Cobblestone on Maine and one on nine West Main Street in the village of Webster.
It's the kind of place when you walk in there you just feel like
you're welcomed and kind of like going home. You know, everybody's friendly,
very friendly staff, an upscale bar. You gonna have all kinds of craft
cocktails and craft beers. Intimate dining with delicious food like Cajun dusted scallops over
Spanish rice and red beans doesn't sound amazing, and all the food is locally
sourced. You got grilled pork chops. My favorite is this the Brussels sprout
hash made of butternut squashed Brussels sprouts, honey pecans and cinnamon crasins over an
apple cider reduction. Delicious. And then there's entertainment tonight just Jumbo playing in
the big front window from six to nine. Well, it's a little stage
up there, but it's perfect. It just adds to the atmosphere, a
warm, welcoming atmosphere. Look, it's an eighteen hundreds cobblestone church that's filled
with a different kind of spirit, a fun one. Check it out online
at Cobblestone on main dot com and in person where you can taste it,
sip it, and experience it. One on nine in West main Street in
the village of Webster. It's Cobblestone on Maine. Paul Connors and Pharisa two
six to two comp Today Comedy at the Carlson Because laughter's the best medicine and
you can get a big old dose of that medicine with the hilarious Dan Soda
this weekend. He's got one show Thursday night, two shows Friday night,
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When your old career gives you lemons, throwing some ice mix in some
vodka. Big call It. A podcast from the Mac of All Trade Studio
in Fairport and driven by Victor Chrysler, Dots Jeep Brown. It's Billified,
the Bill Moran Podcast. Well Hello and welcome. Thanks for getting your pod
on, Thanks for telling a friend. That's how we spread the word about
the pirate ship. Speaking of spread the word, right, it's all word
of mouth. That's the greatest thing in business, is it not, mister
Danielle, it is. That's how you get places. That is how you
get places. Anthony Daniellie, what an interesting life you've you've had. When
I when I was kind of going through all the businesses, I didn't realize
all the businesses that you had a hand in it owning. Yeah, I
mean it's been it's been a heck of a run. And you know,
I am full disclosure, I am fifty one years old, so you know,
I'd like to think I've got a little more to go, but it's
it's been a heck of a ride. And you know, certainly from the
begetting and you know, probably best known for our restaurant days back in the
Mario's East Avenue and then Mario's Via BRUTESI days, and that's probably where I
spent well over half of my life. Well what was it like that,
Let's start there. What was it like growing up your your dad? Are
you both your parents from Italy? Both of my parents were born in a
little tiny town in the mountains of a Bruzzi, Italy. Okay. In
its heyday, the population of that town was about five hundred. Okay,
now the population is about one hundred and fifty because they had a big earthquake
there, o story, and they're rebuilding. But it's you know, fourteen
years and they're still trying to figure out how to rebuild. So what was
it like being first generation American? I mean, what kind of influence was
that, because I feel like the mentality is different. I think I don't
know, but I would think your dad saw great opportunity here. Yeah,
my dad came over literally, you know, with a couple bucks in his
pocket, right through Canada. My mom came over because her dad passed away
when she was nine years old, and my grandmother brought her and her two
siblings over from Italy, starting with nothing. My grandmother worked at Hicky Freeman.
But you know, it really is a family of work ethic. You
know, from an early age, my parents involved us in the restaurant business,
whether it was wiping silverware, and you know, I'm not sure it
was necessarily them teaching. I think it was more you know, I had
two parents and they were both working ninety hours a week, and so our
daycare was the restaurant and the servers and the dishwashers. And while you're there
at daycare, you might as well wipe something. So that's you know,
that's kind of how the work ethics started. But it's funny to me because
you know, so I'm a majority, if not all, of my family
is from Ireland. But you know, I had a great grandmother that came
over at nine, somewhat of an indentured serving in that she would wash clothes
for a family that she lived with and then slowly got her sisters over and
that sort of thing. I feel like there's this work ethic and then you
know, you get down two or three generations not been here, a little
spoiled. Yeah, it's all good, and we almost I don't know if
we. I don't want to say take advantage. We don't take advantage.
We we sort of see the flaws and yeah, why and you know they
worked so hard to get you where you were that you don't appreciate it.
I feel like there's a lack of appreciation curally a quandary. My brother Danny
and I. Yeah, business partners, and obviously we've grown up together and
have the same situation. I have three children, he has two, and
trying to get them to a point where they appreciate you know, exactly what
you're talking. Yeah, you know I saw my parents work hard. Yeah,
our kids saw my brother and I work hard, but we had a
lot cooler shit. Yes, we were working hard than parents they then down
there, you know. I mean, I have to give my kids credit.
They're all pretty hard working kids. It is tough when it's like,
hey, work really hard, but you need next week off because we're all
going to Cancun and we're staying at the Ritz Carlton. You know, it's
it's you know, it's kind of hard to put the impact of you know,
well that That's what I'm saying, is like it becomes this thing,
yet that's the standard by what you live and you want to stay at.
But for your dad, your dad has to be I feel very proud of
everything that he I mean, it's an empire, right, I mean,
it's become a minim the American dream. Uh, you know, and even
beyond it, I don't think my father ever even imagined where we are today.
He started out. Sure, I think for him, the thought of
owning a house, owning a car, you know, having a wad of
money in his pockets so that he could pay for dinner, not on credit.
I think for him, probably back in those days, that was his
idea of you know, shangri la. I mean that. And and now
obviously we've been blessed, we've we've done very well. And uh, you
know, again trying to keep everybody grounded in the family and just you know,
and certainly realizing that, you know, the secret to happiness is not
money. No, I mean, it's sure as hell doesn't hurt. Well,
I mean money, but money to me is freedom. It's freedom.
It makes choices a lot easier. Yeah, but it doesn't you know,
it's not happiness. I mean, you know, there's a lot of families
out there with a lot of money, and we read about them every even
miser and they're miserable. Yeah. Uh. And frankly, a lot of
the joy in life is creating stuff. And when you walk into the world
with a lot of stuff, you know, what the hell are you going
to do for me? Well, you're so comfortable, right, You're so
comfortable, You're not hungry. Look, it's a it's a different world.
Your kids grow up with air conditioning and flat screen TVs and video games and
you know, and social media and the whole world in their hand. Why
would they do anything? And it makes you know, I feel like at
fifty two, I feel like my grandparents where I look at the world now
and I'm like, you know, how are these kids ever going to make
it from life? You know, they they're staring at their phones. Nobody
has any work ethic, especially now through COVID. You know, everybody's working
from home in their underwear and their basement, you know, with PlayStation on
in the corner. And I'm no, they're not. Look at us they
are. You're all dressed in a jacket. You've got PlayStation back here in
your underwear. Did you always want to be an entrepreneur yourself? A lot
of times people sort of go against the grain. Some people rebel a little
bit against what the family businesses. And I don't want to do that.
I want to do my own thing. But always wanted that. We rebelled.
My brother and I rebelled by going to college in Auburn, Alabama.
Both of you did, both of us did, which you know, I
mean for for a family from Italy. Uh you know, the word Alabama
in itself is kind of kin to Ghana, Africa, you know, like
you're going where, right, and uh, you know, but that was
our way of getting away from Rochester, getting away from our parents. And
we got away and we had a great time and we learned a lot and
uh, you know, towards the end of that stint, we certainly had
opportunities. I had a job offer from Coca Cola in Atlanta, yeah,
you know, and there was you know at that time, especially Atlanta was
hot and growing and Coca Cola was so huge rush company. I thought,
you know, you could be the next Gordon Gecko and uh, you know,
run a big company someday. And but you know, really looked at
it, cherish our family where we came from, going back to the roots.
And my father never pressured us to stay in the business, actually,
which is probably the biggest reason we did. I think if he had pushed
us into it, are we may have pushed against it. But he was
very much like, hey, I'm comfortable if you guys want to come on
board, we'll grow this thing together. If you're not I'll finish doing what
I'm doing. I'm happy and comfortable and God bless you guy. And so
my brother and I came back and we took it from there. You know,
you asked, you know, what, what did I envision for my
future? I had no idea. I knew bussing tables, I knew washing
dishes, I knew you know, work in the front desk of a restaurant.
What did you learn from that experience? Though, I'd say the biggest
gift of working through our restaurant career are the people we met and the ability
to communicate with people. You know, being comfortable with people you know,
you know, certainly you know as as you know I was involved in politics.
You know that passion came from talking with people, listening to people bitch
and bitching myself. And then you know, at some point growing up,
my dad smacked me in the back of the head and say, hey,
if you're gonna bitch, get up and go do something about it. Hence,
you know, my political career. I'm curious just to take a step
back for a minute, take me back to the decision to go to Auburn.
And your brother's older than you, so he went. He younger.
He's younger than you. You went first. He looks older. I actually
I don't know, so you went first. What was the decision for Auburn?
I mean talk about culture shock? Right, you grow up here,
but you grow up here with parents that do you speak Italian? I speak
fluent Italian, so you're bilingual and you can go and you're going to go
down to Auburn, Alabama? A very different part of the world, beautiful
but very different. Was it culture shock for you? Was there? I
mean, just being away from home at any college been culture shocks. The
biggest culture shock was was more being away from home, not necessarily in the
state of Alabama, although that certainly added another layer to you know, the
accent. The speeds moved in Alabama as much slower than what we're used to
in New York. You know, the culture and the things that people enjoy
doing down there are different rodeos and cowboy boots that you know are becoming a
little more fad today. But sure, but back then I heard of up
here and uh, yeah, so that that was what years It's like,
nineteen ninety one. Well, I graduated high school eighty nine, eighty nine,
Yeah, and I was there till ninety three and my brother came in
ninety one to you know whatever that is. Yeah, okay, yeah,
so that was that was a great experience. You know, I know a
lot of kids are going to school down south now. I mean it's just
frankly a more conservative part of the world and not you know, not that
necessarily. I'm not bringing it politics, No, it just is. But
you know, more conservative people tend to be happier. I think the fact
that their son on your face, yes, is probably the biggest reason that
your vitamin D and you know, the ladies aren't bad to look at down
there, and you know, it's just a great environment. Uh you come
back, what so when does do the things come into play? Like basils
I think was also the marina, All these things do they come Well,
you come back and it kind of the restaurant really seems to grow. And
then the sauce right getting that into stores. So it's not you're not buying
it just at the restaurant. What is that whole process like to where now
it's become all these I mean, boy, I mean I would say that
you know, one of the things my father instilled in us is that hospitality
is more than just hotels and restaurants, and that if you can take the
philosophy of hospitality like we had at Mario's, yeah, you can translate that
into the marina business, the car wash business. You know, where you're
interacting with people and if you can make people happy and feel good about what
they're spending their money on, right apt to succeed in that business. So,
youge, it changed when we went to car washes and the marinas,
but basically the philosophy stayed the same. And to be honest with most of
the employees that are running our marinas and ran the car washes for us were
people that worked for us in the restaurant business. And so you know,
it wasn't again the widget changed, but the philosophy, the culture that didn't
change. So even working for you the work family, that's you know,
people staying with you. Yeah, right, that that's a wonderful thing.
Yeah, And I would say, you know, I thought about, you
know, talking to you today and you know, you know, growing up
Danielly and thinking about you know, what's been the most impactful part of you
know, my experience through fifty years, and it really has been the employees,
the culture that we created at our restaurants, all of them, at
the marinas, at the car washes. We've we've employed thousands of people in
the Rochester area over the past you know, thirty five forty years that I've
been involved, and uh, you know, for the most part, I
would say ninety eight point five percent of them loved working for us, and
we loved having them there, and it truly was a family culture and we
supported each other and still to this day. I mean, I'm Facebook friends
with hundreds and hundreds of my former employees. I see them out all over
the place, and it's always a hug and a story that we recount from
back in those days. And so I would say, you know, the
most rewarding part of my career is that. And you don't think about that
when you're no, you won't know. And you know, you look at
other employers, and you look at other job situations where you know, people
get treated like shit. Management doesn't really care, and you know, and
that's a part of business. But sad, I always think like business is
very cold at times, right, and there's no feeling involved, and you
have to make decisions and we have feelings and we sort of have to take
the human element out of it. And I almost feel like that's sort of
the problem with politics to they in that we say, well, we want
somebody who's going to run it like a business. Well we don't because everything's
about feelings and we're trying to do all this stuff about feelings, and it
takes the place of decisions sometimes, and that that that that's a tough thing.
That's the problem with with politics now, with government right now, is
that it really is a business. Yes, and and and we are electing
people that are not familiar with business. You know, if you have cancer
and you go to an electrician and say, can you help me with my
cancer? Yeah? Uh, you know that electrician can have the biggest heart
in the world and all the great intent in the world, but you got
the wrong person for the jobs. And and unfortunately that's what I see in
government today. You know, nationally, state, local. Well let's let's
take just one little uh moment here. But when we come back, you
have a lot going on, You had a lot going on all these restaurants
and things. But were you bored that you went into politics like that?
Hold that answer, We'll get to that in just a second. Iron Smoke
Distillery here in Fairport is such a cool place to hang out and make some
of the best whiskey really in North America. I think it's not an overstatement
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a lot of local culinary craft whiskey cocktails with a great music lineup. See
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Katie Strong at seven thirty Sam Grisman Project, and then all day starting at
twelve thirty on Saturday on the main stage. You've got public water supply going
all the way through till eight thirty at night with the Struts. At six
forty five, it'll be my friend Tommy Burnett and his all star Cavalcade of
Scoundrels featuring Andy Kim and Dennis Casey of Flogging Molly. So it's all happening
this weekend in Geneseo. Get your tickets for the Hoochinanni the first one.
I'm telling you there's gonna be many more, but come to the first one,
the inaugural one. You can say you were there and get your tickets
at Ironsmokedistillery dot com. Jimmy Z's Plates and Shakes Rock and Brockport Wednesday through
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I know, home a little early for the holidays, but we got
to start thinking that way. Plates and Shakes dot Com, Jimmy Z's Plates
and Jakes. We've vilified a voicemail anytime. I'm a Victor Chrysler Dodge Jeep
ramline at five eight five two o six eighty eight sixty six, and be
sure to like and subscribe to Vilified wherever you get your podcast. So what
was it that brought you then into politics? Because you have That's why I
said, were you bored in that? There's so many things going on in
your life, it's almost that you didn't need to. But what was it
that brought you in? Yeah? I mean, you know, part of
it is variety is the spice of life, okay. I mean, you
have to do other things in your life. You can't just have one thing
to do every day or else life gets pretty boring pretty quick. You know,
honestly, it stems back. My brother and I were both Eagle Scouts
when younger. We did Boy Scouts Eagle Scouts, So there's always been a
sense of civic duty. My brother became a Monroe County Sheriff's deputy for six
years. He went through the academy. He was a part time sheriff's deputy
during running restaurants and creating the car washes and everything else. Yeah, so
that was kind of his civic duty. My brother's a little more low key
than I am, so you know, people don't hear about him quite as
much as I do. But and my sense of politics, like I said,
you know, going around the restaurant, going table to table, listening
to people bitch about current events, having my own opinions and bitching myself and
then saying, hey, you know what, if you're going to bitch about
it, why don't you get involved and see what this is all about.
I ran for office in two thousand and seven and was elected to the Munroe
County Legislature, and I served there for ten years. Ten years because there's
term limits, which are probably a good thing. And so after ten years,
you know, I took a step back and retired from politics. But
it was a great it was a great run. I'm still involved on the
outskirts, but not as an elected official because local politics really impact our lives
more than nationals. Where we live. It's what's happening, it's our community
and stuff. What are the biggest challenges you've seen facing local politics? I
mean facing local politics now. I think the pressure of national politics playing into
local politics is a problem. You know, certainly, you know, when
you're talking Republicans and Democrats at the local level, it's shades a gray.
I mean, you know, everybody's in it to do the right thing,
Republicans or Democrats. I mean, there's extremes which we all know that may
not agree with our philosophy, but generally speaking, it's all good people wanting
to do good things for the community they live in. But unfortunately, you
start layering the onion with national politics. You know, people bringing up stuff
like you know, the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. And you know how
many times I was campaigning and they were like, well, what's your stance
on abortion? And it's like listen, I mean, you know they're not
going to ask your local county legislator to weigh in on abortion laws. It
just doesn't work that way. And now I'm not saying that it doesn't frame
your opinion of me, so I can understand it's not a completely invalid question.
But you know, really we're talking about your local budget, your schools,
public safety, roads and bridges, community which, by the way,
matters. I mean, just some of our bridges and roads. It's a
disaster. And I were spending billions of dollars every year. And again,
most of the bridges are more of a state issue, Yes they are,
and unfortunately, I think Upstate gets ignored, and I think that's a problem
in politics. And you know, I don't think any of your listeners want
to hear too much about politics. No, but it is a shit show.
Yeah, to put it in a summary, it's a shit show.
And I think in general, we have the wrong people doing the job.
And again, this is not a Republican or Democrat thing. This is you
know, if you want somebody who's going to straighten out the infrastructure of the
state of New York, you know, a former school teacher or a lawyer
or somebody like that is not the expert in that. No, you know,
if that's your priority, then you need to focus on that priority and
put the right person to do that job. Yeah, there's it's just an
interesting philosophy. I think a lot of times what we want and then what
we get or what we elect and what it's It's very confusing. But that's
how you and I met. Do you remember this? No? I don't.
Okay. So I lived in your district, okay, And you sent
out letters congratulating college students who made the Dean's list. So there were two
letters that showed up at my house for two different kids. And I was
on the radio at that point on CMF, and I came in and I
sort of poked fun on like, look at this, he's new to politics,
and it doesn't Now it's not you that I mean, it's you that's
sending it out, but I'm sure it's somebody else. I was there till
two in the morning writing these letters by hand. No, but I'm saying,
you're not mailing them, right, there's okay. So they come in.
So we were kind of poking fun at you, and then we call
you, we call the restaurant, and somehow I think word had gotten out
that we were going to do this. We were going to call you.
We were waiting for the restaurants to open. We started talking this about like
seven thirty eight o'clock. So now nine, we're going to call somebody answers
and they say he's unavailable. And then all of a sudden, your voice
appears because you got word, and I went, that's when I just had
my whole opinion of you was formed at that moment, because I went,
this is a guy who got a good sense of humor, was willing to
play with us. I mean you did. You played with us, and
you didn't hide, and not that that was anything really to hide from.
It didn't hide. Now that actually led to a romance that ended in marriage.
I don't know if you know that. Okay. So the letter for
one of them was for a student at the time named Klotts. He went
to Syracuse. His last name was Klatts, and people started calling up saying,
oh, his mom's so hot and his dad had passed and blah blah
blah. So Tommy, who was on the show with me, went and
was going to deliver the letter, and they went and had coffee and now
they're married, didn't Tommy, Tommy lived next door to my parents, I
think for a short period of time in Pittsford. Yeah he may have.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I did not know that. So all
of that came from that. My letter say not only was that politician politician
slash cupid. Yeah, so absolutely. Then recently you guys decide no longer
Marios will be really there, And but you still own all that property,
correct? Did you own all that property when the Bowling Alley was there?
No, So we bought the bowling Alley. Gosh, now it's got to
be ten twelve years ago. But when we had Marios, we did not
own the Bowling Alley. We bought that later on, and you know,
rewind a little bit every one of our business ventures when you say we've done
this, that and the other, it all started with some kind of real
estate deal, okay, you know. And one of the things that my
father, you know, taught us at a very young age was that at
the end of the day, it's the real estate deal that's going to make
you money in the long run, you know, making money in the restaurant
business, that's how you get a paycheck every day so you can live this
year when you get to a certain age, and you can't work in the
restaurant anymore. If you own the real estate. Now you own something,
you can sell it and that's your retirement. You can rent it out,
that's your retirement. You can smash it down and build a whole foods that's
your retirement. So, you know, it's always been real estate, and
so the marinas. We got into the marina business simply because we saw this
cool piece of real estate at the south end of Irondoquoi Bay and we were
like, hey, this is a good real estate play, and so we
bought it. Happened to have a marina, So now we're in the marina
business. Then we built Basil and blah blah blah. Now we tore down
Basil and we built the Bolagio apartments, you know, which is a good
long term kind of retirement annuity, if you will. I mean, that's
our investment. I know a few people that live in Blagio, our buddy,
the mayor, p Kennedy, the many lives there and yeah, a
lot of great people. So talk to me then about this whole Foods project
that went on. It became quite the conundrum. Yeah, yeah, I
mean that was definitely. I don't know if we're definitely across to bear for
my family over the past ten years, right, you know, we we
bought the Bowling Alley and the intent, I mean, just real quick,
the intent of buying the Bowling Alley was to build a hotel next to Mario's
via Brutzi. And we had envisioned transforming Marios via Brutsi into a bigger banquet
and catering facility because we kind of saw the writing on the wall that a
lot of these banquet facilities were either getting old or closing or et cetera.
And they were it was harder and harder to find a place to hold a
wedding or a big event. And uh, and so we tried to build
a hotel. Long story short, the town told us, you know,
we couldn't build a hotel or it would be very difficult to build a hotel
on that site, and so we tacked. We ended up finding Whole Foods
who had a desire to be in that area. Originally we just wanted them
to go into the Bowling Alley and they came and visited and they were like,
no, actually we want to put it were Mario's is so we were
like, oh shit, well that's our restaurant. So uh, you know,
we ended up signing at least with them. We got approvals after many
years of trying to build the whole Foods and then you know the rest of
the story. I think the public's tired of hearing. You know, Wegman's
didn't like the idea no food's going in And there are a bunch of lawsuits
that dragged on for several years, and matter of fact, the lawsuits are
still we're one last appeal is being heard at the end of November and hopefully
that'll be it. What what did you learn from all that? Every everything
in life? Every everything it's I learned. I learned that when Bob Wegman
or Danny Wegman says, every day you get our best, I learned that
that in fact was true, but not exactly what I thought the first time
I heard it. So I got that That's what I learned. But I
mean in terms of like, because I have to think at some point,
and I don't know your your dad is still around and probably counseling you guys
on some of this stuff and talking to you about it, and I'm sure
I One of the things I admire about you is the sense of family and
how close everybody is. Was there ever the idea of just saying we're going
to pack it up? Then, you know, obviously there were times where
it came up. Sure, I would think it would have to being Italian,
especially in my family. The best part about it is that we do
not give up. As a matter of fact, I'm wearing a pin and
having the letters w I T on it and it says whatever it takes,
whatever it stands for. So we do not give up. Whatever it takes.
We get to where we need to be or where we want to be.
And again, you can tack a little bit, but you get to
the finish line. Now that's good and bad. You're also stubborn to a
fault, which is the bad side of w I T. And so you
know, there was a lot of time becomes WTF. You know, WTF
comes up every once in a while. I mean, we spent close to
two million dollars in legal fees to get that whole Foods built in the end,
and you know it's gonna I mean, I'm not saying we won't make
money on that deal, because we will, but it's going to be a
while. I mean, there's a lot of a lot of ground to make
up, and but we got it done. Do you learn in these situations
to be patient? Yeah, it's a fine line. You know, it's
really a test trying not to get angry. Sure, you know, anger
is not healthy. I think, well, yes that. I think one
of the most important things that an adult can do, and is very I
think some adults master it, many do not, is controlling your emotions because
the world is never going to stop coming at you no matter what it is.
But you got to stay up here as all this ship comes flying because
you react to it. And that's that's that's how you'll be remembered. That's
what you'll be, you know. And then it did. Even that can
affect everything. Who wants to do business with you, who wants to shop,
what their opinion is of you, all these sorts of things. And
I think in the end it's it seems like everything is going pretty smoothly.
It's going smoothly. Now, Yes, that's what I mean to say.
We didn't get angry to say that. How can you know throwing stuff against
the wall and and you know, swearing up and down and you know,
I mean, you know, the thoughts that go through your head when you're
when when you're pushed to the brink are evil and not pleasant. But you
know, we have been blessed to have my father, my brother, and
I the three of us working together every day. So when one of us
loses our shit, which happens on a fairly regular basis, uh, there's
the two others who are like, hey, why don't you sit down for
a minute, or better yet, how about I strap you to the wall
and make you sit down for a minute. What do you do to handle
that kind of stuff stress wise? I mean, you know, we have
hobbies, you know, my politics, Danny's you know, being in Monroe
County sheriff. I'm a pilot. Both those are stressful things, man,
but they're pilot stress. Ye, now we talk. It's a different type
of stress. Piloting is very stressful, but it can be. But it's
the type of thing that you have to be one hundred percent focused on.
So when you're one percent focused on flying a plane, you're not thinking about
all the other bullshit that you're going to think about when you land. I
always say that I love like racing cars. Yeah. So I had never
done drag racing until this year, and I always just thought it was like,
you know, I like the road, the road courses, you know,
going into turn, slowing down and then just punching it as you come
out. All that is just exhilarating. And I can get bored even watching
that stuff. But if you're behind the wheel, it's a whole different world.
And I went and did the drag racing stuff, and dude, I
mean I was on a high days, but in those moments, you can
think of nothing else but what you're doing. It is the closest thing to
zen you're ever going to get. Now, in a drag race, it's
ten seconds maybe hopefully last, maybe not. But either way, you know,
if you're describing the first time you've had sex or drive racing, but
the first time I had sex, it was even faster. I didn't even
I didn't even make the quarter mile. Yeah, but just those things.
So I think that's what what are you trained on in in AH planes?
So I've been flying for about twelve years instrument raided, multi engine rated Yeah.
Uh you know, so I fly up at twenty five thousand feet and
you know, landing gear so complex. But yeah, it's just it's a
lot of stuff. And it took uh, you know, it took two
and a half years to get my pilot's license. It took me out of
three or four years to get instrument raided. But it's the journey. Yeah,
and it's the fact. And I'm still as right now, I'm working
on my commercial pilots like since you are, not because I have any desire
to fly commercially, but it's just an excuse to keep learning, keep going
up with an instructor. Well you do, you own a plane. So
I own a plane with a couple other guys and we share it to a
single engine. As a matter of fact, tomorrow morning, I'm flying to
Boston. My son lives in Boston, so I'm going there for the day
and I'll come back tomorrow night. And uh, it's it's a lot of
fun and it's a it's a super cool hobby. Yeah, you know,
it stresses my wife out a little bit, I would think so. And
you know, safety is certainly a how do you feel about the single engine?
Uh, as long as it's working, I feel great of it.
Now it's when it stops that it's a bit. My uncle was a Navy
pilot NAM and then went and worked for Western Airlines and then Delta, and
he was the union president for Delta. He lives in Park City, and
he flew for years and years and years, and he would always say to
you, single engines, Yeah, yeah, I mean it's we owned a
twin engine, smaller twin engine okay before this one, you know, and
there's you know, not to get into too much pilot stuff, but twin
engine planes are also very dangerous. Like if you lose one engine on takeoff,
you're in a much worse place with two engines than you are losing one
engine on a single engine, because the plane wants to flip over and crash,
whereas with a single engine, the plane just wants to glide forward,
which again maybe not a great outcome either, but at least you're not flipping
over and crashing. And you know, having a single engine plane. Most
of my flying is over land. Most of my flying is over the Northeast,
so there's airports everywhere. It's calculated risk. When I'm up at twenty
five twenty twenty five thousand feet, if I were to lose that engine,
I can glide for thirty to forty miles before I hit the ground, and
usually there's an airport within fifteen twenty miles, so it's a calculated risk.
Where do you fly into? For Boston? Then I fly into Hanscom.
It used to be Hanscom air Force Base. Okay, so it's a smaller.
It's a smaller. I have flown into uh, Logan, you did
that once? Yeah, I will most likely do it again. That was
crazy? Was I was? You know? So I'm just talking about you
know, I fly over land near an airport and I go into Logan and
air traffic control sends me way the hell out over the Atlantic Ocean. Sure,
and so not only am I over the Atlantic Ocean, but now I'm
at like three thousand feet because I'm getting ready to land. So like,
if I lose an engine, then like i'm sharp food and what happens with
the air It's changed. Everything changes. More stress is that they're telling me,
listen, you got to go faster because there's a seven thirty seven behind
you, and I'm in my little plane pedaling. I'm like, dude,
I'm pedaling as fast as I can. Yeah, I can only twist the
rubber band. So much. That's as fast as this thing goes. And
then as I'm just about to land, They're like, oh, be careful,
you're landing behind a seven forty seven and there's wake turbulence and sure there
is this, and I'm like, what the heck am I supposed to do?
Now? You know, you just land but you did. I landed,
And I just what happens in those moments with you with with with fear,
I mean, those can become some people panic. What happens to you?
Yeah, no, I'm I do not panic. Yeah, very I
would say I'm very cool and collected, very matter of fact. You know.
I just you fall into your training, and that's why you train as
much as you do. You just kind of go into autopilot in your head
and you're scanning your instruments and you're, you know, preparing for all the
things that could happen, and uh, you know, and what are your
plans if those things happen? And if you're practice it enough, it just
kind of happens. Automatical drag racing. Car racing is the same thing.
I mean, you know, you don't figure out what you're going to right
at the time, practice it and hopefully your body just does what it's supposed
to be. Yeah, because there is something about you know, people who
do these sorts of things, they are like really calm. And I don't
know about you, but I I can get my heart rate really low,
like to the point where I've set off alarms. Oh you do the same
thing. My resting heart rates about sixty yeah, and in those situations it's
probably down to like fifty yeah. Yeah, I mean, and my resting
heart rate is in the low fifties. And I've gotten it where I've had
an EKG and it went to forty four yeah, and all arms go off
and they go oh, and I got scared. I'm like, what the
fuck? Yeah, it's just your your heart rais that's that's a I mean,
a great it's a great thing. It's a good way to react because
I think in those moments when people are losing their heads a little bit,
or in these chaotic situations, if you're not you can't think clearly, and
you have to be able to have And you see some people that just start
flapping both arms up in the air and like screaming like a little schoolgirl and
Okay, glad that guy's not flying my plane. And now your situation,
does your wife go with you? Well, Eric does Will she come tomorrow
or no, she won't come tomorrow, but she's off in my co pilot.
Yeah, she doesn't know how to fly the plane, but she's learned
enough to be dangerous and she helps me with the radio and she likes that.
She likes I think what she loves most is the convenience. Sure fact
that we could literally, you know, after church on Sunday, jump in
the plane and go have lunch with Michael and Boston and yeah, you know,
shot for a couple hours and be home for dinner. You know,
I mean, it's it's kind of a it's a really it is really cool
because my brother was flying planes when he was about sixteen, and then he
went to flight school at Indiana Indiana State and hit a wind sheer had an
engine fail FedEx at the time, because we grew up kind of downstate,
but in the Rhinebeck Millbrook area, there was the guy from FedEx who owned
or was one of the owners, said to him, listen, when you
graduate, find me and I'll get you a job as a pilot. But
my brother was like, I want to do more and he went. He
wound up leaving Indiana State going to Cornell and he's running hotels and things.
Yeah, yeah, I mean being a professional pilot for the airlines. I
mean it's it's kind of a brutal job. Yeah, especially now with the
technology. I mean yeah, pretty mu much flying a computer game and you're
not really touching anything for hours and hours and the end. And so you
know, my father, you still it pays, It paid well, But
I don't know if it's still pays well as it used to. I think
it does because we're having such a shortage of pilots. Because my my father
used to jokingly refer to his brother as a glorified bus driver. Yeah,
but you know, he flew all over the world. Talk to me about
COVID and how that affected all the businesses that you owned, and we hear
and you know, I have no idea, but from people I know who
own restaurants and things, how hard it is to get people to actually work.
Are you finding that now? Yeah? I mean, you know,
we we timed it perfectly. You know, that was just luck and nothing
else. But you know, we closed our last restaurant, which was Basilon
Arondequoit Bay. I think we closed it November before COVID, so two or
three months before really it started rolling out. And you know, since then
we had the car wash businesses. But the car wash is a little less
intense employee wise. But yet the employment market out there is really difficult.
You know, it's it stems partially from nobody really wants to do service jobs
anymore. Right, there are fewer restaurants that that can survive in this environment.
And what you're seeing, I mean, you know, the thing I've
noticed the most, and this is not a knock on restaurants, is that,
you know, the quality of service has plummeted, and not because the
servers don't know what they're doing, but because they're expected to do way more.
So. You know, when we were in the restaurant business, one
server would take care of three or four tables, Yeah, and now they're
taking care of six to eight tables, right because they can. So you
know, again, not a knock on their ability to serve, it's a
knock on you know, what the hell do you want from them? They're
serving eight tables and I remember it was tough to keep quality at four tables.
So but restaurants need to do that because they can't afford. You know,
in our day, we used to pay servers to three dollars an hour
and then they made their money on tips. Right you know, now servers
are making ten bucks an hour. Whatever it is. I don't know exactly
what it is right now. You know, minimum wage has gone up,
which is fine, but you know, line cooks that used to make sixteen
eighteen dollars an hour and now are making twenty two, twenty five dollars an
hour. And so, you know, restaurant prices, food prices have gone
through the roof, and you know, people seem to be willing to pay
it. I mean I go around to restaurants that they're all impacked. They're
at least around here, and you know in some of the bigger cities for
sure. But it's a tough business. And even even at those prices,
being as busy as they are, they're all understaffed. They're all, you
know, making money. But I don't think they're making a ton of money.
I mean, they're they're doing okay, and it's tough after COVID,
I don't you know again, I'm I'm at an age now where I just
don't get it. And and you know, I don't know what these young
whipper snappers are going to do with the rest of their lives. But you
know, everybody wants to wear a coat and tie, and you know,
work for a big company and and uh, well they don't want to wear
a coat and tie. They want to be in their basement in their underwear.
Well that I think that. You know, so many people want to
be an influencer on social media. There's all the different things. Look,
I say this this phrase a lot people want to do podcasts. Well,
I mean this is the thing though, but it's cool, but it is.
The barrier to entry is gone. But no matter what it is,
you got to be willing to hustle. You have to work, have to
hustle. You got to hustle, and you got cours to you. You're
doing a great job. Well thank you. You provide great entertainment. What
is the uh when when you look back, what's most important to you right
now? Right now? I know the answer? Yeah, I mean it
goes back to family. Yeah, I was going to say that. I
mean, going to spend the day with your son tomorrow. What a cool
thing. That's awesome. Yeah, you know, prioritizing family and just uh,
favoring the time we have and trying to you know, leave a positive
impact on the environment around me. I mean, you know, I think
we've done great things in our business that has benefited more than just us.
I mean, it's certainly benefited us, but I think it's benefited the community.
You know, my my role in politics, I think I benefited the
community. I benefited myself, of course, you know. So now it's
just kind of what's that next thing? And you know, it's not accumulating
more stuff, you know, and yeah, I love to travel, but
you know, once you're traveling, you're like, Okay, I kind of
want to go home now, you know. That's what everybody finds, and
so kind of figuring out what's next. My kids are twenty five, twenty
three, and eighteen, so we're kind of waiting to see what happens with
them. Where are they going to settle down? None of them are married,
and so that's kind of the next big step. So really, you
know, it's kind of we're in a weird stage of life where you're trying
to figure out what's next and what's the purpose of life? At this point.
Yeah, you know, to your point. You know, if I
was broken having to work ninety hours a week, it'd be pretty easy to
figure out what I'm doing next week, you know. But you know,
I've been blessed that I'm not worrying about that. I still go to work
every day. Yes, and we still have stuff, and we're doing stuff,
but we're doing it because we like to do it and not because we
have to do it, which just does change the mentaliting things. Yeah,
changes the mentality. That's it's where you want to get to. I mean,
I have to think. I don't know if you ever said it,
but how proud is your dad of what you and your brother have done with
what he started? Yeah? Where you took it? Yeah, I think
you know, my dad's over the moon, and but you know he's in
a similar situation. He spent his whole life creating. Yeah, you know,
and now him and my mom are seventy seven years old and certainly enjoying
life. But you know, one of the things you never learn how to
really enjoy life, Right, You work your ass off so that you can
afford to go to Disney World for a week in February, and then you
work your ass off for another year to see if you can go back to
Disney World in February, And when you finally get to a point where you
don't have to work your ass off anymore, it's like, well, what
am I going to do now? Right? Is he bored a little bit?
Yeah? Yeah, really, I would say he's a little bit bored.
He goes to Italy during the summer, he has family there, and
he goes to Florida in the winter, and he has a lot of friends
there. But you know, at seventy seven, the number of friends starts
to dwind. You know, people have health problems and pass away, and
so you know, that's kind of the magic of when you're past fifty sixty
years old is making sure you're savoring every day and not stopping. You know,
you see too many people that just stop. Well this is the thing.
I mean, look, the Rolling Stones are putting out an album on
Friday, and there is eighty years old. So that's the Would you say
your dad's the one who had the biggest influence on your life? Oh?
Absolutely, I would say my dad and my brother and you bro, you
know, the younger brother, the younger brother, and you know he's younger,
but I mean we're essentially the same age as you know. Yeah,
and you know, we have an office about the size of your studio with
two desks in it, and we're in the same room. And we're in
the same room every day, you know, Monday through Friday, eight nine
hours a day. And that's been that way our whole lives. So you
know, we've been a part of each other's lives and grown this thing together
with my father's influence. And yeah, we're very proud of what we've created
and excited to keep going. Who gave you the best advice? Would it
be your dad who gave you the best advice? When you think that,
you know, it's hard to pinpoint one piece of advice. I'd say the
life lessons are a series that started when we were a little kid, mostly
from my father, and you know, just in the businesses themselves, watching
our businesses succeed, you know, and you know, don't get me wrong,
I mean there were times when we opened Mario's via Brutsi in nineteen ninety
five, you know, we were on the verge of bankruptcy for about two
years where we couldn't pay the bills, and thanks to some of the purveyors
out there, local people that we did business with. Palmers is one big
one, you know that they were Kip is really about people, Yeah,
Kip, Kip is a Kip is a blessing to the community. And if
it weren't for Kip, you know, he could have easily crushed us if
he wanted to. Fortunately, we were not buying provisions from Wegmans at the
time, but we you know, Kip, Kip extended us credit. He
worked with us, you know, and he saw, you know, we
had good work ethic and if anybody could make it happen, we could,
and he had faith in us, and and you know, certainly we made
good on everything for Kip. Absolutely, but you know, so it's not
always rosy, and it's certainly you know, it's easy to look back and
be like, oh, look at all the ship we have and the stuff
we created. But it wasn't all easy. And you know, there were
a lot of in those moments with the whatever it takes, what is that?
What is whatever it takes? What's the pin from? Is there an
organization? No, it's just us. We made it up. This is
just what Daniellye family companies. It's on the pin. It says passion and
intensity on the bottom. And that's our company. What's the company name.
It's Daniellefim Company. Yeah, that's what we call it. And I will
gift you the pen. Wow, I may have another one where that came
from. I love this, but it's something that we award to our employees
who go above and beyond and do whatever it takes to make something happen.
And it's a you know, it's just a it's a philosophy. It's a
kind of a guiding principle that says, you know, set your mind,
set your focus on the end result, and do whatever it takes to get
there, you know, relentless pursuit of that success, whatever that means.
And certainly you can change your goals as you go through. And that's one
of the things that you know, I impress upon my kids is you know,
have a vision, you know, know where you're going when you start
going there, have a goal and if you want to change it, change
it. You're not locked in. But if you have no goal when you
wake up every day, uh, you know, odds are better than not
that you're going to be wasting that day of your life. As you get
older, you realize you don't have right. There's yeah, time is something
you can't buy back, right, and there isn't satisfaction and just living a
day And you're sitting on the couch at seven thirty and I'm watching something stupid
on TV and you're like, what did I do today? Nothing? Yeah,
that sucks. That's a funny thing that you say that. Satisfaction is
such a thing. That's where I believe so much. And we talk about
self esteem with kids and stuff. It's about satisfaction. It's about doing it
yourself, getting that a you know, you see coaches scream Alabama over the
weekend. I'm watching, uh, Nick Saban just scream at the players and
they're winning. But that's when you can really yell at the kids. It's
like, you know, because they're feeling good because they're doing well, but
it's you know the other side. You got to be able to coach that.
But there's something about real satisfaction, real accomplishment that has that that just
makes you want more and push yourself further and push yourself. Think an Auburn
guy, we call him Nick Satan. He is he is talented, you
know and exactly what you're saying. The best coaches out there are, the
best teams are coached by the best coaches. You can have, all the
talent in the world, you know sc talk. I mean, you know,
Texas A and M is probably more talent than I would say almost any
other team college football, and yet they struggle to win. And it's you
know, I think they have fragmented coaching and you know, whatever it comes
down to coaching. Well, this has been very interesting. I appreciate you
making the time and absolutely and you can call me anytime. I enjoy the
banter, I enjoy the impromptu h a conversation. I can run into you,
you know, around Pittsford anywhere it may or may not have happened,
done more than one occasion, may may or may not have That is right.
Well, thank you Anthony Danielli and the Danielli family of businesses. Thank
you, Bill. Whatever it takes, remember that it's a good it's a
good thing to wake up with everything. Whatever it takes, whatever it takes,
I'm Bill Moran. We'll see tomorrow. They know what to do.
I'm Robock Brewing Company, Rochester's original craft brewery since nineteen ninety three. To
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