries are coming. So you've talked about brick and mortar. All right. So now to you guys, what's next? Well, all of the above, as you said, but I, we, we have seen that sort of food service is becoming this like new trial engine for CPG. This is delicious. Because for so long, so much discovery happened in grocery aisles. And now we're seeing so much discovery happen at cafes, hotels, fast casual restaurants, mini bars. And it's just a much more emotional context for people to discover new products and build loyalty while they're traveling, while they're out to lunch.

30:49So we definitely want to be where people are. So yes, Sweetgreen is amazing. We want to be your local grocery store. But we also want to have those more elevated moments at a hotel mini bar when you're on vacation with your family and you get to try Gato. And then hopefully at some point we do our own brick and mortar, which has always kind of been the goal. And maybe that becomes the crown jewel of the date empire, like a beautiful jewel box type of store where you can go in and buy like a lingerie-esque box of gato so we have lots of plans well we have an idea that we're potentially launching in september after the new date harvest which is more aligned with the fact that we want to own the date this company is meant to be you know really owning it in all different channels whether that's a stuffed date whether that's our new nutella spread that has date flour in it um and the next sort of idea that we have is a plain date we have the best dates on the market they're the most moist they're the most juicy they aren't dried out we get the best dates from coachella valley and to have a plain date is a very different experience to having a finished product that's all ready to go as a treat you can put it in smoothies you can put it in yogurt bowls you can add it to baking you can do whatever you want with it so having a ingredient versus like a finished product is important to us i just can i can i uh i want to i want to uh step outside my lane as the finance guy jimmy every lane is your lane gabriella and tanya this is for you i don't think you should call them plain dates i think you should call them naked dates and that's my marketing gift to you guys naked dates love that or gato a little new date and there's your there's your not dipped in chocolate there's your plain dates yeah you guys are not plain this product's not plain naked naked or nude yeah i like nude too i mean i like take it in like well all right you know what nude sounds more premium but what else can we do we how many dates i get for that three huge medjool dates that are stuffed to the brim that are like you're right they were big from 30 to left yeah they're 30 to 60 percent bigger and heavier than the other date brands on the market i've weighed them we've got a new format that we're launching which is a single serve date that we're hoping is going to be sort of our grocery champion it It gives people a much, you know, for a price point sub$4, it gives people a real opportunity to sample and trial us without committing to something that's much bigger.

33:34So are you doing that? Are you going to, like, stores and, like, handing out samples? All the time. We demo all the time. So we're launching. Tanya and Gabby, how many people got working for you? Is it just the two of you running the whole show? Just the two of us. Wow. But, yeah. By the way, Chatsy, Gabriella and Tanya just created dates dipped in chocolate. Dayanu. But then they stuffed it with cashew peanut butter. Sorry, cashew butter and walnuts. That would have been enough. But you know what? Dayanu. Then they came up with... Jesus, Jimmy. Then they came up with... Not the camera, Dan. Then they came up with the pistachio butter.

34:09This just keeps getting better. Dayanu. It's like a gift and a gift and a gift. See what I did there? Bring old passers. I think we've got to take a break. Alright, so we've got to take a break. We've got to come back and we've got a whole big thing here. What do we got, Jimmy? We got Hot or Not. We got Sandwich Safari. We got Branded Quick Fire. We got a lot of stuff. So don't go ahead. Be right back. Got a lot more hospitality hangout. Food for answers to get to. Hey, everybody. I got to tell you. We're going to talk about Built. Built Hospitality. Millions of people use Built every day. That's right.

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36:15And we are back. Here we go. We're back. We got Gato. We got Gabby Labby. We got Tanya. And we are going to do a little Hot or Not. I don't know. Jimmy, how are we going to do this? We've got two people on Hot or Not. What do you think? I think you're going to pose the question. And Gabriela and Tanya will answer on behalf of Gato. Okay. And if they disagree, they disagree. Hot or Not. Are you ready? The question of hot or not, Shatio will pose a few questions to you, and you say whether it's hot or not. Oh, that's how I get the name, hot or not. There you go. Oh, Jimbo, this is easy. Dubai Chocolate.

36:48Is that hot or not? Dubai Chocolate. It's still hot, which is crazy because it's lasted so long. It's still hot. Will it ever end? Will pistachio prices ever come down? I don't know. You'll have to come back next week on the hospitality hangout to find out if it's still hot. protein everything Jimmy not not no fiber fiber we're all about fiber let's move on it is going to fiber you know why Jimmy you know what happened you thought the world was going to run out of oil we ran out of protein everyone that protein's gone there's none left that's straight or moots it's the protein that you can't get through there right now we're at the fiber.

37:33Influencers as a sales strategy. Is that hot or not? I think hot still. I think they can, you know, they're useful in moments. Not everyone is. Pop-up gourmet grocery stores like the shelf. Is that hot or not? These pop-up hot. Absolutely. Hot. They need so much product. So curated. Great for discovery. It's amazing. Tanya loves it. Gabby Labby loves it. It's hot. Gato approved. Gato approved. Pickle flavored everything. Is that odd or not? I do love a pickle. I love pickles, but I don't think they belong with everything. Pickle flavored dates. I like a pickle plain. Pickle. That's it. Don't put it in ice cream.

38:17Don't put it in a date. What about a pickle stuffed in a date? You know, I think it would be fun to do, but we're not selling it. We've put caviar in dates. Yeah, we did. You put caviar on dates. Yeah. That was fun. We'll check that out, Jimmy. We'll call that one the golden date. We did. Jimmy. Let Jimmy. We did that. We did that. Look at you. Going from online, direct to consumer, to brick and mortar. Is that hot or not? Hot. Hot. Hot. Expense. Very hot. So, Jimmy, we got basically all hot. Pickled everything. I mean, but what are you going to do? What do you want to opine on, Jimmy? Pick one.

38:54I think I want to pick. So I think I can have one stone hit two birds here. Was that two birds with four stones? One stone, two birds here, because the pop-up gourmet grocery stores like The Shell, which they both said, very hot. They went crazy, Jim. I've never heard them go crazy. And then they're going from online to brick and mortar. They're both enthusiastic and hot. And I think those are very highly correlated in that we are in a digital phase where we discover so much stuff online, but there's also a lot of noise online. And I think my sense is that there's something real about going into these pop-up grocery stores or you guys going from online to brick and mortar.

39:32But I don't want to lead you down the path of what I was thinking, but maybe you can share why those two things were hot and what you're thinking about in terms of the digital world versus in real life. Well, it's kind of twofold, right? Because customer acquisition cost online is so expensive. It's so hard and so expensive to find customers. And there's so much noise, as you said. and people are just craving experiences that are offline and meeting up in person and touching things and just like being out there in the world. And I think that's why when we throw community events, we have such an amazing turnout.

40:08Gabby organized this peanut butter walk when it was for the launch of our peanut butter date in the fall and we had an incredible turnout. People just wanted to come out and hang and meet each other and I think more of that. I think inherently it's about human connection. I think we have so little of it nowadays that any opportunity people can come and whether that's to a beautifully curated grocery store where they get to interact with other people and brands and products in real life or whether that's to events or whether that's to a future Gato cafe, it's really about being amongst other people and connection and um and having those experiences i like it but when i think about like whole foods and like trader joe's and some of these kind of hit markets like erwin like i i or one i think it's it's an experience right i mean people are going there because it's an experience there's you can get smoothies and get shakes you know you can taste things they they have salad bars they have all these different and i think that that's really i don't think that's ever gone away that's it's like the and i think that's a great example it's like it's like when people used to um everyone said like the the stores like um would go away when online you know online shopping and really it's just kind of another way of finding stuff right it's still people still love i mean you go to these apple stores they're still packed but you don't really need to go buy anything at apples you can buy everything online but they're still packed because people do like to go touch things and turn knobs right people like to go check out the cars like the car shows in new york right now jimmy right people go there and drove they love to go play around with the car push all the buttons and and check it out you know so people still like to go out and socialize and see what's doing man so my advice is we got to open up a gato store jimmy i like i just got to cafe gato cafe that's cool right hopefully we're gonna have a pop-up this year in new york so where are we doing in new york way we know a few things about coffee And we've got some coffee friends.

42:10You're getting involved. Great. You pair like a Gregory's coffee and the Gato dates. And talk about a collab. That's a great collab. Specialized coffee that pairs well with the Gato dates. Jimmy's just brokering connections right and left. There we go. Jimmy is, we like to call him, he's the puppet master is what he is. Jimmy is the puppet master pulling strings. He's got Anderson Cooper in one pocket. he's got Andy Cohn in another pocket he's got Bethany I think Bethany's doing some great things and actually in terms of collabs Bethany got involved with one of our one of our portfolio companies by the way she clearly loves things that are about the size of a date she loves Brooklyn dumplings she likes dumplings she likes food that is things that are stuffed what about a date dumpling so a stuffed dumpling and a stuffed date Bethany likes things that are like having interesting authentic brand i like it all right brandon quick i'm gonna ask a couple questions really quick just first thing that comes to your mind and we're gonna let each one opine jimmy is that fair i think that's fair all right here we go instagram or tiktok you can only pick one gabby lobby you got instagram tanya tanya said whoa look at these founders fighting already jimmy jimmy they're fighting not fighting it's healthy they're only two years in already fighting Healthy tension.

43:33Can't agree on one simple question. Yeah, I know. Instagram for me. What about when the big question comes? How much should we sell for? And they can't even agree on that, Jimmy. What are your Uber ratings, ladies? Do you want me to pull it up? Yeah, I think so. I'm a good girl. Our fan base doesn't take anyone. I'm a 487. I'm worried. Jimmy, you're killing me. I'm higher than Shatzi. Shatzi's yelling at drivers, telling them how to drive. Not yelling. Okay, I'm a 4.75. 4.77 I'm in their camp Jimmy They must yell at drivers too You're a 4.76 I'm a 4.76 I never yell I'm a 4.87 I'm standing tall I don't like to talk and I use it only for couriers He uses my Uber and he yells at the drivers We talked about collaborations Gabby Labby Dream collaboration Who should we target?

44:32Who should we have Jimmy go after? Gwyneth Paltrow Goop Kitchen. Got it. Well, I got to tell you, aren't you in Gwyneth land? Aren't you in Goop Kitchen land? We are. You're in Goop land. We are. We're in L.A. We've done a lot of different things with Goop. We've been on their Valentine's Day gift guide, their holiday gift guide. We're going to be on the Mother's Day gift guide. We're going to be sold in their stores. But we are. Gwyneth has a place here in this city. She eats at Elio's on the Upper East Side all the time. All right. Jimmy will stake himself out there. He will sit at the bar at Ilios with some Gato, and he will, when she comes in, he will do it every day.

45:08We're not going to stalk her. Jimmy, no pressure. You're going to stake out. Not stalking. It's not a stalk out. It's a stake out, Jimmy. It's a stake out. You're going to stake her out, and then you're going to show her. And I got to tell you, they're opening a goop kitchen on the Upper East Side, by the way. I had. Yeah, see? She had that, Jimmy. All right. Listen, Tanya, you have a helicopter license. You fly helicopters all over the globe. you're always flying around in helicopters. If you were to challenge Jimmy Rye to a game of cross-play, which I have absolutely no idea what it is, Jimmy, what is cross-play?

45:38Basically the New York Times version of Scrabble, which I'm addicted to. Why didn't they just say that? Probably, they probably get sued. Oh, cross-play. I don't know what the helicopter has to do with the cross-play. Why is it even in there? Because Tony is wicked smart. If you were to challenge Jimmy Rye, who would have better odds of beating in cross-play? between the two of you that who do i have a better better odds of beating and cross play between the two of you yes yes who could you beat i'm gonna venture a guess and say both of you oh what do you mean because you have a helicopter light you're such a good that's precisely why actually yes i by the way i i i guess i agree with tanya's statement but i'm gonna push the envelope beating me in a cross with balls with jimmy be the easiest thing to say who do you have an easier time beating so you're gonna beat us both but who do you have an easier time beating yeah because once the once the words get over three letters i like like bat fat cat sat like i'm great at those once you start putting like multiple values i have no idea yeah so you're not winning with those types of words so i'm gonna i'm gonna say the way i'm gonna pick you okay i agree and by the way the people magazine crush a puzzle i've always done well with that because that's like pop culture So I can do that.

46:51You know, it's got small words. Usually it's like people in movies. But crossword is different. That's when you need to have a lot of references. Scrabble is when you need to have a big vocabulary. Yeah, that's not me. References is good for me. That's the end of the branded quick fire, Jimmy. We got to get out of here, Jimmy, because I can go, you know me, I can go on and on and on, right? Yes, I do. Because that's where we're most happy. Well, I'm going to say to Gabriella, to Tanya, from a Shabbat dinner to dates to two women on opposite ends of the world. okay here we are coming together to create i believe a fantastic product a fantastic company and we can't wait to not only watch you guys are doing but but cheerleading support uh any way we can we love your story uh thrilled to have you on our food planter series and sharing some insights um so kudos to you i will say i find i find uh what do you find jimmy tell us i find you guys are genuine and authentic i think you care about the product you care about what you said that last week.

47:47No, I didn't. Yes, you did. You said that the Papa Bagelite. Jimmy, we're not special. Same thing. This is copy and paste. It did, Jimmy. You said exactly the same. Is that written down? It's like a strip. You're like Ron Burgundy right now. You're reading anything that's written down. Anyway, if you want to find Got2Dates, go to Got2Dates, G-A-T-O-D-A-T-E-S.com or wherever. Find specialty foods are sold. 300 stores now. Thousands. Thousands, I tell you, by the end of 2020. Thousands to come. Keep your eyes out on the hotel mini bars. and convenience stores. This is going to be a great story to watch.

48:20Thank you guys for joining us today. Shats, you want to close this out? Yeah, no, I really do think they're absolutely delicious. And honestly, it really is better than candy. It's better. Listen, moms out there, if you want an alternative for little Billy, let me tell you, you give little Billy one of these gatos. Don't tell him it's a date. You tell him it's a snicker bar. And I dare him to find that. You know what I'm saying, Jamie? I know what you're saying. You know what I'm saying, Jimmy? And what about this? What about this? What about date ice cream? Yeah. Chocolate. But we just take the whole Gato with the chocolate, smush it into some vanilla, like a mush it all around, chop up like Ben and Jerry.

49:02You know what I mean? He's got a shake. It was delicious. Talk about a collab, am I right? Auntie's. Yeah. That's a good one, right? Good collab. That's a great one. That's a good collab, you know? All right, listen. If you want to check out more about Gato and you want to see Tanya and Gabby in person, Check us out on YouTube at Hospitality Hangout, and you can check them out. And if you want to check out our newsletter, Hospitality Headline, you can check it out at HospitalityHeadline.com. It comes out every Saturday. And we would love you to go and eat some Gato. What are they? Dates, Jimmy?

49:33Gato Dates. At Gato. What is it? Gato.com? GatoDates.com. GatoDates.com. Cheers, everybody. Cheers, everyone. Thank you.