The Mashiach Brothers and KosherStandZ on JM in the AM

at JM in the end. Well, I have been touting the fact that we're gonna have the most important people in the city of Chicago with us live on this Tuesday morning broadcast. And many of you of course know those of you familiar with me and so many of you are at this point after 43 years. You know that sometimes I say that a bit tongue and cheek, but as far as I'm concerned, they are among the most important people in this city. As we visit the Midwest, we have in front of us both Donnie Mashiach and Ami Mashiach. And they are co-founders of Kosher Stands. And those of you out there who wonder where you could find Kosher stands, you'll find it in one of the most historic buildings of the United States of America in Chicago's north side. And that's of course Wrigley Field. Donnie Ammy, welcome to JM in the AM. >> Thank you for having us. Pleasure. Thank you so much for having us. >> A pleasure to have you here. And I did, by the way, and we'll work backwards before we talk about the founding of Kosher Stands. I'll tell you about my experience. July 4th last year, I guess July 4th, 2025, I think it was a Friday, I was here in Chicago visiting visiting our family and I said, I got to go to Wrigley. I mean, you know, it's like one of these things, a kavaya, so to speak. And by the way, for a guy my size, Wrigley is not a comfortable stadium. I'll just tell you, it is not, you know, seats that were built what, in 1908 or whatever it was. Anyway, the bottom line is the usher was really nice. Gave me an area to sit in the handicapped area. So, I had all the space I needed. But then I visited the kosher stand at Wrigley Field and boy oh boy, not only were the hot dogs great because you're known in this area of the country for great meat items. Uh but the toppings on the hot dog were historic. Incredible. >> Absolutely. >> Onions. I remember sauteed this and sauteed that. >> Onions, whatever you want, the whole works. >> So, there you go. And it looked like you guys it was a Friday, but I guess that's common a Friday afternoon game in Wrigley, right? That's because there's so many day games in Wrigley. >> Well, it's one of the lucky areas that we got is that there's not a lot of Friday day games, but the Cubs happen to do that. They're one of the few teams that have that. So, we get with Shabas and all that. It's a whole different story of how Shabas works around, but we're usually able to take all the day games um at Wrigley, which is really nice. >> Now, I went to Claude this morning. >> Okay. M >> cuz I am I mean I had a horrible night last night baseball-wise. I mean my my team just embarrassed itself terribly. >> Uh and by the way my father was at a Yankee Cub World Series game in the 1930s. What do you think of that? >> So my father spent a lot of time in Chicago before LA and before New Jersey after he came here from Palestine. But that's a long long story. But anyway >> uh so I go to Claude this morning for a little history. I want a history lesson. And I say, "Claude, could you tell me about the progression in terms of dates um when kosher stands, not with a capital S like you guys, but kosher stands with kosher food came to different stadiums and uh they talk about Baltimore's Memorial Stadium in the early 1990s and of course Camden Yard, Jacobs Field. I had a hot dog there. I remember up in Toronto, I had a hot dog. It's not even on the list. I don't know why it's not there. I hope it was kosher. I know it was." And it doesn't even mention Wrigley Field. So then I asked Claude, >> I said, "What about Wrigley?" And it responds as follows. Wrigley got its first kosher stand July 21, 2017. Kosher Stands, Stan DZ, part of the Chicago catering company Danziger, Kosher Midwest, opened a stand called Dan Stand that day, serving Romanian hot dogs, Romanian Polish sausages, pretzels, and drinks supervised by the CRC. And the Cubs became the 13th MLB team with a kosher food stand. Uh Sam Mashia, was that one of you or dad? >> That's your father. >> That's dad. >> Was quoted as saying that it took over a hundred years for the Cubs to win a championship and just as long for kosher food to reach Wrigley. >> That's his famous line. >> There you go. >> Had it posted on our website and it just says Sam M so nobody knows. It's our dad's thing. >> Were you at the game July 21, 2017? >> I was there. It's it's a wonderful story of how this all came into being. So I was born and raised in Chicago. I'm I went to Israel and I got married earlier than I thought. I got married at 19 after my shabbet. And I came home and dad said, "Well, how you going to make money?" >> Right? >> So I end up going I I he had this uh catering arm, right? He was partnered with Danziger Kosher Midwest. And he says, "You know what? I may have an inn at Wrigley Field. I'm going to try and get a meeting with Tom Rickettts. We know that there's a big demand. We know that people really want kosher food, right? Because you go to a game, it's it elevates the entire experience. Some people even go arguably for the food. >> Sure. >> Right. And so he gets this meeting with Ricketts. He pitches the idea of like, hey, it's time that we get kosher here. There's enough demand in the community. And Rickett says, "I love it. Yes, on condition that you guys have to be open in 72 hours for the Cardinals homestead." And we're sitting there, right? And we have like my dad just told me this idea. It's like, hey, you know, we're going to use Romanian hot dogs cuz that's the best dogs around. We know that like something about like, hey, we probably need employees. We need But this was not a shelled out business plan. This was not a six-month thesis. And so we're we're sitting there, we get the go-ahad and we say, it's it's time to scramble. And we stayed up for 72 hours. We figured out how to get all of our trainings in, all of our orientation, we get our CRC certification, our insurance, all those things. And we were operational in the terrace reserve for that game. And it was >> Did they give you the the the apparatus to work with? >> They gave us the apparatus to work with, but we had to get our own employees. We had to get our own product in. We had to learn about temperatures and freezing and all these different things. >> Same location in the stadium that I saw or not. >> We've moved. So Amy can tell the story of this, but we've moved from our initial location, which was by first base. Whereas was >> it was by the first base. >> By first base in the terrace reserve in the midsection. Um, funny story of how we got moved, but it it ended up being we got moved to right behind home plate still in the terrace. >> I like where you are, >> which is perfect. I don't Well, we first of all, shout out to Claude, by the way, for taking half your job. We didn't have to do any of that anymore. >> I always say he's my most underpaid employee. >> Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. What a what a world we live in. Um, we actually were on the first baseline and then we get a call from Levy. I think this was after 2020, 2021, something like that, right? Um, and they say, "Hey, listen. We're actually knocking down a large section, uh, large section of the first baseline." We said, "What for?" And they said, "Uh, we're actually going to put a sports book there." >> DraftKings was coming in. >> Draft Kings was coming in. And they said, "We got to move you." U, and we said, "Well, where were we going?" And they said, "Well, I think you're going to like this. We're going to put you in the back of all the way right behind first plate, uh, sorry, home plate." And, uh, we took all of the traffic that came from the first base because there's nothing there anymore. >> Everybody's got to walk by you. >> Everyone's got to walk by us. And now we are directly behind home plate. After that, they shut down the They shut it down, right? They shut down the sports book. And so it's gone. We're still here. We still have the prime location. And now we're behind first plate. >> All right. We're speak we're speaking with Ammy and Donnie. They are respon their family is responsible for kosher food at Wrigley Field. And that's why I call them uh the most important people in the city of Chicago. What could you tell us? This is not this is not the usual probing into your business. It's more from the consumer standpoint. What can you tell us about prices being so high in stadiums? >> Like it, how do I put this? I look, I go to Yankee Stadium. >> I think you're getting a great deal when you come to Chicago versus Yankee Stadium, >> right? There's no doubt about that. That's what I'm saying. Yankee prices are insane. >> What's a hot dog? >> I don't remember what it could be nine bucks a hot dog. Is that possible? Is that Is that possible? Does that make sense? What's yours? >> I hope it's not. >> I hope it's more $12.99. I'm trying to remember. I don't remember what Yankees is. >> A starter dog. >> Well, I'll I'll tell you this. Um, >> could it be 15 bucks a hot dog at Yankee Stadium? >> Sounds like it's It could definitely be because I'll tell you this, the non-cooser prices at Wrigley Field are not much less than we are. We average like maybe a dollar, >> but that's my question. That's why I'm I'm not asking about kosher. I'm asking about stadium prices. We always think we're getting gouged, but the reality is it has got to be a major commitment from these teams who are paying, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars to operate. We understand that as fans. It's got to be there's got to be some legitimacy to it. >> So, I can tell you I can first I'll tell you the way it works. I don't think a lot of people understand how the Cubs and food and all these things, right? >> So, basically, you have Wrigley Field and the Cubs, right? And they sit on the top of this umbrella. They get a piece of everything. >> What you have below that is a sub is a contractor called Levy Restaurants and it's different responsible for air and it's different areas, different people >> and they essentially have the contract with Wrigley Field. Even though when we came in to Wrigley Field, when we came in and Tom Rickards said like, "Hey, you guys can have it." We had to subcontract with Levy Restaurant. So, there's already three different parties that need to get paid. That's like the first piece of it. >> The second piece of it is that >> I've had this argument I had this argument with my behavioral economics teacher of why prices are so high, why people can charge what they charge. So, like there's an argument to be made of supply and demand, right? There's just an argument that you can't get it anywhere else and and therefore people are willing to pay. You see this in movie theaters. You see this in amusement parks and all these things. I happen to think that the reason why people charge so much in the stadiums is because they can. And I think they can because when people go to events, their minds shut off. Correct. The same person wouldn't spend. >> You're in vacation mode. You want to spend. Yeah. >> The the same person wouldn't spend the same amount of money 4 minutes later after the game. That would be an outrageous price. But in the game, there's something about it. >> And everyone walks into one of these, you know, ballparks or whatever it is, and they say, "I have a certain amount I know I'm going to spend any >> 100%." And so I I think it's I think >> and it's not nearly as absurd as what they're buying in the gift shop. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. So So in terms of like the people who need to take cuts and then like the matter of getting on what getting what you can always ends up being what people will charge and you know what like we thought originally it was I think you know seven $67 a hot dog something like that and we thought that was an outrageous price. Every single year the prices continue going up. I think a beer is something like $15 $16. We don't even set those prices. They're going to keep going up and up and up. >> I'll tell you this though, the best thing that happened to all of these different stadiums was during co when everything went cashless because you have to auto tip. Tax is not included. No one feels that they're paying the money and so all of a sudden it says, you know, they just go in, they swipe, swiping doesn't hurt as much, right? >> And which which for all the employees, they all get these extra tips and so on. And so everybody wanted to become a Wrigleyfield employee. So, it was really, really good for them on a bunch of different levels. >> And that continues still today. >> Very much so. >> Uh, it also continues that both of our teams are in big trouble. Yours is out >> at this point. >> Don't remind us. >> Say it again. Don't mind. And mine looks like about to be out, but we'll see what happens. On that topic, why don't the White Sox have kosher food? >> We've toured the White Sox stadium a few times. It's a few different pieces. >> Have they never had? >> They not that I know of. >> They've never had. I don't think so. >> It's It's different pieces. Yeah, it's mostly the demand piece of it. Um there's not that there's not so many Jews that are out there going to every single game, but it's also like each stadium has their own dynamics of how the price allocations and percentages can work. It ended up working really well for Wrigley, but mostly because we went from the top down with Tom Rickettts and I think to do it the other way around, it's difficult, right? There was a there was a part of me that before I went into Wall Street and whatever else and this became a family business that we were going to make kosher stands national, right? We were talking a Sofi Stadium for for that new arena. We did the Green Bay Packers for a season at Lambeau Field where there's much less kosher demand but still they wanted it. We did the Indy500 for a few years which was also a wild story. So we were expanding throughout the Midwest. Eventually we it kind of came down came down to like a unit economics game where it's like each individual location you have to have a good deal. You have to have your manager in place. You have to manage it. >> Can't be absentee. You can't just do it all sitting like with a bunch of laptops and screens at each game and then hope that you're going to figure it out. >> So Indie didn't work out or when it when you did do it, it was fine. >> Oh, it was great. It was great. I mean, >> and it just doesn't continue now. >> Indie, we had 30,000 hot dogs that we brought for one day and it was >> I can't imagine that that many members of the kosher community at the >> Here's the secret. Here's the secret. 90% of all of our clientele is telling me it's 99%. 90% of them could care less if it's kosher. They think it's better quality. >> Well, they're not Jews, right? >> I would say this. I think that there's there's a halal community, right? Because anything that's kosher is halal. >> There's also the people who just think it's, you know, it's all meat and whatever else, >> which is true to an extent. >> Well, Amy and I did this this season for the first time in 10 years. We went into the lines of the kosher stand and we just saw like random looking non-Jewish people and we asked them. We said, "What's the reason you're in line? Did you know that this is kosher?" So, we get answers such as, "I had no idea it was kosher. I don't know what kosher is." So, I asked him like, "Why are you why are you in line? A, it's the closest thing. B, it looked fantastic from what we saw." But the best part is when we hear people say that I heard that this is the best dog in the park, right? >> And that, first of all, that's true. >> Yeah, of course. We know that that's true. >> We know there's a lot of ways that we get that done. >> So, one of the examples I'll give is that we uh we actually give all the ushers in the park, we give them free dogs. And that's just a great way of marketing because they'll say, "You know that stand over there, the ghost? They're the best dog in the park." H why you saying that, huh? >> Oh boy. >> So, same applies to Indie and and Green Bay and wherever else. Like, I think there's more of a halal kosher, you know, demand, not necessarily for the Orthodox community. >> Do you even have to put up a sign at Indie that it's kosher? Like, that doesn't matter, right? >> Well, they Yeah, we we did have to, but we the other thing we did in India is we were we're allowed to do seat vendors, >> right? which is a big deal cuz that expands our reach so much more. So we had it was like a 100 person operation at Indie. >> And by the way, I think at the Indy500 there's about half a million people there. It's one of the biggest events in the entire country. So you have to bring a big operation. >> Well, you said how many hot dogs did you bring? >> 30,000. 30,000. And what we didn't realize was that, you know, gates open at 6:00 a.m., right? And and in Wrigleyfield, gates open 2 hours before the game starts and then people like no one's eating a hot dog. >> 6 a.m. is hours before >> 6 a.m. at Indy500. people are having hot dogs. So, it's it's so it's so interesting though cuz you go into these arenas, right? And if you go in as a consumer, you have this aura, right, of like, oh, I'm in Wrigley Field. And it's and it's the first time that Ammy and I go into these stadiums and we see that it's it's empty and no one else is in there and it feels like a VIP tour. And then after 45 times or 60 times or whatever else, you're like, "All right, time to work. You come in." And what's cool about Wrigley though, back on that, is that the players and the food is all below the the level, right? It's all underground, right? And so you're seeing players all the time walk by is like, you're bringing in your hot dogs or money to the money or whatever else. And you see the players walking back and you want you're tempted to talk to them, right? You just want to reach out to them and talk. We had a story of that happen with one of our employees once and they got their badges revoked, right? Cuz these guys are, right? You're not allowed to do that. You're there to work. So there's definitely a lot of regulation that comes with it, but it's fun. >> So Green Bay has no kosher food at this point. >> Not right now. >> Does Soldier Field? >> Soldier Field does. >> But someone Yeah, in Chicago there's there's a lot. >> They also disappointed my fan base this past Saturday. >> This past Sunday, rather. Um, thank god I couldn't watch the game. Um, what about United Center? >> United does it have it anymore? It does. They do have. And that would be both basketball and hockey. >> And and yes, >> yeah, they do. And and I will say that the reason, one of the primary reasons that we were able to set up Wrigley so quickly is because the stand manager at the United Center ended up helping us cuz it's just different times, right? Winter, summer, and so he was able to help us. >> Shout out Jakob Lope. >> Shout out Yakov. We have a lot of Aarattov to him for helping us get like we would have never been able to do it without his expertise cuz he knew how it ran. >> So the majority of these stands around the country are good businesses or not. >> I mean or it depends how they're run, right? depends I assume they're >> like it's like any other business. >> It's all about money management. >> So I I happen to think that in baseball it's probably the best way the best type of arena for food. >> A lot of games. >> A lot of games. There's 80 or something 80 something home games. There's a lot of games. There's a lot of downtime. It's not a super super active like >> after this inning I'm going to the concession st inning this like someone but also like you think about basketball you think about hockey right? Nobody wants to miss that moment right? baseball. There's a lot of different pieces of it that make it a good time. Even even with the pitch clock and whatever else, it's still there's a lot of opportunity to get through it and people don't feel like they need to see every single play. >> Yeah. Nobody wants to see the visiting team bat. They got plenty of time for everybody. >> Exactly. Exactly. So, in terms of business model, I think that baseball is probably the best bet in terms of sports and food, but it really depends on what deal you get. Right. So, there's different structures. You can structure it that you rent the space, right? So, you're responsible for the fixed cost. You can you can structure it in terms of allocation of percentages, right? You can structure it um that they have the employees that that you have the employees that how you do the CRC and the mush all all that different all those different things is how smart you do it. So I think that to me if you if somebody were to open these up all over the country, right? There's probably a way that you can do it and get a bunch of synergies and whatever else and make it a really good business, but you have to be on top of each and every one of the contract. It it would be difficult. >> You you've heard of Smash House. >> Yeah. >> It's not in Chicago, but you've heard of it. >> Yeah. >> The big announcement just came out that they're going into the Barclay Center. >> Now, Barclay Center, Nets fan, Jersey originally. Barclay Center has had a revolving door of kosher food people. So, I I don't know if this is a worthwhile venture or, you know, again, now somebody is trying to Yeah. Go ahead. >> Well, I'll I'll tell you one other piece of it. So, a lot of times people pay like McDonald's and whatever else at Wrigleyfield, right? That's what we know. They pay millions of dollars and they view it as just an advertisement. They don't make any money off of the food, >> but they're getting a lot of eyes watching. >> They're getting eyes. So, all of the food and profits, I'm pretty sure that they basically just sponsor that. They view that as an advertisement. And then on top of that, they pay money, millions of dollars a year to be inside Wrigley. So, >> a lot of times they have the the stadiums and the ballparks. They have the upper hand in it. And people aren't like people aren't viewing it as like I'm going to pull money out of this business. They're viewing it as eyes for sure for the bigger businesses. So it's possible that that's kind of like the normal dynamic. Kosher gets a little bit different because people are in it for the food, right? So like for us obviously it's helpful to have brand recognition, but we're not McDonald's, right? So it's a little bit different of how people view it and maybe that's the reason why people are coming in and out. >> Who do you send to Wrigley and now? Cuz I didn't see you guys when I was there in July of 25. Are these high school kids? Like who's doing it? It's a combination of a lot of things. >> It's the best job ever. It is a great job. Every single >> son-in-law said actually that I think he had classmates that did the job if I'm not mistaken. >> Yep. Yep. So, we get uh I would say most of our employees are probably from anywhere between 18 to 21. Uh people in the community who have uh time away from the summer. Uh people who just have want to have some filler jobs. It's also a job where you're on every other week, right? Cuz you're only doing it for the home stands. So, it's also unique in that way uh that you have to find someone who's able to be on or off. uh or someone who just has the entire summer, right? So, we are we have a pool of people now at this point. Uh this is one of the things that uh we kind of implemented in the past couple years is where we have the past employees uh people who are currently working and to make sure if someone you know says hey I can't do this week or whatever it is you know we'll put it in the chat we'll put it in wherever we have and say hey we need a sub for next week or whatever it is. We have a constant flow of employees, but I would say anywhere between 18 to 21. You have to be at least 18 to work in the stand. That's like a legal thing. Uh because we have we have alcohol in the stand, >> right? >> Which that's its own big deal. But there so there's a lot of there's like a lot of coordination that needs to happen because there's the training that Wrigley requires, right? The Cubs require. Then there's like your surf save certifications and then there's the CRC stuff, right? There's also that orientation. So by the time somebody is getting into the sand, they have three different certifications. They have to have all their documentation submitted. >> So, do they have to start now for next baseball season? >> Not not really. >> What's the season? January. They start like when do they start really focus? >> We start in We start January, February. We >> Is there a mash on the spot every day? >> We do. We do have a mash >> that you have to provide. That's correct. You have to have it on. It has to be on the spot according to the CRC. >> So, they do the cashier like they do anything. They literally just stand there. >> No, they also work. They do work, >> right? We we've created a system. It's really about systemizing the entire thing. So we've systemized it where we have someone who's a worker who will be the mashki. We have backup. We simplified the entire system between Levy and Wrigley and our training all in one way. It's really just comes down to making it simple for these guys so they can just pop in. >> All right. I had Max Manis on from Johnboy Media from guy who works with Shawn Boy and I said to him, I know the most important person in Yankee Stadium, the Musk. Mia >> and by the way, he's a Chicago boy. Oh, you know who it is. So he's Yeah, he's a Chicago boy. He sends me the menu for Legends. You know what Legends is anyway? He sends me the menu for Legends every time there's a game. And of course, there's always questions from fans about when will Legends Kosher be open. So I ask you, anything different during the nine days? Anything different during Shuster Thomas Tishabove? Like what what adjustments are you allowed to make and do you make? Even Sukus, he just had a sukus game. So you know, I mean, come on. No one's putting a suk on second base, but you know what I'm saying? Like >> it's actually funny. We have gotten asked, "Will there be a suka at Wrigley Field? Will there be a Suka?" And my response is always a little bit tongue and cheek where it's like, "This is the most expensive real estate arguably in the world, right? Every inch." Correct. Right. And so the suka is probably not on the priority list. That being said, we do have a little washing station of course, >> right? I use that washing station right across from your stand. >> Yeah. Right there. So um the So we talked to the CRC about this, right? Not just Shabus, right? Shabas was we were we were originally going to figure out how to stay open on Shabas and but ended up being because of Marzion and whatever else. It just ended up being even if you could make it work. We just we didn't want that. >> So you lose Friday and s well Friday night Friday. >> Yeah. But most of the games Saturday is the most profitable day and that's like the highest attendance. Um, but we do have a a lock on the grill and that's how but they what what ends up happening is they take over and they make it a drink stand for that those Saturdays and we lock up and then come back and we have to and and redo it. >> I I will say one thing is that by closing on Chabas we probably just that's probably the the secret to our success. I mean every single person every single person knows that, right? But that was something that I know Donnie was tackling uh early in the early days and >> harder to harder to do than to say. Harder to do than say harder to do than say also just coordinating it, right? We had to get the lock on the grill. We had to like convince them to make it a drink stand because they were basically say we're going to lose revenue, right? Um but >> you have to imagine that we're this new kosher guys coming in and we're saying, "Oh, by the way, this really feel we're not going to be open for one day." >> So above. >> So 9 days to shove. This is the guidance that we got from the CRC and and our rabbitic opinion >> is that somebody who's coming to eat fleshik during those days during tishov >> better that they come and eat kosher correct than eat >> 100% that's an actual hal as opposed to the minute of not eating meat right >> exactly so so we're open we're open for that and obviously like our guys who are are there fasting tisha right and while hot dogs are sizzling right in front of them I feel bad for them but we're we're open for that. We're open for that. We're open to obviously um which is great and and that was the guidance we got. >> So I have a friend who who for years was involved in in an industry I'm not going to say which one because maybe too obvious who it is in an industry where 40% of the business of the industry is done on Saturday. That's the thing. >> And never he never wanted to close on Saturday, but someone got sick in his family. He made a commitment to close in honor of a foolish lame of this person and they ended up making more money closing shave which of course was your point obviously you know >> again the world we're not surprised but I'm sure that was huge mysterious >> of course it was a tremendous sacrifice >> exactly >> but sales shoot up by closing on the day that's you know the most important day of the week for them >> 100% makes sense to us we've met before no >> yes we have >> we have met before I said to myself I I know you from somewhere >> again shout out we were talking about this before we came on but shout Shout out to your son Gavry. He was my camper. >> So where did you and I meet? It wasn't in Israel, was it? >> It might have been in Chicago. Oh, it was in Israel. I was on JM and the A.M. I was one of those kids on camp. >> Kell. >> Yes. >> In the base medish. >> Yes. Actually, funny story. >> When you were in 10th grade. >> That's correct. Funny story. There was So out of the entire camp, there was only two boys who were chosen and I think it was right. They were there. There was only two girls who were chosen. Correct. One of the other girls was my wife. >> Oh, is that funny? >> Yeah. >> That's we were both on JM. >> I don't think if I knew that. Look at that. I didn't know that. >> Now you have to take your jam bug home. I got to take I mean, come on. It's like a central part of your marriage. >> I told my wife actually like 3 minutes before I got here. I said, "I'm I'm coming." She said, "You're going? You're going to the gym?" Since when? >> That's great. >> Since last night at 10:00, >> you guys are involved in business outside of stadiums, correct? Yeah. Explain what you do. >> Well, okay. So, I I had this idea that I was I was starting school at Lyola, right? And dad said, "All right, you make the coaches and figure that out." Right. So my my whole life during school was go to Green Bay, study for a test on the way back, hopefully Ammy could help me make sure the kosher stands running and not falling into the ground and all that stuff. And then I got obsessed with finance when I was in school, right? And I was messing around just like even trying to forecast inventory for the kosher stand on these spreadsheets and all of a sudden I >> Oh, you love that stuff. >> Oh my gosh, I feel like Picasso, right? It's just like anything is possible on the spreadsheet, right? >> To me, it's a big jumble. Yeah, exactly. But but but to me it was I was messing around and like I had so many applications because I was basically taking this stuff while I was in school and I was bringing them into the kosher stand business and I was saying I I showed Amy I showed my dad I said hey guys look we could be profitable of $10 million if we just sell 8 million hot dogs, right? Whatever it is, right? And and that that was cool to me. So I started down this finance route and then I got into investment banking. I went to Wall Street and I was doing all these multi-billion dollar deals and all those things. >> You were still in Chicago at that point. >> Yeah, I was still in Chicago. >> One can do finance outside of New York. I don't know that. You know, I'm a Manhattan guy. I don't know that. >> It was, you know what, we were we were pitching and competing against some of those like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan and whatever else. And and we often had to go to New York in order to deliver those pitches. But, and I I tell this to people like investment banking is really just like the same thing as a broker for real estate. It's a you're buying and selling companies. It's just super complex and to super right it's just like rolling up these big businesses trying to explain them to people and then and selling them right than a piece of real estate >> of course of course and you have to all of the growth of the business all the financials the story and how it could be pitched to investors and taking them through diligence and all those things and then and through that I got a love for finance and I got a love for entrepreneurship and then probably three years ago right I was I was working pretty pretty long hours and I said you know what like I was having my kids And I said like I miss entrepreneurship. I miss it so much. And so I I ended up taking the finance and the entrepreneurship and I started a company called Warrior Group and what we do is we help companies scale through the power of finance, right? And we basically take all the secrets of Wall Street and finance and all these things. To me, it's the cheat code of how you plug that into a small business, the hacks that have worked at the the business models of large industry and we help them scale. >> How could how small can the small business be to take advantage of your service? Uh, I would say like above a million dollars, right? A million not crazy. I think it's like the the $1 million to $50 million range is $1 million. >> Do you have smaller companies on in your portfolio? >> People who are venture capital backed that are looking for that. But I would say like a million dollars the company goes from an idea to a business and all the things that the creative founder figured out all of a sudden become problems, right? Specifically financial problems. You start looking at things like, "Oh man, I actually have to care about cash flow when people pay me. I have to worry about putting a deposit down for a container down in China. I have to worry about my budgets or my team accountability. But the the cool thing about entrepreneurship to me, like what I what I really enjoy about this and is that there are different levels to the game. And the thing that gets you to level one, right, let's say to a million dollars is the thing that breaks you at $10 million. So if and up to a million dollars, you have to be the go-getter. You have to do everything on your own and all that. But if you're doing that at 10 million, you can't delegate anything. The business is going to crash. And so implementing strategy, specifically finance, but general strategy to to these growing businesses, someone who just had an idea, it's so meaningful cuz they feel like you're their partner in this growth. And what what's great about it is I've been able to like take all of that knowledge and bring it back into the kosher stand and see the results, right? Just like take a business concept, take the business idea, work on it with my brother, work on it with my family, and it it's been such a rewarding experience. >> Interesting. Boy, oh boy. And is there is there a faith component to this? After all, we we just spent the high holidays remembering that he is in charge of all income when it comes >> I'll tell you you know what I'll tell you a really really cool story that happened to me when I was uh doing my networking and internships to go to Wall Street. I had I was late in the process. Usually you have to start when you're much younger, right? You start when you're a freshman in college, right? For your big junior year internship like the law schools and the accounting and all those different things. And I was late to the process because I was focusing on taking kosher stands nationally and I had one uh one prospect prospective place that I was going to go to PNC big bank right I was going to be in part of the investment banking team internship and so I had done like something like 12 interviews and I was a finalist and whatever else and I wasn't able to make it out to the super day the big last interview because of shuis and they told me that even with it I could do it virtually it's fine there were two spots I came in third And at that point, I'm sitting there going, "What am I going to do with my life?" Right? What am I going to do? I I I missed my junior internship. There's nothing else open. And and now I'm done. So I said to Hashem, I said, "I don't know what I'm going to do right now, but I'll say this. I'm going to up my Micer from 10% to 15%. And I want you to take care of the rest." I took the extra 5%. I put it into my Meer account during like right before Davening. After Davening, I had a mis call. And the mis call was from the recruiter at PNC that said that Donnie, there's a spot that opened up in Chicago, not and I was supposed to go to Philadelphia. There's a spot that opened up in Chicago. I want you to interview it for tomorrow. And that's how I started my career in investment banking. So I'm uh that that was >> what do you think? >> Are we surprised? No, but that but that to me was like there there are some points where you can trace back like one thing that was probably outside of your control that Hashem just did and and implemented somehow that just gave this whole path. And to me that was it right cuz without that internship this wouldn't this wouldn't this wouldn't have happened. So to me that that was everything. >> It's heartwarming to hear a real numbers guy and somebody who you know is is dealing with these intricacies of the finance business speak like this. >> Oh my gosh. >> It's really it's it's wonderful to hear that. I think you >> not everybody in your industry has that track. >> I I would say that's because probably our family, right? I mean, you got the you got to get the backup. >> Sounds like you got good parents. >> Amy can talk about it. But we we owe I mean there's one story specifically you can you can talk about during which during co >> you got to remind me. >> So So during co everything shut down I got it. Yeah. Go ahead. >> Take it. No, you take it. You take it. You take it. >> Everything shut down during CO. Um, you know, our our So, to give a little background, both of our >> Oh, you lost the baseball season during CO. I mean, think of that. You go ahead. >> We lost We lost a lot of things. Everyone lost a lot of things during CO. Um, so again, to give a little background, um, both of our parents are entrepreneurs. We're both entrepreneurs. Our both of our sisters are entrepreneurs. Our entire family is entrepreneurs. >> Different industries, like different had an idea for a reality TV show. He What did you want to call it originally before I gave a better name? >> Keeping up with the Mashiach. >> No. No. I was going to call it. >> We don't have we don't have to go there. >> I I I changed the name to family office. Anyways, continue. >> So, what industry are you in? >> Uh, so I'm in sports medicine. >> Interesting. Wow. >> So, different than Donnie, I actually bought a company. So, I came back from Eric Dell. I was learning there. I was in the mirror for a bit. Um, and uh I uh I decided that I wanted to start entrepreneurship obviously influenced by my family. Um, and uh there's either you could start the business or you could buy a business. So, we had some money saved up. bites of money saved up, you know, from past savings and all those other things. And I wanted to get into the business. So, um, there's the same way that there's Zillow and there's other websites for buying houses, they're also websites for buying businesses. A lot of people don't know that. >> Yeah, I don't know that. >> So, one of the honestly, one of the the biggest ones out there, I think, is uh, Buy, Biz, Sell. So, the the the problem with this is though is that these uh websites are usually the bottom of the flow. So, you have these brokers usually go out to their network and they'll find who are their typical buyers or people who they know they've been connected with in the past or or people who they know are people who are probably going to buy when they offer something. Typically on these websites, you'll get bottom of the flow, right? Bottom of the funnel. And you'll probably have not the greatest deals. But anyways, you know, I was I think 21 at the time or whatever it was and uh I'm on the I'm on the website and I'm looking at it and I see all these different businesses and so one of them catches my eye and I said, "This one looks like a good one." So, I sent it over to Donnie. Donnie, I say, "Donnie, what do you think about this?" He takes a look at it. >> I said, "Give me about four hours and 18 spreadsheets and I'll tell you. >> You need the details. >> I need the details. I need to run this process." >> So, he looks at it, my my mom takes a look at it and they say, "Seems interesting." Anyways, the people who are selling it are actually located in Illinois. So, we go to them. And they say, "Hey, we're actually a distributor. We bought this business in 2001, I think it was." And they said, "We were trying to do some vertical integration. We wanted >> Tell them about the business. about the manufacturer and so the business is uh sports medicine where we basically uh convert and manufacture equipment for athletes all the way from the high school level all the way to the professional level >> mean heavy equipment >> no so this is recovery and injury prevention so you know let's just say an athlete is injured on the field right so the first people who will come to check their knee whatever is injured right that's an athletic trainer those are our consumers and they will use our products on athletes I actually have pictures of professional athletes using our product. >> What? Sprays, gels, things like that. >> Sprays, gels, ice packs, anything for recovery and injury prevention. I have pictures of uh of I think it's LeBron James. It's it's someone from behind. You would know it's LeBron James. It's probably not LeBron James, but uh someone on the Lakers who's using our product. Um and so we serve again from high school all the way to the uh quil professional level. And it's uh it's it's really cool. It's a really cool thing to do. say like in in entrepreneurship I find that's like the the place where you see Hashem's hand more than anything else because there's a certain level of comfort like yeah you could be laid off at a job and whatever else but there's a certain level of just unknown yeah and there's an regular check what happen but there's an unknown in entrepreneurship which is like you could see like a deal that wasn't supposed to happen or just randomly come through >> the farmer is among the most faithful right because the weather depends on >> so back to the story that Ammy was going to tell about about our parents I I think it's really worth telling. So u both of our parents uh their businesses rely on social connections and social events >> networking >> networking but people being in person and so obviously when co occurred you know those things kind of went all the way down so >> they were at risk we were at risk I remember my mother and my father were sitting in a room I remember so vividly and they were just so concerned and so worried I asked my mom at that time I said hey what's going on and they were kind of hesitant to tell us what was going on but I remember my mom she told me later. You know, when you're in entrepreneurship, you try to control a lot of things and you think you're in control because it's really just you. It's you against you. There's you sometimes just don't have anybody else. And sometimes you can feel like you're the one who's in the driver's seat. And I think she told me that, you know, there was a moment where I said, "Hashem, I'm just letting go. Uh I've been trying to be methodically controlling every single thing, especially when your business is not doing well. You have people you have to answer to, investors, the board." And she just let go. Um, and it was that point that my father got a call from one of his contacts in the Fortune 500 and they said, "Do you have any nitro gloves?" He said, "What?" And they said, "You know, nitro gloves." >> He said, "I don't know what that is, but I'll get back to you." And so, uh, my father started this crazy PPE business where a lot of people were doing the PPE and co and he was one of the I think it was the top five, top three, number three, top three supplier in the entire America of Nitro gloves uh, during that time and it saved both my parents' businesses. >> Unbelievable. And I remember this picture of my dad going out into the street with his tala saying, "Thank you, Hashem." >> Pretty amazing, I'll tell you. Uh well, there's no greater compliment when it comes to jamming the end than going overtime with guests. And we're way past the usual end of our show, which is a again a tremendous compliment to you and your family. Uh the next time you're in Wrigleyfield, folks, Kosher stands now. You know the story behind it. Yeah. >> We have one more announcement that we wanted to break on the air coming up for next season. >> Drum roll, please. Go ahead. God willing, there will be a $100 hot dog at Wrigley Field for the kosher staff. >> Now, that doesn't usually sound like good news. So, one second. You have to explain yourself here. >> Not just the regular hot dogs will still stay the same, but we're we're hopefully going to have a very exclusive experience where you can get we're still putting it together, but it's something along the the lines of Wagu beef pretzel buns, golden something, though. There's going to be a whole big experience with it, and we want to make that um a priority. So, we're in conversations right now with Wrigley about it. And >> this is somewhat of a trend, right? Isn't City Field doing something similar? Am I right or wrong about that? >> I think so. >> Could be. Could be. >> Could be. Right. >> They're doing something like that. They're putting together like a whole meal for 100 bucks and you get like mini hot dogs and other stuff. I forgot exactly what the details are. >> It's going to be amazing. We're we're architecting it out. It's going to be amazing. So, we're excited about it and hopefully that'll be available next season. >> Very nice. Uh, every stadium seems to have its own unique, you know, uh, stickick. Let's put it that way. And this will be really nice. >> Yeah. >> Uh can only help can only help the profits in the business, right, gentlemen? >> There you go. Uh there you have it, folks. Information about Warrior Group. If someone's interested, is there a website or any? >> Yeah, it's warriorp.com. >> Simple as that. >> Simple as that. People looking to scale their businesses getting I mean like finance is not fun for a lot of different people, but if you put it with strategy, it's perfect. So warriorp.com. and the teenager who's spending time in Chicago during the summer, they should go to the kosher stands website and start the process or what? >> Shoot us an email. Shoot us an email. We'll start the conversation. >> There are opportunities out there, right? >> A lot of opportunities at this job in the world. >> Do you ever get young women doing it? It's always the guys. >> We've had some are interested. Some typically it's going to be a younger guy. >> Usually sports interested people, but there's been women before. >> Sports and schleing. It's usually the guys who are interested in that stuff. >> Yep. Exactly. Right. >> All right. Uh, Donnie Mashiach, Ami Mashiach, this has been a real pleasure. >> Thank you for having What was I going to do? I said to my son-in-law last night, I have the best shtick. I'm going to tell these and now, of course, you put the gibbos on it. I'll tell you, it'll be obvious why in a moment. I said, I'm going to give them Nom Single Network mugs and tell them to use it as a tip jar at the And of course, as you just explained, there's no such thing as a tip jar anymore, right? >> There's zero cash. Correct. >> You have Nam Seagull Network credit card machines. Perhaps that'll work. There's zero cash. Never does a dollar exchange hands. No, sir. >> And that's every store in the entire stadium. >> Yeah. >> Gift shop, everything. >> Everything. >> I didn't know if that would work, but it seems like it's working. >> It works great. >> Fans got No, I I know it works from your standpoint, but fans I thought would be frustrated. Some would have the older ones might just have cash and you know, but no, they they figure out a way to >> There was some friction in the beginning, but >> Right. That's true. It's all about adjusting, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Life's about adjustments. >> It's all about adjustments. >> It's all about adjustments. There you go. Uh there you go folks, a special visit from Donnie and Ammy Kosher Stands Warrior Group. Uh check it all out. And as I said, always a delight to speak with the most important people in Chicago, Illinois. Brothers and sisters in Israel, we are with you. It's your favorite America's one and only Jewish moments in the morning radio program heard on listener sponsored digital radio around the world web.com on the single network and of course on the beloved NSN app.