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Ted Cochrane (@WheatandWater) of Wheat & Water Website: http://wheatandwater.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WheatAndWater/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wheatandwater/ Ole Hickory Pits: www.olehickorypits.com/ Weber Grills: www.weber.com/US/en/grills Del Mar BBQ Championship: http://arlie-que.com/event_detail.php?event=10200 Article on Wheat & Water: http://www.lajollabluebook.com/blog/first-look-inside-wheat-and-water-la-jolla/ Bird Rock's Wheat & Water – The New Neighborhood Hangout: https://sandiego.eater.com/2016/12/6/13855404/wheat-water-la-jolla-boulevard-pizza-cocktails-bird-rock#0 Eater San Diego Article: https://sandiego.eater.com/2017/1/26/14404590/happy-hour-wheat-water-bird-rock-coffee-barcon-miho – Ted Cochrane, Owner of Wheat & Water located in La Jolla, San Diego – Fathers Day at Cali Comfort BBQ was the busiest day in history (see below picture from the end of the night) – Ted went to La Jolla High School in San Diego – Worked at El Pescador Fish Market & Restaurant in La Jolla: http://elpescadorfishmarket.com/ – Fern from Fern's BBQ (episode #001) worked on Fathers Day Sunday (see below) – “Work hard and you can live a good life, you can travel the world” – Expanding too fast, trying to do too many things can ruin a business very easily – Ted wanted to find some good pizza in La Jolla but felt like he never could, so he was inspired to start his own pizza restaurant – Fun Fact: Gray hairs come in faster when you own a business – Ted envisioned Wheat & Water to be Wood-fired, roasted, charred pizza in a rustic setting – So much business turnover in La Jolla because rent prices are so high – Ted's biz partner, Doug Ritz – awesome biz partner – Hardest part about opening up was raising the money for the restaurant, He tried every method in the books – PROVE YOUR CONCEPT when trying to raise money – Pick a small location or find a restaurant that’s not doing well and see if there's any opportunity… – If you make good, quality food, people will come! – “LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION” – a wrong/old theory – “ATTITUDE ATTITUDE ATTITUDE – QUALITY QUALITY” – the new theory – Beaumonts Eatery in La Jolla: www.beaumontseatery.com/ – Birdrock Coffee Roasters: birdrockcoffee.com/ – Tacos El Gordo: tacoselgordobc.com/ – Getting the restaurant open wasn’t easy for WW, it took 2.5 years to open the restaurant – You will hear the question, “when’s your restaurant going to be open?” all the time from friends and family – Raising money is so difficult, W&W was able to raise $1mil to open up in La Jolla – Wheat & Water has 30 taps, 6 for wines, 1 with cold brew coffee and the rest are beer – Wheat & Water likes to do beer takeovers – Takeovers with Green Flash, Alpine, Societe, and Mike Hess – Don’t try and do “too much” too fast when just opening up, take time to see what works – Having a good restaurant atmosphere/vibe is very important, just having good food isn't enough these days – W&W is focused on building a lifestyle brand online – W&W is on UberEats and GrubHub, is that a smart idea? Too much? – Services like GrubHub, etc are the exact inverse of catering – Have systems in place to keep your restaurant profitable – Restaurant business = perishable products / a very hard biz to keep open – RSI systems https://www.rsiweb.com/ – Wheat & Water has great wood-fired pizzas using white oak Double-split wood – California firewood californiafirewoodsd.com/ – New pizza called “La Pizza” chili verde, pork shoulder “MEXICO ON A PIZZA” – Tacos del Yaqui in Rosarito https://www.yelp.com/biz/tacos-el-yaqui-rosarito – W&W newest chef 'Chef Cristian Fiol' – has worked at Cucina Urbana & Galaxy Taco – Fun Fact: Valley Farm Market is looking to get into La Jolla for a second location – Live feed available of the farm where VFM gets their meat to show “how the meat was raised” – “Always be ready to educate the consumer on your product” – W&W used Guerilla Marketing in the beginnings – You have to do what you can d…
