Chef Tucky from The Arbor at Young Acres

Chef Tucky has a story that you need to hear! This incredible story showcases how Tucky looked at every moment in his life as a beautiful opportunity. Eager to learn and willing to do whatever it takes, Tucky has proven time and time again that he is capable of whatever he puts his mind to.

NOW you have the opportunity to see Tucky in action. He has moved his family across the country and together they bring you Young Acres and The Arbor at Young Acres in Prescott, WI (formerly Nesbitt's Nursery and Orchard). You can enjoy the seasonal fun of the Apple Orchard at Young Acres. You'll want to keep an eye out for ticketed events at The Arbor at Young Acres throughout the year. Tucky has plans for wine dinners, whiskey tastings and so much more.

Transcript

Young Acres FNL
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THIS TRANSCRIPT HAS BEEN AUTO-GENERATED USING AI TECHNOLOGY. THERE MAY BE WORDS THAT ARE INCORRECTLY TRANSCRIBED.

[00:00:00] 

Katie: I think the best place to start is what this was and what it is now because it was Nesbit's Nursery for a number of years. And was it two years ago that you purchased the 

Tucky: property? Last year? Last year. Last year. So the Nesbitts had it for 20, I don't wanna misspeak, but I think it was somewhere between 22 and 26 years.

Tucky: Okay. Um, they primarily, they actually had the sprucefield where they did spruce trees and the apple orchard, which is roughly around 16 ish acres, about 1500 trees. And then they had this space where we're sitting down right now. This used to be two little offices in here and then a little cafe where.

Tucky: Kind of had small meals kind of going out. Mm-hmm. , they used to do an epic fish boil. And some of the other things that everybody talked about was pie night. Okay. Savory pie, sweet pie. So July 

Katie: of last year you purchased it, and [00:01:00] I remember when we talked the first time we met, you have quite the story because you aren't from around here.

Katie: You and your family picked up, arrived here and purchased this place. So I, I wanna kind of rewind before we come back to Young Acres, what used to be nesbitts? Where do you come from? ? 

Tucky: Well, recent past, um, so it's my wifes wife's family. So my in-laws and, uh, my sister, my two sister-in-laws, and my brother-in-law who lives in Ohio and then Rachel and myself, that's my wife and I are currently.

Tucky: People that are running the business, we always wanted to kind of do something adventurous and move out of where we were. Cuz neither one of us was really happy with what we were doing. Yeah. In terms of, and where we were really was what made it really boring. We really liked the outdoors. We like really like adventure.

Tucky: We were kind of going a long life as everybody else did and [00:02:00] joined the rat race. Yeah. But there was always something kind of missing, but by some miracle and like the wor I think it was the worst case scenario for the rest of the world and us kind of happened with kind of covid coming in and uh, I was furloughed and hanging out at home and we kind of talked about it and I'm like, Hey, what do you wanna do?

Tucky: And I, I was telling her, I was like, let's sell everything and just buy a van and just get in a van and. Van Life , we were kind of really considering it and we had talked about it and my father-in-law goes, Hey, why don't you just get in the RV and drive acro, drive over to Ohio where my, where my mother-in-law lives and like, you know, take your time driving through and enjoy the drive.

Tucky: So we're like, oh sweet. This sounds, that sounds kind of cool. Yeah, I think it was in April of 2020 we just got in the RB and we just started driving 26 states later and we kind of landed here in Hudson cuz my sister-in-law [00:03:00] lives in Hudson. One of them. We got to Hudson and started talking to the people and just fell in love with the area.

Tucky: I fell in love with the people. Everybody was just so friendly and so nice and so. What's the word I'm looking for? Well, we should 

Katie: probably mention the location that you came from too and I bet for the Midwest population they might understand. So, so you came from California? Yeah. 

Tucky: Specifically in California, in Orange County, , orange County, yeah.

Tucky: Yeah. I was purposely not saying it, . No, I'm not gonna let you get away because judgment be passed as quick as Orange County comes out of my mouth. But cuz I judge myself every time I say it. And Well, I mean in to, to simplify Orange County. I mean I lived there for almost 20 years. Wow. And living there, you kind of get accustomed to the way of life.

Tucky: But there is something that I could not get accustomed to. It's the [00:04:00] way of life and the way the community, there was no community. You don't talk to your neighbors, you don't know your neighbors. You know, you. Don't see anybody in the front yard. Somebody else comes and mows your yard. Somebody else comes and does the gardening, somebody else cleans the pool, somebody else does every single thing.

Tucky: So you're basically stuck inside the house or you're at work, or you are in a restaurant eating. You're never out in front of your house or in the backyard having a barbecue or a fire pit and hanging out with your neighbors. 

Katie: They don't stand in the garage and drink bush light. 

Tucky: No , nobody stands in the garage and drinks, period.

Tucky: I think I, we were the only two yahoos that used to just make cocktails, and that was the first thing I did. Covid hit and they furloughed me and I told my wife, I was like, awesome. I had this amazing bar set up at home. Yeah. So we made cocktails and we were. Let's put Wolfgang in the Wolfgang in the stroller and we'll just take a huge walk around the neighborhood.

Tucky: So we, it was just roadies and walking [00:05:00] around and uh, and it was awesome. But then we moved here and I realized that's pretty much how everybody is every single day. Yeah. Roadies walking around and just, everybody was so friendly. So it was definitely a culture shock. I'll go back into prior to Orange County, where I came from, because it was culture shock when I moved from where I moved from to California.

Tucky: Yeah. And then it almost just, I went back in time again when I moved to Wisconsin, I kind of went, started going back to my roots and started kind of feeling the same way I felt when I was growing up because it was always about community, knowing your neighbors, hanging out with your neighbors, just, it was always about community.

Tucky: So coming back to Hudson and, you know, everything, everything just kind of fell into place and we just really loved the space. And, uh, the only thing that we were really iffy about was winter. And you know, California winters, I mean, you name it, they're wearing fluffy jackets, hot boots, gloves, snow gloves, snow boots, and we might [00:06:00] get a little bit of rain.

Tucky: Mm-hmm. here and there. But when we moved here, we wanted to make sure that it's something that we could hack. And we spent that winter here and we took our sun outside, which was the most important. Because we wanna make sure that he was comfortable and he loved it almost immediately. Mm-hmm. and Rachel and I both loved it and I was telling her, I was like, you know, it's kind of weird.

Tucky: My join Don hurt as bad over here than it does in California. I think it was just all in my head because I really wanted to move here, . But you know, and the. In 2020, we were still talking about how are we gonna sustain living out here because jobs were kind of scarce, there was nothing there, and you know, we didn't know how to pack up everything, come over here and start doing something.

Tucky: Yeah. So it was pretty much the start of us talking as a whole, as a family with my in-laws and just kind of sitting down and just coming up with a couple of things to do and what can we do. But anyways, in 2020 we drove back home and of course this was prior to winter. We went back home and we came back for winter.[00:07:00] 

Tucky: But when we went back home, California, orange County, sadly , we were, we went back, there's nothing wrong with it. Oh no. We, we went back and we were just immediately depressed. It was just so depressing to get back home. We were on the road for a few months and then we got back home and we were like, oh my God, this sucks.

Tucky: And I had to go back to work because work had just done this really weird altered opening and I had to go back in and. Had to do a million different jobs that I wasn't even equipped to do. Yeah. So we kind of went back there and I was like, oh my God. Like, you know, out out of the three months that I worked, I was sent home two months.

Tucky: So I worked for one month and I was at home for two more months. Mm-hmm. , we were a little disappointed really, in that August. We flew out here for four days or five days for my mother-in-law's. And when we flew out, there was a little pizza farm that was for sale. And you know, I did not understand this whole pizza farm [00:08:00] situation cuz everybody keeps on saying, oh, pizza Farm's a cool pizza farm.

Tucky: And I was like, what the hell's a pizza farm? I'm like, pizzas don't grow on trees, you know, and you can't cultivate pizza. Somebody has to make it. And we went in and we were driving out to this place and it's out in the middle of nowhere. I think it was a little past Baldwin or it's in the outer RI of Baldwin.

Tucky: And we drove in and I was like, nobody's gonna drive out here. And it's out in the middle of the country. And we got to this beautiful, beautiful location and it was 42 acres and it was a house and there was a brewery underneath and they had a huge, huge kitchen. I looked at Rachel and I was like, oh my God, this would be fantastic.

Tucky: We started looking at it, started talking price. It was something that didn't really work with us. Our goal was to kind of have a place where it was like family compound, where we could all kind of gather and have our own little space. And then in the meantime, I think, uh, Dennis and Rita, my mother-in-law and father-in-law, they were taking a drive down 35 along the, around that same time they saw for sale sign out [00:09:00] here.

Tucky: And they called on the number and, uh, I think Lee Asbe picked up the phone and said, Hey, you know, there's somebody, somebody looking at the property. Uh, let me get your information and we'll give you a call if there's anything happening. So no call, no nothing. And 2021 hit. And in the meantime, we were just still traveling and looking at places to kind of hunker down.

Tucky: We were, we were just like two birds that were just freshly out of our nest, trying to find a new nest for our children and us. Lo and behold, I think it was April, we get a phone call saying, Hey, the deal didn't go through, the property's open. Would you guys be interested? So we pretty much told him I was like, Can you hold the property till May and then we'll come and take a look at it.

Tucky: So Memorial Day weekend, we flew out and we came and looked at the property. I think I just drove, when we drove up. I, I was instantly in love. Just the drive alone was just amazing. And, uh, it was something so [00:10:00] reminiscent of my childhood Yeah. And where I grew up. So it kind of reminded me a lot of it. And I just felt kind of nostalgic too.

Tucky: And when I came to the spot and I looked at it and I looked at Regional, I was like, oh my God, the place is awesome. The energy's great. There's, it's so big. And I didn't really realize how big it was. I mean, 203 acres looks a little small on the map and then you have to walk it and all of a sudden you realize, I don't really want 203 acres.

Tucky: But so we started looking at the property and we've all fell in love with it. And I think as a group we did a discussion and we kind of came to the conclusion that this is where we kind of wanna, you know, set. Ourself down and buy ourself a new job. That's how the property came to be. And we ended up just going in and going for it.

Tucky: And I think by the time we were getting on the plane, they accepted the offer and we were all good to go. So June happened, bought the property. We just did the one walkthrough and that was pretty much about it. Wow. So, [00:11:00] We kind of went for it. And Rachel, myself and Wolfgang were the first on the property to live here.

Tucky: Mm-hmm. , we lived in, Wolfgang is your son? Yeah. Wolfgang's my son. Yep. He'll be three in November. So when we moved here he was one and a half. Okay. Just about one and a half, a little over. So the three of us and my two dogs, we lived in the back in an rv. I think we moved here July 29th. I remember just pulled up, I stopped the car and I think the first thing I did was I got on the lawnmower after driving for three days, I got on a lawnmower and I started mowing cuz it was up to the two of us to kind of get the orchard back on track to kind of get, get ourselves set up because there was nobody else here.

Tucky: So we went through every single thing in the, the two buildings. Like we had this amazing space that was used to be a cafe. I looked at my wife, I was like, you know, it's always been a dream of mine to own [00:12:00] my own restaurant and a little tiny bar, and you know, I think finally it might come true. So yeah, then we kind of hunkered down and just.

Tucky: It became a farmer overnight cuz out of necessity. Yeah. The last time I think I did anything farming related was maybe about 28 years ago. What was 

Katie: your community that you remember and kind of that reference point that you were talking about from your childhood? 

Tucky: Well, So I was born and raised in Sri Lanka.

Tucky: I think I should say where it is because if not, it's a little hard to find on a map. It's a little, we tiny island, southeast of India. So if you look at India and you look at the very bottom south end of India, you'll see a little tiny island at the south end of India, and it's a little country called Sri Lanka.

Tucky: So I grew up there. I was born and raised there, and I moved here when I was 19. So the first, I would say the first quarter of my life I lived there. And then the second quarter was in California, [00:13:00] back home in Sri Lanka. I mean, I've said back home about every, every place I think I called this home now, one of things that my parents always said, home is never a place.

Tucky: It's the people that you are with and your family is what makes home home. I had to learn that when I was younger because, you know, we, we moved a little bit, but it, it was one of those things where you kind of learn to really appreciate what you have. Mm-hmm. versus wanting more. But then being in Sri Lanka, one of the big things about being in Sri Lanka is a sense of community.

Tucky: Mm-hmm. , everybody's always there. I mean, even when you don't want them to be there, there, your neighbors are constantly knocking on your door. Like if they don't see you come out for a day, they're at your doorstep, making sure that you're okay. If you're sick, they'll call you, they'll ask you, can I bring you some food?

Tucky: Can I, no, they don't ask. They just bring it , I forgot. So everything is, Done [00:14:00] organically and you don't really, nobody's really expecting anything too. And then to move from that to California, that was culture shock for me. And at first when we moved it was, it was fun, right? But then the more I lived, I realized, oh my god, you know, you, you feel more alone than you should feel.

Tucky: Like. Fast forward to here. When we moved here, we got to know our neighbors. Within the first week, I lit up a fire in our fire bed in the backyard and everybody just came out and it was just like nats to some fruit and everybody was just like, came out from everywhere and it was, it was really cool cause yeah, everybody came out, everybody had a glass of whiskey in their hand and everybody just came out and started chatting.

Tucky: And our, our immediate neighbors have two little ones too. So it was really cool cuz Wolf getting, had somebody to play, my son had somebody to play with. And it was something that we missed when we were in California cuz we had to go somewhere so that he can go play with his [00:15:00] friends versus there was no neighbors that ever wanted to do any of that stuff.

Tucky: Yeah. So for us it was culture shock. I mean for me it was culture shock. Culture shock and then culture shock. Right. But yeah, that's where I came from and where I come from, it's a lot of amazing food and a lot of, it's a lot of eating, drinking and hanging out with your neighbors. It's pretty much all it is.

Tucky: That's all. That's the only thing to do when you're Sheri Lankan. Really? Yeah. You eat, drink, and be married. 

Katie: Yeah. That's all. When you got to California, what career path did you choose? 

Tucky: So moving to California, it was a fantastic dream moving here cuz we're like, oh my God, we're moving to the us, this is gonna be awesome.

Tucky: Moving here all of a sudden gave me the realization of, oh my God, we need to make. A lot more money than, you know, the currency didn't translate the dollar to the dollar value to what it should be. So we [00:16:00] kind of all realized, we were like, oh my God, we gotta hunker down and just like, you know, do what needs to get done.

Tucky: And the beauty of beauty of moving when we moved here was that I wanted to do anything and everything. Everything. I didn't care what I had to do, I just wanted to do anything. So to give you an idea as to what that means in Sri Lanka, I was working at a real estate firm. I mean, I was one of the younger, youngest executives in the building.

Tucky: I think I started when I was 17 and I worked my way up to when I was 18, I was already kind of working as an executive level. So I was doing a great job. But for, for. When they, they opened a McDonald's around that same time when I was doing it, and this is, this is kind of funny, but I really wanted to go work in McDonald's.

Tucky: There really? Well, I mean it's, it's one of those things where it's, it's a, it's not a McDonald's is not McDonald's in Sri Lanka. Right. Just like KFC is [00:17:00] not kfc. The food's a little different. The service standards are a little different here. We, you know, there's a drive through and it's pretty much a quick bite.

Tucky: Yeah. But there it's a little bit more of a, all the fancy people went there and they wanted to go eat McDonald's. I remember just kind of bringing it up during one of our meetings and I was like, yeah, I just wanna go do like a part-time job. And it was one of those moments where I really kind of helped me realize where I was and who I was.

Tucky: My parents did a good job of giving us the tools and not making us just think between the lines. They always gave us a broad perspective on looking at every single thing and. Taking everything into consideration and not looking at anything as this is low or this is high, or this is different, or you're different because you're doing this.

Tucky: They wanted us to be open-minded doing anything. Mm-hmm. . And because of that, you know, everybody, when I said it, everybody [00:18:00] just looked at me like I was crazy. Like, you really wanna give up this job to go work at McDonald's? And in my mind I was just thinking, yeah, how cool is that? I've always wanted to cook.

Tucky: And I was like, why? Why not? And I knew all the other places and I didn't wanna go work in any other, other restaurants. Mm-hmm. , because the restaurants are good, but working in them would kind of stop. So when we moved here, I knew that opportunity was there. So I was like, oh my God, I do whatever the hell I wanna do out.

Tucky: My first job was packing dental equipment in like a offsite dental office. They asked me if I knew how to drive a forklift, and I said yes. And to be honest, I've never even seen a forklift in real life up until that moment. And I remember getting in the forklift for the first time. Do have all your toes still

Tucky: Yeah, and I, as a matter I involved right now, and I had hair, so my, you can see my sweat and my head glistening because of my hair. She's like, oh my God, how am I going to get through this? And anyways, I, I [00:19:00] jerked it a couple of times and the guy, the foreman knew and he comes out, he's like, let me show you.

Tucky: I was like, yeah, I've never driven this kind before. This one's so different. And he looked at me, he goes, bullshit , just get the get, get, get the hell off of it and I'll show you how to, how to drive it. And I was like, all right, cool. So showed me how to drive it. And, you know, I, I. I was a pretty quick learner, so I think within like a few days I kind of got the hang of it and I, I kind of started doing it and uh, so I started driving it and I really loved working with my hands and just being busy and lifting boxes and I really loved doing things that involved manual labor.

Tucky: Yeah. While I was doing that, I realized this is not enough money. I really need to make more money. There was another little warehouse attached to two doors down from where they were. I walked over there and I asked them, I was like, Hey, are you guys hiring? And they said yes. And they, they did, they made nail files.

Tucky: So I went there and I was like, well, you can do packing and moving all the boxes and [00:20:00] do you know how to trap a forklift? I was like, yes, I do know before clips. And I even had the model number of what I was driving. So those were my two jobs, and I did that for about six months, and while I was doing it, it was all.

Tucky: But my brother and my, so I have two siblings, a brother and a sister. They were both in high school and uh, mom was a school teacher and my dad was working as well. So we, we all kind of realized, we, we were like, oh my God, we all need to kind of pull our resources because we needed to bring enough revenue in to kind of sustain ourselves.

Tucky: Mm-hmm. , then I realized, oh my God, two jobs weren't gonna do it. I reached out to one of my friends and they kind of said, there's this guy who's hiring right now at one of the restaurants in Mission Viejo, which is in Orange County, California. Louis, would you be interested? I was like, yeah, sure. So I go over and it was Denny's and I'd never been to a Denny's before.

Tucky: So I go, Denny's and I see it and [00:21:00] I'm like, oh, okay, cool. I think I can do it. So they hired me there and I started working over there. I was cleaning dishes at nighttime and then in the daytime I would work those two warehouses. So I was rocking three jobs and it was, it was a, it was a good time in my life.

Tucky: And I think three months into doing dishes, somebody called in sick one night and they said, Hey, do you wanna serve? And I was like, yeah, sure. It was like a dream come true. . That was just like a kid in a candy store. I was like, yes. I'm like, this is what I really wanted to do. I started serving. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew what I liked and I knew how I wanted to get taken care of.

Tucky: I started doing what. I thought was important to me, and I think it was received very well, and I think everybody loved it, and so did my manager, he looked at me and said, Hey, let's, uh, let's get you doing this more often. So I was like, perfect. So I started serving, I started serving graveyards and through those fantastic graveyard shifts while I was doing the other two jobs too.

Tucky: Now, it was, it was a [00:22:00] long year and a half just doing three jobs, but it was working every single day, every, every single night. I never really looked back at it and said, oh my God, I shouldn't have done that. I should have done something different. Because if I can go back in time and change anything, I don't think I would change anything.

Tucky: Yeah, I would do exactly what I did. But then it was kind of cool. The first day I made 150 bucks, I mean 20 what? Say 22 years ago, 150 bucks was a lot of money. And I was like, oh my God, I can fill up my gas tank so many times, and back then you could have, yeah, so many times cause it, I think it was only, it was still 97 cents per gallon of gas.

Tucky: Wow. Even in California. Yeah, even in California. working at that Denny's, I kept on meeting people that worked in other restaurants cuz they would get done with their shift and they would come over. Connections was what really changed my trajectory to where I am now. I met somebody there and they [00:23:00] recommended.

Tucky: That I come and work at their restaurant, which was called California Pizza Kitchen. It was a chain restaurant that opened up in the eighties and that they mainly did pizzas there. And I was, oh sweet, this, this would be fantastic. So I went for an interview, nervous as hell, and I, cuz it was really my first time I was going for a real job interview that didn't involve me lying about driving a forklift because I had no idea about serving.

Tucky: And I really was gonna, it's either lie or be honest at this point. And I thought this would be the time to be honest, because I don't think I can tell them that I've served for so, so long and not have any reference. So I, you know, I gave them the honest truth and I said, Nick, you know, I'm a fast learner and I would love to learn and I love to do stuff and.

Tucky: I'll do anything that needs to get done. So they were like, all right, cool. So I started working there and the restaurant was really cool because you had to work different stations. So you had to learn, you had to get certified in every station. So if you wanted to do pizza, like you had [00:24:00] to be certified as a pizza cook.

Tucky: So you had to go through like a certification process that was through the company. But of course I was hired as a server, but I had this, I always had this inkling of wanting to cook in the back and be one of the guys back there. Cuz as much as I love being up in the front, I really love being in the back.

Tucky: Mm-hmm. . But an opportunity came by and they said, Hey, do you wanna learn how to be a kitchen manager? Like a, like a sous chef almost? And I was like, yeah, sure. And went through the whole process and started learning everything. And as I was doing it, I realized I really wanna go to culinary school and I really wanna learn how to do.

Tucky: Up until that point, I really hadn't given higher education, much thought. But then with the whole culinary thing kind of just popping you in front of my face, I wanted to do it one way or another. I think I was 20 at the time and I lied to my manager and I said, cuz I knew the bartenders made a lot more money than servers.

Tucky: So I liked to not lied. My manager came up and said, Hey, would you like to do bartender training? And I said, yeah, of course. Now I was, I've always been a hungry kid when it comes to [00:25:00] doing things cuz I just found it and I did it and I sometimes to a fault, I should have considered the consequences of certain, certain actions that I took or made.

Tucky: But the, I said yes and didn't even consider how old I was to stand behind that bar. And uh, but I was 20 and I think I had three more months until I was 21. Didn't think anything of it. Cuz in Sri Lanka you can reach over a bar, you can buy a drink. But in California, I mean, I think in the US 21 and above.

Tucky: Yep. So while 

Katie: you're in Wisconsin, I'll tell you about that later, but go 

Tucky: on . And I was like, all right, I mean, this is kind of cool. I started going through the training and one of the bartenders called out sick and she was like, Hey, do you wanna bartender? And I was like, yeah, sure. So I was bartending underage, and that manager comes up to me and he goes, how old are you?

Tucky: He's like, 20, almost 20. He's like, when do you turn 21? And I told him when. [00:26:00] And it was at that point, it was only about a month and a half. And he's like, you can't be back here. How come you didn't tell me? I was like, well, you never asked . And so in my mind, I knew I had done something wrong and I was like, well, here goes my chance.

Tucky: This is gonna go down the drain. And he goes, you know what, I'll be back here and I'll do this stuff. Up until today, I really haven't, hadn't said it to anybody too. Now I just said it on a podcast, , I'm sorry, David, you, wherever you are, you might get fired. So after, after that I was like, oh my God. Like, you know, I'm never gonna get this opportunity again.

Tucky: I started bartending about a week after my birthday and uh, during the bartending I realized, I was like, okay, I can definitely make a ton of cheddar over here. And I was like, I was just stacking my cash and putting money away. I was working two of my other jobs. Mm-hmm. the two warehouses, and I was working here as well.

Tucky: So I quit Denny. I was working at California Pizza Kitchen and the two other little warehouses in the daytime. But all of a sudden I realized, I think I'm making enough money. I really don't need to be working three jobs. I can focus on one or [00:27:00] two. So I ended up leaving one and I just went to two jobs. I started getting into Flare bartending.

Tucky: I love throwing things up in New York, catching them and just experimenting with drinks and, and mind you, the experimentation 22 years ago was, hi, would you like to try a Cosmopolitan or an Apple, Martin ? And, Hey, I got something real cool for you, a caramel apple Martin. Oh my gosh. And you just pulled some caramel on there and it was just, it was the era where you just did those really terrible candy sweet drinks and everybody really lined up for it.

Tucky: I got myself certified in every possible place that I could get certified in that restaurant. I realized that I had more. And I wanted to do more and I had hit my limit and I was just, felt like I was redlining right there. But weirdly enough, I was started thinking that and one of my managers came up to me and said, Hey, there's this new boy that's opening up in Newport Beach.

Tucky: Would you like to go work there? He was like, yeah, [00:28:00] sure. He's like, it's a nightclub and you would be perfect. So that car cool. So I go there for an interview and soon as they talk they go. They go, okay, you came in highly recommended. We don't really need to talk. Come on, let's just start working. So we start working and I started learning how to operate a business that was significantly bigger now, and a bar that was generating a ton more revenue than what I was used to.

Tucky: And I was slinging cocktails left and right at that point I quit all my other jobs and I just had that job. I started making more money than I was doing with three jobs in a week. Mm-hmm. in a day. So I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. So while doing that, I realized I need to start looking at school and the whole time I was putting money aside so I could save it for school.

Tucky: And I had a interview at the Coram Blue and at the cia, and I got accepted to both, but then the total of total costs, when they talked about it, they said, [00:29:00] here's how much you're gonna owe. And I just looked up at the scene, I was like, how the hell am I gonna pay that? I, I'm, I'm not gonna make that much money to pay.

Tucky: It was just a little south of $200,000. Wow. And it's only 18 to. You know, 18 ish months and I was like, I can't swing that. And I couldn't swing getting a student loan either, so I had no way of paying that and getting the education that I wanted. It was a little dishearten, not a little, it was very disheartening and little really demotivating.

Tucky: And I think I took a little turn away from all of it and I just focused on everything else about what I should have been focusing on. But in, in that time period, I met somebody, Rachel, I still love you very much. Just wanna know if I say that spark. I met someone there and when we started going out, but until that moment, I hadn't been really open with anybody to say, this is what I wanted to do.

Tucky: Yeah. It had been the very first time that I had been open about what I actually wanted to do and [00:30:00] me kind of putting out my frustration and saying, I can't do it because I can't even get a student loan right now. And, and I remember it was my 26th birthday. She's like, I have a surprise for you. And we drove all the way up to LA for my birthday surprise and, uh, getting close to downtown la We go into this huge room and it's a bunch of tables set up like kitchen tables and it was a cooking class.

Tucky: We got there and uh, she's like, surprise. I was like, what the hell is this? He's like, it's a cooking class. And there were a few other couples there and a chef comes out and he comes out and he goes, Hey, so you know you guys are gonna be doing a whole entire meal yourself and we'll prepare the meal and you'll eat the meal.

Tucky: I looked at her and I was like, oh my God, this is fantastic. So I get, I get real creative and I get real crazy and I'm asking all these really weird questions. I was like, Hey, I knew exactly what I made that day too, was a steak, Diane with a mushroom reduction and we had to make potatoes. Everything [00:31:00] was up to our discretion on how we wanted to do it.

Tucky: So I, I remember telling him, I was like, Hey, I wanna make a nest outta my potatoes. How do I make a nest? And, and I know now what I was asking him then, but I think I didn't explain it the way I should have. Yeah. And I remember just trying really hard, cuz I had this concept in my mind of what I wanted it to look like.

Tucky: I wanted it to look like my steak was, there was a, there was a bird's nest sitting on top of my steak. I, I don't know what got into me to wanna do that, but was what I wanted to do. But I remember very vividly that's, that was like my question to him. And he kind of looked at me, he goes, Hey, have you ever considered doing culinary arts?

Tucky: And, you know, we host a culinary program and it's a ca accredited program. Would you be interested in coming in and. I looked at Maryanne, my girlfriend at the time, I go, oh my God, did you know about this? And she's like, yep, that's why I figured you would wanna do this. And I talked to the chef and I was like, yes, let me [00:32:00] get the information.

Tucky: So I got the information, I got back home and I looked at it and I was like, it's still kind of expensive. But then I looked at my savings account, I was like, you know, this is what I was saving for. And made the plunge, did it. And it was just a little culinary class that took, I think, 10 weeks or 12 weeks.

Tucky: It was nothing big, but it gave me. The basics of cuisine in general. It didn't break it down as far as they would do at the cordon blue, but it broke it down enough to where you could understand every what everything was. And I remember the very first time when everybody was talking about, oh yeah, so let's talk about the mother sauces.

Tucky: And everybody was putting their hands up. They were like, oh yeah, so Beel Volu. And I was like, what the hell is everybody talking about? And I'm like, how the hell does everybody else know? And I don't. And I remember just picking up that book and think about 1300 pages in that CIA book. And I went home and I just went through the whole damn thing.

Tucky: And I was like, I'm gonna read all of this. And anytime I [00:33:00] had free time, I would pick up a book on cooking or a book on sauces or book on something, and I'd just read it. Anything to do with food. The more I did, the more I started learning, the more I started becoming more experimental. And the flavor combinations in my head that I always thought was crazy was kind of putting.

Tucky: Things into place and they were all kind of matching up. And I kind of started understanding what citrus did to fat and what fat did to citrus and salt and how everything kind of came together and how my pallet was just like working. And it, it, it just all started just spinning and it was just this beautiful moment where everything just kind of started unlocking.

Tucky: So I ended up doing the culinary program and the day that I got done, I gave them my last check and I was done paying for school. I remember just being so proud, just going, oh my God, I don't owe any money. And three of my other friends who got accepted to the cord down blue was getting done around the same time that I was getting done.

Tucky: And they came out, they were like, yeah, we owe this [00:34:00] much money. And I remember looking at 'em and just going, I don't know anything. And then we all discussed how are we gonna recover our investment? That was my next thing. And I was at my chiropractor's office and she said, Hey, would you be interested in hosting an event for me?

Tucky: I was like, yeah, totally. She goes, it's a hundred people. Do you think you could do it? Let's think. Of course, in my mind, hell no. , I haven't cooked for more than like 15, 20 people. I was like a hundred people. I didn't even know how to begin. But I committed to it and I said, yes. I threw this whole big event and it was a great success.

Tucky: And I remember I. Didn't even have money to print business cards. So I went online and I just made like a little, little card on Word and I kind of cut everything off and I just gave everybody these pieces of paper. It was just ghetto at best, but you know, it worked. And through that I started working as a personal chef and I was just doing all these private catering [00:35:00] events and I was cooking at houses and I was doing cooking classes, and it just kind of started propelling forward and slowly but surely it kind of started getting momentum.

Tucky: I started picking up, and then 2008 when the economy crashed, owning your own business wasn't very good at that point, and it just completely collapsed. I remember I was like, oh my god, you know, I lost all my clients. I lost every single thing that I was doing and I had to go back to something that I knew.

Tucky: So bartending was it. So I went back to bartending bartended, and while I was bartending, I was still promoting myself as like catering and personal chef, and I started gaining momentum One more time, A few years down the way. Around 2012, I had really reached a good point in my life where I was doing great and I was financially fine and I was, I was happy and I was doing what I wanted to do, but the everyday rat race was kind of started getting backed and I was like, oh my God, I'm doing the same thing every single day.[00:36:00] 

Tucky: And, uh, life got a little boring and I just needed a reset. And I think I said it while I was at work to one of my regulars, and the lady said, why don't you just quit and leave and go do something fun? So that night I went home, I typed up my resignation letter. The next morning I came in, I handed over my resignation letter and I said, this is my last two weeks.

Tucky: And they're like, what are you gonna do? He's like, I have no idea. And, and I quit. My job learned. I didn't quit, but I left the right way. The day that I gave them my resignation, they asked me, so what are you planning on doing? I was like, I don't know. I've always wanted to have whiskey for breakfast and ch and truffles.

Tucky: And that's all I wanna do for a couple of weeks. And they're like, what? I was like, yeah, that's kind of what I, I wanna wake up in the morning. Have some whiskey and some chocolate truffles and they're like, that's why you're quitting. And I was like, no, I don't know why I'm quitting, but I'm quitting because I know I wanna do something different.

Tucky: So true to true to my words. For two [00:37:00] weeks every morning , I had a, had a, had a small portion of single malt and, and some chocolate truffles. And I was like, this is kind of cool. And I decided I wanted to ride my bicycle everywhere because I rode my bicycle a lot. As a hobby. So I kind of got on my bicycle and I started riding one day I decided, I was like, Hey, you know, I think I'm gonna just ride as far as I wanna ride.

Tucky: And I think I rode a couple hundred miles and I came back home and I kind of got bored and I said, you know what? Think I wanna go do some hiking. So I ended up doing the Pacific Re Trail and kind of doing all that stuff. And a year goes by, let's call it soul searching. A year goes by. And finally I kind of stopped one day and I get went, oh my God, I need to make money again.

Tucky: And I found this really cool restaurant called Cina Otca. And there were a new restaurant that was opening up in Irvine, California. And I got an interview and I remember the manager who was going through the application, she goes, did you spell check your resume [00:38:00] in? I was like, yeah. She's like, I figured you did you?

Tucky: Okay. It was very cryptic. And I was like, yeah. She's like, nothing popped up. Did you read through it? I was like, yeah, . And she's like, are you sure? I was like, yeah. And she's like, well, I'm just gonna circle something and I'm just gonna let you read it out. And in it it says, California pizza, kitchen, shit lead

Tucky: So like, what exactly did you do? And I didn't even, I didn't even laugh, I think in the same breath. I just said, yeah, it just took us out of the shit every single time when we were in it. And she, she looked at me, she, she laughed and she's like, I wasn't expecting that . But anyways, I got hired there. And that was a place that really, really started honing in my skill.

Tucky: I worked with some really amazing chefs. These chefs were young. These chefs were just energetic. They were. Everything that I've always aspired to be. So of course I wanted to surround myself around them and be there. So I got to work in the kitchen a little [00:39:00] bit, and I mainly worked at the bar, but we had about 175 skews of wine.

Tucky: So I had to learn everything about wine too. And my education in wine and food really started there. So in 2013, I thought I was at the pinnacle of my learning, but then I realized, you're never gonna be there. You're always gonna have something to learn. And all of a sudden it was just like another steep hill up.

Tucky: And I just started climbing this thing and. The more I started climbing, the more I started seeing distance to the top of the mountain. But it never really stopped me. I really wanted to keep on going and going and going and going. So I really started learning a lot about everything to do with running a business, owning a restaurant, cuz it was a privately owned restaurant.

Tucky: So we all kind of interacted with each other a lot, but I got to learn my skill and to really hone my skill there. And in the kitchen. It really, really, really pushed me to experiment with things. So yeah, the few [00:40:00] years from that point to where we are now, it was just basically me taking the time to kind of learn and exhausting all the

Tucky: By asking question after question after question and spending 14, 15 hours at work. Because I would be there and I'd go there in the morning, I'd do all my bar stuff, and I'd be there in the evening after my shift without getting paid so that I could learn everything in the kitchen so that I could be better at my craft.

Tucky: And if I wanted to do something on my own, I wanted to learn all of it. And I'd go do the same thing with everyone. I'd just go shadow my, uh, regional director. I'd go shadow my managers soon. They took note of all of it and they were just like, you know, why won't you just step into a management role?

Tucky: First mistake, I made , and it was all downhill from there. But it's one of those things where it really opened my eyes to a lot of moving parts in a restaurant that I. Really witnessed prior to that. So yeah, I think I am here because of all [00:41:00] of that. And I mean, from 2013 through 22 through 20, it was just me doing a lot of fun little jobs here and there and really, really honing my skill.

Tucky: Mm-hmm. , and now I'm still honing my skill. Yeah. I 

Katie: so appreciate your story because you had shared a little bit of it the first time we met, but hearing all of that, Is so aligned with what I witnessed when you took me on a tour of the orchard and gave me all of the information about apples. And I think at that point I asked you, okay, so did you like grow up on an apple farm or something?

Katie: And so you know your answer, which I'll have you repeat, but very much aligned with everything that you just talked about. Yeah. So how do you know 

Tucky: so much about Apples books? , but books in the last year? Yeah. Books in the last year when I was studying to be a sommelier and I had to learn about grapes growing.

Tucky: Anything is the same. Yeah. You know, [00:42:00] it's just being respectful to Mother Nature and then Mother Nature creating a bounty for you. And then, On the receiving end, just need to learn how to appreciate it. I think last year when I got out of the car and I got on the mower, apart from having to learn how to drive the mower again, and Nick, you know, it had been a while to be on a ride on mower and drive a forklift one more time, 20 years later, having to do all of it and looking at the orchard and going, oh my God.

Tucky: We have 19 different varieties in the morning. I'd go mo, do everything in the evening, I'd come back, I'd sit down right there with my laptop and my wife and kid would be asleep in the back and I'd be up till about midnight just reading about apples and learning more about the origins of it and the origins of cider and all these really quirky little things that sometimes I didn't even need.

Tucky: I was always a person that carried a notebook everywhere I went. I really loved writing things, drawing things and scribbling stuff. I would. [00:43:00] I'd go to every tree and I just kind of write down everything that I kind of started seeing in the trees and the changes that I was seeing in the trees. And at this point, I hadn't even tasted all of our varieties.

Tucky: I knew that there was 19, but I mean, everybody was like, honey, crisper great. I was like, yeah, I've had Honey Crisp, but Honey Crisper is from Washington for us. It's not from Minnesota or Wisconsin. So I didn't know what the big deal was. One of my first purchases was buying a refractor meter, which measures sugar and like syrup and apples, any kind of fruit.

Tucky: So I kind of got one and I was like, okay, you know, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be that nerd and I'm just gonna sit down and I'm gonna measure every single one of them because I wanted to make perfect cider and I wanted to know every single thing about the apple. So I started reading every single thing about all the apples that we had.

Tucky: So I'd go online, I'd just find every single thing, and I learned every single thing that I possibly. And as the apples were coming on the trees, I had a way of writing down tasting notes. I was very descriptive on how I explained things because I [00:44:00] always explained things in practical application versus talking about a flavor.

Tucky: And I remember having to go to the first farmer's market and people asking me millions of questions about apples, and I was just spewing out these answers. That I had no idea. I even knew at first, I, I thought, oh my God, I'm making shit up. As I go along, I'm like, is that what's happening? I looked to one of the kids that were working with me and I was like, did that come out?

Tucky: Like complete bullshit? He's like, no, that was actually true and , and I realized, I was like, oh, okay. I guess my eight to midnight education is paying off. So yeah, books and books and a little bit of elbow grease really is. Took, yeah. To kind of learn about apples, I wanna shift 

Katie: into what the property has transformed into.

Katie: And I wanna start with the name. Where did the name Young Acres come from? 

Tucky: So, Rachel's maiden name is Young. It's named after the three sisters. So when you look at the logo [00:45:00] under the apple, you'll see there's three spruce trees in there. The three spruce trees are meant to be Rachel, Amy, and Carrie. And then the apple, basically the apple orchard.

Tucky: And Rachel is your wife, in case my wife didn't say that. Yeah. Rachel's my wife. And then Amy and Carrie are my sister-in-laws. So currently the way the whole business is structured is that Amy watches the orchard. So Amy was in the Navy and she left last year. So when she moved here, she was gonna be the one who was taking over the orchard.

Tucky: And then I was gonna shift over to the restaurant and start taking over the restaurant. So when Amy, Amy moved here, she slow, slowly transitioned into. The apple. So that's what she does now. And then myself and Rachel, we manage the restaurant. So we own and manage our restaurant. Carrie comes and helps us both places really.

Tucky: NES Bitz, if you're gonna be listening to this, don't take this the wrong way. The building was nice. It was a nice setup and it was a nice place, but it was set up [00:46:00] for a cafe space. My original concept when I was looking at transforming this, we were just looking at maybe doing the minimal and just kind of giving it a little facelift and just doing a couple of things to kind of make it more ified.

Tucky: Really just said, oh, we we're gonna get an espresso machine. We're gonna get a panini press, and then we're just gonna take the same tables that we had, you know, organize it this way and then we'll just do this. And that's all we were gonna do. And I think it was a menu of seven. And coffee drinks. And it was basically following suit of what the Nesbitts had done.

Tucky: One day we were kind of chatting about it, I had done more research into the surrounding area and we had gone out to eat a few times too. And I remember one day looking at my wife and going, oh my God, I, if I have to eat one more burger, I don't wanna go somewhere to eat another burger. But I remember having this conversation with her and it was to where we were kind of sitting down to, I was just telling her, you know, maybe we should do something a little different.

Tucky: Something kind of a [00:47:00] little bit more forward thinking and something that I love to eat and something that I would love to do. And she goes, let's do it. So I put a menu together and talked about it a little bit with some random people. I got 60% thumbs down and a 40% thumbs up. But, um, I looked at it and I was like, you know, the 60%?

Tucky: I was like, you're entitled to your own opinion, but I only needed 1%. To be okay. And I had 40, so I was like, oh, this is good. So I kind of went with that and, and I figured, I, I think I said this too, I was like, you know, I don't care if I'm gonna fail, but I'm gonna do it like I'm gonna succeed because I've never done anything to fail.

Tucky: And I will, I'm stubborn enough where I will drag everything through the mud if I have to by myself or like, you know, with everybody. I'll drag it all along if I have to and I'll bring it out of where we need to come out of. And as I was saying it, I even looked at my wife and I said, oh my God, I think I [00:48:00] just sounded like my dad saying that

Tucky: I saw my dad do it over and over again. And then, you know, it was something that was instilled in me. I was like, no failure's not an option. I drew up a plan and I said, Hey, brought it to the rest of the family. I was like, what do you guys think? We take this all off and then we slap a bar in the middle and we'll get a full liquor license.

Tucky: And I think the first question was, can we make money doing. A bar, and I remember just jumping up and going, oh my God. Yeah. It's always the best thing to do and it's something that I've always wanted to do. So selfishly it was something that I wanted. In a practical and business standpoint, a bar is always hand over fist if you run it the right way, it.

Tucky: Made sense to have a bar that was gonna be doing some forward thinking cocktails that are just, that's not available anywhere in a 50 mile radius. And I can say that with confidence because I know there's nobody else doing the same stuff that I'm doing. And I, you know, and 99% of [00:49:00] the recipes that I'm using are recipes that are originals.

Tucky: I know they're originals because they're all mine. It was one of those things where, oh my God, I get to showcase my cocktails and I get to showcase my food and, and I just kind of went crazy all of a sudden, you know? Mm-hmm. , I was like, I'm just gonna do the food really nuts and I'm gonna go crazy on the cocktails.

Tucky: And then I started really thinking about the space because I really didn't have that much time to kind of consider what I was gonna do. Mm-hmm. , because we came from picking apples, doing all of that to closing out a house so that we could have a home cuz my wife. Pregnant with my daughter at the, at the time, and she was due in March.

Tucky: So we knew we didn't wanna have a baby in the RV in the middle of an orchard out in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of winter. It's a good story though. It would've been awesome. But you know, I was like, I don't think it would be the safest place to be, because we didn't know how it was gonna be during winter driving and access for.

Tucky: My wife had this dream of wanting to [00:50:00] have a home birth, so I wanted to make sure that I could make that happen for her too. So we, anyways, we closed on a house in River Falls, and once we kind of went through all of it, we started construction February 22nd. And then my daughter was born February 28th.

Tucky: And of course, you know, I, I remember getting a call from my contractor saying, Hey, techie, some of the stuff that's in the building is still in the building. Do you think you can come and move it? And I hadn't slept in almost two days. And I was like, yep, totally. I'll come over. And I looked at my wife and I was like, are you gonna be okay if I leave for a couple hours?

Tucky: And I was like, I'll take Wolfgang with me. So I had a toddler in hand and I grabbed him over. I came over here and I helped move all the stuff. I think I showed him three pictures and I gave him a concept of what I kind of wanted. And I said, start here. This is what we, what I want you to start with.

Tucky: Mm-hmm. and. As we go along, I'll give you step by step. And he was like, okay. But I'd come here and I'd work on the place because we [00:51:00] didn't have enough people that could come and help to do stuff either. So I'd come and help the contractor. Sam Miller, he was our contractor, but Sam was the Nesbit son-in-law.

Tucky: So that's how we met Sam. And Sam built these really amazing log homes. So kind of wanna lean on him to kind of get some ideas. I remember showing him, showing him a picture that was similar to ceiling and I said, this is what I kind of wanna do because I'm, I'm deaf on one side. So when my wife used to talk to me in this building, prior to all of this was done, I couldn't hear words she was saying.

Tucky: So she always thought that I was ignoring her. And I was like, I'm not ignoring you, I just can't hear you cuz it echoes too much. And so I needed something to kind of muffle the sound. So we kind of came up, I came up with this concept to do and then Sam was like, oh yeah, I can get that done. And I remember when he put that up, I looked at the building and go, oh my God, the walls were still white and wires hanging all over.

Tucky: I looked at it and I, I could see the end product. Yeah. As I saw that you're talking about, 

Katie: so what [00:52:00] you're talking about right now is the, the ceiling. Mm-hmm. , you've got, I don't know how to describe it, but it's basically boards that go along almost in like a grid, like 

Tucky: Yeah. Fashion. So the idea was when you walked in through that door and you looked up, when you looked at that last slide, all of this kinda lined up and it looked like it was boarded down.

Tucky: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then when you sit underneath that, that's called Celestial Blue that's underneath that board and you see into the night sky was essentially it. Cause it was Yeah. Meant to feel like it's an exposed rafter. The, uh, tables were kind of custom built so that we can have extra space on the table.

Tucky: So if a party of four was sitting down, you can actually eat, like me and my wife like to eat. Order everything on the menu and set it on the table. And, and most of the time when you come with your kids and you sit at the table, by the time you put their mat, your plates and the foot touches the table, you have no space on the table.

Tucky: Right. And, uh, one of the sacrifices I had to make was that means two [00:53:00] less tables because of the size of the tables. But I like it's, it is what it is. Mm-hmm. , I would much rather have less tables and have comfort. So then everything kind of started becoming more clear to me because I wanted everything to be comfort and really giving everybody a dining experience versus turn and burn.

Tucky: I didn't want everybody to come and sit down and leave. A typical restaurant cushion is about two inches. I have four inches of foam so that you can sit down and plant yourself with a bottle of wine for a while, I wanted everybody to sit down and be here for a while. I'm not trying to get rid of everybody.

Tucky: Mm-hmm. , that's, that was the whole concept. And that just made it even more so where I wanted it to feel like home because I knew I was gonna spend all my time here and, uh, less of my time at home. And I wanted this to feel like home so that I could be here. I mean, everybody who's ever worked in a restaurant knows that restaurants are always your second home, but the concept was to really make this feel like home.

Tucky: When somebody walked in, they felt like they belonged and they felt like they went [00:54:00] to their house and they can just kind of walk around and hang out. And that, that was kind of the design aspiration. And for the most part, I'm not a very colorful person in terms of me being in color. I'm always very monotone, black, gray and green, and black air and green.

Tucky: But the restaurant's very much the opposite. I have a lot of colors. I think it's my hidden personality that I'm not willing to show that popped out in the restaurant. I do want you to talk 

Katie: about the floor and the stenciling. 

Tucky: Oh my God, I have no acl. I've torn it a couple of times. I had to be on my knee for two and a half weeks, a wire brush, like every square inch of this place, and mopped cleaned for about a week.

Tucky: When I started doing everything and I started looking at the space, the floors looked really boring because this floors stood out and the floor kind of started sucking in the design element of the place. And it was just not giving me any continuity [00:55:00] to the space. So I needed to do something that was, um, that was artistic and something that was a little different.

Tucky: I had been to this restaurant called Havana. One of the things that this house had was this patina floor, but it was all Moroccan m. But it was like all patina in and it, it was super cool looking and it always just really resonated with me and I really loved it. Before we moved, I was redoing our bathroom and I got these same kind of sten cells to stencil on the wall and I think I brought it up to Rachel and I said, Hey, what do you think if I sten so the floor, do you think it would be kind of cool?

Tucky: And, and then I started looking at the floor space and I realized, oh my God, this is a lot of space. I don't know what, how the hell I'm gonna do it. So I ended up calling someone and they said, oh yeah, maybe we can come and do it. It's gonna be about $15,000 to do the floors. And I was like, well, thank you very much.

Tucky: I don't think. [00:56:00] They weren't quite sure how they were gonna do it too. So I kind of hung up the phone and I think I went to my old trustee, old computer and books and I started doing research and I think I researched for about three days. And I found this really random article this lady had written about how she had redone her patio and she did it for like 400 bucks.

Tucky: Like, oh, sweet, I think I can manage that. So I kinda started doing some research and I looked at it and I found out that, you know, I, I had to learn about concrete, I had to learn about the staining, I had to learn about all of that stuff before I could jump into it. And so I read about all of it and I was like, is the paint gonna stick?

Tucky: Is this gonna happen? Found out that I have to get on my knee, hands and knees with a wire brush and clean every single thing. And then kind of stencil each and every single spot. So two and a half weeks later, I had some. From one of the girls that work with me right now. Without her, I would've been most probably still stenciling the floor, [00:57:00] but Isabel came and helped me do the stencil and I, we stencil this over a couple of weeks and uh, now it's one of the biggest attractions at the restaurant.

Tucky: It's the first thing that everybody sees when they walk in. Mm-hmm. . They look at the floors and they go, wow. The floors. And later on maybe they realize the ceiling's up there, but it's always just the floor. Yeah. It's 

Katie: beautiful. I love it. So you are not open seven days a week or anything right now? You're not holding regular hours, you are hosting private 

Tucky: parties, popups?

Tucky: Yeah, mostly. So the, the problem being, we are not completely staffed yet and we're looking forward to having a lot of staff to kind of open up on a regular basis. We're looking for hosts, we're looking for servers, we're definitely looking for bartenders. Kitchen staff. I am very much about learning things and teaching things.

Tucky: I used to teach a hospitality class in California as well, and it was something that I really enjoyed doing. I really loved sharing the knowledge because there's no point in reading all these [00:58:00] books and just keeping it in your head. Yep. When there's so many more people that wanna learn, and that's what I'm looking for.

Tucky: I'm looking for people that are really hungry to learn and to actually immerse themselves into the culture and to be a part of it, versus just coming in and treating it as a job and just getting a paycheck and going home with a job like this. Especially with cooking, just hospitality. It's about loving what you do.

Tucky: It's not about a paycheck. The paycheck always comes no matter what. Like you'll always make your tips if you love what you do and, and I mean, it's a mantra that I have always lived by. I never went into work because I wanna make money. Yes, I did have to pay bills, but I went into work because I wanted to, I don't know, in my own quirky way to make a difference in the day for someone.

Tucky: And you know, weirdly enough, the way you treat people changes their perspective on things. And if anybody's seen rat Tui, you know that moment when [00:59:00] Vito takes a bite of that gtu and he transcends back to his childhood and he sees his childhood and he kind of comes back to his seat and he realizes, oh my God.

Tucky: Like, you know, he, somebody that's not even his family just took him back to a place. And I have the ability to do that. To have that power, to do that for someone is amazing. And I'm looking for people that are passionate that wanna do that for other. Hospitality is not something that you can just learn.

Tucky: It's something that you're born with. Mm-hmm. , it's just like an artist. 

Katie: So talk about the different ways that people can right now enjoy Young Acres and the Arbor Young Acres. That is the name of the 

Tucky: restaurant, correct? Yeah, so if you visit Young Acres on Facebook, all the hours are updated there. And then if you go to the arbor at Young Acres, we have all of our current events and events that are coming up listed on there.

Tucky: We do have a website coming up too, [01:00:00] and once we do, there'll be some ticketed events where you could just kinda link right into our website and go reserve your tickets. We're thinking about doing a wine dinner, cocktail dinners, whiskey tastings. We're gonna start doing a wine club and a whiskey club.

Tucky: Okay, perfect. 

Katie: Well, thank you for being on the podcast. Thank you for sharing your story. It's pretty 

Tucky: incredible. Well, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come out and talk to me and, uh, come and check out the space and eat some pizza.