261. David Grutman: On Relationships, Miami Restaurants & Why Success Is the Hardest Part

21:56Gary Brecka:He loves his family. I'm getting goosebumps. I'm so happy he opens up and shares with others what he's learned on this incredible personal and professional journey. That was Tom Brady. So clearly it's a book worth reading. I've read it, but I want to talk about the impetus for the book because you have a course at FIU. I've been to some of your year-end wrap-ups where you bring the celebrities in and your hospitality course. Son and I, my daughter, have been to that several times. You've gone from, you know, building this hospitality group now to wanting to give away some of the secrets. I wanted a blueprint.

22:36I think the most important thing for people out there is there was nothing like this for myself when I was coming into the business. And I think it's so important to do it now, not after I retired and stuff like that. But if I can help share some of the issues I've had or challenges I've had and be able to share it today. because so many people are coming out of school and because of all the different platforms and ways for them to be entrepreneurial, I really love entrepreneurship. To me, that's - I do too. It's inspiring to me. And that's to be able to say, hey guys, these are the challenges I faced through starting my own business and growing my own business.

23:15Here they are. You want to build relationships? Get the book, follow the steps that I put into place. And some of them you could agree with and some of them you don't have to agree with but i'm giving you all the steps that i go through because i've broken it down for my college class you know when i said i want to teach about teach people how to have relationships to break it down in these kind of steps i feel is so important to life because it's not something that just comes natural you have to focus on people you can't just focus on the celebrity and not the other people at the table You can't just be in a room and say, oh, I'm networking.

23:54I'm networking. No, you're not. You're looking for authentic relationships out there. And when you're talking to somebody, don't be looking at the other people. Oh, who's bigger, better in the room? I hate that. And you could feel when someone's doing that to you. And being done to me, it's just I write those people off right away. But listen, it takes work to sit there and have to ask. But for me, I wanted to know everyone's story. So when I would go out to dinners with like a celebrity or a DJ or an artist, they always have some kind of entourage. But the entourage, I actually love to find out the stories of the entourage.

24:25I like to find out the stories of the manager, the publicist, the agents. I wanna know what drives them to be able to work with this person. How did they find the talent in this person to be able to grow their lives with that person?

24:39Gary Brecka:Hey guys, let me tell you about one of my favorite new hydration drinks. Now this is for distance athletes, hits cardio, exercisers, people that sweat a lot or exercise intensely. An A game is a hydration drink It has eight essential vitamins. It has all of the electrolytes, the entire suite of B vitamins. Before you freak out and read that it has 21 grams of sugar, which it does, the sugar is coming from natural cane sugar and honey, my preferred mechanisms for getting glucose into the blood during intense exercise. It also has natural flavors, but these natural flavors don't come from bacterial fermentation.

25:10Gary Brecka:They actually come from real citrus fruits, and the color is from vegetable juice, not artificial dyes. So next time you're looking for a great hydration drink and you're exercising intensely, A game is your choice. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human podcast. I think that can reframe the way a lot of entrepreneurs think about their employees. Yeah, of course. And think about their customers. They're my guests. Yeah, they're your guests. So, yeah. I like that. Not customers, but guests. But if you take it as a, listen, by taking it personal, that's another thing. Like, you come to my home, I'm going to treat you.

25:45it's like you're coming to my home you're my guest that's how i try to treat people yeah and that's where people that's why i think people resonate or why people want to do things with me because they think it's not just transactional i think if people think it's just transactional then it's then it's you've really done nothing for your life right i love that i've built relationships where people feel like there's a long game with me that it's not just a one show a one DJ gig, a one deal for marketing or whatever it is. Instead, I want to invest in your brand. I want to grow your brand.

26:20Gary Brecka:You've also morphed into a bit of a business tycoon. I mean, you've actually taken brands, some of which you brought to my table. We've co-invested in brands before. One of them just recently, 5X, so thank you very much for that. but you have a penchant for spotting trends as well. So you talk about, and you've already done it twice on this podcast, you talk about the ecosystem. Of course. And how you wanna control the entire chain in the ecosystem. And now it seems like you're also layering in this almost like a investment banking, you know, fund manager, portfolio manager kind of role. Yeah, it's been a great part of this.

27:02I love consumer brand goods and that's like, you know, I love finding these young founders that are starting these new brands that you and I could add a lot of magic to or bring people in to also add magic and we all kind of take the ride together. And I tell all my celebrity, I tell all my friends, period, that have some kind of influence, stop taking fees and sponsorships. Of course you have to live and I get all that. of course. But once you get to that point, I think if you could stomach, if you could take the ride, I think having equity in the brand is way better than just getting a sponsorship or a transactional fee.

27:41And if you're going to be the one that's turning the needle for that brand, why not be part of that upside?

27:47Gary Brecka:Taking the equity. What are some brands you're comfortable talking about that you've put into your hospitality? Oh, so many. Like, you know, So Skinny Dipped, as you know, that's the one you went into. And of course, you and I both just did Symbiotica, which I think is going to be a$2 billion brand, the Liposimo supplement. Liposimo, Liposomo. Liposomo, whatever. But again, it also goes down to not only the product, but the founders. And we think the founders of Symbiotica are great people. Shahab and Dorana, yeah. They're amazing. and just the fact that when I went to ask people to come in on the deal, everyone's like, I already use it.

28:24It's one of my favorite brands. It's like the gold standard of supplements. Yeah. People, like The Weeknd has it on his rider. Like it was easy. Hey, you want to come in on this deal with me? And now that you have all these amazing people as part of this brand, it just grows the brand that much faster, that much quicker, right?

28:39Gary Brecka:Yeah. And I think that's a cool thing. And when the exits happen, you can say, hey, I put you in that deal. Yeah. It's a great thing to say. I've got art on my wall that you put me into. I've got investments you put me into. You know what it is? When I find something special, whether it's a person, a product, anything, I always wanna share that with the world. Yeah. And having this ecosystem provides additional value in addition to capital. Of course. Right, of course. So, you know, getting back to the book for a minute, where do you think a lot of entrepreneurs that have their head down, sort of shoulder to the grindstone are going wrong in building the foundation of their business?

29:19Where do they go wrong? I think, you know, one thing I really like to talk about, Gary, with this whole thing is I've had more issues with success than I have with failure. I think that's one thing in the book that they don't tell you in school and in life. Everyone's like, oh, you know, everyone gets up and they talk about their failures, their failures, their failures. And of course, I've had many failures. I have great success, but I have many failures. And what people always wanna harp on is, oh, I failed, but I got back up and I did it. And yeah, of course, that's how we are as humans. I don't know many people that did it once, failed and didn't try to get back on the horse.

29:59Okay, that's fine. But what people don't talk about enough is once you're on top of the world, how does that affect you? Because that's where for me was the most challenging, right? I opened Liv. I was on fire. That's when your ego comes out. That's when you think you're unstoppable. That's when you don't ask for help because, oh, you know it all. Look at you. You're on top of the world. Why would you need help? And that's also when you get very cocky and you forget about where you came from.

30:31Gary Brecka:Did you recognize that? Oh, I took a really good friend of ours, Wayne Boyce from Reserve, to say to me one time, hey my man in the middle and though Liv was just kicking off he's like um you're not you're not saving lives it's not heart surgery you're doing here it's a nightclub and I'm like okay you're right and then uh as you're so cocky and your ego's so driven but you know the ego's a funny thing Gary because the ego drives you to do things that you that normal people wouldn't do and things and if you wrote it down on a piece of paper probably didn't make sense but you did it anyway because that was your ego and that's what changes the world right that's those are the things that were the miracles come out it also is the thing where again you don't ask for help and you don't look at things in a business sense you just do it for ego and that later on hurts you later on so it's having the people around you that keep you focused but also in line so not just having a bunch of yes men around you people that tell you what you need to hear not what you want I listen nobody when they're at the top of the at the top of the pyramid do they want to hear a no from somebody or this I've learned to take that breath and try to hear someone's other opinion and that's a lot of magic's come out of that as well is when I take that second and I go you know what I'm not going to just respond back like I know it all let me hear their vision and I've learned is the youth do bring new ideas to the table and that's why I try to surround myself with so many youth because their ideas look at the world differently than you and i look at it and i have to like take a breath back and i and i actually put a lot of a lot of interest in their ideas yeah i find that with my kids too you know my kids are in in in in the business you know maddie's got her skin care like listen guys let's be honest gary yes got me to where i was but he's so famous now and he's so big he doesn't have time for me i use madison brecca she's the most important person in my life is madison brecca dude we are going to clip that from the podcast good thing this is the not live no i agree man i love your daughter so much she's the smartest girl i know but she does not give me food dosage shots that i i'm like madison i need a higher dosage and She's like, no.

32:53She's a nurse.

32:54Gary Brecka:She stays within the guidelines, dude. I want her to go outside the guidelines. I know you do. It's a constant struggle with you. Yes. Constant struggle. But I mean, that is the greatest gift that God has ever given me is to have my adult children want to hang out with me and to have your adult children in the business and on the journey. And I know your daughters are kind of migrated because mom's an entrepreneur, dad's an entrepreneur. You also make entrepreneurialism fun. Yeah, listen, it's a grind and there's ups and downs. And there's, of course, like, how are you going to make this payroll meet and do all this kind of, and is this distributor, is this big box going to take the product or not take this product?

33:33Or is this colossal, them bringing back the direwolf, is that going to really work? I don't know, but yes, I think it does. And I think it's the coolest thing when you build a brand. I think at the end of the day, everything I do is just about building a brand.

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34:29Gary Brecka:Visit drinkh2tab.com. That's drinkh2tab.com and upgrade your hydration today. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. invest do you are you now considering things outside of of the hospitality space or have you learned that as an entrepreneur that you're going to build your kingdom and your ecosystem well listen i definitely invest in stuff that's not hospitality as well that i think is just cool as shit or is super cool and uh you know like we just talked about colossal i think that investing you got me into that too yeah another great company yeah uh they uh i think it's just cool when people are you know they're they're doing things that i i think will will people will have a crazy engagement for um that's what i really look for at the most is it's not just about food beverages this or that it's about what's the engagement with it like if if my wife is eating skinny dip nuts at nighttime and my mom my wife doesn't eat anything that's not healthy then there has to be something to this skinny dipped chocolate peanut butter nut or whatever this brand is and when i did a deep dive i met the founders and i i understood why yeah and so i look for little things like that same thing with djs who are the next up-and-coming dj who are the the kids today really engaging with not so much if they have a billion followers or anything like that but where's the engagement like are they obsessed are they talking about are they are they talking on their on their social medias are they reposting all their stuff i think that's my it's it's not even about music or this it's about energy and i'm great at sensing energy that's great you know i i call it trend spotting wow you know but you're the best trend spotter i have ever known oh i mean really you you're so far ahead of your time on so many things including you know hospitality.

36:26Gary Brecka:I want to draw back into the book for a second because I think it's applicable to any entrepreneur that's starting a business. I mean, I think whether you're doing a car wash, you're starting a paper route, whatever it is, this book gives you a blueprint, Gary, of everything that I look for, everything I do, my failures, my wins, my everything. I put it here. And you know what's so cool about the cover is Johnny Ive did this cover. A lot of people don't know that. Johnny Ive designed the iPhone. Wow. Did he really? Yeah. He designed everything. He did a great job. He designed the most sold watch in the world, which is the Apple Watch.

37:11And then he left to go work with Sam at ChatGPT. And he just did a big$6 billion deal to design the devices for ChatGPT. It's funny. When the publisher was sending me all these book covers, and I was like, I can't do these book covers. I can't, these are, this is not me. Face on it or something. No, no, no. I had like a martini. It looked like it was sex in the city. It was like, it was crazy. And I'm like, what do I do? Who's, who could do this? This is, this is my life's work. I'm putting into a book. I need the right book. And I go, I used a coupon with Johnny Ive. And I said, Johnny, please, I need you to do the cover.

37:48And I had just done his kids 21st birthdays. I just hosted them, did plenty. And anytime he goes to a city, I'm the first guy to say, let me help with whatever I can do. I said, please, man, I can't have my life's work be the Sex and the City cover of a book. And then one day he came back with this. The whole thing, it's the most perfect thing I've ever seen. And just to know that Johnny Ive did my book cover, I remember talking to the publisher. She's like, Johnny Ive did your book? And I go, yeah. She goes, how much are you paying? I'm like, well, he just did a$6 billion deal. So it's either$6 billion or free.

38:24so I'm going to go with the free.

38:26Gary Brecka:6.1 billion or free. And she's like, yeah, she's like, okay, let's go with the free. Okay. I love that. And just same thing with like Kim. When I said, listen, who am I going to have, who am I going to have to do my forward that's known me that actually has taken the ride and I've seen take her ride from the beginning to where they are now was Kim. Yeah. And I think Kim's gone from being, you know, a reality star to an entrepreneur and a boss. and she runs a fund and she runs a family and she's a great mom and she builds business. And what she's done with Skims, I don't care what anybody says, it's the most impressive thing I've seen.

39:02Gary Brecka:Yeah, it is astounding. And you have a genuine relationship with that family. I'll never forget, I was sitting on your couch one day and Kendall Jenner walked in and she had a mask on during COVID. She walked in with a mask on and you go, Kendall, take that off, you look ridiculous. And I was like, dude, he - I just, we're in Miami. She goes, no, Dave, I'm not taking the mask off. Right, in Miami, like, you know, because we were open first, the COVID mask really bothered me for a while. Yeah, I think it bothered a lot of people. I think we realized the pendulum swung a little far on that one. Yeah, yeah, we're never doing that again.

39:36No. When the next pandemic comes. But we did really well in Miami. So like, not that I wish for another pandemic. It was pretty good in Miami.

39:43Gary Brecka:We had a good governor, yeah. And a good mayor. He was also a good friend of yours. Yeah. So I think that entrepreneurs maybe knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do. Yeah. And I love the title, take it personal. What's behind that tagline? Because I care so deeply. And I think if you care so deeply, you're gonna succeed. I care about the details. I care about everything. If something's gonna bother me so into my bones, that's when I'm gonna win. And that's when change really happens, right? If nothing really bothers you and you're not taking it personal, do you really change?

40:23Gary Brecka:Yeah. I've seen you when you're in your restaurants, you're incessant. It's either you love doing it or you hate doing it. It's one of the two. It's like OCD on top of OCD. I've seen you go over and straighten napkins, fix silverware on the table. Pick up trash. Make sure that water glasses are full again. Like it's like a 3D scanner that's going like this around and you can like spot something, you know, across the room and you just go over and fix it or have somebody fix it. And I've always admired that about you. I mean, you've been doing that, you know, the entire decade that I've known you, like never taking your eyes off the details.

40:58I think the details is what makes it. I think when people take their eyes off the details, it's when people don't care. And it's the number one sign for me when I go into one of my spots and I see a light bulb out or something like that, that's when I lose my mind. That means they really don't care.

41:13Gary Brecka:And does that permeate then the culture of your organization? Of course. And listen, every organization has to keep retweaking, retweaking, retweaking, retweaking, retweaking. And people that you think hold up your entire company that you need, and when they leave and your company thrives even more, is even better. Because, Gary, I've been through this where my number one guy leaves. And I think, oh my God, the whole company's going to... And what happens is all your people step up. And it opens it up for people to feel like now they have a say and they can add value. And I think, you know, retweaking your company over and over again.

41:52Don't be afraid of people leaving. And if someone's not wanting to be on the ride, don't try to convince them to stay with you. I've made that mistake too. I have too. I'm like, no, you have to stay with me. We have to do this. No, no, no. And in six months, they're gone anyway, no matter what. And you just buy yourself some time. And at the end of the day, once they leave, your life is so much better. and that's where people should not be afraid of. And it's happened to me a few times now and I'm just like, oh my God, no. The company actually rises and everyone steps up so much more.

42:25Gary Brecka:It's almost like when you have, and you're like, should I have had this layer even there? Yeah. Yeah, Elon Musk talks about that, about like skimming the layers. Like if you weren't starting meeting with reducing your department by like 10%, he wouldn't even continue the meeting. You know, it's, you know, it's, it's the simplicity, like the complexity is in the simplicity. You have all these amazing people and maybe you haven't pulled all the talent out of them and you pull somebody out of the top and they just rise. That's a really interesting perspective. Or those people are giving or saying to them what your message is instead of you saying your message and no one could ever get your message correct like you do.

43:02And having, by taking certain layers out of my business, it's built a relationship with the executive chefs, with my general managers, my director. all those people now feel like they have a say in my company and have, instead of have people, you know, layers in between that could be saying to them different than what you really want them to be hearing.

43:23Gary Brecka:So you got the nightclubs, you got the restaurants, you know, you got the book, you got the investment funds. You're actually getting into resorts. Actually, they're not funds. They're not funds. Okay. They're, I'm just, I just invest in brands and I love to share them with my friends. Yeah, and you brought me into some of those. What's next? Great questions. I'm working on a members club. We're trying to grow poppy steak. Not trying. We are growing poppy steak out of the country. I'll talk about that at a later date, but we have two locations out there. And I'm just really trying to focus in on my brands here and trying to scale my brands that I have now.

43:59Gary Brecka:Yeah. You know, I noticed that you use the word wellness more often too. Of course. Because the biggest attention trend in the world right now is anti-aging, longevity, wellness. So - We were there a long time ago. That's when you brought it to my attention. Longevity, longevity. I'm like, there's something so cool about this. It's the new luxury. So how is your brand going to, since this is the Ultimate Human Podcast, how is your brand going to incorporate wellness, longevity, anti-aging, that sort of interest level? I think the fact that it's so much, it's such a big part of my lifestyle, right?

44:33And I magnify that message out there nonstop. and also I invest in those kind of brands from NeuroGum to Symbiotica, Skinny, Coconut Cult, the probiotic yogurt to me is just, they're gonna win the battle of gut health.

44:48Gary Brecka:Yeah, yeah, and that's a huge issue, monster issue. As a Jewish boy, it's like the normal issue, what do you mean? All the Jewish boys have bad guts. We always have the worst guts. so um uh you know your next foray is going to be this members members club can you say about where it's going to be or what no but it's it's going to be in miami i feel like i need to what's going to make it special so for me you know i have a lot of great entertainment venues for me i just really want super luxury brand and i think that's the next thing for me and the one thing you know as my as my audience keeps growing older and different and they're kind of changing too and their taste levels change as well people want luxury and they just want insane hospitality so this is going to be luxury and insane hospitality yes that's amazing dave um i am whenever i have a guest on the ultimate human podcast um i always ask them one question and there's no right or wrong answer this i know you know it's coming what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human.

45:51That everything's firing from your, from your personal to your business, to your emotions, but everything is firing on all cylinders. And to me, that's what an ultimate human is.

46:03Gary Brecka:Yeah. And that's a great strive to be every day is to get everything firing. Yeah. I think you're an ultimate human, man. I've been a part of, not responsible for, but a part of this journey. A hundred percent part of my journey. What do you mean? Well, I've been a part of your health journey. I could have been, I don't know if dead, but I could have been, definitely wouldn't have had the energy to keep up with what's going on in my life. Thank you. I appreciate that. But I just want to say with every fabric of my being to my audience, this is one of the most authentic human beings I've ever met.

46:33Gary Brecka:What you see is what you get. What he says is going on behind the scenes is actually going on behind the scenes. You're a great father, great husband. You're an amazing entrepreneur. You've been an incredible friend of my family. I hope everybody goes out and gets this book i'm going to put a link to it on on the site i'm actually going to do a giveaway on my my instagram i'm going to buy a couple hundred of these books i'm going to give them out to my audience because i think it's so impactful i think it's not just applicable to the hospitality space i think it's applicable to life and and especially if you are an entrepreneur but it is a great lesson in life i learned this lesson from dave five years ago i've applied it every year since i want to thank you thank you for coming on the ultimate human podcast i hope congratulations on all your success, Gary.

47:14For me, it's been so nice to see the ride. Thank you, brother.

47:18Gary Brecka:And until next time, guys, that's just science.