S2, E23: Angie Amundsen Risked Everything to Build Utah's Most Instagrammable Brunch Spot

A pink, flower-filled brunch cafe in Woods Cross sounds like it came from a mood board, but the real story starts with something way less glamorous: an 18-year-old handing out flyers and landing 27 house cleaning clients. Angie, the founder of Plated Dreams, walks us through the long road from early responsibility and nonstop work to building one of the most distinctive brunch experiences in Utah. If you care about small business, restaurant entrepreneurship, or creating spaces that pull people together, this conversation gets refreshingly real. 

We dig into the behind-the-scenes decisions most guests never see: why Utah restaurant hours and closed days matter more than you think, how a 1031 exchange creates a do-or-die timeline, and what it takes to look at an old McDonalds and a Wells Fargo and see a community development instead of a mess. Angie also shares the pivot from a children’s play center concept to a retail hub, plus the hard lesson she watched play out with tenants: you cannot open a business and not be there. 

From there, we get into Plated Dreams itself: designing a London-inspired space that feels like you “left Utah for an hour,” building a from-scratch brunch menu that evolves with customers, and pricing food honestly when you are buying raw ingredients and making everything to order. We also talk about the emotional side of hospitality, handling harsh reviews, and why giving a team the chance to make things right matters. Angie closes with what she’s building next with the Brunch Club and a wild Mother’s Day win: 421 guests on 35 tables in five and a half hours. 

If you enjoy founder stories, Utah food and drink, or practical lessons on running a restaurant, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Transcript

First Hustles And Big Ambition

SPEAKER_02 0:53

I ended up having 27 people call me back to clean their houses. That's kind of that was my first business at 18. I did that from 18 to 21. You can't just open a business and not be there. It's blood, sweat, and tears, and it's every waking hour in order to make it work, especially from the beginning, especially for new businesses, especially for new concepts. I still kind of felt like I need to do something. I need to do something for myself. I need to do something for our community. I was kind of like, why don't we just do our own thing? Why don't you let me do a restaurant? There's not gonna be anything like it in Utah, and we're gonna do it right. So no cutting corners. The flowers will bring you in, but the food will bring you back. Trying to create this space was really about the experience. Bringing people together, being able to forget about the outside world for the moment that you're here. What do you see? McDonald's.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah, I mean your business on Utah you're either closed on Sundays or Mondays. Mondays because of good old family home evening, and then Sundays because Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Tuesday for a close day. Um we are busier on Mondays. A lot of well, so if we go back to the very beginning, we were closed on a Monday. And um a lot of federal holiday holidays fall. See, that's where I get like can't get the word out. I know what I need to say. Um, a lot of federal holidays are obviously on a Monday. So we were missing out a lot of business. Um, we were seeing the cars pull up because we were we have our office a couple doors down, so yeah, we're here on site, um, and the customers were coming and we were open. So then we went. It's nice that you're back there because you're like, hold on. I'm like, can I get you a Coke?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

It's like Amazon delivery, or you want some I can make you a latte.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

It might not be the best, but I can definitely make it if you want it.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

I mean, as long as you know how. I mean, uh, if you're gonna buy a Lombarmore. If you're gonna buy a Lawnmower's Oco, you should probably know how to run the Longworth. All right. Fun fact, actually, when I was in so I used to do investment banking, and one of the companies we were trying to sell at one point was Longworth's oco. And so anytime I go to a coffee shop at a spot, I'm like, all right, you know what you do?

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Yes. I desperately approval didn't know what I was doing. Isn't that the beauty? Like, that's the beauty. I've learned. I've learned I I'm not great at it, but I've

Choosing Hours And A Closed Day

SPEAKER_02 3:09

definitely learned for the most part how to do it. I have to, I have to, I have to learn. I have to be able to jump into any spot for breeches doesn't show up. Who am I calling? Oh, you're busy today? Okay, I guess I'm jumping in to do this.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

And that was uh, I was talking to Can't think his last name. His name is Mike. He's the GM of Slackwater in Salt Lake, and so he didn't come from like a uh restaurant background. He came from, he was actually like the manager of an Apple store.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

And then he was supposed to go to Japan during the Olympics to open up a store there, and then they're like, the COVID happens, they're like, Hey, we actually don't need you anymore. His buddy's like, hey, don't I come manage this restaurant? They're like, sure. And then he's like, Cool, I have to learn everything. So he would just go if like from the bees, like, oh, I'm gonna be a host. I'm gonna be server, I'm gonna go cook, I'm gonna go like just do everything.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Every position, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Otherwise, how can you manage it all?

SPEAKER_02 3:55

I can't. I although I won't get on the line. Um, I can't boil water. Kidding. Just kidding. No, the line um we get people in that um apply to work on that position, and I always tell them it's more like swimming in an ocean of sharks versus like sitting on the beach with a cocktail. Like it is intense, it's hard, it's not for everybody. So that's one thing I don't do is the line, but every other position I can jump in and out.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Yeah. Which you sh which you shouldn't. But like that's one thing, like everyone I got like graduated, like, because I worked at the Red Robin in college and then graduated and then went on to work, and I was like, I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that. Like because like the like the stress of restaurants is so different because it's like so in the moment, and then when it's over, it's done. Whereas like stress now is like, hey, did you want to go to sleep? How about you think about this for a while and how if you have to do that, or like Sunday scaries, or like all like the different kind of stress? And sometimes I'm like, you know what? Actually, take me back there. Well, yeah, I would load you, just leave it there, have it be over, and move on.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

As an employee.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yes, as an employee.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Not as the employer.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Yeah, that's a little bit more stressful that way.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

That stuff definitely doesn't ever stop. You wake up in the morning and it's like, what do I need to do? Or what didn't we do, or what didn't get done, or what we were supposed to have our US foods delivery today. It was uh set for three o'clock. And I was like, Yeah, we close it too, so you're gonna have to bring that on Wednesday because we're closed tomorrow. Yep. So they get to go and unload the truck with our delivery to load it back up to bring it back to us on Wednesday.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

I I feel like today's been a weird day, like because like my garbage always Monday, 9 a.m. sometime between 8 50 and 9 a.m., like clockwork. And I was getting ready to leave and I was like, why is my garbage full? Like that's not supposed to happen, and I checked like everybody else's, I'm like, Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

So that's what we were hit with today's well with it be a busier day. It is uh Juneteen. Um it's being observed from some businesses today instead of Friday. Like, for instance, DABS is closed today instead of Friday. Yes. And some banks might be closed today. I don't know for sure, but some businesses are definitely closed today, so it's it was very busy this morning. We'll see what happens on Friday, but it's such a weird day. Like it's not a federal. I don't know who's observing it today because the banks were open.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

So like I know the University of Utah is being observed today. So just kind of like a weird, like again, again, that's why we're looking on Mondays is because for some reason all the holidays always are off on Monday. Yep, yep. So that made sense. Because I mean you always assume that if you have your business in Utah, you're to close on Sundays or Mondays. Yeah. Mondays because of good old family home evening, and then Sundays because Sundays.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Exactly. But Sunday being a brunch restaurant is one of our busier days from 10:30 when liquor starts. Yes. Imbounble. On laws in Woodscross. Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

But no, I'm excited, Angie. It's um, I always love people who build spaces and experiences that are so unique because like so much of the restaurant business these days, like it's not just this job of like, hey, time to be fed. It's like, hey, I want to go have an experience with my friends, I want to be able to have a great experience together, take pictures, have a good time. I mean, phone eats first, rather than just like, hey, I just need sustenance. And so, I mean, even just like being in this place, it's like I was joking when I was setting up because I mean, nine times out of ten, I kind of know where I was setting up, I know the background, I know how it all is, but now it's like, oh, fun. We have flower backdrops and pink booths and neon slides.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Yes, something different for sure. Um, I think with going back to the beginning and trying to create this space was really about the experience, um, bringing people together, being able to forget about the outside world uh for the moment that you're here, the moments. Um pulling the phone out, taking all the pictures, but putting the phone away after so you really enjoy the people that you're with.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Yeah. Yep. But I want to hear about everything that happened before because you're from this area. I am. Which I mean, I mean, it's always so stereotypical of Utah, like whether you are somewhere or leave it, then come back to the same place or there forever. Exactly. So talk to me about that. I mean, you're from here, had that experience, and then left. But I mean, I mean, I can't imagine this was the dream forever, but yeah, I'm not up to that.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

I ne I it's kind of funny when I think about it being a dream. I don't, even though it's called plated dreams, um, I wouldn't say it was ever a dream, like I'm gonna open a restaurant. Um, but if we go back to the beginning growing up here in Utah, um

Designing An Experience Beyond Food

SPEAKER_02 8:08

family family life was split between different b uh homes. My parents were split. So was that mom's house, dad's house, grandparents' house, very um 80s and 90s, where this is where I'm like, okay, but what what was it like? Um a split between the families and uh maybe maybe we were kind of left to our own. So um I was my parents were both working. Um I was looking after my younger brothers and sisters, and I um I have an older brother, but he really actually lived at our grandparents' house. Um my grandfather fell ill, and so he was helping Gran to to be there for for my grandfather. Um and I was the oldest, so with parents both being ab house um full-time, has kind of left to take care of the little ones. Um that is something that I did uh until I was about

Growing Up Fast And Working Early

SPEAKER_02 9:07

12, 13 years old, and then my first job actually was for a lady named Denise Montgomery. Um, she owns the kid care company, so it's quite funny because she had a daycare, but she trusted me as a 12-year-old to finish junior high, grandma pick me up, um, take me up to Denise's house, and I would look after her six kids, which one of them was a newborn baby. Like, Denise, what were you thinking?

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yeah. You're fine, have a good one, I'll be back. Yeah, I'll be back.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

We'll be home at six. Um, that was that was really, really great. So started started working at a very young age. Actually, even if we go back one step before that, uh, and again, I don't even know how this was legal, but um, we went to pick up some t-shirts the other day, and the building that we went to down the road, um, my first job, I was like, holy, am I allowed to swear? Holy shit. Um, like I worked in this building when I was like 12 years old at a company called Photogenics. Like, we did cold call cold calling um of families to come in and take uh to get their family photos taken. And that was very short-lived. Um, that was a couple of weeks. Um anyway, stopped doing that, went to Denise's, looked after her kids uh for about four years. Yeah. Um at 16, I Did you enjoy that?

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Do you feel like because like I imagine if you're the child who's the one that's kind of like the second parent, because like my I was the baby, my oldest sister was like the second parent. If you're trying to keep up with everything life throws at you work, workouts, long runs, rounds of golf, whatever it might be, having your nutrition dialed matters. That's why I use gnarly nutrition from supporting my recovery to fueling performance and helping me feel good no matter what I've got going on. And even better, they're located right here in Utah. Whether you're in the gym, on the trail, or just trying to get through your day, gnarly has you covered. Check them out through the link in the description to see why they've become part of my daily routine. And to be like, okay, you're the second parent. Now you're gonna go be a babysitter, which is another form of a parent, just to get off there and come be the parent again. Yes. I see how that could be exhausting.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Uh, yes, yeah. I mean, it I guess it was fun because it was, it wasn't my brothers and sisters now, it was more somebody else's kids. It felt like um a lot of responsibility, you know, making sure that they all got home from school, making sure that homework was done or started, um, cleaning up any little messes that were happening and um cooking mackerel cheese.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

So that's what I could do.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Some mac and cheese, definitely. Uh Brittany, the the daughter, she still remembers the way that I would make mac and cheese. Apparently, it was extra creamy. So I don't know. I don't know how I did that. Maybe just extra milk.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

How it I wouldn't complain. If someone hands me extra creamy mac and cheese, I'm not like sending this back or like, no, thanks. No, we definitely don't eat mac and cheese from a box anymore. But like I can relate that to you because like my parents split up when I was 10. And my older sisters being one was like when she was gonna be a senior in high school. My other sister was a freshman in high school, and I was in fifth grade, and so I was just kind of like, all right, well, I guess like see you guys. And my mom was working a ton because she was now a single mom um pediatrician working nights at like the new one ICU, and so I'd just be home alone a lot, and I'd be always go to friends' houses, or I would I mean it was like that time of life where it's like, oh, I'll just hop on my bike and go there. I'll hop on my bike and do this, or I'll stay home. And it's like funny in hindsight because like it's I always I didn't realize until like my late 20s, like 30s, where I was like, Oh, like I've always been a lone wolf. I've always been the person who can just kind of like find with myself, find with my thoughts, find being alone, but can like also like take care of myself. Like I always would rather be with other people, but like push comes a shove, like I'm good.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Right, yeah, yeah. Probably relatable where I was left left to figure things out. Um at 16 I chose to eat home. Uh that's a whole nother story, which we don't need to really get into. Um that lasted two years. Um at 18 moved back home. There's my husband. Um at 18 moved back home and was uneducated and um didn't really want to go back to school. So uh it was during the winter Olympics in Etop. And I was kind of like, okay, what do I do? Like, do I go back to school? Do I go and get a GED or do I figure out like where I'm gonna go? So I created a whole bunch of uh flyers to um pass out at what felt like mansions mean when I was 18 years old. I mean, they are still really big combs, but I passed out all these flyers at all these mansions. And you know, the funny thing is is the photos that were on these flyers were the houses that I dropped.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Like, why is this woman giving me a flyer with my ass on it?

unknown 14:22

Who was that?

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Um, anyway, so I ended up having um 27 people call me back um to clean their houses. So that's kind of that was my first business at 18. Um, I did that from 18 to 21. And uh just yeah, clean people's houses and was charging $25 an hour, uneducated. Um, and this was back in what two thousand when they went to a little bit toyer.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Which is like I will, I mean, yeah, like I said, I'll always admire those people that have the gumption to say, how am I gonna make this better? Because it would have been easy to do kind of what I would say probably like the most safe thing to do is like, okay, go get your GED, just kind of do go through, go back to the path and connect to the dots as much as you can. But you're like, you know what? I'm gonna go out on a limb. I'm gonna go pass out flyers, like to so many people that age don't. Like it's usually so much of like a help me, I don't know what to do, and have someone kind of like tell you what to do, or like just give you the step by step of what to do. But instead, you're like, cool, I'm gonna go put out flyers, I'm gonna be actionable. And next thing I know, I'm I have all these people calling me back and I'm making more than I mean, I mean, if you're 18 to 21, like when people then is like, oh boy, making 10 bucks an hour, you're probably crashing it. You're like, actually, a fun fact, yeah, I'm doing a lot better than that. And did you like well? I mean, I guess at that point, like you really only had that experience of working as a babysitter or whatever's going on during that time, so it's not like you had a lot of things to compare it to. It was just like all I know is to go fight for myself and what I want.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

And did you feel like you enjoyed that, or do you feel like it was kind of of like just too stressful, like putting yourself out too much?

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Uh no, I mean, I I liked to organize, I liked to clean. Um, so it just it was just a sort of a natural thing. Yeah, made it.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

And then so that you said that was about like two

The Flyer Plan That Got 27 Clients

SPEAKER_00 16:04

or three years.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

I mean, then I did that from 18 to 21. Um, 21 I met my husband um on match.com. Um his I was here in Woods Cross. He was in the UK in a little town called Quimbrand, Wales. Um and he sent me a message um that it said, How about a spot of shopping in London? I was like, well, I was like, what? What does that even mean? Where is that? I was 21 from Woods Cross, and this was like when dial up and we have flip phones, and like the world was so big back then. Like, what does that even mean, right? Um, so, anyways, you know, it was fun. It's like, yeah, hey, cool, who are you? What does this mean? And and we just started talking and we talked for three months online, and then I packed back and went to the UK, booked my ticket for four days. Chris had booked my ticket for four days. I got detained when I landed in London. Uh, they thought I was gonna be trafficked. Like, they're like, nobody comes here for four days. Um, and funny story, Chris was actually traveling uh from uh Dublin. He had gone for like a rugby tour to Dublin, um, and he flew in to Gatwick Airport, and I flew in and I landed before him. So when he landed, they questioned him because I was like, well, he's gonna be landing, so you can speak with this guy.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Like, perfect. It's all set up. We're gonna arrest him, we'll send you back home. Tell your mama. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Exactly. Yep. Um, anyway, so he came through. He tells the story way better than me, but I was waiting on that side of those doors to open, and uh the doors open, and I saw him walking through, and I just like ran. I was like, oh my gosh, there he is. Um, after three months of spending hours and hours on the phone. And it wasn't like free long distance back then. We were spending, well, I wasn't spinning, Chris was spending thousands of dollars on our conversations. Um, anyway, run up, jump on him, and it was kind of like the beginning. Like, we're still here 22 years later. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

And was that, I mean, how stressed did you feel about that? Because like I've run into the situation enough with people where it's like, hey, like, okay, like it's time, like either like some sort of like putting yourself out on a limb, meeting someone, especially in like that situation where it's like, I'm either gonna be trafficked or I'm gonna meet the love of my life. Terrified.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

When I got on that flight, I just remember bawling,

Match.com Love And A Risky Flight

SPEAKER_02 18:21

thinking, like, what am I doing? Like my the the last thing my mom said was that's a long way to go to get someone out of a body bag. And I was like, Yeah, yeah, I guess it is. And and again, when you're 21, you don't realize, you know, the how intense that is or how bad it could have gone. Yeah. Um I just went for it.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

And so you you meet him, you have these four days.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Um, no, so that extended to two weeks. Okay, I was gonna say Yep, that was two weeks, everything was going well. Um, came home for two weeks. And so with my clientele that I had, because I was still doing the house cleaning, um, it was basically like a bi-weekly thing. So I left them for two weeks. I came home, I got all of the houses back in order, and Chris called me and he was like, I really miss you. I was like, Yeah, I really miss you too. Cheeky of me. Um, but you're the only one that can do anything about it. He booked me a flight for the next day, which I missed. So I could go shopping at Ross. Yes. Um, yeah, I miss I missed that flight. And he had a a great night planned um when we landed, landed or when I was to land in London. Um anyway, that's again another thing. So um I made the flight the next day. This was this was like right after 2020, 209-11. 9-11. Yes. 2001. 2001. Um, so it was more like the restrictions for you had to be to the airport three hours in advance. So that was part of the problem. My flight had been canceled, and they put everybody that was there the three hours in advance on another flight that left the same day. So it wasn't that I actually missed the time, it was that I missed, I wasn't there for the three hours. I was there at two hours. So anyway, um, got the flight the next day, went over for two more weeks, came home, and then we just did that back and forth for uh a until November. Wow. Yeah, yeah. I was I'd go over for like a month at a time. Chris would come over here. Um, not for as long. He he did have um small children in the UK at the time and businesses. Um, a business rather. Um, so it was much more difficult for him to leave to come here. Um but we yeah, we did that until November, and then I moved over in November and I lived there for four years. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

What was that experience like? Did you like it being over there? Were you kind of like, oh, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Like Yeah, it was it was incredible. Um, it was it was very different from what I knew, but having traveled back and forth for those first um well, 11 months of being together, um, I sort of got um accustomed to the things that were there and the way that they sort of do things. Um and I, you know, again, I'm 21. I'm going into, um, if I dared say being a stepmom at 21, uh, we sort of knew where our relationship was going and that we wanted to do that long term. So I had a three and five-year-old and 14-year-old. Um, so that that was kind of Again back to being like a parent role.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Maybe, you know, maybe even thinking of it right this moment, if I hadn't have had those experiences, maybe that would have felt really like weird. But it just felt normal. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Yeah. And how long were you over there before eventually?

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Yeah. So we lived there. I lived there from 2004 to 2008. Um, in 2006, we started talking about moving to America. What made you guys want like, yeah, what made you come here instead of the American lifestyle, what America can provide, yeah, for sure. Compared to the UK, um, although in the UK you have Europe is like at your disposal, right? So we were traveling a lot when we were there. Um, but here in America, it was just kind of like the American dream. It didn't feel so much like you're working and like the fun that you have is you're going to the movies or you're ordering dinner. Um, that was kind of there, just wasn't a lot to do, I guess, in the area that we were in. I mean, there was definitely a lot to do, but the things that there were to do, we just didn't do them. Um, and so we just wanted to come to America, have that sort of American lifestyle, the American dream. And um the plan was we bought our home in 2006, and the the plan was to figure out when we were gonna move over. We didn't actually know when we were gonna move over. Um in 2008 it started to become a little bit more serious, and um we had sold up I don't know what this little bug is, it's trying to get us. Um 2008, we s ended up selling our business in the UK, um, which was electronic manufacturing and moving to America. Now, obviously, now we're leaving three children. Um, and so I was that there was just a lot of challenges um leading up to that, but knowing and doing everything we could to um still be there for them as much as we could. Um and two two of the boys, our our boys have ended up moving here to America with us. Um but let's see, so 2008, um, we moved here and the plan was we were gonna sell up and move to Florida, which has a I was gonna ask is you're like, Hey, ever heard of uh Woods Cross? Woods Cross, yeah. Um, no, Florida, it was kind of Chris's, I guess, ideal place, dream, God's waiting space. Um Um and the problem was when we moved, the recession hit right after.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Florida got hit pretty hard.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

And Florida got hit hard, but I mean, even with Utah, our house value went down hundreds of thousands of dollars. Um which it was a good thing for us, not for the house, but um we had sold stuff in the UK in order to move here, so we did have a lot of money, um, British pounds that converted like I think two to one back then, maybe. Um, so we ended up starting to purchase real estate. So we bought a commercial building, we bought a condo, we bought a duplex, um, we bought a cabin, we bought a home, um, we actually bought my grandmother's home. And that's kind of how um that was like 2011. So a couple of years are past. Oh yeah, we're so we're here, yeah. So that's that's exactly what we did, and that's kind of that's what brought us to America. Back and back to you know, where I grew up. It was it was safe having our home here. My sister lived there, although she was only 18, living in a 5,000 square foot home. Um it's all glass. Yeah, yeah. She, but it was, you know, we at least knew somebody was there.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

And then if you go upstairs, there's this empty room and there's this empty room.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

She definitely had a few people over. Yeah, that's how she ended up getting kicked out. Well, then I good old Facebook. Her friends posted pictures in our bedroom, and it was like, yeah, so you're gonna have to move out.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

So here's your notice you're not gonna work for us. Oh love. I feel like it's that moment in the where again, like you've had these roles that you've had of like, okay, need to take care of my family, need to take care of someone else's kids, you go there, kind of lean into this, I mean, 21-year-old stepmom life, and then come back here where like the kids stay there. I mean, uh what point did you feel like you either had something like I it would have been an easy time to go through like an identity crisis of being like, okay, like I still have my husband over here, he's in a new place, so that's like hard for him. I'm back here, which is like kind of nostalgic and like comforting, but at the same time, like I can't imagine there there's like a void that kind of needed to be filled.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

Um, definitely. And I think as the podcast is Small Lake City, it's very small. And we're going back 2008, it was much smaller then as well. Um, so coming back, coming back to where I grew up was like everybody knows each other. Um, but the the people that I knew I didn't really associate with anymore, I guess. Um, and Chris being an outsider and an outsider with an accent, that was definitely hard. It's still challenging for him to this day.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Well, and that's like one thing that's interesting about Utah that I've experienced a lot recently is because like I'm born and raised here, and I have my friends that I mean, some of them left, a lot of like most of them came back, and if they didn't leave, they're still here, still same neighborhood, still same family, married high school sweethearts or something like semi-adjacent. And then it's fun now because I'm getting involved with like my girlfriend's very active in like the running community, and so I'll go spend time with them, and they'll be like, Oh, where are you from? I'm like, Oh, I'm from Salt Lake. They're like, Yeah, but like, where'd you move from? I'm like, No, no, no, like I'm bored bakery. No way. Yeah, and so it's weird right now in Salt Lake where there's these two kind of different populations and like experiences where and I was even having a conversation with my like high school friends because we golf a lot. They're like, I just feel like nobody moves here, like I don't understand. Like, I hear people move here, but I don't know. And I'm like, Yeah, because you don't go out of your social circle at all. Of course you don't see them.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

And then at the other end of like the spectrum, then there's these people who are like, I've never met someone who's from here. Wow. And so it's like I can see how you going back to your friends, it's like very insulated and insular where they're like, Oh, like we're good. You left, we've been here the whole time. And it's always hard to like kind of come back to friendships, be like, all right, well, catch me up, like I'm back now. Yeah, like not saying it's impossible, but it it it can be hard and isolating.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Yeah, I think um definitely go it because I left school at 16. Um, I I still maintain some of the friendships. Um it was it was different. It was different. So I think maybe the the moving back part and not having the friends to come back to um small lake city, we you just still see people everywhere you go, or you you everybody just knows everybody. The one the ones that grew up here, the ones that are still here. Um it's it's very much like that today still.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Yeah. So you get here, you're with your husband, what's his name again? Yep, Chris. Chris. So you and Chris are here, it's kind of reestate, like literally building or rather buying the life, like the the the footprint that you're gonna build on later. But I mean, what was that next step for you? Or was it mostly just kind of so backwards?

SPEAKER_02 28:01

So moving moving back here, um, we had bought the another commercial development and um just we we operated our own okay, so we have to actually take a step back. Um so we sold our electronic manufacturing company in the UK before moving to America. And then throughout a short period of time, the company that we did work for approached us and asked if there was one a product that we would build. That's my understanding anyway. Um there if there was a this certain product, if we would be willing to build it.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Um was he interested in kind of going back into like the biz or was he kind of washed his hand a bit?

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Uh yes and no. I mean, um it was a risk, obviously, going back into it. Um, but like we didn't have anything. We'd sold everything. So going back over and finding a space and finding the equipment and finding the staff, and um, the people that have have worked um with us in that business are people that Chris has known forever, 40 years. Um some of them had, you know, they'd worked together for since before his his first business he opened when he was about 19, um, which was the electronic manufacturing. Um, so knowing that we're going back into people that we can trust, people that we can rely on, people that don't see a clock, um, because ultimately we're gonna be here in America. Um, the traveling, traveling back and forth back then with having small children in the UK still, um, we were going back and forth every six weeks.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

So their their school is more than we got that flight down by this point. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Um there and that wasn't like when Delta would go direct, not that we even fly Delta every time, but um that was um the school, the schooling system over there is more of a year-around schooling. They only get six weeks off in the summer, then they go to school, and then they have a week off, and then they have two weeks at like um Christmas, Easter. Um it was every six weeks, basically, is the way that it worked out that we were going over uh so that we could make sure that we were still very present in their life. Um, you know, it wasn't their fault that we left. So we just had to make sure of that. And in between that time, when we moved to America in 2008, I was 23 weeks pregnant. So um

Coming Home And Betting On Real Estate

SPEAKER_02 30:15

we had our first son, Riley, here. Um, but he he was very, he he has more passports. We were looking at his passports the other day. I think he has like nine or ten different passports because he has his American passports and his British passports. Um, and then we had Ruby um 18 months later. But in that, in that first, those first couple of years of the transition of going back and forth and trying to figure out how we can make that work um with the boys being there and us being here. Um it was it was a lot of traveling. And we would go back over for months at a time. We still had a home there. So we would go over for, you know, like two months, and then we'd come back over for a couple of months, and then we'd go back over and and then the boys would come over to us for the six weeks of the summer. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

A lot of back like it's a lot of logistics, but a lot of back.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

I mean, it sounds like you made it work. We did, we definitely did, even if it meant that Chris stayed here. Um Chris stayed here and I would travel over to pick the boys up if it were like a two-week break and they were coming to us. I would leave here. It was 22 hours door to door. I would leave here, um, get to our place in the UK, let's say, for instance, on a Tuesday night, um, I would have Wednesday in Wales with family and friends, maybe Thursday, Thursday night, I'd be picking the boys up and we'd be traveling to London to stay the night to fly out the next day. So I've I've been I just we've been doing it for a very, very long time. Lots of Delta points. Yeah, definitely. Virgin Atlantic. Lots of Virgin Atlantic.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Yes, yes. Um I mean, at the at what point, so maybe there's something that in between here and there, but I mean, did did this come become an idea?

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Okay, so back to Plated Dreams, back to the building. Um, in we when we bought the other commercial building, um, we kind of did what we could with that. We'd had enough. Um, we had the tenants in there, we had, you know, revamped the building, put in new windows, and it just it just was like not going. Not that it wasn't going anywhere. We could have kept that, but it was more like, hey, I think we're done with this, let's sell and move on to something else. So put it up for sale. Um, it sold pretty quick. And um we did what's called a 1031 exchange. So we the pressure was on basically to find the next thing that we were gonna do. Yeah. Um, so we just started looking at land and sort of brainstorming ideas of what we wanted to do. It was definitely not a restaurant in the beginning. That that was not the plan.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

It's usually never like I love restaurant people because if there are the ones that are like, yeah, like I always wanted to own a restaurant, or there was food in the house, or my family always cooked, but like whatever that trope could be. But then there's people that's like, I had no idea, and then here we are.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Yeah. No, that that's more along the lines. Um, so we we originally I wanted to do a children's play center. Um, so we were looking for land that we could either build or we were looking for a building that we could convert into a children's play center. By that I mean like indoor climbing frames, bounce houses. This was 2016, 17.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

That's like the era of like the bounce houses showing up and like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That sound makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

There was one that we looked at purchasing and we were kind of like, you know, I think that we could do this on a on a different level and not be just bounce houses, that we could put the indoor climbing frame. So like the indoor play center. Um, and so we we were looking for for land or for a building to do that. Um, but the clock is ticking like this every day is like that 1031. We're gonna have to pay taxes.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

For those who don't know, a 1031 exchange is when you sell one asset, you can move that um gains, capital you get from that into something else that's very similar without having to pay taxes on the sale. Yes. But there's a time limit that has to be done by. So essentially when she's saying the clock's running, it's like, hey, we sold this, we have to move this into the next one, or else we're gonna, the IRS is gonna send us a check.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

You're gonna have check. Yeah, you're gonna have to pay the tax on it. So uh clock was ticking, and

A 1031 Clock And A McDonalds Lot

SPEAKER_02 34:10

um in the back of my mind, we're we're looking for a building that can accommodate, you know, these high structures. And um, in the end, it was like, we're not finding what we need. Um, and then we found this lot that um this building, the the B building, sits on. Um, it used to be an old McDonald's building.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Um, so anybody that grew up in the area who's actually taking me to this McDonald's area because like I don't know why. So growing up, the only pancakes I would eat until probably the age of like 14 or 15 was McDonald's pancakes. And my grandma actually felt similarly. And so she'd be like, Do you want to go to McDonald's? Like I'd stay at their house all day. Do you want to go get McDonald's?

SPEAKER_01 34:45

I'm like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Of course, grandma, we're gonna go get McDonald's.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Yes, just to get a little bit of a couple of things.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

So that's funny. Because I was like drive by driving in, I was like, I feel like I've been here before. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

So it was the old McDonald's. So any anybody that grew up in the local area knows that this was the McDonald's spot. So we we purchased that building, that big red dome that had the little playland in it. Um, but what so what happened was we pulled across the street in what was the Smiths parking lot, um, Bacon building actually. Uh pulled across the street and we're my husband parks, and he's looking across and he says, What do you see? And I was like, McDonald's.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Childhood memories.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

He was like, No, I was like, No, I see like a a mess. Like this this building is like, there's no way I am not putting our money in this building. And he was like, Okay, get in the car. So we get in the car and we drive around the back of the building, because that that McDonald's was up at the front of the lot, which is where the buildings are today. Um, so we drive around the back and he's like, What do you see now? And I was like, Wow, this law is huge. So he's like, Okay, now imagine it with the building gone. And I just I think that that was the problem because it was up for lease and for sale for a really, really long time. It was actually up for lease, and then in the small print it said for sale. Um, and yeah, so anyway, we came came back to the backside and he was like, Okay, now imagine the building gone. And I was like, wow, this is huge. Like, we could definitely do something with this law. And I'm thinking at the time, this Children's Play Center. Um, so we demolished the building, um, which there was a basement in in that McDonald's or walk-in fridge was in the basement, but apparently it wasn't on like any of the city plans. So nobody, nobody knew that there was this basement in this building. Um, so we demolished the building and leave a big old gaping hole in in the land whilst we're trying to figure out, you know, what are what are we gonna do with this build or with this lot? And um hired a architect. Um architect helped to design, and I was off educating myself on how do I run and operate a children's play center. Like I have no idea what's going on. So, you know, funny enough, the person I called was Denise because I was like, hey, like you're in the child field and like what do I do? And her her biggest concern was like the safety. Yeah. Um putting it's a lot of liability. It's a lot of liability. Yep. And I was like, gunko, my kids were small, and I was like, this is what I want to do. And these types of things are really, really popular in the UK. So I was really used to being in them when we were in the UK. That's what everybody does. Like you, you go to the play places. Um, and then they offered food. So in that, I did have a cute little restaurant um where the kids could be all playing, the moms and dads could like be in their own little space, having their coffees and teas and um food that was, you know, not nothing elaborate. Um so anyway, so we had that had those ideas and um spent a lot of money, got it through planning permission with Woods Cross City, was gonna start construction. We had got our construction company, and um then what happened? We then the Wells Fargo building, we knew it was gonna be coming up for sale because we knew that they're they had their signs down here at the Southern Development. Um, so we kind of were like, hey, how do we get that lot? It's connected to ours. Like, how do we get this lot as well? And so we put it in an well, we contacted whoever we could because it wasn't up for sale yet. And they we we said, you know, who we are, we own the lot next door, we'd really like to be able to have um maybe a first refusal on that land. And they're like, nope, it's gotta go to market. It's you know, it's corporate as well as Fargo, so they're definitely gonna list it. Yeah, no backdoor deals. So yeah, so we were like, okay, well, you know, can somebody please let us know straight away when it's gonna happen because we want to put an offer in like immediately. So that happened. Um, and they accepted our offer really quickly. I don't know, you know, if anybody else made any offers or anything, but they they accepted ours. It took 10 months to close the deal. Um, in the meantime, we have this big gaping hole here. We had put the children's play center on hold. It was that was a huge building. It was a 20,000 square foot building. We had underground parking,

The Play Center That Never Happened

SPEAKER_02 38:58

which the city they made us like sign, sign off that um, you know, the basement could flood. So that we had like different pumps to get water out. It was it was a major thing. Um, it was two levels. It was it was very much a purpose-built building, um, which in hindsight I'm so glad we didn't do. COVID came. Yeah. Um, but also I don't know how I don't know how somebody could have changed that building to be something else. So I'm glad we didn't do that. Um, but my my accountant uh goes to this shop next door, the bike shop, and uh he's in there and he makes a joke. He's like, What the hell's going on over there? And one of the staff members over there was like, I don't know, I think they must have had to file for bankruptcy because it's been like that for a long time. And he knows we're purchasing the land next door, so he has a little bit of a giggle to himself. Um purchased that, and then we tried to repurpose that building. Well, we looked at what what you know, is it was it feasible to repurpose it? And there was just way too much work that was gonna have to be done. Uh, but what was really cool is like I could say I own a bank and like you could go into the vaults, uh that big old vault bank door and all of the safety deposit boxes in there, which I still have all the keys. I thought that was really cool to keep the keys. Um, anyway, so we decided that's not gonna happen. We're gonna demolish that and we're gonna build what is here today, which is the All Points Woods Cross Development, uh, which consists of retail that has uh uh Cafe Rio is our anchor store. Uh it handles ice cream, fika, infusion, which is like your wellness, IV um injections, uh, vitamin Shots. Um, and in the other two stores, I took a chance um in the beginning with a couple of different female entrepreneurs and putting them in there, um, basically seeing them as I can give you the chance that somebody else might not be able to. Yeah. Um, unfortunately, um the first two businesses didn't didn't work out. And then I put another gal in there and her business didn't work out either. I think part of that um from an outsider looking in is um it brings me full circle to where I am with plated dreams, is that you you can't just open a business and not be there. Um you you you're really it's blood, sweat, and tears, and it's every waking hour in order to make it work, especially from the beginning, especially for new businesses, especially for new concepts. Um, it's you you gotta be there.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Yeah, I mean there's so much of a learning curve to it, because like I've never met anybody who had it work out the way that they thought it was going to. Yeah. And so much of the part of like pivoting or restructuring or thinking about it through a different strategic lens, or I mean, whatever that change is gonna be, it's not you're not gonna have that epiffing, or you're not gonna have the best insight

Retail Tenants And Hard Lessons

SPEAKER_00 41:49

unless you're there. Yep. And so so many people, it's like, oh well, I'm gonna like if I'm had a couple conversations recently with people where they're like, Oh yeah, I was just gonna do this, and like it'll just print cash and I'll just like ride off into the sunset. No, and it didn't work out that way because I guess very rarely is it gonna work out. Exactly. Like the only times it does is like maybe if it's like a franchise and like come in and you can put an operator who's been in it and they go do their corporate training and wherever headquarters is, and like, sure.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

But not always exactly you've been a franchise owner as well. So that that doesn't always work either. And uh one of the businesses was actually a franchise, and it's it's just the same thing. You can't, it's just not gonna operate itself. And um, since then we had um the bakery, which we've closed down. Um, and that that space is up release actually right now. Um it's built out full as a full bakery right now, but it can be converted into anything. And then next door to that is uh the firm Pilates, which is a new Pilates studio, which is really, really great. Um, great for our community, great for the development, and brings something new.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

Well, it's like interesting because like you have this front row seat where you're like, all right, I'm gonna give these women a chance, and you see them kind of like fall down one by one by one. That's like an interesting uh context to then be like, you know what, I'm gonna try to start something. But like, I mean, at what point did you decide, like, hey, I'm gonna do something? Because again, like you had this child's play business that you're like, all right, actually, we're not gonna put the pumps in the basement, we're not gonna have the two stories, we're gonna simplify this a little bit and really um start to make it this like conglomerate of businesses compared to just my own.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

But I mean, and having seen all of that to be like, cool, I'm gonna I'm gonna do my own business and it's gonna be a restaurant and it's gonna be the So going back one more step then to the beginning, demolishing McDonald's, demolishing Wells Fargo, having um it's 1.86 acres with the two lots, um, and then trying to decide, okay, what are we gonna do? We're gonna do the retail development, um, gonna help to design, um, construct, and um the landscaping. The landscaping was really important to me. I probably need to do that. Are you doing okay?

SPEAKER_00 43:57

No, I could perfect chandeliers.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Thank you. Paimonet. They need a good cleaning.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

That that's like the thing. I could be in like anywhere my mom would look at a channel and be like, how do they clean that?

SPEAKER_02 44:15

Yeah, no, you have you have to take them off individually. Um it can be expensive because when one gets broken, you gotta buy a pack of four. Yes, yes, we do. Never leave something on top of a ladder. Um yeah, but they are beautiful. I mean, even going to that, it was it was very much that designing stage in the beginning where it was like, how do we make something different? How do we how do we make it beautiful? Because that's what I was good at. Um yeah. He was our architect for the whole entire development. And then I told him that I wanted to do a restaurant after. Um he was like, we started design and everything and and uh designing the layout and everything. He was like, listen, are you sure you want to open a restaurant? Like, why don't you just do design? Like you're good at it. But yeah, I chose a restaurant anyway. Terrible at her finish here. Good. Perfect. Okay. Um you have to remind me where we were. Um the construction, the development. Okay. Um, so the development, designing designing the the big buildings itself. Um The the landscaping. I just wanted everything to be like really pretty and like attractive. I when we were doing the other build, um, I was really basing it off of the way that Farmington Station looked and the big zinnias and the the double knockout rose bushes, which is what we have outside.

SPEAKER_00 45:46

Like they did such a good job there. They really did like you drive into Farmington Station, you don't feel like you're in Farmington. Exactly. So much of Davis County, you could take like a snapshot of the side of the road to like anywhere from North Salt Lake to like Kainesville. Yep, exactly. And so to like to say, I want to make this beautiful is almost like like it's just so contrary to like a lot of the area. But it's what everybody always appreciates.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

Yes, and very expensive to do.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Also true.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Yes. Uh but that was it was definitely a focus. I want it to be pretty, we want it to be different, and um, so that's what we did. And then putting the tenants in, uh, this I haven't thought about like, let's I'm gonna do a restaurant yet. Um, but we're putting the tenants in, and then all of the potential tenants that were coming through the door that were looking at this end unit were in the food industry. So I I I knew that I wanted to do something where where I didn't do the children's play center, I still kind of felt like I need to do something. I need to do something for myself, I need to do something for our community. Um so with that, I was kind of like, why don't we just do our own thing? So I can remember standing in here, there was there was concrete for for the first part of the floor, and then they leave that back end um, you know, for sewer lines and all that stuff to be brought in. And um I'm standing in here and I said to my husband, um, listen, why don't you let me do a restaurant? And not like I'm asking them for permission, but I'm asking for permission. Like, I don't even know what it means at this time, like, let me do a restaurant because I'm not in the industry.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

You probably still needed to tell yourself that at this thing. I'm like, I'm gonna do this. Yeah. This is what's happened. Like, yeah, I need a like a little pep talk for myself.

SPEAKER_02 47:20

Yes, definitely. And uh we kind of joke and say, like, after he picked himself up off the floor, it was kind of like, Are you sure this is what you want to do? And not knowing what it meant, I was like, Yes, absolutely. And so that's kind of how it happened. Yeah. And uh it was like, okay, if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it different. Um, there's not gonna be anything like it in Utah, and we're gonna do it right. So no cutting corners.

SPEAKER_00 47:49

Yeah. And at that point, were you like, all right, we're gonna make a brunch spot that's more pink than anything else in Davis County, or was there a little bit more of a decision process behind that?

SPEAKER_02 47:58

Um, both. Um I the the exposure that I had to being in the UK, being in London, and what I knew that they were doing over there, um, it was much, it was very much like I just I wanted to feel I I knew I wanted to feel like I was in London. I wanted it to feel like we're anywhere really, you know, Paris has beautiful restaurants like this, and I just wanted it to feel like we were somewhere else. So I knew I wanted it to have flowers. Um, I knew, well, originally the ceiling was black. Chris was like, no, we're doing a green ceiling, that's very British. So we did the green ceiling, and uh how much pink is too much pink? Like you can do not exist. Exactly. You can never have too much pink. So what else can we add in that can be pink? Uh that obviously makes it more attractive for females, um, which is our our biggest clientele definitely is is a female base.

Why Plated Dreams Becomes Real

SPEAKER_02 48:54

Uh, we always say, like, the flowers will bring you in, but the food will bring you back. So the the women, you know, some some men actually have come in and were like, yo, bring in your wife next time. And they're like, heck no, like this is our place. So that's been really fun. Um, but the the families that come through, the celebrations that are here, the commiserations that are here, um, were available for private parties as well. And it's I don't know, I just I just wanted to create a cozy space that I wanted to be in, um, but also that the customers would want to be in.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Yeah, I mean, when you come in, it definitely feels, I mean, definitely not salt like definitely not what's cross, but it does feel like you'd be a prosh posh brunch spot somewhere in like Piccadilly Circus and just go and have a nice little tea and brunch and go on with your day.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

Did we always know it was gonna be brunch? I don't I think that I knew we wanted limited hours. Uh I wanted to be able to still have life outside of the restaurant. Yeah. Does that exist still? Um we tried dinner service for a very short time. We went way too high end for our community. So we closed that down pretty quick. Maybe we'll do something again, but at the moment, brunch works for us.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

Yeah. What were some of the things looking back? Like I'm glad I never have to do that again, or like those learning moments that you couldn't have anticipated even if someone told you it was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 50:17

Um our other businesses are business to business. This one is customer-based. So just uh learning, learning how to deal with people, learning um what not to say, what to say, how to calm situations down, um, how to amp people up if they're having a bad day. Um things that we've oh gosh. Oh, there's so much. There's so much. There's there's so many hard times, there's so many happy times. Um lessons that we've learned. I don't know. This might be half you where I have to think for a second.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

Okay. Um but it can also be those like death by a thousand cuts. Like it's not these big moments or big things, it's just every day of learning a little.

SPEAKER_02 51:06

Yeah, I mean, I think that's really what it is. There's no day is the same, that's for sure. There's there's something, anything could go wrong at any moment. Um, from the on a Saturday afternoon, busy afternoon, and the hood fan goes out. Like you can hear it clank, clank, clank, clank, clank. And it's like you can't really operate without the hood because it needs to get the smoke and the gas. Yeah. So it's like, hey, turn it on low. We can still operate. We've got like two hours left. And um, so so something like that, or the ice machine, we've unplugged the ice machine because it's super noisy, forgetting to plug the ice machine in when we leave tonight. Uh, wait, in the morning there's no ice, right? So just just little things.

SPEAKER_00 51:48

Um Was there anything behind the name plated dreams?

SPEAKER_02 51:52

Uh plated dreams. We we tried to come up with a name for not very long, a couple of weeks, and we just wrote down a whole bunch of names and things that were catchy, and you know, trying to stick with three letters or four letters, and then it just kind of happened. Yeah, my husband came up with it, and it just kind of happened, and we just stuck with it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:13

And talk to me about like the menu itself. Cause like if I were to open a restaurant and put a menu together, I would over-engineer the shit out of it. I would overthink it all. And I probably wouldn't even like at the end of like the decision process back, I still have no idea what I'm gonna do. But talk to me about how um you narrowed that down and decided on the the final menu.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

The menu creation. The menu today is very different to the menu from the beginning. In the beginning, we were uh very smaller portions, um, very sort of European approach of the smaller portions. Um yeah, that's all I can think of. Smaller portions, different. Um, the customer, there's quite a few items that we still have on the menu today that are from the original, whether they've been tweaked or if it's the exact same recipe from the beginning, um, we we're still doing we're still doing a lot of that. Um but the the menu today is much more Americanized, um, bigger portions. Uh it it does have, we do have a little bit of an elevated price tag. Um we're made from scratch, made to order. We're getting our food in twice a week. Um, we're doing our own shopping in a I say local. We're you know, we're going to Restaurant Depot and Um Costco and the Chef Store and things, but we're we're doing that side of the labor so that uh the people that are in the kitchen, you know, they they're actually seeing it rather than being brought on a big truck or or items that are being brought in and warmed up, you know, we're brought buying raw pat raw beef and then making it into our own patties at you know the correct size. Yep. And um everything that we can is from scratch. So that's you know, unfortunately, although somebody would say, like, well, I'll just make it at home because that's cheaper. Like by the time you go to the store, by the time you spin the gas, by the time you spend the time, like it's paint your ceiling green, have everything pink, the flowers. It's not gonna, it's not always gonna be cheaper. Do the dishes, yeah. And and cheaper isn't always better anyway. So um with you know, there's a lot that goes into the the way that our food is priced from also the expense that it took to create this business. And you know,

From Scratch Food And Pricing Truth

SPEAKER_02 54:27

where where else are people going and you know, they're able to take pictures of their food um in this type of environment. So ultimately, I mean it's it's yeah, it's the hidden charge within the cost, right? Because at some point, I'm never gonna become a millionaire from this business, um, but at some point, um, I've gotta, I've gotta get back the money that we put in, which was which was a fair amount.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

Yeah. But it's like so nice that, like you said, I mean, you get to be a place in the community, that people get to come, celebrate, commiserate, I mean, have experiences. So, I mean, that's why I mean I always go out with friends, is it's not to be like to check a box or just to make sure that we get fed. It's I want to be able to like sit with someone, not have to worry about everything else, give them my full attention, um, and then have good and food at the same time. And it definitely adds a fun flair to some of like the I mean, let's call it sterile ness that like a lot of the places here used to be. Yeah, a lot better than a traditional Bell's Fargo branch in the yeah, McDonald's that's been there since probably like 70s or 80s. And so it's definitely something that adds adds character and a little bit more um dimension to the area. Definitely enjoys that.

SPEAKER_02 55:34

That was the plan. You know, one thing I have to say with the food and and about the businesses, we don't always get right. Like I'm willing to sit here as a business owner and say, phew, we don't always get right. But if we haven't got it right, like tell us. Oh my gosh, why am I getting emotional about that? That's so stupid. Um give us a chance to make it right. Why can we please not use this? Oh, sometimes people are really mean.

SPEAKER_00 56:00

I I've experienced enough of that at restaurants to know that some people are the worst people. And it's like, no, yeah. No, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

You just you never know who's coming through the door and what they're going through, and whether they've had a good day or a bad day. And uh sometimes they take it out on us. Yeah, which is kind of sorry, no. This is the problem, right?

SPEAKER_01 56:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

Stupid. Um yeah, I don't know where where that happened if we need to go back.

SPEAKER_00 56:48

I think we go and use it from it. Um you're like, yeah, I'm using that. No, I would never I would I would that's one thing I would never do. Uh I would never do that if someone's like, don't use it.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

That would be No, it's hard. You just you really you never know who's coming through the door. And um if they're having a bad day, sometimes they let us know. And um if we got it wrong, like let us give us a chance to fix it.

SPEAKER_01 57:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:12

Instead of like getting your car, you haven't even backed out of the parking lot and you're like writing as a review instead of like asking to speak to somebody. Yep. And the servers don't know everything, right? They don't, they sometimes they don't know how to fix a problem or they don't know what to say. And it doesn't matter how much training they have uh or don't have. Maybe they got thrown into it because somebody else didn't show up and they were training, and now suddenly instead of training, they're taking vibe tables. Like you just you never know in this industry what's gonna happen. Oh that every day feels different today, today. Like I said, I walked in this morning

Reviews Emotions And Making It Right

SPEAKER_02 57:48

thinking um I was gonna be able to get ready and prepared for this, and instead I was a server. Yeah. Yeah. Instead, I was busting tables, and you just you really never know sometimes holidays can go.

SPEAKER_00 58:03

Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Yes. I say that all the time. Um I mean, what's what does the future look like? Or what are you most excited about with Flated Dings?

SPEAKER_02 58:11

Uh, future, future. So we are in the process of creating the brunch club. Um, the brunch club, what we're hoping to do is bring people together um for, you know, sort of networking, um, creating the activities to to bring people together. So what does it look like? Uh we just did, we did a Galantine's event in February. Um we're looking for other, you know, whether you're a female entrepreneur or you're an entrepreneur or you have a business, being able to, you know, kind of maybe give them the spotlight for a moment and come in and like teach a bouquet lesson or you know, teach somebody, I don't know, what what what could other things be? Well what's oh what is it called? Mahjong, mahjong.

SPEAKER_00 59:02

Very trendy right now.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

Uh yeah, yeah. So like have a mahjong day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:05

Um or together, everybody learned something new, good experiences. Yeah. That's what everyone's that's the plan. I mean, that's like the theme of right now in the world is everyone's kind of sick of these like COVID, post-COVID, like digital relationships. Like, all right, give me in person, give me something real. So don't think it makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 59:21

That's the plan. Whether whether we pull it pull it together, um that's that's the unknown at the moment. We're kind of in the beginning stages of that. Um, other locations, mm, um, probably not, not not anytime soon, I don't think. Um The reason that Plated Dreams exists is because I own the land. Uh I don't think that I ever would have gone and opened a restaurant somewhere else. Um it's it does what it needs to do for this this spot in our community. And um But you know, never say never is the other thing about that. Yeah. But for now, for now this this is good. Yeah. People they approach me all the time. They whether it's to do a franchise or to do another location somewhere, um, whether it be out of state. Um, they they people do talk about it. No. But I'm I'm not ready for that. I wouldn't be ready for a franchise. There's just too many things that I'm still learning, I think, even though I'm four years in, five years if you count the year in development. Um, there's just there's too many things

Brunch Club Plans And Growth Limits

SPEAKER_02 1:00:27

to like hand it over to somebody.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:29

And then especially when it's like your baby, but then it's also like, I know how this all works. Yeah. To try to be like, all right, here's like the instruction manual or here's the SOP, here's the process, be like, well, actually, when I say this, I actually mean this. And yeah, I mean it's exactly it's a whole other can of worms.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:43

Yeah. Yeah. Even hiring managers, it's like I'd get somebody in and I never like I've never hired a manager from like just like, okay, we're interviewing managers. Um, it's like I get somebody in and I it's do I see potential in them to like maybe hand over some of the responsibilities? And so far I don't have a manager in four years.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:02

And I I get it. It's especially when it's your baby like to I mean, like people used to give you their literal babies and say take care of this. You're like, listen, actually, I don't know if I'm ready to hand this one over yet.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:12

No, one day it's gotta happen because uh I've I've gotta get I can't be constantly working in the business. I need to be working on the business. Yeah. So totally one day at a time.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:23

Yeah. Uh anything else you want to make sure we cover?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

Um, let's see. Gathering place, the moment it started. Yes, exactly. Well, I typed it all in there, and then she was like, here's your bulletins. Uh the old McDonald's, hardest part, the hours, the hours that nobody sees. Um dealing with perishable goods. Um, Mother's Day. Mother's Day was major. That was that was one of the favorite wins that um was one of the questions. Yeah, talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

So that's leading that a little bit better. So we talked a little bit about like the kind of dark sides or things that haven't gone so well. But tell me about the wins or the times you're like, I'm glad I did this. This is what I want.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:03

Yeah. Um, so from the beginning when we opened, we got really, really busy really, really quick. And we didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know how to handle it. We didn't, we didn't, we didn't even have like we were writing reservations on a piece of paper and um trying to plan out, trying to know how long is somebody gonna stay. Do you know how hard that is? Like you can't take reservations unless you can unless you have time limits. So um learning that very early on, um, that we have we have to have some element of a time limit. This is for our busy periods, this is for your Saturdays and Sundays, this is for your federal holidays, um, things like that, where you really we had to we had to create a time limit because in order to take reservations and say, yes, you can come in at four.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:50

Yeah, if there's someone still in your table, yeah. I don't care how much you want to be here if you've got a reservation, they're still sitting there.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:55

Yep, yep. And you know, we're very limited on tables. We have when we first opened, we had 16 tables. Uh today we have 28 tables inside. So we had to figure out how do we get more tables. Yes, okay, people are a little bit closer to each other, but still far enough apart. There's plenty of restaurants where you feel like you're eating with your neighbor. So we've tried to create space so people can really enjoy their time, but still be able to have more tables. So that means less wait time and really find how do we how do we balance reservations with walk-ins? Um, so I I tend to say we do about 50-50. So I have 50% reservations, so I know how to staff, um, how much food we need. Because again, we're we're dealing with perishable goods. So how much do we need? And, you know, trying not to upset people when they've been planning to come here for two weeks and they've looked at the menu and they know what they want, and now I'm so sorry we're sold out. Um, dealing with that is people, you know, restaurants sell out of stuff.

Mothers Day Systems And A Big Win

SPEAKER_02 1:03:55

It was it was good. So it was just one of the ones that that's already gone. So it's not really a lack of preparation because we can only prepare for what we see versus really the walk-ins. And also, you know, you can only make 35 Monte Cristos out of the hundred people that are gonna show up, you know, we might sell 35. We might sell 25. So um anyway, one of the one of the bigger things with this year specifically for Mother's Day. We've always been really busy on Mother's Day. It's it's our busiest weekend of the year. Uh, but this year, uh, I don't know exactly how I do it, did it, um, but somehow I managed to fill up our reservations. So we did mostly reservation based for inside with the time limit of the the 90 minutes per table, and just one after the other. Like it was they were out, and like when they were standing up, there was somebody cleaning that table, ready to sit the next party that was waiting. And just it was just very, very structured. So to put it into perspective for anybody that's in the industry, uh, we did 421 guests on 35 tables in five and a half hours. Um, that was pretty major.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:13

You're like that was yeah, that was pretty major. We're gonna ride this on a napkin, we're gonna make sure this goes well to being like, oh, we like we got it. We got a dial.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:22

Yeah, yeah. So that was that was really it was really special. And um just trying, trying to live up to that, trying to have the next win. Totally. Yeah. One day at a time.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:32

One day at a time. No, absolutely. Um well, before we wrap up, I want to ask the two questions I was ask people at the end of each episode. Okay. Number one, if you could have someone on the Small Lake City podcast and hear more about their story, what they're up to, where do you want to hear from?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:47

Yeah, so this is um actually our our newest tenant, the firm Pilates. Um, they they've got a story, and this is their second location, taking a big risk coming into um this community. And I'd love to learn more about them. They're they're my tenant, and you know, we we signed a lease, but I just don't know, I don't know a lot about them. So I think that that could be really fun to learn about them.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:12

And second location is always the the hard part.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:15

Yeah, it's it's a bigger risk than I took.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:18

Totally. And then if people want to find out more about Play to Dreams or hear what's coming up with the brunch club, what's the best place to find information?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:25

Yeah. Um, so our website, play to dreams.com, um, Instagram, uh, Play to Dreams Cafe. We're on TikTok. We don't have a huge TikTok presence. Um, we're we're getting there. Uh, you know, when when you're when I'm wearing all the different hats, um it's last thing you're saying is we should probably shoot some copies. Yeah, yeah. So we're we're getting there. We we know it needs to be done. Uh we know that that's how a lot of people find us. We're uh a lot of the the customer base comes in, you know, they're taking the pictures, they're sharing on their networks. Um so some of the work is being done, but obviously when people are trying to find us, play to dreams cafe on Instagram. Um, we need to do better. I know. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:07

You got a lot of things. We'll get there.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:09

We're getting there. We're getting there. We've yeah, we're getting there.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

And you this has been so great. I mean, love the space. Thank you. Love everything you're doing. Mother's Day is a is a great crowning moment of all the work that you put in and excited to see what else happens with all of that. Thank you very much. Likewise.