S4 - Ep22 - Unleashing Creativity with Lego: Inside the First-Ever Lego Cafe with Daniel Johnson

Speaker 2: 0:11

Welcome to Side Hustle City and thanks for joining us. Our goal is to help you connect to real people who found success turning their side hustle into a main hustle, and we hope you can too. I'm Adam Kaler. I'm joined by Kyle Stevie, my co-host. Let's get started, all right. Welcome back, everybody to the Side Hustle City podcast. Today we got a special guest and Kyle Stevie is joining us remotely from his cell phone, so this will be fun. Kyle, are you at work right now?

Speaker 1: 0:44

No, I had to drop Charlotte off at all.

Speaker 2: 0:46

Oh, okay. Well, we got Daniel Johnson with us. Daniel is opening an awesome Lego experience down at Newport, on the Levy here in Newport, kentucky, just right across the Licking River from where we sit at the moment. Daniel, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3: 1:01

Yeah, thank you so much for having me on.

Speaker 2: 1:03

This is going to be awesome, daniel. So Legos man Me and you sat down We talked about it a little bit, but tell people about this fascination you have with Legos. What made you want to do the Lego thing? What were you doing before All that good stuff?

Speaker 3: 1:16

Yeah for sure. Yeah, so I'm opening up the first Lego cafe in the United States in the Cincinnati area, and the idea just came to me about a year ago and ramped up from there, and the whole thing was just like. It's really the perfect brand to build a business around. It's the number one toy brand in the world. They sell 600,000 sets every single day Just astronomical, right. And everyone obviously knows what it is. It's ubiquitous.

Speaker 3: 1:58

So the idea was just like thinking that it's a high quality product and it also provides a high quality experience in the home, but up to this point, there really hasn't been anything that's replicated that experience in a social setting.

Speaker 3: 2:13

And so just thinking about how everything if retail is going to survive at all in the future, then it all has to move towards being experiential, right, and so that was kind of. It was just trying to kind of solve that puzzle and say what would actually make it make sense to build a Lego store in 2023? Well, yeah, there has to be more to it, right, there has to be some kind of experience attached to it. Of course, there's already that experience there. It just hasn't really been done in this way yet, and so that was the idea was just that, bringing it all together, it's thinking, yeah, this could be something like a board game cafe or a comic book cafe, but it's a Lego cafe and you have everything there. You have food and beverage, retail, and then also services and experiences, and that was the idea just to get that unique combination together so that it could be this awesome experience that would draw people out of their homes and into the cafe.

Speaker 2: 3:20

And this is a place where people go and they actually hang out for a little bit. They're not just going there buying a box of Legos like you would at the Lego store in the mall. Yeah, This is an experience. like you said, it's an experience, it's a retail experience.

Speaker 3: 3:34

That's right.

Speaker 1: 3:34

That's exactly right.

Speaker 3: 3:35

Yeah, go ahead, kyle, sorry.

Speaker 1: 3:38

I think it hasn't happened yet because they have Lego Land in Los. Angeles They have a couple Lego Lans, right. Yeah, like almost as if it's parts with Legos.

Speaker 3: 3:48

Yeah, you're exactly right. So there's Lego Land in Florida, new York, i think, la and Las Vegas, and then they have Lego Land Discovery Centers which are basically like a children's museum kind of experience, and they have one of those in Columbus. But that was really it And that was exactly how I thought about Kyle. After I thought about it, i researched and I'm like I just can't believe this doesn't already exist. But it didn't.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Wow, that is absolutely wild. I mean, this is like I don't know. it just seems like you, just it seems such like it's like one of those ideas where it seems so simple you're pissed off, you didn't think of yourself, you've become a huge. but it becomes like a huge idea Because I mean, i'm assuming this is going to be family friendly, right?

Speaker 3: 4:41

Oh, for sure, Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 4:45

It blows my mind that this doesn't exist anywhere else, with the fact they've had enough success with the museum parks. They've opened up four of them.

Speaker 3: 4:52

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 4:53

They have hotels and all this other stuff.

Speaker 3: 4:55

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Yeah, and there's nothing else around you. There's no like saturation of the market, there's nothing. It's just you. That's it. That is one Yeah.

Speaker 3: 5:05

And that's hopefully been. You know, that's obvious. I'm hoping that that's one of the markers of a good idea. Is that it's the kind of thing that's like, oh man, why didn't I think of that? But but yeah, you know, like, if you, Lego does have official stores as well, if you're in the Cincinnati area, they have one in Kenwood Mall And you know it's it's it's a great store, but it's very clear, as from the moment you step in, that you're there to buy and then leave, Like they're not really inviting you in or asking you to stick around for a while, even that they have a couple of things you can play with, but there aren't any chairs.

Speaker 3: 5:41

The store is very small, It's very cramped, It's very much like, yeah, we'll take your money and we'll see you next time your kids want something, And so, yeah, it just seemed like to me it made sense that especially, you know, 60% of consumers are saying now that they'd rather purchase experiences over products. You know, and other research is showing that, like by 2025, basically, if anything is retail, yeah, more than half of the space will have to be dedicated to some kind of experience in order to even draw people in. And so it was just like this is the way that Lego should be taking it anyway, And so I just yeah, I was like well, let's just go ahead and do it.

Speaker 2: 6:28

This is wild, that nobody I mean. So the one thing is is things just keep leveling up. You know the mall is dying. You don't see anybody like, oh wow, we need to go to the mall. You know it's just. It's just not something people are doing right now. You know, and you know to get people into those experiences like has. Where did this research come from? Where did this understanding that we need to move to a more experiential thing, like who's leading that research? Where did you find the research? Is this the mall people? Is this like a? is there like a retail association or something that did this kind of research? Do you know where that came from?

Speaker 3: 7:03

Yeah, i'm sorry I can't cite the exact source, but I have been doing research and it is. It is just like retail associations And it is just, you know, i mean, some of it is obviously common sense, but but it also is them being backed up by research. That it's just like. This is the way that things are going.

Speaker 3: 7:24

And the other interesting thing was, though, that, like it's almost like anything else, how, like you know, everything's cyclical and, like you know, records come back in as cool, you know, even though they're antiquated or whatever, and so one thing that the research is also showing is that, if you are having some kind of retail experience, it where, like, a lot of stores have paired back what they have, that's actually then frustrated customers, because you know, like, let's just like reinforces the idea right that, like I'll go to the store, it won't even be there anyway, so it might as well just buy it online in the first place. And so some of the research is also saying that, if you're providing a product line, that you need to have the full product line available, and so it's not that, yeah, it's not that you can cut into your product availability, it's that you just have to expand into providing experience, and so that's part of it too is that we're moving into 3100 square feet. It's probably four times the size of the Lego store at Kenwood.

Speaker 1: 8:30

That's wild Yeah.

Speaker 3: 8:33

And so, yeah, like it's an investment, but I think it pays off. when you're looking at, you know Newport sees about 4 million visitors annually And you know they get unreal foot traffic. the aquarium, the cinema, is still the best performing theater in the region And, yeah, to me it just made sense to go there as a way to prove out the concept and then hopefully take it other places.

Speaker 2: 9:03

Well, one thing, kyle, i noticed about Newport on the levee is you've got a lot of people there that go with their kids and just mill around in that big open area And I'm sure wherever you guys are listening at you know a mall in your town is probably dying Right. You know this was one of those kind of like transition malls, like it was from the traditional mall to the outdoor mall.

Speaker 3: 9:24

Exactly. Yeah, That's exactly right. It's so hard to explain. I've come up against that so many times, like how do you describe it? It's, you know, mixed use development. but even that's not like totally accurate, because that usually implies housing. Well, now there is.

Speaker 2: 9:39

It wasn't originally built with that aqua apartment complex And then there's there's an aloft hotel there. That's correct, but that wasn't the original thing. I mean, it was just parking, empty parking lot there And it was just the movie theater was the biggest draw And then you had like a couple of do his pizza was there And there was a couple of bars and restaurants. It was like kind of meant for younger people and maybe families during the day. That's right, but the view is awesome. Like you can't beat the view. It's right across the river from downtown Cincinnati, so you got this really, really cool view. People going dates there.

Speaker 3: 10:09

People think it's straight into great great American from it, you know yeah, during a game, yeah, but.

Speaker 3: 10:14

I totally agree. It's like I'm my theory right now is that like probably, you know, like a city the size of Cincinnati in the future moving forward, already proven basically is going to be able to support one mall and we have our one mall, Kimwood. like you know, everything else has died and will die And like that's, that's probably it. There's still going to be a mall in every city because people still do occasionally go out and that can probably survive. It's not going to thrive like it did use it didn't in the past. But yeah, like it's, obviously things have to adapt to how, to how things are moving to the future.

Speaker 2: 10:53

Well, and I think the one mall that's going to be in every city is going to be that mall where there's people with discretionary income, yes, where they can just throw money at something. They don't have anything else to do. Maybe one of them stays at home and, you know, goes to yoga class all day and drinks Starbucks and just wants a place to go hang out, walk the mall, hang out with their, him, her friends. I'm not going to say it's women, there's guys out there staying at home too, but the idea is is like, you know, you've got discretionary income, there's money to spend, they can go to the mall. You don't have a lot of troublemakers. I mean, you know, when I was a kid, people go to the mall just getting to fights and you know those malls no longer exist. That's right, and there probably shouldn't be a mall where I grew up anyway. And but you know, newport on the levee is very unique in that it is kind of a tourist attraction to So if you're staying at.

Speaker 2: 11:40

You're going to a Reds game. You're coming from maybe Southern Kentucky, somewhere East Kentucky. You're coming from up north in Ohio or Indiana and you're coming to Cincinnati. What are you going to do? You're probably going to just walk around. You can walk on the bridges. You're going to walk across the river. You're going to go down by the river. Oh, what's this mall that's here.

Speaker 3: 11:56

That's right.

Speaker 2: 11:57

And then maybe you, if you're there for a game, maybe you got your kids with you And next thing you know, you stroll into Newport on the levee. What's this Lego experience? That's right. I think your, your concept is something that Newport and Levy's missing right now, because, i agree, people bring their kids are just milling around Looking for something to do. They got ping pong tables set up. I'm actually making it sound really bad, but it's not new person.

Speaker 1: 12:19

Actually kind of like they got the bowling alley there. Now that boy Yeah, it's really nice.

Speaker 3: 12:23

Yeah, yeah, but I, but I do agree It's. it's like, you know, like my, my daughter we were there a month ago And she's, she was like I want to buy something with my allowance money. I was like, looking around there, there wasn't really anywhere to buy something, and so I was like you know, like There will be, could be that for sure, honey, you could buy stuff from daddy's store. Yeah, I'm sorry go ahead.

Speaker 3: 12:54

Yeah, i think everything you know like that portion of it is really serves like two purposes, and the first one is to be another Revenue pillar, another revenue stream, so that we don't have to rely on, you know, selling Lego sets as being the thing that we're either making or breaking on, but then the other thing is just using it as a way to basically Invite people in and give them permission. So so I'm really using it in service of everything else. It's not. It's not gonna be the focal point, because people aren't going to be coming to us for a fine dining Experience, and so it's. It's really just it would. It's gonna be more similar to an offering from something like Starbucks, where it's just drinks, snacks and desserts.

Speaker 1: 13:46

Like drink me. Say drinks You mean like alcohol.

Speaker 3: 13:49

Yeah, we will. So we're not. We're not gonna be a Lego bar. Yeah, we're not gonna be the Lego bar. Kyle, if you want to take the Lego bar concept and run with it, you're free to, but but I'm thinking just more like bottles and cans, you know like it's available and and just let you know Which potlays has, medulla or whatever, and it's just like. Of course, you know that's that's just an easy thing to offer great margins And people almost expect it these days and that's fine, like I think that'll be good.

Speaker 3: 14:23

But, yeah, i definitely want to keep it still like. Basically, i'm trying to equally market to Kids and adults, because the place where Lego has grown the most in the past five years is in the adult sector, where they've been Making sets specifically for adults, and that there's been a huge response as a result of that. So, yeah, so we'll be offering you know like We'll have coffee, but we're also not a coffee shop Cafe, because the same thing, like there's plenty of places that already do that, and we're trying to keep that pretty quick and easy So that we can focus on building out the most unique aspect of it, which is that Lego experience right, so, yeah, we'll have maybe more like packaged goods for snacks, and then I think we will have homemade like desserts when you told Kyle to take that other concept.

Speaker 2: 15:09

I'm just gonna run with it.

Speaker 2: 15:11

What came to my mind was he's got like an entire bar made out of Legos and then there's a fight and it just comes crashing down And then they have to hire you guys to come out there and rebuild his Lego bar. There you go, kyle. What do you think? Kyle's that gonna be a rough situation. It's your Lego bar there. I thought I think it would be. I think I'm a little scared of what Kyle would turn that into, but, but this is gonna be awesome. So the idea is is like you are, you're building this experience for people, which is great. It's something that I don't know Where else. I would go, like where, where else you go? Is there anything like this anywhere else in the Midwest at least that I could go to? or and it's gonna be right here And that's right in Newport since an adding Newport.

Speaker 2: 15:56

That's right, you know it's. It's all the same guys. Even though Kentucky people In Kyle explain this to you, for some reason they act like they really hate Ohio. Oh, i don't even really hate Kentucky though, unless you're in Cleveland the Cleveland people think, you know, they think it's.

Speaker 2: 16:11

It's like if they make fun of Kentucky, it's like something, but it's like no, actually Kentucky's pretty nice, like the entire state is really nice. Yeah, a beautiful state, nice people. You got bourbon and horses. Like, what else do you need? exactly You know, and yeah but I live in.

Speaker 3: 16:26

I live in Mount Washington right now, you know, like 20 minutes outside the city, and I would tell people I'm from Cincinnati. But someone who lives, like literally You know, 200 meters from downtown across the river would say, you know, i'm from northern Kentucky. Yeah, and it's like, come on, you're from Cincinnati.

Speaker 2: 16:43

Like if you can throw a rock and hit downtown seriously you're you're from Cincinnati, really like that's to be honest.

Speaker 3: 16:49

I think I told you this my mom. My mom grew up in Dayton, kentucky, and so I can say that that's true.

Speaker 2: 16:55

Yeah, yeah, you could say something. Yeah, well, I own this building so I could say it.

Speaker 2: 16:59

I pay like 11,000 dollars in taxes every year for the schools and stuff. So I I could say what I want, but yeah, no, kentucky's awesome and it's a really good place for you to have it. We put on a level, is a great place, very family friendly, very family oriented. So you're gonna have parents, they can drink a little something if they need to. You know, you got the kids. Everybody's trying to put these sets together. Maybe keep the kids away from all the sugar. That might be a good, a good call, but there will be sugary treats there.

Speaker 2: 17:27

There will yeah, if they, if they want to do something.

Speaker 3: 17:29

But that's right.

Speaker 2: 17:30

But the idea is is you are not just creating A place for yourself, but you know, obviously you're a capitalist, you're making a business, you're doing your thing, you're taking advantage of the economic system that we have here, but this is economic development for the area. Yes you're actually helping Newport on the levy.

Speaker 3: 17:50

That's, that's honestly my hope. You know, like I, you know like the the dictionary definition of an anchor store and retail is Something that occupies more than 10,000 square feet And, like I just told Newport, like I want to be an anchor store for the levy, like I think, will definitely benefit from the track of traffic that already goes there, but I want to draw traffic to it as well And I don't see any reason that it wouldn't end up. You know, like I think that's part of the reason A lot of out-of-towners go to the levy is, if you search, like, what to do in Cincinnati, if you're there for a day, it's going to be on most of those lists, because the one thing that I finally found It's like it is a little bit like something like Navy Pier in Chicago.

Speaker 3: 18:28

You know, oh, yes where it's like it is this like mixed experience, um, and so I think I think that's kind of the appeal there. But you're, you're still right that there there are some Parts of the levy that like, yeah, it's still needs some revivals. Then there needs some some life injected into it, and I'm really hoping that we can be that. I'd love to be like a community hub as well, um, and so absolutely I'd love to to be drawing people, uh, even more people to the levy, and uh, i'd love to get involved more in the community, and I really do think that it will Uh just Just elevate everything that's already there.

Speaker 2: 19:07

Oh, i believe it will. I, there's no doubt. Kyle, how old's char. Starlet 12 well, you better get that right, your wife could be listening to this podcast.

Speaker 1: 19:53

Oh.

Speaker 2: 19:58

You broke up a little bit. You must be driving.

Speaker 1: 20:01

No, i'm not driving, i'm in freaking Erlanger.

Speaker 2: 20:09

Well, you better get, you better get your daughter. Yeah, i can hear you.

Speaker 1: 20:13

Okay, yeah, so charlotte, charlotte's 12, but my nieces and nephews would love this as well. I think, too, that Everything that happens, in northern kentucky, that's like. that could be big like this, which I think could be One westchester as well. Yep, i need to draw some of the big curve.

Speaker 1: 20:36

That's a really good point, that's something you thought of is like okay, so We're gonna make it big in north hockey, so we're gonna get people from you know all over close to downtown, but then you know westchester has like So much other shit that's like only there and so like top golf and things like that. Well, i didn't know if that was something like you had.

Speaker 2: 21:08

You broke up. You're breaking up Kyle. I'll let him answer it. Go ahead.

Speaker 3: 21:12

Yeah, no, i think I got the gist of it And, yeah, i basically the only other. Well, one of the only other places I looked at seriously is that Development in Liberty Township. What is it called? Liberty Center? Liberty Center, yeah, and, and you know, i do think that they Could sustain something like this as well, and I totally agree that there's probably enough distance If, if the concept proves out and it does take off, uh, i'm either looking at doing something like that or maybe Maybe it's a like One per city kind of thing.

Speaker 3: 21:51

I don't know, i need to, i need to dig into it a little further and see whether it would be sustainable, because The the other thing about Newport is it's still not that far, no, from westchester, if you're coming down 75. It's just not not that far and it's so centrally located And like I think we could still draw from that area that I don't know if we need to. I don't know if we'd need to put another one there and so, but I, but I am definitely looking at like, yeah, if we can prove it out, i would love to basically franchise it out, or, or, yeah, basically put one in every city, and That's really my uh, you know you have to have A b-hag. Have you heard about?

Speaker 2: 22:31

yeah, yeah, big hair, audacious goal.

Speaker 3: 22:33

Yeah, and mine, mine is like the, the BHAG, beyond this, like you know, the plan for the next 10 years is like have another store in a year, have you know 10 stores by the end of year three or whatever? And like obviously this is all you know, you have to go beyond to get to something. But but really, like, at the end of 10 years it's basically to be bought by Lego.

Speaker 2: 22:58

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:58

And I don't think that's too crazy. They're actually super engaged with their community. There was an eBay for Legos like exclusively. That was built by just fans of Lego And Lego then acquired them few years ago, yeah, and now it's an official part of Lego. You know, like they offer an like an open source CAD. That's Lego event essentially. Wow, yeah, that's completely free And you can build anything you could possibly think of, and so they're very giving to their community. They're very involved And really that's it. It's like it's basically what we've already been talking about that I want them to look at it and be like then. Be like, this is what a Lego store always should have been, and then just just fold it in And who knows?

Speaker 2: 23:51

Yeah, i mean, i agree. I mean I think that you know if, if I'm Lego and this thing successful, you know, yeah, they just let you build the thing. Yeah, improve it out, yeah, it's just like any startup. If you're going to sell a startup, it has to be valuable And then you have to have a company. But you've already got your exit mind And that's what you need to do.

Speaker 2: 24:10

Like, if you guys are out here and you're wanting to build some kind of a startup you know most of us build these technology startups you think, oh, i got to have a technology startup, i got to have something that's, you know, scalable software thing. Not necessarily. I mean, if you know you can make this work in Newport, right, and then say you do expand up to say, like a Westchester Mason, something like that, or Liberty Center all the way out there, which Liberty Center might make sense a little further than those other ones or even Dayton, right. You know, dayton people probably chances are not going to come all the way down to Newport, right. But you know, i already know that the Kentucky people don't want to cross the river ever, so they're probably not going to go to your Westchester location, but I could see people from Louisville coming up. I could see people from Indianapolis coming down if they're big Lego fans and doing it on a regular basis. I mean at least twice, twice a year or something.

Speaker 2: 24:59

if I'm from out of town, if I'm from another city an hour, two hours away, come down every once in a while, like when I go on these websites in there you know talking about Oh what? what do you do in Cincinnati? It's always the same old stuff zoo, right. Go to Red's game If the Bengals are in town. Go to Bangles, maybe Cyclone's game. Go down and see Fountain Square. It's always the same stuff. Go to the casino. It every city's got almost everything now. Like every city's got a zoo. They've got it.

Speaker 2: 25:28

I mean, our zoo's awesome, yeah, and it's the second highest rated zoo in the country, i think, but at the same time, it's like there is no unique state. There's less and less unique stuff. That's correct. Every time I go somewhere for sure, and if I see one of the top five places to visit in Cincinnati, this is a Lego store. It's like when I go out to California, i want to go to the Lego amusement park.

Speaker 3: 25:48

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 25:49

Because that's cool And a guy from Cincinnati actually developed that like built it, like he built amusement parks. He had an agency or something back in the day that like designed amusement parks and architect.

Speaker 3: 25:59

That's incredible.

Speaker 2: 25:59

Yeah, and I remember I was working at Kinko's downtown. He comes in with this plan for this Lego thing And I'm like, what is this?

Speaker 1: 26:05

It's like Oh, that's awesome, Like you did the Lego Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:09

So yeah, But I mean having that experience having it tied to a brand. Yes, Because you see these like swap meat stores opening up in malls. Now, Like I, when I was a kid we used to go to Northgate Mall in Colrain And it's like you go in there now. It's like what is this stuff they're selling? But you just random stores, no branding associated with it, And it's just like. You know, people are attracted to brands. They, you know, they're sold on brands And you've created a brand that's tied to Lego, which you know people are fans of this stuff And, like you said, it's growing with the older audiences. Well, we're the older audience, That's correct, We grew up on.

Speaker 3: 26:47

Lego. That's it Exactly.

Speaker 2: 26:49

So you've expanded the demographic. 10 years ago, 20 years ago might not have been the time to build a Lego store, exactly, but now you've got several generations that are into this brand. That's right. So talk a little bit about that. Like, did you have to get any license from Lego or anything to do this?

Speaker 3: 27:06

Yeah, and it's funny you brought that up like 10, 20 years ago. Actually, 15 years ago, lego was about to fold straight up as a company And that's something that we like at our age. We don't really know that because we disengage with it, but they really struggled with identity like late 2000s, and they were about to go bankrupt.

Speaker 2: 27:29

Was it the Lego movie that brought them back from disaster That?

Speaker 3: 27:31

was. That was part of their overall plan. They got to a point and this is really interesting like there. There are documentaries about it now like look up Brickumentary And you can.

Speaker 2: 27:40

Oh yeah, I think I saw that on Netflix or something, Yeah.

Speaker 3: 27:43

Yeah, and so they. One of the main things they bring up is that and I do think this is important for any business thinking about like, yeah, what is your identity? And like, as soon as you start straight and further and further away from that, you're disconnecting from your consumers, because they expect one thing. Now you're giving them something different. And so they got to this point where they, you know, like they realized one of their issues was the number of unique pieces that they had. They had something like 10,000 unique pieces, and so what was starting to happen was like they weren't connecting with each other anymore, because they were just like, whenever they needed something a little bit different, they would just make a whole piece instead of trying to build it out of bricks.

Speaker 3: 28:21

And so they cut that from like 10,000 to 3000 and their overall production across all sets, which I know is like a little heavy, but like that they were like.

Speaker 2: 28:31

They just like like uh, so this is like. I mean, this is engineering, i mean you have to bring people in that. That's exactly like. Hey, how can we, instead of using 10,000 pieces, how can we make this stuff out of 3000?

Speaker 3: 28:44

Exactly And that. but that's the appeal. Like, because every time you're introducing unique pieces, then it was just becoming more like any other toy. Like well, what's the difference between this and a GI Joe vehicle that's already built?

Speaker 2: 28:54

Built.

Speaker 3: 28:54

Built If you're just giving me four pieces to put together that are big and chunky And so they realized like we have to get back to basics. And that was like the start of them finding their way again. And then, then really, the Lego movie was one of those massive catalysts where it was like people remembered what it was, and they did such an amazing job with connecting with the nostalgia of the brand that they had built in that movie.

Speaker 1: 30:02

Well, they've got a sneaky. They've got a sneaky fun video game the Lego Star Wars video game.

Speaker 3: 30:07

Oh, yeah, they're hilarious, aren't they?

Speaker 1: 30:11

Yeah, i played that. I would play that with my boys, i don't know, when they were like nine, 10 years old, and it was fun. Yeah, it was one of those games where it was hard enough to challenge you, but it was easy enough that you could, like do well on it.

Speaker 3: 30:22

That's exactly. Yeah, I think I think you nailed it, because that was part of it was like, yeah, it could be fun for an adult to play it with their child, But it wasn't too frustrating for the child to still try to get through it. And so, yeah, they did. They've done such a good job there, Like for like they were also like trying to get into board games and like they're trying to do other things And like the board games were a failure too, because it just wasn't what people came to Lego for. You know, it's not their thing.

Speaker 2: 30:51

They try to expand to into too many things, exactly, yeah, yeah, i can see that happening.

Speaker 3: 30:56

Yeah, and so so just to get back to you know like, sorry, the question you were asking me related to licensing licensing.

Speaker 3: 31:06

Like, yeah, i'm not directly in contact with Lego, but they are not. They're not just a manufacturer, right? They are a distributor. And so you know they want target to sell lots of their product. Just, they want Walmart to sell lots of their product. And they also then have relationships with independent resellers And so they have like a second party distributor for the United States And so you can establish a wholesale relationship with them And then they have a fair use policy around their IP. That they're like again, like we want target to say the name Lego and to advertise it and to sell it. We just don't want them to pretend like they are Lego, you know, and that's that. That trickles all the way down to any any kind of reseller.

Speaker 2: 31:54

So you've had to do research and stuff on this.

Speaker 3: 31:56

I mean, this is like.

Speaker 2: 31:56

I mean, people listen to this podcast. You know they're, they're trying to start something that they want to do. You know, and, and a lot of times I tell people hey, you know, don't just you got to be passionate about something that gets you through the tough times, but you can't be passionate about something that doesn't have a market.

Speaker 3: 32:13

That's right.

Speaker 2: 32:13

Like I can be passionate about wigs Yeah exactly. You know or something, yeah, but where's the market for it? You know, it's like you know maybe there's no market for it, so why would I go into that market? But and actually we had a lady on that was doing really good with wigs- I believe that He's selling them a target and stuff.

Speaker 2: 32:30

But? but it's like, if I'm not passionate about that thing, or if I am passionate about it, it doesn't have a market. See, you are passionate, yeah, but it also has a market. Yeah, there's a brand We've already talked about that. It's established. You did your research, you went out there and found out Hey, what do I need to do to open this thing? How do I make it different? How do I differentiate it? But then, on top of that, let's look at where the trend is going for retail. That's right. Where can I get ahead of that trend? That's right.

Speaker 2: 33:00

Or be part of the trend changing. Yes, And people don't always think about this stuff when they think about, you know, starting a business. If you could give some of these folks you know, based on some of the stuff, maybe I said yeah just give people some some sense.

Speaker 2: 33:15

And you've been in business for a while and you've you've done some really cool stuff throughout your career. Yep, but get talk to people a little bit about being an entrepreneur and the upside, the downside, the research. you know the passion, some of those things that you've come across since you've done this.

Speaker 3: 33:33

Yeah, for sure, you know. I think you made a really good point about trends. you know, like the easiest way to illustrate, you know, whether you want to be you never want to be looking toward the past, like you always want to be looking ahead, and the easiest way to illustrate is that that is like if I was telling you right now I'm going to open up a poppet store. It's like, do you know what poppets are?

Speaker 2: 34:00

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 34:01

It's like I'm sorry, but like you're already too late, like you've already missed it Yep, you're looking, you're already like trying to grab onto a dying thing, that you are now going to have to pivot to something else, because when you talk about market, is the market there? The market was there and it was a flash in the pan, and now it's going to move on to the next thing.

Speaker 2: 34:21

Like fidget spinners, or that was fidget spinners.

Speaker 3: 34:23

You know, and it's like you have to make sure you're not just trying to grab onto the latest thing that you think is the latest thing, because before you know it it's gone, and so that was part of it, was the calculus was looking at Lego This is a brand that has existed for 90 years and the public conscious it's more of the past 40 years And so that was definitely a part of it where I was looking at and say, yeah, this, this actually is something that you can build a brand upon.

Speaker 1: 34:54

But just yeah, it goes back to. It. Just goes back to it's amazing Nobody's done this before. Because it is a, it is like a legacy brand. I mean, right, legos have been around for so long.

Speaker 3: 35:05

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:06

And not, and not. And it had so much success with different concepts in terms of bringing people to locations to purchase or play with or whatever They're they're, they're product. Yeah, again, i'm stuck. I can't. I can't believe it. This is a thing. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 35:24

I know, i know I hear you, I really do. But beyond that too, the, the, uh, you know it. It is important and we we're touching on it when looking at if you're going to try to build a brand or build your own brand off of an existing brand or an existing IP. You do have to be careful, right Like there. There are risks there because, uh, it's not my brand, right, So there are things that I can't do. That's why it's not called the Lego cafe, by the way. I don't know if we've ever said the name yet but it's going to be called the name.

Speaker 3: 36:00

For God's sake, it's going to be called the brickery, yeah, so which is a great, a great name.

Speaker 2: 36:06

I actually liked that better than if it was branded the Lego cafe. Right, yeah.

Speaker 1: 36:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:10

Because now you have a separate thing that you could build. You have separate IP, you have a separate name that you can build up without having to worry about paying them a licensing fee or any of that weird stuff for their name. The brickery What's the brickery Like?

Speaker 1: 36:24

it's not just about the Legos. It's about family time It's about.

Speaker 2: 36:28

You know it's about doing a lot of other things. You know somebody could have a drink there before the movie, or whatever. Yeah, And imagine one day when there's another Lego movie out. What's everybody going to want to do? They're going to come there before, even without a Lego movie at the AMC there There's going to be people that want to go there before the movie with their kids or after the movie I mean you could spend a whole day at Newport on a levy now, yeah, I mean if we had been open for the to coincide with this Mario.

Speaker 1: 36:53

Oh, my goodness Yeah.

Speaker 3: 36:55

You know, like that's the other thing with Legos that they have, they have access to all the largest fandoms already. And so, yeah, like they have tons of Mario sets right now, they have Star Wars, disney, marvel, harry Potter any kind of fandom you would want to have access to, you already do, and they always have, like the coolest version of the toy for that brand And so like, all of that's good And but I, but I would like you know caution, any listener, you definitely do have to be careful when you're working with existing IP. If you were like I want to, you know, make bangles, shirts you like, technically can't, yeah, unless you engage with them and become lice and license through them, right. And so there are hoops that you need to make sure that you're jumping through, because, yeah, of course you could be doing that as a side hustle on Etsy, you know, for a few months, at a certain level, but if you ever wanted to move beyond that, you're eventually going to get on their radar and they're not going to be.

Speaker 2: 37:53

They'll send you a cease and desist letter and yeah tell you that it's going to cost you the monies Exactly.

Speaker 3: 37:59

Exactly So. So I just do want to to mention that, like uh and that is something that's unique about this is that, yeah, we are tied to the Cypion, so I do have to be careful in certain respects, um, and like certain things, like they protect their brand too. Like all of their largest sets they try to, they try to, they try to treat as uh exclusives, like I wouldn't be able to get them wholesale through their distributor. So, uh, they do some brand protection there. That uh is, you know, makes good sense on there, and I totally get why, um, but it's not, it's not something that you can't overcome, Um, but it's definitely something to look at.

Speaker 3: 38:37

But what I found on this journey again, you know, like, uh, i was looking back through my texts. Like, uh, it was like almost a year to the day, uh, like a couple of weeks ago, for me ever like having this idea. And then I texted a friend right away that morning And, um, you know, like I had never engaged with like this level of entrepreneurship and I mean, it's an investment for sure.

Speaker 2: 39:46

Put some money out there, That's right.

Speaker 3: 39:47

I'll talk about that in a second, but yeah for sure, But, but you know, like, so there was a huge learning curve, Um, but it was. It was important to see that, like, the resources are there, Um, you know like, there's all kinds of resources within the city that you can engage with. Uh, you know like, especially if you're going into a brick and mortar spot, that's a whole other beast, right? Uh, you know like, uh, it was it totally a game changer to engage with a retail broker, uh, uh, real estate broker for, for retail or for commercial. And then, um, you know, on top of that it was, but part of it was like, you know, just, I think it came across that this was something I actually believed in, that I had done the work or the research, and like, uh, you know, I, I engage with one of the largest establishments in the city and they took me seriously the whole time.

Speaker 2: 40:44

You know like, North American properties right.

Speaker 3: 40:47

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 40:47

And that's, that's who owns the. Yeah, that's right. Newport and Levy. Yeah, you know, like, and like, you're doing them a favor, whether, like, let's be honest, you're doing them a favor, i know but but there's that, there's always.

Speaker 3: 40:56

you know, like, like with anything in life, there's that imposter syndrome where it's like I'm just some guy who had an idea, like why are they taking me so seriously? But you know, like, instead of psyching myself out or being like you know, this is crazy, like it was just like yeah, maybe this is a good idea. And and I really kept coming back to and I'm not trying to say it in a denigrating way, but it is just the actual truth It's like dumber people with worse ideas or opening businesses.

Speaker 2: 41:21

Oh, that's 100% true.

Speaker 3: 41:23

Every single, 100% true people.

Speaker 2: 41:26

It, just it's true.

Speaker 3: 41:27

So if they could do it, why not me? You know, like, yeah, like someone I like I don't know And I'm sorry if you're listening to this dude but someone open up like a beef jerky store in Westchester And like I'm sorry if he was your friend, but it's like I don't know, i don't know any beef jerky Sure, i don't drink Yeah. Like shock of all shocks. It's not there anymore. You know, like I don't know if the market demanded a standalone beef jerky store, Like that's what it was.

Speaker 1: 41:53

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 41:54

And it's like but someone like they put all the time, money and all of their resources into doing that. It's like this is not a beef jerky store.

Speaker 2: 42:02

I don't even know how you turn that into an experience, like I mean, it actually goes back to your point that if it's retail it needs to be an experience. And I can't see, i can't even think and I'm pretty good at like just putting things together sometimes Like I can't think of how you turn beef jerky into an experience, like I guess you could dehydrate it there yourself, but that takes hours, so it's like that It takes you long.

Speaker 2: 42:25

You're going to sit there and watch beef jerky dry out. It's like watching paint dry, watching paint dry. I don't. I gotta get started on it into something, but yeah. So I mean you're doing Newport and Olivia Favour And this is going to be an experience. This is going to be something people take their kids to. They sit down with a set right Like they can open up a Harry Potter set. Yep. That's right, and build Hogwarts right there with their family. And they can actually rent time and rent the set.

Speaker 2: 42:51

That's right They don't have to buy the set Mom and dad, you don't have to go home and worry about toys being all over the floor and worry about stepping on Legos. Yeah, Yeah, don't, don't worry about that. Yeah. Just go in here and rent the set.

Speaker 3: 43:00

Leave the mess with us.

Speaker 2: 43:01

Yeah, and they'll actually do it. But we also talked about, by the way, how much is that Like? let's talk a little bit about, like pricing, yeah.

Speaker 3: 43:08

I mean for sure That's that's a big part of it is that you know, like I don't know if you look lately, but Legos are super expensive. They really are Like there's no way around it. Like the Hogwarts castle, which is huge, it's, you know, it would basically take up this whole table, but it's five, It's literally $500,. You know, woo, yeah, you know you get. You get 5,000 pieces, so then they're usually the, the, the math that you're supposed to do on it, on it is like, if it's 10 cents per piece, which is what that comes out to, right, then that's pretty good value if you're into Legos. But you know, like, yeah, if you're not, that's a $500 for a toy, regardless of of for many people.

Speaker 3: 43:52

And so that was part of it too, where it was like, yeah, like I don't, a lot of people don't know if they want to invest that much in something like this. And so, yeah, maybe if it was the Hogwarts castle, if we had, like we would trade it almost like an escape room, where you know, like you have your group of four to six people and you could be building it simultaneously, and then you know, maybe it's $25 per person. But you know, like, if you love Harry Potter but you're like I don't know where I put that And I don't know if I want to spend that right now And you have other friends that do as well. Then it's like, yeah, you can just come and do in the cafe for a few hours and then boom.

Speaker 1: 44:32

I could see you. I could see you have a little speed competition Oh for sure, for sure, for sure. Individual and team competitions and make it like make it almost like a league. Yeah, tuesday night, tuesday night, league night, or whatever.

Speaker 3: 44:44

Yeah, i love that idea. Basically, i was thinking of essentially doing that like just like a spin on like trivia night at a bar, where it's like instead yeah, it's like you have five teams, they each have a pile of Legos on the table and you're like all right, you got five minutes to make the best house you can make And then let the cafe vote on which one they like the best, or whatever you know. Like, just make it like almost like a game show And that's the thing, like it's a fun brand. So like the possibilities are endless.

Speaker 2: 45:14

Well, you're even working on some technology around Legos And I don't know if you want to talk about that, if it's like a secret or whatever, but when we mentioned Harry Potter, i thought of the sorting hat And then I thought of our conversation about your technology, your sorting technology.

Speaker 3: 45:29

Yeah, i had a meeting with someone yesterday and like that was the one thing that comes. It's like how is this defensible, right? Like which is a part of business, right? It's like you know, someone opened up the first axe throwing place and like how many are there now? It's like who else doesn't know how to buy axes in plywood? Like it's not, there's not that much that's actually unique to it.

Speaker 2: 45:52

I know how many are not open anymore Exactly.

Speaker 3: 45:54

That's exactly right too. Is that, like that's another thing, that it could be a fad, and so, yeah, you have to make sure you're not just doing the thing that everyone else is doing And so, but in talking about it, making it defensible, i think there is a lot of technology that could be leveraged these days, especially like we talked about it, talking about the thing that everyone's talking about, ai and machine learning, and there's a lot that could be leveraged there. I mentioned it before the Lego CAD. There's actually already proofs of concept on YouTube or in other places where people have built automatic Lego sorting machines using things like TensorFlow, which is the machine learning language, and then just using actual Legos to build the machine because they're super robust. Any school that has a robotics club they're using Lego.

Speaker 2: 46:51

That's true. Yeah, I've seen it. Yeah, they totally do.

Speaker 3: 46:54

It's easy and immediate And you just get results quick from it, and so you can. That's the nice thing about Lego If you don't have it, you could build it out of what you are already working with, and so, yeah, you build this machine, and that would be one place where I think we could add some defensibility. That would be a little bit harder to replicate is to have some kind of automatic sorting machine. That would help us to cut down on the human capital costs. But more, i would almost treat it as a spectacle, as something that classes could come for field trips and see how it works, and we could talk about how it works and how we got it up and running.

Speaker 3: 47:33

But then, beyond that too, i think there's also an app right now called Brickit that I'm hoping to partner with, and it's amazing Like you dump, pile Legos on the table, take a picture of it, it will scan the picture And then we'll instantly tell you how many Legos there are, exactly to the number. Then it will tell you exactly how many of each you have right there in the pile, and then it'll tell you. It'll give you a list of 10 different things that you could build with that pile of Legos that you have in front of you. Oh wow, yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:08

Dude, that's pretty cool. Brickit, Yeah, maybe you could tie that into potentially hardware. That's right. Yeah, that's. oh, that's really cool. That would make it.

Speaker 1: 48:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:18

And if you had like an exclusive agreement with them or something, oh, you would be doing really really good, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 48:25

So I'm looking at that And then that is somewhere like things like that. Then could also maybe tie into a subscription model, because obviously having some kind of passive recurring revenue is what everyone's looking for these days.

Speaker 2: 48:37

You should totally have a club, exactly That. People join like a Lego Builders Club, that's right. Classes Yeah, they come in and they get, yeah, so many hours or something a month that they can come in and do their thing. They get a free drink, that's right, yeah.

Speaker 3: 48:50

Oh man, Yeah. So I think that there's a lot of opportunity there. We just have to make sure, And that was the thing again, I was just like. I wanted to provide this high quality experience that matched what Lego's already doing. Like there are they. About 10 years ago, they tried to trademark the brick itself. Oh, They already have a patent on it, but they tried to trademark it And basically they lost. That's wild.

Speaker 2: 49:17

And how did Ohio stake it? The like they, they, they trademarked the word the and Lego can't even trademark the brick. I know they made it.

Speaker 3: 49:26

Well, they did it. They, that's another story, but but yeah, they, they couldn't. And so, like everyone knows, there's already like mega blocks or there's, there's the knockoffs, but there are. there are literally probably a hundred knockoffs at this point. They're, you know, they're countless Chinese knockoffs of Lego that are a fraction of the price. If it's Hogwarts castle, then they call it wizards castle and only costs $100, but it's just as many pieces. But why have they persevered? Why have they sustained throughout this? It's because you, they're, you can't match the quality, you just can't.

Speaker 2: 50:00

I don't want your bootleg wizard castle. That's right. You got to have the Harry Potter castle.

Speaker 3: 50:03

And who's going to?

Speaker 2: 50:04

get the licensing deal. That's exactly. It's going to be Lego.

Speaker 3: 50:07

That's right, but but it's still like you can even feel it instantly. You can feel that it's inferior, like if it's a knockoff Lego, and it feels so silly but that kind of ties into it. Like I was, i was watching an interview with Howard Schultz where it was like the the Starbucks CEO.

Speaker 2: 50:24

Yeah, oh, it wasn't the con congressional hearing. Yeah, No, no, no, no, and that one Okay.

Speaker 3: 50:28

This was before all that. He was just saying you know, like he, he, he prefers to be in the luxury space because price is a losing game. Like you, just, you're not going to be able to.

Speaker 2: 50:39

Yeah, you're going to keep going down. You're pricing yourself out of business.

Speaker 3: 50:43

It's it Like that's, it's a, it's a losing game. So like, if you're, if you're living in the luxury aisle, where it's like you know, you'll have a million coffee stops, tell you that there's a million coffee places that make better coffee than Starbucks. But why? why are they on every single corner? It's it's because they've they've branded themselves as this luxury brand and they're able to still charge, you know, $6 for a coffee, and they have a subscription model. And they have a subscription model Exactly. Yeah, and and and so.

Speaker 2: 51:12

I get alerts on my phone all the time that if I buy two coffees on Tuesday or something, that I'm going to get an extra a hundred points.

Speaker 1: 51:19

And I'm like.

Speaker 2: 51:19

Oh, that's not bad. That'll come handy when I'm out of, when I'm down at a Disney or something and I need to get a cheap coffee my points.

Speaker 3: 51:26

Thanks for gamifying my caffeine addiction.

Speaker 2: 51:28

That's exact, yeah, and sugar, which they're the biggest drug dealers on earth.

Speaker 3: 51:31

Let's be honest.

Speaker 2: 51:32

That's right Yeah.

Speaker 3: 51:33

Yeah, so I I just think you know there's a lot of things that that you want to be aware of And, like you need to think about, yeah, how do you want to engage in the space that you're trying to engage, but but, like, when thinking about being an entrepreneur, the thing that's really just been so amazing about this journey has been, you know, like I was also a part of the corporate world for for a decade And the diff, the main difference, and this was my issue with it was that is that, like you know, the amount of effort that you put in in a corporate world, like the output is never going to be the same.

Speaker 2: 52:15

I mean, I threw up a little bit in my mouth when you said corporate world, I just almost my stomach churned and then I got sick. It's the absolute worst.

Speaker 3: 52:25

It's the worst And it's like, yeah, like everyone knows, everyone knows, like we all know that what we're doing is basically useless. If you're a cog in this massive machine and if you stop doing it, basically nothing would change. That's a terrible feeling. It really is, and like that is part of that, like that where, like it's, it just feels like toil, like which is just doing something for nothing, did you?

Speaker 2: 52:54

ever read that report. I think it was a college professor, somebody put it out, said like a certain percentage of employees at a big corporation are essentially useless, yeah, like they're just there to, to beef up the numbers and make the company seem like it's bigger, or something like that I mean the.

Speaker 3: 53:09

did the tech industry just prove that Like 100%? AI just laid off 250,000 people in the past three months And somehow all these companies are still operating. Ai is writing their code. Well, yeah, And even before that.

Speaker 2: 53:22

Elon. I mean he came out and said it. He was like look, it's like it turns out. you know there were three times as many people at Twitter than there needed to be. That's right. Twitter is still running right now, and now somehow it's a political thing. I don't get it.

Speaker 1: 53:34

Well, they didn't need to be there They didn't need to be there.

Speaker 3: 53:36

That's right. But that that's that issue where it's like you know, if I put in 50% or I put in 90%, it's not going to move the needle either way. So why would I put in 90%? and that's just trying to get back to say what I found in this journey is that, yes, of course it's been a ton of really hard work and it's going to it's only going to get worse, you know, like until eventually it will get better, but but it's not going to be worse, because the difference is I get out of it exactly what I put into it when it's my thing, right.

Speaker 3: 54:10

Yeah, i could, like I could not do this, this and this and they won't get done, and then the business will suffer. Or I can do do these things because I know how they're going to impact the business And as much effort as I put in is exactly what I'm going to get out, and that is so satisfying. Yes, It really is.

Speaker 2: 54:27

That's 100% true And I think that's what drives a lot of entrepreneurs And the thing that's interesting to me about your business. So what you just did was we're going into a recession, or a lot of people say we've been in a recession and two economic quarters of negative GDP, but some people doubt it. But people have less money. That's right now, at this moment, you could say you can argue recession or not? People got less money. That's correct. Do I get that Kings Island membership?

Speaker 2: 54:55

Do I take my kids to Kings Island on a day pass and spend you know, $100 ahead with food and everything. Yeah, Four people, there's 400 bucks. That's a $400 day.

Speaker 3: 55:05

That's right.

Speaker 2: 55:06

Do I take them to Newport and Levy Yep? Go in and sit down for a couple hours and try to build the Hogwarts Castle? maybe four hours for the Hogwarts Castle? Sure Sounds like some time involved there.

Speaker 3: 55:17

It would definitely be the best, But yeah and then go see a movie. That's right.

Speaker 2: 55:20

And spend less money And then also, at the same time, instead of spending $500 on that set, yeah, i can come in the kids crying I want the set, i want the set. Yeah, just sit down and let's just do it, yeah. And then maybe the kids spend half the you know an hour doing it and gets bored with it or something and wants to leave.

Speaker 1: 55:36

Well, good thing I didn't spend the $500 on the set right, like what was I doing?

Speaker 2: 55:41

I was about to spend all this money, you know. But whether or not they do it or the kid loves the set Yeah, that's the other thing. I love it. Hey, we spent an hour doing it. We'll finish this up at home. give us the $500 set and off we go. That's right. But this is changing things for people, right. This is giving people other options for entertainment. Yes, that is also, at the same time, an economic development play for the city of Newport, and Newport on the levee in particular. Yeah, that's drawing people in and giving them another thing to do in Cincinnati. I think it's freaking brilliant.

Speaker 3: 56:15

I appreciate it, i really do. Another thing there is accessibility. where it's, like you know, that is so far out of the range for so many families that I do like to come in at a lower price point where they can play with it without having to buy it. Like I'd love to make Lego in general more accessible to underserved families or communities where, yeah, it's probably not something that they typically get to play with.

Speaker 2: 56:40

Oh, that's true. Yeah, i mean I like I'd play with people in my apartment buildings Legos, because we never had any Legos.

Speaker 3: 56:46

Sure, exactly, yeah, so I think there's just a lot there where it's, you know, i'm hoping that it's a net good for the community. And yeah, i just want it to be something that's, you know, beyond just this, like I don't want it to be the next axe throwing, and I think, hopefully, the difference is that, yeah, this is a brand that's endured and is in the public psyche in general, and and then this is going to be something that it's going to be more like you know, like more, something more like Starbucks where, like no one knew they needed to go out and spend six dollars by coffee because they're brood and folders, but they've now found that they still don't experience.

Speaker 3: 57:30

I hear you right, but but they found that, that they enjoy that experience, and then that's something that has now endured and has has grown in general as something that's just a part of our public fabric now.

Speaker 2: 57:44

Well, Kyle Stevie wants to know when he can get down there with his daughter and start building some Lego. So yeah, So when? when do we? when do we get to go down there? When do the doors open?

Speaker 3: 57:52

That's a great question. I'll just tell you real quick. We we just submitted for permitting this week. We are actually still pre construction. The space used to be Claire's in the main building And so now it's. It's basically a gutted area, and so we do have construction still ahead of us, but it's not nothing too crazy. So we're looking at eight to 10 weeks after permitting gets approved. So right now that's putting us hopefully at the end of July, and if not, then then hopefully August, or if not, then then it should be August, and so, yeah, we're hoping to be open before the end of the summer for sure.

Speaker 2: 58:26

Man is awesome. Well, dana, thanks for being on the show man, this is great. You know is a website anything else People can just kind of make plans I mean based on that timeline like, yes, they go to the website, they can check it out. learn a little bit more.

Speaker 3: 58:40

Absolutely Yeah, so you can go to the brickery cafecom And then we will have. You know, we're gonna have birthday parties there as well, so if that's something you want to look into, we don't have a booking system up yet on the website, but we will ahead of opening. And then, in addition to that, we're super active on social media, but not in a way that's super annoying, just trying to lighten your day a little bit. And so, yeah, if you want to follow us anywhere Facebook, instagram, tiktok, twitter then you can just look for the brickery cafe and we should come up.

Speaker 2: 59:17

Daniel has been awesome. man, daniel Johnson, guys entrepreneur of the brickery gonna be an awesome fun experience for the family. You guys get down there and check it out. Thanks, daniel.

Speaker 3: 59:27

Yeah, thanks.

Speaker 1: 59:28

I'm excited, I still cannot believe, Like every, every parent who's listening to this right now is like are you fucking kidding me? Nobody's done this yet.

Speaker 2: 59:43

I know I know I'm sorry, soon, kyle, soon, kyle, cool. Well, daniel, thanks a lot. Kyle, thanks, and yeah, get back home safe man. Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of Side Hustle City. Well, you've heard from our guests. Now let's hear from you. Join our community on Facebook, side Hustle City. It's a group where people share ideas, share their inspirational stories and motivate each other to be successful and turn their side hustle into their main hustle. We'll see you there And we'll see you next week on the show. Thank you.