The PodcastEPISODE #59
Behind Every Celebrity Chef: Shon & Elizabeth Foster Of Sego in Kanab, UT, Part 2 We're back in Kanab, Utah with Chef Shon & Elizabeth of Sego Restaurant. We again witness the unstoppability of Shon and the quiet power of Elizabeth. They've known each other since grade 6, married at 17, and divorced after having four kids. Because they had challenges working together, they thought they weren’t supposed to be married. But, they figured it out. After working out their respective management styles, they continued in business together, and remarried—bringing the world baby #5. These two are dynamic. They possess not just a love of food, but of serving people, turning guests into friends, and putting a love of people into everything they do. These two are yin and yang—and are willing to bare all. This episode, we’re picking up where we left off—at a resort for the very wealthy where Elizabeth has just spilled a tray of wine and cocktails on a guest who’s big, famous celebrity chef. CLICK HERE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF PLACES TO HEAR THIS SHOW FOR ITUNES, CLICK HERE FOR SOUNDLCOUD, CLICK HERE DOWNLOAD THE MP3 BY RIGHT-CLICKING HERE AND SELECTING "SAVE AS" |
Blaine: 00:00 What exactly are you reading?
Honey: 00:03 I'm reading a really crummy
book. But I have to finish. I'm 75% in.
Blaine: 00:08 Is this the book I gave you?
Honey: 00:10 It is the book you gave me.
Blaine: 00:11 I'm really sorry I gave you
that.
Honey: 00:13 I'm sorry you gave it to me,
too, but ...
Blaine: 00:15 The good news is I'll be
reading it, too. Book club of two continues.
Honey: 00:20 Our book club of two.
Blaine: 00:23 Welcome to CoupleCo, working with your spouse
for fun and profit. I'm Blaine Parker.
Honey: 00:26 Which makes me Honey Parker.
Blaine: 00:28 And as a couple in business
together, we are coming to you from the Couple Coach, our compact Trans
American land yacht.
Honey: 00:33 We are navigating the nation
in search of stand-out couples in business together.
Blaine: 00:37 And we are bringing them to
you so you can hear their inspiring stories of crushing it in business without
crushing each other.
Honey: 00:43 And if you heard us last
time, we were not actually coming from said Couple Coach, but from the great
state of Utah and the great state of New Jersey, respectively.
Blaine: 00:52 Yes. I was in one place, not
the other.
Honey: 00:55 And I was in the other.
Blaine: 00:56 Yes. I'm so sorry.
Honey: 00:58 Well.
Blaine: 01:00 Well, we fixed that and as
evidenced by the traffic you may be hearing behind us recording, we are coming
to you from the Lone Star State.
Honey: 01:08 Because traffic means Texas.
Blaine: 01:10 Yes, the only place you get
traffic is in Texas.
Honey: 01:13 Well today-
Blaine: 01:14 ... in an RV park. Near the
road.
Honey: 01:18 Well today-
Blaine: 01:20 Yeah, okay.
Honey: 01:21 Today we're bringing you an
exceptional couple.
Blaine: 01:25 This is unlike any interview
you have ever heard.
Honey: 01:27 If you love cooking and food
and the Food Network, this is a deep dive into cuisine.
Blaine: 01:34 And if you're intrigued by
couple dynamics and life long romance, this could
also be the show for you.
Oh,
and you know what?
Honey: 01:40 This show is brought to you
by a couple owned business.
Blaine: 01:44 That's right. Smokin' Mary's Smoked Bloody Mary mix.
Honey: 01:46 And if you've heard this show
before, you may have heard that Smokin' Mary is made
in small batches with no reconstituted tomato juice. They truly only use very
fresh, very whole tomatoes.
Blaine: 02:03 Can you have degrees of
wholeness?
Honey: 02:03 Perhaps.
Blaine: 02:03 Hmm. We'll have to save that
for another time when we touch on semantics.
Honey: 02:06 Yes.
Blaine: 02:06 Smokin' Mary's Smoked
Bloody Mary mix. Hey, nice tomatoes. Online at smokinmary.com.
Honey: 02:12 And speaking of dot coms, if
you want to find out more about CoupleCo and our past interviews, we are online
at coupleco.com.
Blaine: 02:21 Now, today. We are venturing
to Kanab, Utah. We are talking to Shon and Elizabeth Foster of Sego, a small
plate restaurant.
Honey: 02:30 And I know that there are
many very good restaurants across this great land of ours. This happens to be a
great restaurant.
Blaine: 02:38 It's phenomenal. We actually
went to the restaurant on our own the night before the interview and did not
tell them that we were there.
Honey: 02:44 No, we just came and ate and
lost our minds. It was surprising how good this was.
Blaine: 02:52 Yes, it's a small plate
restaurant. We ordered five plates. He had four glasses of wine. The bill was
incredibly reasonable and really one of the best meals I have ... almost
anywhere.
Honey: 03:01 Yeah, the price was a bonus.
The food, just wonderful.
Blaine: 03:05 Anyway, they run Sego out of a boutique hotel
in a town that has been called Little Hollywood because of all the movies that
have been shot there. Now the restaurant is unique and they are doing something
right because they've been approached about replicating the concept in other
hotels around Utah.
Honey: 03:21 Shon and Elizabeth are also
unique. This episode's going to include football, punk rock, many babies, and
divorce.
Blaine: 03:29 Yes there's even a divorce.
Something new for a CoupleCo interview. These two have an unusual work dynamic
and there are times when you might think that Shon could be steam rolling
Elizabeth because he's a force. But you're going to find out that in her own,
much quieter way, Elizabeth is a force as well.
Honey: 03:43 Oh yeah. I mean I was sitting
across from her in this interview and you could just feel it.
Blaine: 03:48 You could feel the force.
Honey: 03:49 You could. Just what was
going on, in her eyes.
Blaine: 03:54 No resemblance to Darth
Vader.
Honey: 03:55 No, no, no.
Blaine: 03:56 Oh and there's one thing you
need to know.
Honey: 03:58 They're going to be mentioning a resort called
Amangiri.
Blaine: 04:00 This is a high end luxury
resort in Utah that is known for catering to the 1%. It is fancy and it is for
billionaires.
Honey: 04:09 And it's where Elizabeth came
to do something unspeakable to a celebrity chef.
Blaine: 04:13 Yes, she did. And she will be
speaking about it to us.
Honey: 04:16 One of the things I love
about this interview is they are very willing to talk about the unspeakable
things. It's charming. It's endearing. It makes them stronger and it just
really pulled us to them.
Blaine: 04:31 Yes, they are willing to
speak about the unspeakable things and they're speaking about it to us and to
you. Right here in part one of our conversation with Shon and Elizabeth Foster
of Sego restaurant in Kanab, Utah.
We
are in ... I was going to say beautiful and possibly arid ... Is it arid here?
Shon: 04:53 It's a high desert for sure.
Blaine: 04:54 Okay we're in beautiful high
desert Kanab, Utah, in a really incredible restaurant called Sego and we are
with Chef Shon and the amazing Elizabeth Foster. The two of them have been ...
Well, I'm not going to say how long they've been in business together because
this is a heck of a story and I think we need to start by (a) saying hi.
Elizabeth: 05:18 Hello.
Blaine: 05:19 Thanks for coming. And more
importantly, thanks for letting us come.
Shon: 05:23 Absolutely.
Blaine: 05:23 If you hear activity in the
background it's because we actually are sitting in the restaurant and they are
prepping for today's service, but these two were referred by some friends of
ours. And Honey and I came and ate dinner in the restaurant last night and
O.M.G. Wow.
Honey: 05:37 At first I was excited just
because I didn't have to leave the hotel to go to the restaurant, because we
were driving a long time. And then the food started showing up and if we had
just stopped with the grilled Caesar with the egg on it, I would have gone to
bed happy. But we kept going.
Blaine: 05:52 Yes the duck lo mein was not a slouch either.
Honey: 05:54 Holy cow.
Elizabeth: 05:54 The duck lo mein is pretty tasty.
Blaine: 05:56 It is.
Honey: 05:56 Oh my ...
Blaine: 05:57 Let's start with the single
most important question of every interview we do. How did you two meet?
Shon: 06:04 I'll have to refer this to
Elizabeth. I know when I officially met her. It was in our orchestra class, but
she'll have to tell when she first met me or noticed me.
Blaine: 06:14 Orchestra?
Elizabeth: 06:16 The first time that I met
Shon, was actually in the 6th grade and it was halfway through the day and he
was a new student coming to Kanab, so he just moved to Kanab. And I was walking
up the stairs from the computer lab in the old Kanab Middle School annex
building and I came up the stairs and here's Shon walking by.
I
can even tell you what I was wearing.
Honey: 06:37 What were you wearing?
Blaine: 06:37 Okay.
Elizabeth: 06:38 I was wearing white shorts, a
white t-shirt with a gold paisley vest. My hair was up in a half pony tail and
I had gold hoop earrings and white Keds shoes.
Shon: 06:48 She obviously ...
Blaine: 06:49 I'm not going to say how old
you are, but you are definitely not 12 anymore.
Shon: 06:51 She obviously has a great
memory, which has worked in and against me.
Blaine: 06:51 Yeah.
Elizabeth: 06:57 When I saw him, I actually
went home that night and wrote in my journal that I was going to marry this boy
that I met and I didn't even know his name at that time.
Blaine: 07:05 That's incredible.
Honey: 07:06 What was he wearing?
Elizabeth: 07:07 I don't remember what he was
wearing but I can remember what I was wearing.
Shon: 07:10 Always something terrible. I
was a skater kid from Phoenix, Arizona, and my parents had moved me to this
tiny town in Utah and I thought ... I was pretty convinced that they had ruined
my life. But ...
Honey: 07:26 You're still here, by the
way, so ...
Shon: 07:28 I've left many times. But
most people say it, if you've lived here and you've left, coming back ... Every
time you come into town it just feels like home.
Elizabeth: 07:38 Feels like home.
Shon: 07:39 Even for transplants. It just
feels like home. Now there are certain aspects of a small town that make it
difficult to live here. One, income. How do you provide for yourself and what
is it that you're going to do to make money and are you willing to live a
different lifestyle because you can't just go out dancing if you want to on a
night. And you only have one movie a week. So if you can get through some of
those things, then you can also appreciate the fact that we have every star in
the night sky that shows up and performs every night. We also have clean air.
We also have water you can drink out of the tap. We have endless canyons to
explore, mountain tops to see and I'm, of course, a mountain climber. Not
literally, but at least figuratively. I love hiking and getting out but I love
to see what's at the top so it really has given me the stage to perform.
So
living in L.A., living in Phoenix, going to school, being other places, again
it ... Always wanted to get back here.
Blaine: 08:41 Living in a place like L.A.,
having done it for about 20 years, definitely makes you appreciate a place like
this all the more, I think.
Shon: 08:48 Yeah. L.A. was probably one
of the nicest places I've ever left.
Elizabeth: 08:53 Well, not necessarily L.A.,
but the beaches, like Redondo Beach.
Shon: 08:55 We were down near Redondo and
Hermosa, which is almost like-
Blaine: 08:55 Redondo, back in the day, wow.
Shon: 09:00 Yeah, it was almost like a
small town. We were still doing spaghetti dinners with the community and was
really connected, but it was a crossroads.
I
loved what I did. I worked hard enough to be good at it. But my parents were
around for my childhood and now I believe that that was for a good reason. At
the time, you know, you always wonder, but you're a kid. So I felt like my kids
needed that. Or I wanted to make sure I was around enough to be able to give
them that opportunity so they weren't learning how to be a human being from TV
or what, now we have social media or internet. So yeah, that's when we left-
Blaine: 09:43 You were both living in L.A.?
Elizabeth: 09:45 No, I lived here and he lived
in L.A.
Blaine: 09:49 Wow.
Honey: 09:49 So let's back up a little
bit.
Blaine: 09:50 Yeah, I guess go back.
Honey: 09:53 You met in the sixth grade
and I know that you had said you guys had worked your first jobs together.
Elizabeth: 09:58 Mcdonalds came to
Kanab our freshman year, or sophomore year?
Shon: 10:03 Soph-
Elizabeth: 10:05 It was the summer-
Shon: 10:06 Sophomore summer before our junior year.
Elizabeth: 10:06 No.
Blaine: 10:08 You became gourmets in high
school.
Elizabeth: 10:09 Yeah. So we both worked at Mcdonalds.
Shon: 10:12 We were ... What did they
call us?
Elizabeth: 10:14 We were shift managers or
crew managers.
Shon: 10:18 Yeah, crew chiefs.
Elizabeth: 10:18 Crew chiefs.
Shon: 10:19 Crew chiefs.
Elizabeth: 10:19 Yeah that's what it was
called, crew chief.
Blaine: 10:19 Wow.
Shon: 10:21 Yeah, we were crew chiefs
because we trained, beforehand.
Honey: 10:23 Wow, impressive.
Blaine: 10:25 [inaudible 00:10:25]
Honey: 10:25 And were you dating at the
time or were you friends?
Elizabeth: 10:30 Well we had classes together
and I liked poetry and Shon would always share these poems with me and I was
like, "Wow, that's pretty incredible" and I thought he liked some
other girl so I was like, "Well, thanks for sharing." Little did I
know, those poems were for me.
Shon: 10:45 Yeah, that was sophomore
year.
Elizabeth: 10:47 That was our sophomore year,
yeah.
Blaine: 10:47 There was a whole Cyrano
thing going on.
Shon: 10:51 Yeah. And she was late every
day for our American History class, but she sat in front of me. So yeah, that's
when we started getting to know each other.
Elizabeth: 10:51 Bubblegum.
Shon: 11:02 Yeah she always had candy.
She still always has candy.
Elizabeth: 11:04 And cherry Jolly Ranchers. I
always had my little bag full of treats.
Shon: 11:08 She just always conveniently
had those after I asked for them the first time.
Blaine: 11:12 Oh
the good old days.
Shon: 11:14 Yeah sophomore year.
Elizabeth: 11:15 Tell-
Shon: 11:16 And during that time was when
we started dating and handing out. And I would say it was like hanging out more
than dating.
Elizabeth: 11:22 Yeah.
Shon: 11:23 We hung out going snow boarding, going to concerts. Luckily, she pretended
well enough that she liked the kind of music I liked until I looked through her
tape box, back when cassette tapes were still a thing. And found Tupac and
stuff like that.
Elizabeth: 11:37 I was a hip hop girl.
Shon: 11:38 It's like, "I don't know
if this is going to work out." I was pretty staunch punk rock.
Honey: 11:44 So how old married? How old
were you-
Elizabeth: 11:46 We got married when we were
... right before we turned 18.
Blaine: 11:50 Right before you turned 18.
Elizabeth: 11:50 Yes.
Shon: 11:51 Yeah, we had decided to be
intimate and so we had a kid coming. And so we took the time to ... Which to
our parents' dismay, her parents' dismay, her dad, for sure, thought I was a
bad guy. But I said I'm not just going to marry you-
Blaine: 12:10 You look like a bad guy.
Shon: 12:12 Back then I did. Back then I
did for sure. But I said, you know-
Blaine: 12:17 He looks impish, by the way.
Elizabeth: 12:19 Impish.
Shon: 12:20 I'm not going to just get
married because that's what we're supposed to do. We need to make this a real
decision. We're in a situation where we have responsibilities we have to take
care of and I was never going to shirk the responsibility, but are we getting
married when we're 17 and are we going to make the commitment to do this for
the rest of our lives? And not just for me, for her as well. We were
enlightened enough smart enough to know that there were options. We talked
about adoption. That was definitely not something that we wanted to pursue. We
actually spoke to somebody about it and it scared us half to death.
Elizabeth: 12:53 For two months we talked to
somebody.
Blaine: 12:54 You were some seriously
courageous 17 year olds.
Elizabeth: 12:57 It was really hard.
Shon: 12:59 Yeah, I think back now and I
think about my kids ... I mean I had a full ride scholarship to multiple
universities for football. I mean, there was a lot.
Elizabeth: 13:08 Yeah before Aaron. That's our
oldest son. He's [inaudible 00:13:12]
Shon: 13:12 Yeah, and I knew getting
married and having a kid would push me into a JC realm until they saw that I
was going to continue with school and football and then move back up, which was
good because playing at college football level, it was great but it quickly
taught me after the season we got a national championship anyway. It was great
stuff, but it pushed me, luckily, really quick to what I really wanted to do,
which was music. And I played music since I was little.
Elizabeth: 13:36 Do I really want to do
football and-
Shon: 13:38 Yeah, and do I really want to
do school in this way? We made the decision. We got married. Had a traditional
marriage and then Aaron showed up. Best decision I ever made.
Blaine: 13:49 You didn't start out by
working together, but you did start out by cooperating a lot, I mean sincerely.
Elizabeth: 13:55 I guess we kind of worked
together because when he did the punk rock stuff, I was the behind the scenes
person-
Blaine: 14:01 Oh really.
Elizabeth: 14:01 ... that did ... Because he
actually started-
Shon: 14:03 As soon as I started helping
bands that I had been around or that I had worked with previously, before going
to school ... So I started reaching out and doing band management, doing
production recording.
Blaine: 14:13 What were you, your early 20s
now, late teens?
Shon: 14:17 I would have been 19, 20.
Elizabeth: 14:21 Yeah that was in 2000, so
yeah.
Shon: 14:22 I was young but nobody would
have known it because I had been answering phones for my mom's real estate
agency when I was eight years old. I knew-
Elizabeth: 14:22 Phone etiquette.
Shon: 14:30 ... how to answer phones, I
knew how to send emails-
Blaine: 14:32 Eight years old.
Shon: 14:34 I knew how to communicate
with adults. I spent most of my time with adults. So the world wasn't scary, it
was just something to be figured out and done. So I was working on building an
empire.
Because my dad was an audio engineer but he
always had his side projects and was very entrepreneurial and my mom was a real
estate agent, which is like being self-employed. So it always instilled that.
I
remember listening to Tony Robbins-
Elizabeth: 15:03 Yes.
Shon: 15:03 ... when I was in high
school. Hated his voice.
Elizabeth: 15:07 His mom, little did you know
when Shon-
Blaine: 15:10 Leave it to an engineer.
Elizabeth: 15:11 ... I just have to tell you.
If you want to know the full story of Shon ... How old were you? Bobby Bell. He
won a modeling scholarship. He was a model for J.C. Penney.
Shon: 15:22 When I was a little kid.
Honey: 15:22 You run the gamut. Elizabeth,
were your parents entrepreneurial?
Elizabeth: 15:25 No, my parents were, you go
to work the 9 to 5 kind of people.
Shon: 15:29 And she hated me because-
Elizabeth: 15:31 Because I just wanted a-
Shon: 15:31 She was like would you just
get a real job? And would you just go to work and have insurance so we can buy
things and be normal?
Elizabeth: 15:43 But that was what I was used
to.
Honey: 15:44 Yeah.
Blaine: 15:45 Okay, so you started
cooperating really early and you started working together not long after that.
But when would you say you obviously were in business together?
Elizabeth: 15:56 He started ... His record
label was called Chad Grain Records and I was the one that did all the office
work and paperwork and getting CD production and t-shirts-
Blaine: 16:05 You had a record company
together.
Elizabeth: 16:07 Yes. And so I was the office
lady and helping, when he would book tours with the unknown bands-
Shon: 16:14 Let's go back to what
actually paid for that, which was we did landscaping and yard work. So what
music actually taught me-
Elizabeth: 16:23 Taught us is how-
Shon: 16:24 What music taught us was
drywall, concrete, professional painting, roofing, tile-
Elizabeth: 16:30 Low income housing
management.
Shon: 16:31 Management, yeah. Just about everything-
Elizabeth: 16:33 Under the sun.
Shon: 16:34 Yeah to build and remodel
homes. And that's what we did to pay for it. We did that when we were married.
Elizabeth: 16:34 When we first got married-
Shon: 16:43 We moved into low income
housing and managed it and then did all the repair work and the land ... and so
that was the base-
Elizabeth: 16:49 That's how we paid-
Shon: 16:51 ... to pay for our lives and
then building-
Blaine: 16:54 You people are not afraid to
get your hands dirty.
Shon: 16:56 Hey, when it comes down to
it, and I think that's why the chef thing really works is 'cause
I know about myself that when I need to get there, when it has to be done, and
that's why I think our business is as successful as it is, is, especially on
the catering side is when it's on the line, when it's somebody really
important, really famous, or the task is really difficult, people know that
it'll happen. They don't have to worry about whether or not we're going to show
up and then-
Blaine: 17:23 Yeah.
Elizabeth: 17:24 Not just show up but that
it's going to exceed their expectations.
Shon: 17:30 Not just show up but excel.
It's going to be worth is.
Honey: 17:30 And the restaurant business
and you mentioned catering also, so that's jumping through hoops and a ticking clock
and that kind of stress-
Shon: 17:38 Yeah, constantly.
Honey: 17:39 Does that work for both of
you?
Shon: 17:41 I love it.
Honey: 17:42 You can't see this but his
face lit up.
Elizabeth: 17:46 When we talked to you
yesterday and you said controlled chaos, he survives. That is his ultimate
realm to be in. Sometimes I have to take a little step out and have a breather
for a few minutes.
Blaine: 17:57 We understand controlled
chaos. We both have done production. Honey on the advertising agency side, me on
the film side.
Shon: 18:03 Yeah, so even like with that,
a lot of times we're working with people that are behind the clock and that are
calling us a day before and they're like, "We just got our funding. We
have to make this work. Can you put together catering? We have 100 people.
We're going to show up in the desert. We need this to happen. And we have to
have it on a budget." And you're like, "Okay, well at least you
called us because we can do that and we can perform and we can make it happen."
And usually by the end they're almost apologizing that they put us through it.
Because it's kind of a game. It's a game. You
guys know. It's a game you learn that if you get everyone on your toes and it's
under budget and you say all these things to get people to hop and jump because
usually that's what they have to do in a L.A., New York, San Francisco market.
We're not like that. So we come in like the calm in the storm and just go,
treat us fair, pay us what we're worth. We'll get the job done. We'll be the
highlight of the scenario, besides the magic that they create.
But
really, and then they tell their friends. I've never once put in an article or
in an advertisement or anything that we cater. We just don't do that. And it
just comes to us. And I think that also-
Blaine: 19:11 It just happens organically.
Shon: 19:12 It just-
Elizabeth: 19:12 Yeah, it does.
Shon: 19:13 And it also filters out and
now I can say to these different agents that will call, I can go, "Okay,
are these good people? Is the producer, whoever we're working with, is he a
good guy?" Because if he's not a good guy, I don't need to ... I could
punish myself. Sometimes I take on people that are difficult because I know I
can handle it because I've done it quite a few times in my profession, but I'm
not going to send out one of my staff to get beat up and abused by someone that
enjoys that. I mean you guys have probably seen it.
Blaine: 19:43 Yeah.
Shon: 19:44 Yeah, I mean, I love it. She
doesn't.
Honey: 19:48 Yeah, anybody who listens to
our show has probably heard us say that we had made a rule about a year into
our business-
Blaine: 19:53 We have an advertising
agency.
Honey: 19:54 And our rule is we will only
work with people that we look forward to having dinner with.
Shon: 19:59 Yeah, that's awesome.
Honey: 20:00 And that changed everything.
If you start getting those red flags that I don't want to sit down and have a
meal with this person-
Shon: 20:06 Yeah, every time we get the
request because people will just go on to my form response on one of my
websites and like, "Hey, we need catering." And I always say,
"Okay, well until we've had a phone call and I get to know you, that's not
an option. I'm not going to ..."
Elizabeth: 20:19 Some people are interviewed.
Shon: 20:20 Because it's emotional for me. We put-
Elizabeth: 20:23 Well, it's a piece of you. I
mean, when you do something, it is a piece of you.
Shon: 20:23 We put so much into what we
do that we-
Elizabeth: 20:28 Because that's what makes it meaningful. If you
don't have a piece of you-
Shon: 20:32 You're cooking for your
friends, it's a lot different.
Blaine: 20:33 This is exactly why I don't
like competitive cooking. Despite the fact I love watching Chopped, I will not
compete because-
Shon: 20:40 Right.
Blaine: 20:40 That's not true, I've been in
a neighborhood chili cook-off but anyway.
Shon: 20:43 We've done some of those
things. If it's for a charity or we do those types. We get requests to do some
of those shows because they're always looking but unless the opportunity
presented itself and it would directly affect and help those around me, it's
just not ... Because when you're producing it's like, "Okay, we have three
spots left, Mr. Foster. And do you want to be interviewed for the Bad Boy Chef,
the Angry Chef, or the ..." and you're like "Whoa, whoa, whoa."
I'm none of those things. I'm the nice guy that wants to help. Well we already
have that position filled. And I'm like, "Well, okay then."
Blaine: 21:20 You're not interested in
being cast.
Shon: 21:23 Yeah, cast, yeah.
Honey: 21:24 Call the bad boy, right?
Shon: 21:26 And they hear the punk rock
thing, so you're a bad boy. And I'm like, "No, I'm really not." I
mean I am definitely the guy that questions everything. That's, I think, why my
cooking is a little bit different. I wasn't trained by a chef.
Elizabeth: 21:41 We opened a health food store
with a sandwich shop.
Shon: 21:44 With a deli. I love delis.
Blaine: 21:47 What's not to love?
Elizabeth: 21:47 That was our start.
Shon: 21:48 That was the first thing and
what a deli teaches you, if you really look at it from a culinary standpoint,
it teaches you curing. It teaches you food preservation. It teaches you baking.
If you take a sandwich-
Elizabeth: 22:02 The importance of using
quality ingredients.
Shon: 22:02 ... and you make it yourself,
meaning milling the flour, making the bread, growing the lettuce, curing the
bacon. A BLT sandwich-
Blaine: 22:11 [inaudible 00:22:11] integration.
Shon: 22:11 Yeah. A BLT becomes a study
in culinary arts, if you look at it like that.
Elizabeth: 22:17 And because how he said he
questions everything, one thing with Sega that we do is we want to know from
start to finish, where the products come from. Because food tells a story.
That's one thing that we have found, that we connect with people through food.
Because we all have emotions that are connected
in food and when you're able to connect to a table that comes in because of
your food, you take them back to positive memories, something with their
grandma or a family vacation. Because the world is such a crazy-
Shon: 22:44 Or a new experience.
Elizabeth: 22:45 Yeah, crazy chaos place. When
you're able to step out of the world and be connected like human being-
Shon: 22:51 As soon as food ... Like
here's how the perfect scenario works out. Conversation may or may not be
happening. Car ride definitely to get here has happened. And so you see
everyone in these different stages of unhappiness usually coming in.
I
mean if it's a local and they're coming in for a birthday or something, then
it's maybe a little bit more elevated, but we're in the hub of travel and so
it's always that, "Oh, just another place. It's just a restaurant at our
hotel. It was convenient." And then as soon as they look at the menu and
as soon as the server does a little bit of the explanation and as soon as the
cocktail or the drinks hit and then the food comes out, you just see this,
almost metamorphosis and you see them go from the first bite and then they look
across the table and go, "Oh my gosh. This is great." And then people
start talking. And once that happens, the food has hit, they've tasted it, it's
more than what they expected. They start to talk about the food. Then they
start to talk about life. And then they're friends again. And then community
and love and respect starts happening.
Honey: 23:58 We felt it last night. I mean
it was seven hours to get here with a stop on the way for a business meeting.
We got here. We were travel weary. I didn't realize that the restaurant was in
the hotel, so I was happy about that.
Blaine: 24:11 Because we are in the, what is this?
Elizabeth: 24:11 The Canyon's Boutique Hotel.
Blaine: 24:14 The Canyon's Boutique Hotel,
which is not the name on the hotel that we made a reservation for because the
internet hasn't recognized it over four year.
Honey: 24:21 The change from four years
ago.
Blaine: 24:21 So we couldn't find the
place.
Elizabeth: 24:21 Is it still-
Shon: 24:21 Victorian Inn.
Blaine: 24:21 Victorian Inn, yes.
Shon: 24:21 Interesting.
Honey: 24:27 So, sat down and I said to
Blaine a couple times, I feel like I'm still vibrating from the road. And your
server was great. And her mood-
Shon: 24:36 Mantra, yeah.
Honey: 24:37 ... was helpful and then the
first plate showed up and then what a 180.
Blaine: 24:41 Life changed.
Honey: 24:42 Yeah. Life changed.
Shon: 24:45 Good.
Blaine: 24:45 Here's what I'd like to do.
I'd like to go back to the chronology for just a moment because the two of you
have done more together than most people will ever consider doing in a
lifetime, including something unique, I think, for married couples, especially
for married couples in business together.
So
were you in the restaurant business before what I'm talking about happened?
Shon: 25:08 Yeah, oh absolutely. Yeah.
Blaine: 25:10 Let's have a quick synopsis
of what was going on and why that transpired.
Shon: 25:15 We had opened Rewind Diner.
We had ran it I think eight years, almost nine years. At that point, I had
already taken on a position as an executive chef of a farm to fork restaurant
in East Zion, called Zion Mountain Ranch.
Elizabeth: 25:30 And so he was working there
and I was working in Kanab running-
Shon: 25:31 So she was the boss. I would
come in and support some mornings and do soups and stocks or help with
specials. But I was 365 days at this seven day a week resort, catering to more
high end clientele.
Blaine: 25:44 And you're still alive.
Honey: 25:45 Wow.
Shon: 25:45 Yeah, that wasn't even the
worst. That was just when I was getting started. Next was Amangiri Resort,
which is dealing with the top 1% of the world.
Blaine: 25:55 Oh boy.
Shon: 25:55 And we were two bosses coming
home every day, like ships passing in the night, but that ship was more of like
a battle, guns ablazing about what needed to be done,
and the stresses-
Blaine: 26:07 Wow, battleships passing.
Honey: 26:08 How many kids at this point?
Elizabeth: 26:10 Four. And it was to the point
where Shon said that sometimes he just ... He sees the vision, and he's just
like ...
Shon: 26:17 I'm going to go for it. I
have to remind myself that maybe not everyone wants to climb that mountain. And
I hadn't ... and I was still fighting for the top. I didn't go to culinary
school. I was a nobody, but people were
calling me Chef. I was cooking this crazy food. I was starting to have people
show up and ask for wine tastings. I was starting to get invites to pop ups. I
was starting to get written up in publications. I was having helicopters land
and buying out the restaurant to come in and eat.
And
when you're just an offensive lineman on a football team and it's your job just
to help the other guy get all the attention, you start seeing that and you're
going, maybe I am that cool. Maybe this is worth it. Because it was every day.
[inaudible 00:27:04] Because I didn't go to school, I really had to learn
everything myself so I would take Joël Robuchon's chicken stock and Gordon
Ramsay's chicken stock and Danielle's chicken stock and I would go, okay which
one's the best? Why do I like it? And what am I going to do that makes it
unique to our area?
Because food in France is special because of
where it's grown and then eaten and prepared. The same thing with Italy and if
you really get to the bottom of that and understand it, you go, "Okay, I need
to make food that's of here." Whether I'm making a duck lo mein dish that is traditionally, of course, from China, I'm
using those ingredients that are of our area like the duck and the chiles that we use in it and some of those things. So
anyway ...
Blaine: 27:43 I like those chiles, too. Side bar.
Shon: 27:47 So when you-
Honey: 27:48 So you're working big time.
And you're holding down the fort.
Elizabeth: 27:48 And then-
Shon: 27:54 And then she's just in Kanab,
just fighting through and it was the start of the downturn. So we had had this
business-
Elizabeth: 28:00 2008. It was when that big
housing market crash-
Shon: 28:04 We had gone from doing like-
Blaine: 28:06 and how long had you been
together at this point?
Shon: 28:08 About 12 years. And it just
got to the point where-
Elizabeth: 28:11 And it was hard because it
was a battle, trying to make ends meet, survive-
Shon: 28:17 And she's like, "I'm
down here raising the kids. You're up there ..." because this place I was
at was like 40 minutes away. So I would leave before the sun got up and I would
come home-
Elizabeth: 28:26 And when he gets in this mode
of go, go, go. He was like, "I'm going to prove to people that I am not
just this punk rock kid that just scare punk that isn't worth anybody's time.
I'm going to show them that I'm at the top." When he gets his mind set on
things, sometimes he's just like full force.
Blaine: 28:44 Driven.
Shon: 28:44 Yeah, for sure.
Elizabeth: 28:45 And then we both had our own
ideas of how things should be. And so ...
Shon: 28:52 So anyway, yeah, we just
weren't ... We had stopped working on what we were. We could be the best of
friends ... Now when we got into a working situation ... I mean, I remember we
got interviewed for something, for a TV show or something-
Elizabeth: 29:06 It was actually, so we
separated from each other. I moved into my mom's house in 2011. So we were
actually separated before Rewind Diner closed. And we actually were
interviewed-
Shon: 29:19 Yeah a TV show or something
and they were doing some voice over for what they had filmed-
Elizabeth: 29:23 And they wanted to know our
history and why we did things. And so-
Shon: 29:27 And so she started telling
our history and we're at the point of parting ways and I remember just watching
her start to tear up because she's just like-
Elizabeth: 29:38 And I couldn't do it. I was
like, "I can't."
Shon: 29:39 What the hell's going on? I
can't even talk about this right now because we were the best team that had
ever existed, and we're sitting here going what is wrong with us? It didn't
save us, but it was just that point ... almost so much damage at that point had
been done. It was just we need to be apart in order to heal and get back
together.
And
this is 20/20, of course.
Blaine: 30:02 20/20 hindsight?
Shon: 30:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we
had hurt each other.
Elizabeth: 30:08 And we were hurting our kids.
I think that was the biggest thing was seeing the impact. I remember-
Shon: 30:08 We couldn't be in the same
room without being-
Elizabeth: 30:13 When we made the decision-
Shon: 30:13 ... at each other's throats.
Elizabeth: 30:14 We were driving to St. George
to go watch a movie with our kids and we were fighting in the front seat. And I
remember looking in the back at my oldest son and he's grabbing the kids and he
was like, "Don't worry, I'll take care of you." And it was that point
where we were like, "We're causing more damage than we are doing
good."
Shon: 30:38 Because we felt like we were good parents and separately,
we were great. They are-
Elizabeth: 30:48 They are why we do what we
do.
Blaine: 30:50 Your kids.
Shon: 30:51 Absolutely.
Elizabeth: 30:54 That's why we did all the
hard things.
Shon: 30:58 And part of it's kinda funny now because I always thought the cooler the dad
I was, the better that dad I was going to be for them. It's this weird thing
that I had to figure out.
I
worked with punk rock bands and I was super cool and we were on the side of
these stages with 20,000 people screaming. And I'm like, "I can't wait
until one day I can bring my kids up here." How bizarre that I had linked
that with being a good father.
Now
it doesn't make any sense but at the time I saw being a great chef and being in
magazines and on the TV and doing these things, that was me being a great dad
because my dad was just a computer programmer, was at home most of the time and
was never that cool, at least that I knew of.
Later on I find out that he has 120 patents for Motorola Company and is
why we have modern computers, some of the parts and pieces of it.
So
we weren't good for each other and together we're terrible for our kids-
Elizabeth: 30:58 It was just a toxic
environment and it was-
Honey: 31:55 Did you officially divorce?
Shon: 31:55 Yeah.
Elizabeth: 31:56 We did. In April, actually
on-
Shon: 31:59 Our anniversary.
Blaine: 32:01 Oh boy.
Honey: 32:02 Oh wow.
Blaine: 32:02 On purpose?
Shon: 32:03 April 10th.
Elizabeth: 32:05 No, that's-
Blaine: 32:05 It just happened that way.
Elizabeth: 32:06 ... just how it happened.
Shon: 32:07 Just the realization when we
hugged each other out in the parking lot.
Elizabeth: 32:11 After we had ... because when
you go through a divorce, you have to do a parenting-
Shon: 32:19 Through Utah, watch a video.
Elizabeth: 32:19 ...class.
Shon: 32:19 Like how not to be evil to
each other and your kids-
Elizabeth: 32:20 That was very emotional. And
usually, most people, I don't know how most divorces work, but we were sitting
in the same room together taking the class. And at first we were kinda mean and bitter to each other, but, I mean, we
realized that the most important thing was our kids, making sure that our kids
were taken care of. And no matter how much we hated each other, or how much we
were angry, we couldn't let that impact our kids anymore.
And
so that was, yeah, 2012. April 10th.
Shon: 32:54 I think we were officially
divorced for 16 months, 18 months.
Elizabeth: 32:55 And then we got remarried
October 11, 2014.
Honey: 33:01 Okay so what was the
rebuilding?
Blaine: 33:05 What precipitated it?
Elizabeth: 33:05 So when Rewind closed, Shon-
Shon: 33:09 I think one big thing at that
point is ... We did a lot of different stuff, but at that point it was like,
"Okay, now we have to do this hard thing" and we had never relied on
our parents.
My
mom definitely was there to help us if we needed to borrow some money and pay
it back and that kind of stuff, financially. But we never really, emotionally,
relied on anyone else but each other. So all of a sudden, we'd get these things
and I'd be like, "Hey Amangiri Resort just called me to get this job. What
do you think?" So this is like my buddy, my coach, too, and my support.
And the same in reverse.
So
we, interestingly, probably started talking more again than we had the previous
three years-
Elizabeth: 33:58 And being separate. It was
hard. And we did some mean things to each other and it made us ... and then
you're like, "Oh, I'm doing this. I really care about this person."
You see these things and you're like, "Wow."
Shon: 34:12 So there was a couple key
things. One was Amangiri. I was working out there, big fancy resort. They
needed to hire a restaurant manager. I was the food and beverage director and
executive chef and I was tired of these people being hired that were of
pedigree, but they couldn't get the job done. So I actually set up this
interview for this person. I didn't tell anybody who it was.
I
said, "Hey, they're showing up at this time." This person had to
interview with the GM, the director of HR, all the department heads-
Elizabeth: 34:42 The AGM.
Shon: 34:42 ... myself, the AGM, and when
this person showed up it happened to be Elizabeth. So she'd been working this
terrible job-
Elizabeth: 34:49 It was so funny because he
was the last person I interviewed with. So I interviewed with everybody and
they're ... I was sitting in the lobby, well, by the front desk area and
they're like, "We're waiting for Chef Shon for your interview."
I
thought that they knew. It was so funny, when they came to introduce, I was
"Hey, how's it going?" It was pretty funny.
Shon: 35:12 Yeah, so just to avoid
politics and I was then interviewed by the GM and, "Hey, we've been
divorced for over a year. I just know that she can do the job." So that
was a pivotal point for coming out and then we were working together again. And
she was overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed. The first year at Amangiri, you're
like, "I can't believe I'm here." The second year, you're "I'm
not sure I can do this." And the third year I was "Why am I still
here?"
Elizabeth: 35:38 It's incredible to be at that
level where you're catering to the top 1% income of the world and the things
that you're able to do, it's incredible. But it is the hardest job I have ever
had because I'm very emotional. I wear my emotions on my sleeve.
Shon: 35:54 Yeah, if she didn't like you,
she wouldn't be talking right now.
Blaine: 35:56 Well, I'm honored. I am not
worthy.
Elizabeth: 36:02 I'm not very good at hiding
my emotions because how I was raised is you only give the best. And when it's
yourself you put your whole heart in. When you do something, you don't just do
it 10% or 50%. So it was very emotionally draining. But it wasn't only one
person that needed your help. There were 50 people who were VIPs.
Shon: 36:21 Everyday, that's why I was there for three
years without a day off.
Elizabeth: 36:23 ... And they all needed 100%
of you and it's only so long that you can give 100% to 50 people every single
day.
Blaine: 36:28 Yeah, absolutely. I've got a
question. You said something when we spoke to you on the phone and you dropped
this tidbit on us about how you were working together and got divorced and got
back together. And you said it was because you didn't realize something.
[crosstalk 00:36:44]
Shon: 36:44 The big thing was we didn't
realize that we could decide roles. We didn't both have to be the boss at home.
Honey: 36:48 That was it. It was the
roles. You had said you had both been the boss and that was a [crosstalk
00:36:52].
Elizabeth: 36:53 And realizing that we both
have talents and that we both have strengths and finding-
Shon: 36:58 We both have dreams. She had
done a pretty good job of supporting me. I was Superman and without her,
realizing how much she played into that role. When she was behind me and she
said, you can do this. I did it. And without that, going, "Who am I? What
do I do?"
And
so funny enough this is happening ... She gets the job and then one night I had
a dream and I was driving on a road and I went around this corner and it was
gravel and I went off the road and the only thing I yelled was Elizabeth.
Honey: 37:32 Oh, jeez, you got me.
Blaine: 37:32 Wow. Okay, now Honey's losing
it. I'm cold and dead inside, so ...
Shon: 37:37 It's okay. We all need to be
at times. So when that happened, I woke up and I was like, "What am I
doing?" And she didn't know this. I mean, I told her later on, but I was
just, if I love her and I care about her and she's coming to work, she had made
some decisions. She wasn't in a good place. I knew that, but I was ... Just
being around me. We can do better. We can do better. I'm not going to tell her
how to live her life, but we can do better. And I just decided that I was going
to do whatever I needed to to be ready if she decided
to come back, which was not easy, by any means. And we still had a lot of
things we had to figure out but I'm so willing to fight for things that I deem
worth it. Why had I not fought for her? Like for my kids, I don't care what you
do, the kids are not leaving the house. I'll die without getting them to school
in the morning and all those things. So it was really-
Elizabeth: 38:46 So they lived ... I moved
out-
Shon: 38:47 They lived with me.
Elizabeth: 38:49 Thankfully my parents live here in Kanab, so I
wasn't ... I was just a few blocks away.
Shon: 38:53 Yeah she was still in contact
but it was-
Elizabeth: 38:58 I mean I think it made us
realize-
Shon: 39:01 It had to happen.
Elizabeth: 39:01 ... who are we? Being
divorced made us look at ourselves and go who are we and why are we here? What
are we trying to achieve? Are we trying to become number one for ourselves?
Because when you're by yourself, it's so lonely.
Shon: 39:01 It's lonely in the number one
role.
Elizabeth: 39:16 When you don't have a family,
when you don't have somebody that you love that you're ... All these things
that you're fighting hard for and that you're going through these really tough
things. At the end of the day, when you come home to yourself, it's not worth
it.
Shon: 39:30 Yeah, and if you haven't
worked on that person ... Now coming home to myself, I could probably do okay,
but we'd all been so busy on getting whatever that is, just forward full steam
ahead to get there.
Elizabeth: 39:45 Didn't matter what it took.
Shon: 39:46 You start getting there and
realizing everything I needed was in the journey. We hear it all the time. But
I'm doing Food and Wine events with Food and Wine magazine in Pebble Beach,
California, and I'm there and I'm doing this crazy stuff and there's no one in
the crowd that I know or that I care about, so why am I doing it? What's the
purpose?
And
so that was that shift and that's when we end up being out there, getting
married, getting pregnant with our surprise four year old. Surprise!
Elizabeth: 40:22 Evie Kate.
Shon: 40:23 Evie Kate, which she is ...
Helped us to remember.
Elizabeth: 40:27 She was our saving grace.
Made us remember-
Shon: 40:27 Just perspective.
Elizabeth: 40:31 Yeah, perspective. Why we do
what we do.
Shon: 40:33 Everybody's like "Oh my gosh, you're
starting over again. Your youngest daughter is 14." And I'm like,
"Man, I can't imagine ..." I'm not a selfish person by nature-
Elizabeth: 40:45 But we got to a selfish
point, that's the ... But realizing that it's not just about us. It's about-
Shon: 40:51 How much more enjoyable is my
morning? I could just have my morning ... If I want my morning, I get up a
little earlier, because then as soon as Sunshine wakes up-
Elizabeth: 40:59 It is all about her.
Shon: 41:04 Yeah, we're making sure she has
a great day. Not to the point where she doesn't have responsibility and stuff,
but still. Yes, sir.
Blaine: 41:11 What's ... I know the answer
to this, I think but I'm going to ask it anyway. Why put yourselves through
this? Why work together? Why do something as crazy-
Elizabeth: 41:11 What? Now? Again? Doing Sego?
Blaine: 41:23 Yeah after being through
this, why not just go off and get separate gigs?
Shon: 41:28 Stubborn.
Elizabeth: 41:29 And because we love Kanab. We
love the community and to be able to ... And we love the people that we work
with. So Sego isn't just a restaurant, it is a family. I mean, every single
person here-
Shon: 41:44 I call it the Island of
Misfits.
Elizabeth: 41:48 ... yeah, the Island of
Misfits.
Honey: 41:48 I love that.
Elizabeth: 41:49 So when things are hard at
Sego, we think about how many families ... It's not just a line cook or a
dishwasher or a host or a server. They're real people. They have real lives.
They have real dreams and aspirations. So it's not just our dream. It's all of
the dreams that are here, coming together. That's why we do what we do. Because
it's not just about us. It's about every single person, every part and piece
that it takes. And I think that's what being divorced taught Shon and I, is it
takes individual pieces to make this whole picture and make it beautiful.
Blaine: 42:25 And would you rather be in
this position where you're working with each other than off doing something
that might be easier [crosstalk 00:42:32]
Shon: 42:31 Well there's a lot of easier
ways to make money.
Elizabeth: 42:35 There is.
Shon: 42:35 There's a lot of easier lives that we could
live. I know that I'm not happy in those lives.
Blaine: 42:43 Oh man, there you go.
Elizabeth: 42:45 But when you come to a table
and you ... because for me, when I was a little girl, my grandpa built this
lemonade stand for us, me and my sister. And so he taught us how to make
lemonade and we made sugar cookies with my mom. We wheel it to the top of the
street every day and we'd peddle our cookies for 50 cents and our glass of
lemonade for 50 cents, which it was by far more expensive than that, but we
were so excited and we did that every day, all summer long.
It
was me and my sister and our next door neighbor. And we made $300 at selling 50
cent ... But my grandpa taught us how to make lemonade. So for me, lemonade is
... It's not just lemonade. It's not just lemon juice, sugar and water. It's a
story. It's an emotional connection. So when you are able-
Shon: 43:25 It's also like Chinese cooks.
Blaine: 43:30 Okay, I've never heard a
better description of the food service business, nor a simpler one. Lemonade.
Shon: 43:33 Right.
Elizabeth: 43:33 It is. It's something as
simple as lemonade, but when you think of something and you're like maybe it's
chocolate chip cookies or maybe it's roasted carrots or mashed potatoes. You
think about when you were a little ... when it takes you back to that happy
place where-
Shon: 43:46 Or dry turkey and it's not a
happy place, but it evokes memories.
Honey: 43:51 It's a clear place.
Elizabeth: 43:52 Yes, but maybe the dry turkey
connects you to playing Scrabble with your cousins and being able to ... where
you have this special time. That's what food does. It takes you back to a happy
place to remind you life is good. Life is worth
continuing. I have dreams. I can do this.
Because sometimes life is really hard.
Blaine: 44:10 And this infuses everything
you do.
Elizabeth: 44:13 This is why we do what we do.
Because it connects us to people and makes life valuable and beautiful.
Shon: 44:20 And right now we are at the
precipice of another chapter. We have this great little restaurant. We now work
with a company called In Group Hospitality. We have now done what we've done
long enough that they are looking at us to do restaurants in other hotels. We
have business partners. So we will be taking this next step.
And
like Elizabeth, she's great at making things. She doesn't feel as great at
teaching others how to make them. Which is why she now has to transition
through because I will need her to take on these next steps. She will have to
go to St. George and help train over there. She'll have to go to Moab and help
train over there.
And
she's scared half to death, but she's going to try. And if she can't do it,
because there are certain things that we're not-
Elizabeth: 45:04 I mean, it goes back to ... I
wanted the 9 to 5 thing and I used to think that's what I wanted, but now I
know that that is not the mold that I fit in. And as scary as that is for me, I
think back to my history of all the things that I've been able to do because I
didn't try and fit in the box.
Because it's comfortable in the box. You know
you've got four walls.
Shon: 45:26 And it wasn't like I wasn't
there throwing her out the window, either. Moments where my kids are just
"Okay, here's the part where Dad tells Mom that she's going to do it
whether she likes it or not."
Elizabeth: 45:39 It's funny-
Shon: 45:40 It's like we're here. We
can't not do it. And that's when she just gets angry and quiet and then we just
do it and it's wonderful. This was history. We're a little bit further than
that now. Because now she actually will cater by herself. That would have never
happened before.
Honey: 45:54 Really.
Blaine: 45:54 You know, I'm hearing this
and I'm hearing a lot of echos of another interview
we did. Christian Hayes and Christine Hayes of Dandelion Catering in Yarmouth,
Maine, and they describe the restaurant business as a business of misfits, much
in the way you have.
Honey: 46:10 They seem to care about their
staff the same way ... They said something very, very similar about seeing
people on their staff as a full three-dimensional person with a family, with
dreams, with-
Blaine: 46:20 And they've become family.
Honey: 46:21 I mean, they literally said
that as you did.
Blaine: 46:23 The business is organized
chaos. He spent 13 years fronting a mid-level band that toured New England like
crazy. He actually went on Chopped and won an episode called Pork on the Brain,
and doesn't know that he wants to go back and do it again.
Honey: 46:41 No, I think he loved doing
it.
Shon: 46:42 Yeah, no, it's ... I've done
enough of that to know, and I've done enough on the back side now to know how
... It's a TV show.
Elizabeth: 46:49 It's not real life. It
doesn't show you what it's like to be in the kitchen. When you're creating
these-
Shon: 46:53 But they have to make money
just like we do so I don't sign up for them, but-
Honey: 46:58 It's fun to watch but it's a
format and it's edited to fit the format and so things are manipulated in that
way.
Blaine: 47:04 Who understands that an hour
of Chopped takes an entire day to produce. They've been there for 14 hours.
Honey: 47:09 Yeah, if you don't come from
a production background, it's like, "What do you mean I'm still
here?"
Elizabeth: 47:13 I know it's so hard whenever
we watch TV shows because we're like, "Yeah right. We know."
[inaudible 00:47:19]
Shon: 47:19 Oh yeah, they just showed up
and they had no idea and they had all these recipes memorized. Like any real
chef, I have certain things in my head that I can pull out at any point in
time, but when you're seeing some of these ingredients, sorry but I call bull
... But I think one of the big things, like you were talking about the staff.
Somebody said something the other day and it's like do you speak for yourself
or do you speak for the person you're speaking to?
And
if you think about that for a minute, it really comes down to that. Do I run a
restaurant for myself and for my ego for whatever else it gives me? Or do I
operate a business that is for everyone that's there.
Elizabeth: 47:56 The people coming in.
Shon: 47:57 Because those are two very different places to
operate from and you've been in ... I've been in restaurants where it's a
celebrity chef and-
Blaine: 48:04 Ego rules.
Shon: 48:05 Right, the ego rules and I
just [inaudible 00:48:08] spent four days at a class in Cleveland of all
places. Who would have ever thought that I'd be going to Cleveland and there
was a full plane of people going there, too. Figure that out.
But
we get there-
Blaine: 48:20 Next stop Cleveland. How'd we
get here?
Shon: 48:20 Yeah.
Honey: 48:20 Okay, we're going to get hate
mail from Cleveland.
Shon: 48:25 We get there and ... one
thing that I always do, we met some very important people, he's a celebrity
chef, that's his home town. He has multiple restaurants there. We were taking a
class from another celebrity level chef and a very-
Elizabeth: 48:37 Actually from this.
Shon: 48:40 I just don't want to mention
it because we haven't talked to him. But and he's a very important writer. He's
done books for the top chefs.
Blaine: 48:47 Yeah, he's nobody you've seen
on TV, folks.
Shon: 48:49 Right. And in that process we
kept getting these invites to go to different restaurants and because of that,
we were eating for less than we definitely should have been. They were being
very generous, which tends to happen.
But
I also don't tout who I am. People usually find out and then we go from there.
So we're having this experience and I just continually asked everyone because I
can't fully like the person that's being nice to us unless I know that he's
taking care of his staff. And every single one of those people, I've been here
six years, five years, I'm a new guy, I've been here for three years. And then
I always ask, do they take care of you? And in their eyes they say yes and in
their mouth they say yes, my hat's off and I want to do everything I can to
support that business.
Elizabeth: 49:32 After the first day, Shon
sent me a message, and he's ... I was excited for him to go to this class. And
I'm so pumped, and he's like, "Enh, I don't
know."
Shon: 49:42 I was eager to go and learn
something but with trepidation that I would get there and ... I mean, I've
gotten to do a lot of great things, so it's always like, well, if I learn one
thing from this class, then it will have been worth it.
Elizabeth: 49:54 But he sent me a message and
he's like, "I was so wrong about Cleveland. I am blown away about this
city and its culture, the people"-
Shon: 50:03 The people support the
restaurants. The restaurants support the restaurants.
Elizabeth: 50:04 He's like, "I want to
bring our kids back and see these places and feel the love that the people have
for their city and for what they do."
Blaine: 50:14 So the reason Michael Symon
seems like such a happy guy, because he's in Cleveland.
Shon: 50:19 Yeah. And Michael Roman's
from Cleveland. There's a lot of pretty great chefs that are doing big things
right now.
Elizabeth: 50:25 But Shon was like, "Here
I am judging, there's nothing to do in Cleveland. I am so wrong and I was blown
away." And that's what happens. Because when you connect-
Shon: 50:33 It's a contagious city.
Elizabeth: 50:34 When you connect with the
people, when it becomes not just a place. When it becomes something where it
goes to your heart, then it has value and meaning and it makes you want to tell
everybody about it. And that's why we do what we do. When it connects to your
heart, you want to share it with everybody.
Shon: 50:50 And someone could say-
Elizabeth: 50:50 And you want to change
people's lives.
Shon: 50:50 ... if your personality's
contagious, of course, you're mirroring what you want to see, but it was pretty
great.
Honey: 50:59 It's just so interesting
because you're saying you want to take your kids to Cleveland because
everybody's so great and supportive and all this, and that's so different from
I want to take my kids and have them front row at the rock show.
Shon: 51:09 Right, right.
Blaine: 51:10 Here's a question, because
we've kind of touched on this but not in a hard facts kind of way. How do the
two of you work together?
Honey: 51:19 Now.
Blaine: 51:19 Procedurally. What do you do?
Shon: 51:21 We've gotten better because
now I just tell her what I want and expect her to do it and then she argues and
then does it anyway.
Elizabeth: 51:31 And sometimes he will say
things, but I know that it has to be a certain way so I ask more questions.
Because I know there's more to-
Shon: 51:40 Yeah, she pushes me to answer
the questions and sometimes I feel I don't have the time, but it's not
completely figured out.
Elizabeth: 51:48 But I know that there's a
certain expectation level and sometimes I'm like, "I know you're busy but
we need to know the expectation. We need to know exactly."
Because for me, I'm the girl that ... Baking
works for me because I follow recipes. I have to have all the T's crossed and
the I's dotted.
Shon: 52:06 Okay what's she's saying if
she hasn't made it before, it's impossible to make. As crazy as that sounds-
Elizabeth: 52:13 It's hard for me.
Shon: 52:13 For her-
Blaine: 52:14 Oh you're a baker.
Shon: 52:17 ... if she hasn't made it,
she cannot make it. And I'm the catalyst.
Elizabeth: 52:22 It's not that I can't make
it, I just can't make it for 500 people just the first time and go ... Because
what if it doesn't turn out.
Blaine: 52:22 Yeah.
Shon: 52:29 But I know that she can-
Blaine: 52:29 That's a fair concern.
Shon: 52:33 And luckily, for both of us,
she hasn't failed yet. But that's the same-
Blaine: 52:36 Right on.
Shon: 52:37 And sometimes I treat others
as I treat myself, and I expect a lot out of myself. I expect that if somebody
calls me and says I need 1,000 meals at this price point, whatever. I, luckily
have people now around me that go, "Don't do it." Just because you
have them, doesn't mean it's worth it.
And
so I go, "Okay, maybe it's not worth it."
Elizabeth: 52:58 So, working together, I think
we need each other. So that's why ... I mean, we need each other. I'm the girl
that would be comfortable sitting in my box but if you're not ... If things
aren't hard then you're not growing.
Blaine: 53:10 You two were destined to be a
CoupleCo. I don't think there was any other possibility.
Shon: 53:14 Run towards scared is the
mantra.
Blaine: 53:17 What is the craziest thing
that has ever happened to you two on the job?
Honey: 53:21 In the restaurant business.
Blaine: 53:21 Besides getting divorced and getting remarried.
Shon: 53:25 I don't know. We've
definitely got some stories. I mean Elizabeth spilled wine on ...
Blaine: 53:30 Good on you.
Elizabeth: 53:30 So my first day-
Blaine: 53:32 So did you use the word ... ?
Elizabeth: 53:34 No.
Shon: 53:36 He was awesome.
Elizabeth: 53:37 Yeah, my first day working at
Amangiri and we did this event called The Raven's Nest so it's up in this-
Shon: 53:43 You have to climb up into
this sand swept alcove, halfway up this mesa.
Elizabeth: 53:48 In the canyon. Yeah, so you
have to climb up with ropes.
Shon: 53:49 And then we would do a
campfire dinner for guests that have never had tin foil dinners. I mean it was
a $1,000 tin foil dinner, so there's more to it than just a tin foil dinner
but-
Blaine: 53:56 This is like that guy in
Argentina who does everything [crosstalk 00:53:59]
Shon: 53:59 Yeah the Patagonian?
Blaine: 53:59 Yeah.
Elizabeth: 54:00 I wish we were as cool as the
Patagonian.
Blaine: 54:02 It's on the way there.
Elizabeth: 54:03 Yeah, it's cool like that. So
... and his wife and his kids. His kids were sitting around the fire-
Shon: 54:10 I don't know if we can say
his name. A lot of this stuff is under NDA but anyway-
Blaine: 54:13 Oh well.
Shon: 54:15 I don't want to disrespect
him because-
Honey: 54:17 We'll celebrity chef.
Shon: 54:20 Yeah, celebrity chef.
Elizabeth: 54:20 Celebrity chef. So they had a gin cocktail and
Chardonnay. So here I am carrying-
Shon: 54:26 And this is dark. You can't
have headlamps. There's just hanging lanterns and it's a sand pit.
Elizabeth: 54:33 And so it's like-
Shon: 54:34 And so you can't-
Honey: 54:35 [crosstalk 00:54:35]
Elizabeth: 54:36 And it's not like you're out
camping carrying mugs.
Shon: 54:36 This is long stem glassware.
Blaine: 54:43 This is fine dining in the
middle of nowhere.
Elizabeth: 54:43 And so I'm carrying it
carefully and here is the celebrity chef sitting in his chair and I stepped-
Shon: 54:49 There was a hole.
Elizabeth: 54:50 A hole and I went like this
and here went two gin and tonics and two glasses of Chardonnay. All over him
and I was mortified. This is the end-
Shon: 55:01 This is it, I quit, is what
she said to me.
Elizabeth: 55:03 And he reaches out and he
touches my hand and he said, "You're doing a good job, hon." And I
was blown away.
Honey: 55:11 Wow.
Blaine: 55:13 He's not his TV persona.
Elizabeth: 55:14 No.
Shon: 55:15 Well, this particular
individual-
Elizabeth: 55:19 He was with his family.
Shon: 55:19 Who's been known as a devil
in the kitchen is ... I have worked with other chefs that have worked for him,
and they were very quick in their response when I called when I knew who we
were going to be taking care of, and they said, "You know what? He's an
immaculate chef. He expects-"
Elizabeth: 55:34 The best.
Shon: 55:35 ... "the best every
time. That'll never change. So if you perform, and you do a good job, then you
have nothing to worry about. If you do not, then you may want to think about
what you're about to do."
Elizabeth: 55:47 So I think with me, he could
see that I was trying to give him the best possible experience and that we were
in a sand pit and that I didn't purposely and I wasn't not doing my job.
Blaine: 56:00 But it also wasn't Zinfandel.
Shon: 56:02 Yeah, true.
Elizabeth: 56:02 That's true.
Shon: 56:05 Pink zinfandel. No they had chose-
Honey: 56:06 We have a girlfriend who
spilled red wine on Helen Mirin, so ...
Shon: 56:08 And in that process, really
what that taught me was that genuine people usually don't have the opportunity
to be a family, to be normal, to not be on camera, to not be judged. And so the
whole purpose of those experiences was to get down by the fire and make s'mores
[inaudible 00:56:28] the time his four year old daughter while he does fake
voice over while we're smoking and roasting the marshmallows-
Elizabeth: 56:34 And he's the TV commentary in
the background for his kids.
Shon: 56:37 Right. And so that moment, I
would never ... why I say to respect his name and who they are, I would never
trade that moment and how special it was for them as a family or any gain
personally, if that makes sense.
Blaine: 56:52 Yeah, it makes perfect sense,
completely.
Shon: 56:54 And we got to have many, many
experiences.
Blaine: 56:56 But that's still a crazy
thing. I love it.
Shon: 56:57 Yeah, so that was ... and I'm
standing in the back cooking going, oh my God.
Blaine: 57:01 You watched it happen?
Elizabeth: 57:01 And then the crazy thing was
he came, he-
Blaine: 57:10 This has been part one of our
conversation with Shon and Elizabeth Foster of Sego Restaurant in Kanab, Utah.
You can find Sego online at Segokanab.com.
Honey: 57:19 You just get to say Kanab too
much, definitely.
Blaine: 57:21 Yeah, and Sego.
Honey: 57:22 Way too fun. Kanab.
Blaine: 57:24 Yeah. That's S-E-G-O-K-A-N-A-B
dot com.
Honey: 57:29 If you've enjoyed this
podcast, and we sure hope you did-
Blaine: 57:34 We did.
Honey: 57:35 We did. If you think it would
be useful or fun for other couple entrepreneurs or other couples or other
people thinking about being couples-
Blaine: 57:42 Other people who love
cooking.
Honey: 57:44 Please go to iTunes and leave
a star rating and a review to help all of these people find it.
Blaine: 57:50 And join us next time when we
return to Kanab to finish our conversation with Shon and Elizabeth.
Honey: 57:55 We can guarantee you it's as
usual and transfixing as part one.
Blaine: 57:59 Yes, it is. And we're going
to hear more about that celebrity chef, among other things. Next time here on
CoupleCo, working with your spouse for fun and profit.
Honey: 58:07 Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved.
Blaine: 58:09 I love you, baby.
Honey: 58:11 Love you, too.
Blaine: 58:12 CoupleCo out.