Mark 0:20

Hello everybody and welcome. You are listening to the Restaurant Guys. I'm Mark Pascal and I'm here with Francis Shop. Together we own Stage left and Capital Lombardi. Restaurants in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We're here to bring you the inside track on food, wine, and the finer things in life.

Francis 0:34

Hello, mark.

Mark 0:35

Hey Francis. How you doing?

Francis 0:36

I'm doing great and I'm super, thrilled that we're gonna have Robbie Eunice from Crystal Springs Resort here in New Jersey to talk about the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival It's amazing. Love'em.

Mark 0:48

well, interestingly, what I want to talk about today is the state of New York City.

Francis 0:53

that's not a state.

Mark 0:55

The state of New York City.

Francis 0:57

Oh, I see. The state of New York City. I just wanna, I wanna inter interject for just a moment. One of the things that we have always tried to do is be national and and international in scope and talk about big issues. And it's very exciting for us to be able to talk about a local issue. So we're gonna be having a great time talking about. The New Jersey Wine food.

Mark 1:18

Absolutely.

Francis 1:18

So what about New York State?

Mark 1:20

Well, I think it's,

Francis 1:21

or the state of New York

Mark 1:21

City. You know, it's funny because it's, I don't wanna say it's a microcosm of what's happening in the country, but it's a macrocosm, I guess, of what's happening in the country. Right. So I spent four days in New York City just kind of. Enjoying myself going to restaurants, cocktail bars, wine stores, just, just going around the city and, and exploring places I've been, new places, places I, I, I wanted to check out places I wanted to talk about, talk to you about. and it was a really exciting trip. But it really proved out something that, that I've been seeing, across the country,

Francis 1:59

which is,

Mark 2:00

which is service and food are becoming polarized.

Francis 2:07

Oh, I know exactly what you're saying. Yeah.

Mark 2:09

What's happened, and I, you know, we've talked about this a little bit on the show, but I, but I really got smacked in the face with it over the last four days of

Francis 2:17

I've often thought I was smacking you in the face with, and it brings me a great deal of joy. But how did you get smacked in the face with

Mark 2:23

it? Because I, because I went to some places that were extraordinary and the food is fantastic and the service and the hospitality we're fantastic and they're better than ever. Okay. Truly better than ever. And I went to other places that were acclaimed places and the hospitality is waning and the quality of the food is waning. And it, it's interesting, you can see those two kinds of places. And frankly, when you walk, walk around the city right now, I'm seeing. the story of two restaurants, I'm seeing one that's packed to the gills and, hope you can get for the last seating at nine 30 And I'm seeing the restaurants with, three tables full and, you know, anybody could go anytime they want. And I think that. we're in a period of time where the strong and the industrious and the people who are trying to be the best are going to win out, and the people who are fighting to be the lowest common denominator are going to lose and they are losing.

Francis 3:34

You know, it's funny, Mr. Dickens, I think that, I think that. Uh, I think that you, you have a lot of insight there and it's a, it's a different, so we've been in this for 34 years, just

Mark 3:47

about 34,

Francis 3:48

34 years on, on Memorial Day weekend we've seen the trouble times of oh eight. Mm-hmm. We were in the restaurant business, the trouble times of 87, you know, when we were somebody else

Mark 3:57

that's trouble and trouble times of oh five, right? So, Each period of time has its own challenges that are different from one another.

Francis 4:03

But this is a different thing. It's different, I think. I think you've really hit the nail on the head in a lot of ways. people are choosing less but better and every economic down P tone people have said that, and I don't think it's necessarily been true.

Mark 4:18

Mm-hmm.

Francis 4:19

You know, it's just less but less. Uh, but people have pretty good taste and what people are tending toward,

Mark 4:25

people have better taste than ever, and I really think that the places that aren't trying to match that

Francis 4:35

yeah.

Mark 4:36

Are suffering because if you're honestly, mm-hmm. Because I agree. If you are mediocre, well then I can go to Whole Foods and go to the counter at Whole Foods and get something that's almost as good or just as good as what you're serving me if you are not. Special. I don't need you anymore.

Francis 4:54

Let's put this in the most generous way we can. Ar we can argue the point. you and I have often talked about the American way of looking at a contest, which is better than the other thing, for less money. How many more points does this wine have than the other? And I think what we're seeing here is a really sophisticated. Bunch of people who I, I remember in the crash of 97 and in the early aughts, people would say, well, we're not gonna go out to dinner anymore. We'll go back to making dinner at home the way we used to. Well, nobody knows how to do that anymore. Nobody's

Mark 5:29

making

Francis 5:29

dinner anymore. That's

Mark 5:30

not, that's not, okay. So that's off the tape. Yeah. The, the, I'm gonna go home and make dinner. That's off the table.

Francis 5:34

Now you can get meal replacement for, for sauce sentence.

Mark 5:37

Uh, so that's, that's kind of where I was going. So. You're gonna be a restaurant that survives in this economy. You need to be either special or DoorDash able.

Francis 5:49

Yeah.

Mark 5:50

Or both.

Francis 5:50

Hopefully.

Mark 5:51

Well, maybe, maybe both. But if you are not at least one of those two things and you are that muddle in the middle, you're in trouble. I agree. I'm sorry. I'm walking around and I'm looking at restaurants and I was in restaurants that were at one time pretty popular and have. You know, chefs with some acclaim at the helm, and I'm like, wow, I'm not gonna see you in two years.

Francis 6:15

Well, and the model in the middle. Let, I think let's refine that a little bit. Mm-hmm. Because I think it really is, this needs a little,

Mark 6:20

it's uh, okay. Uh, I'm not even talking really about the middle. I'm now, I'm talking about the. Upper middle class. Yeah. Right. I'm talking about the, I'm a, you're a, you're a good restaurant. You are a solid restaurant, but there's nothing special here.

Francis 6:34

Mm-hmm. You know, here, so here's where I was going with that. I think that, you know, to refine that idea of the metal in the middle, you don't have to be the most expensive restaurant in the caviar restaurant in town. You can be in the middle, but you can't be in the mud. You know, that's, and, and, and I think people, if they're, if they went out to dinner three nights a week, four nights a week, and they've seen the cost of going out to dinner double.

Mark 7:02

Mm-hmm.

Francis 7:03

And they say, oh, we can go out to dinner one night a week, or two nights a week. And what's different about the American consumer right now, at least in New Jersey and New York and where we know is. If it's experiential.

Mark 7:16

Mm-hmm.

Francis 7:17

If it's owned by people you know, or staffed by people you know, or they make you feel special when you're there, I think you're more likely to go to your local. And I thi look, we see in the Restaurant Business magazine and all these publications that we read.'cause you know, believe it or not, it is a business and we do pay attention to that side of things. But we read about closures all the time. This chain, that chain, this franchise, that franchise, you've

Mark 7:42

seen it every day. Now it's in the news every day. Some faction of some chain is closing.

Francis 7:47

And what's different now, I think, and again, 34 years doing this, 44 years being in it, The individual restaurant seems to be holding on better or have a better chance because I think that people are like, listen, I'm only going out dinner once or twice a week. And what are they choosing in their desert island selection? They're choosing the place that's owned by Mark and Francis, the place that Ryan de Perio is the chef. Mm-hmm. The place that, you know, they know the bartender. And I think that's really great. And, you know, there was a, an article recently where, a guy named Hall who's a, a wine family Scion. Right.

Mark 8:25

Ted Hall.

Francis 8:25

Ted Hall. Right. So the Hall family's really important. Mm-hmm. They took over Mondavi and they Ted Hall managed the dissolution of Mondavi. Um,'cause they'd made some mistakes and they overextend themselves. And what he said was. We don't need this many wineries in Napa Valley making indistinguishable 97 point calves, though they are 97 point calves. Yeah. And it's an ego-driven side of the business. And what he said was, he said, we need 140 high-end Napa Valley cabernet producers to disappear.

Mark 8:59

Mm-hmm.

Francis 9:00

And

Mark 9:01

I don't agree with that completely. Just

Francis 9:02

I don't either, but

Mark 9:03

that's too

Francis 9:04

many. But it's this, but I don't know. But what I think is, is interesting is it's not about the points. It's not about, it's about do I have a connection? The Martinellis aren't going anywhere. Mm-hmm. George Henry's not going anywhere. Paul Hobbs is not going anywhere. And you and I aren't going anywhere and thank you to everyone who keeps coming to our restaurants, but people are seeking a genuine connection. it's, fascinating how people are flocking to some places and just not going to other places.

Mark 9:33

it's happening really fast and I think that, that a lot of people are not adjusting quickly enough.

Francis 9:38

I hate to be cynical about the whole thing, but the old

Mark (2) 9:41

No, no. You love being cynical.

Francis 9:43

No, I can't help but see being cynical. There's a big difference. But the old adage of like, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to out outrun your friends. but look, we're super grateful to all you folks who are coming into stage often, Catherine, the party to support us. We really are happy to see it to all of our friends who are struggling. We will help you any way that we can. Uh, but if, if we have any advice to give to people in the world right now, the bartender is more important than ever. The human connection is more important than ever. Um, and you know, it's not a formula, it's a human connection.

Mark 10:15

And, why that's important. Why is human connection more, more important than ever?'cause you're not getting any other places in your life.

Francis 10:21

No, no.

Mark (2) 10:21

So. Come to your restaurants, get a human connection. But if you're running the restaurant, make sure that your people are making a human connection.

Francis 10:29

Yeah, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. Hey, listen, we're gonna go talk about the New Jersey

Francis (2) 10:33

wine and food festival

Francis 10:34

We are a state that has historically been underlooked because we are next to New York City. Uh, the guys that are doing this are tremendous. It's gonna be a great festival. The restaurant guys are gonna be there. Stick with us. We'll be back in just a moment. You're listening to the restaurant guys. You can always find out more about us, like follow, and please subscribe@restaurantguyspodcast.com. We'll be back in just a second.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 10:54

Hey there everybody. Welcome back. Today we are talking about one of the biggest food events in New Jersey. It's a serious culinary destination for just a weekend like Brigadoon. It will be here from May 1st to third, and then it will disappear again until next year. Our guest is Robbie Eunice. He's the COO of Crystal Springs Resort. It's a lovely, fancy, fancy resort up in North Jersey where Mark and I have gone several times. Robbie Eunice. Invented the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival. Uh, we are both big fans of New Jersey and food and doing great work and what we've had a month to talk about the event coming up. Robbie, welcome to the show. Good to talk to you again.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 11:31

Thank you for having me.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 11:33

Well, we wanna start off by talking about Crystal Springs. Um, you run the whole operation and it is quite an operation. There's golf, there's skeet shooting, there's beautiful hotels, and uh, we brought our staff up there. Years ago, and I've been back a couple times since, uh, great, great place. Yep. where do you go when you're a restaurant staff and you need a, a break? You, you go to a restaurant and hotel. That's where you go. Whoa. Well, and, and in the spirit of full disclosure, a good friend of ours, Anthony Buco, who was our executive chef for several years, went on to become the executive chef at Crystal Springs after he left us.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 12:07

And you, both of you are one of my inspiration of what a true restaurateur. Look like and there's something, I met with both of you and Anthony took me to your restaurant ago, and I still remember this image in my head by looking at you guys and say, wait a second. hope to God. This, uh, era or this level of personnel and professional that you both carry? That restaurateur that I can't describe it. What is it that should continue with our new generation? You really did an impression on me that I still remember till now and I do not know the reasoning beside Could that generation that I'm seeing right now. Could we take some of from you, that personality and carry on with the new generation in restaurant in New Jersey? That means a lot.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 13:01

I think that you, and we have a very similar mission and you know, we talk about championing New Jersey a lot and this will lead right into talking about the festival when we opened in 1992 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and we talked about we want, it sounds like a. Long time ago. When you say 1992, it was a time ago, but it was a, it was a different world because now with Instagram, everyone has the same sort of frame of reference and there are great restaurants around. But when we said we are gonna open with estate bottled wines from small producers and we're gonna be farm driven and we're gonna be seasonal and use local ingredients, people in New Jersey were like, what the hell are you talking about? And um. It was great to be able to do that, and it was great to kind of bring that to New Jersey and they embrace it. But what we've been doing for the last 30 years is training the next generation and, and kind of evangelizing the next generation. But what was true then, uh, I think is still true to an extent. We do, I think some extraordinary work here and you do some extraordinary work there for sure. But what we always say is, we did all these innovations. Contemporaneous with the, the first restaurants in New York to do them. We got so little coverage and Mark and I would say all the time back when the Legacy media was the driving force, you know, you could invent the light bulb in New Jersey, which actually happened. Um,

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 14:17

Did.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 14:18

you know, because you're in New Jersey, you New York Times would ignore you. All the mainstream press would ignore you. And we always said like, if we did what we were doing in the middle of Manhattan. People would be writing about it through the nineties and the aughts, if we did what we were doing in the middle of Nebraska, they'd be writing about it all the time. But something about being in New Jersey, you're in the shadow of New York, so nobody takes you seriously. And there's really good food out here. And we got really great foodies who are our consumers out here, but to be fair. We see that changing. And one of the things that's changing that is the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival and in places like Crystal Springs and, cool people being on a food network who are in New Jersey, I, you know, how many times do you go to New York City and, and there's a chef there and or did you go to New York City and there's a chef there and he is like, yeah, I live in New Jersey. I, you know, I, I, I commuted to New York. There are so many. Talented, great people in the state of New Jersey that all we've needed to do was keep a few. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's all we've needed to do is keep a few of the, the talented people that are already here in the state and, and things are happening. I, I think they're happening more quickly now than ever as far as New Jersey Tech. I

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 15:24

both are the inspiration of the Swine Festival.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 15:27

love that.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 15:28

you are, uh, the teacher to the hospitality, the restaurant. And you're right. If you're in New York City right now, you are the er. You are a restaurant that will never be forgotten for the rest of his life. That's how I looked at it.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 15:42

Yep.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 15:43

minute in your restaurant gave me the impression that I never forgotten. That's a 10 plus years ago.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 15:48

Wow. That's great. Well, let's talk about, but let's talk about what you do.'cause we also follow what's going on at Crystal Springs and this was built up from nothing, you know, came after, after us and it's an amazing thing. Tell us about Crystal Springs and what you're doing up there.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 16:02

well I run this resort. We have, uh, 1600 or 16 plus. joined 18 years ago. obviously I'm not a golfer. Uh, a horrible one. Um, and, uh, the resort, yes, yes. As we all are. And it go and the co the results start like a golf course. But I came in with the coronary, with the, uh, approach of hospitality in a different way. And I said, where, wait, second, I did not know what's a tea time. I thought they'd drink tea on a certain place on the golf course. And I asked why, uh, you misspelled TTEE versus TEA. I was like, okay, we need to work on this kit here. So, uh, with that saying, I looked at it from a different perspective. If, how could we elevate the Gulf or the hospitality without yet understanding where I'm heading. But first, my first approach is up the food and the beverage program. To a golf course and develop it as we go. And that was in 2008. That was the beginning of, uh, my story

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 17:13

So when you put restaurant Laur into Crystal Springs, I think it changed the way New Jersey looked at Crystal Springs a hundred percent and it was a little jewel box of a restaurant that. I'm sorry, I, I looked at the restaurant and I said, there's no way this restaurant's

Mark (2) 17:29

making

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 17:29

money. Yeah. There's just, there's no way this is, this is here to be a jewel box. Right. So you went to this place with all these rooms and all these buildings and all these employees, and there were like, how many seats were in there? 20. You know, it was like you were the, it was all of this effort was to do this pinnacle of a dining experience, and we loved it.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 17:48

indeed. It is not meant to make money and, uh, never will fine dining. Uh, welcome to the world of fine dining. Sad.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 17:55

Oh, we know. Yeah. Francis and I brought our business partner there early on and then we brought all our senior staff there for, we did a whole retreat at Crystal Springs for three or four days, And took rooms and, you know, people who wanted to play golf could play golf. And we went skeet shooting and hiking and did everything up there that there was to do. We we went to all your restaurants and, uh, for different meals and the pool and, I mean, everything was, everything was great. And it, it's a place that I love and, and I'm, and New Jersey should be proud to have you. So you put this jewel box of a restaurant there. Talk to us about the rest of the experience that you built to make it kind of the destination that rivals, you know, great city. Destination.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 18:35

the restaurant was, uh, a bit more on the classic cuisine. Uh, as you know, as we go in life, uh, my grandma used to put six spoon of, uh, butter or GH in every dish. Our stomach cannot accept that much of heaviness. With that, we decided to take the approach of Latour and say, wait a second, outside of the farm table, which is extremely important. What about we go wood to table? What about we enhance the foraging program and let tell the word that how New Jersey, how beautiful New Jersey is, and the gardening around us and the farming. So that was the first approach that we took on Ture. With that saying, we went down to the cellar. Our cellar was only one room heavily on Bordeaux, and it stopped there. So we said, well wait a second. rest of the world, although we all love Bordeaux, that's a good foundation to start. Yes. Then we enhanced our cellar to nine different rooms and continue. And clearly a regular restaurant and a

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 19:37

I

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 19:37

may not

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 19:38

wanna, for one.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 19:39

Please.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 19:42

Like you didn't make it nine or 10 times bigger than it already was. You didn't enhance it. You, you created one of the best wine programs in the world. Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 19:51

Oh, thank

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 19:51

Uh, and one of the great wine cellars in the world now resides in New Jersey, and it is wonderful cavern of underground deliciousness

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 20:02

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. And I agree with you. Uh, yeah. From there, uh, we started from one program to another In 2009, I felt that there's something missing in New Jersey restaurant where if you wanna go out, you need to go to New York City and said why?

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 20:20

Or New Brunswick.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 20:21

Or New Brunswick,

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 20:22

Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 20:22

is bay, right. Back then it was like handful of restaurant stage left, I believe. Certain, not you, you can easily,

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 20:30

Yep.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 20:30

on one hand and stop there.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 20:33

Yes. Mm-hmm.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 20:34

there's no other place that you go other than a small mom and pop or trying to do something. So it's something missing because the talent used to go to New York City to make a living inside of building their own restaurant in New Jersey. the idea of the Wine Fest is how could we one, showcase the talent and the amazing restaurant such as stage left. And that was the idea. We invited only the top tier of the 12 restaurant that they'd been firing of their existence in New Jersey because of New York City or New Jersey. Always been the shadow of, uh, New York City. And that was the whole, uh, vision behind the wine festival. And obviously to attract people, we had to add music, we had to bring all this wine makers. And the best color of it was all these chefs from New Jersey.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 21:25

Well, and you put it in New Jersey and in a place where, you know, when we talk about wine and food festivals or food and wine festivals, we've covered the festival down in Charleston. We're gonna go to Aspen. Um, and I just think it's great that you are doing a festival on that level here in the garden state. And I wanna compare and contrast because. When we had the, you know, the great taste of the taste of the nation, which American Express put out, which was really the beginning of the taste of the, and it that sort of devolved into the taste of Metuchen, the taste of North Jersey, the taste of South Jersey, the taste of East Brunswick, the taste of, and, and what you got with those. And the reason people got tired of those. They were good for a fundraiser, but. You got a bunch of okay restaurants and a, a range of restaurants to go forward and do a little tasting. And what they would do is,'cause they were doing it for free or they were doing it for charity, they're like, well, I'm sending some guys that's very expensive. I'm taking the night out. That's very expensive. I can spend a lot of money on the food. And so you would get restaurants that were great restaurants and then they would serve some schmutz on a cracker that they would never have in their restaurant. And it. It all became a waste of time. I, it's funny, I never understood, and, and Anthony was our chef, when, we talked about this philosophy a lot what we said, well at the time was we're not going to do a lot of these things, but when we do them, we're gonna bring duck breast or fo gra or some premium ingredient showcases what we're actually doing in our restaurant, right. At least rhymes with what we do here in the dining room. And the problem with the festivals prior to yours was so many people were. Not bringing what truly represented their restaurant to the festival. Right?

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 23:04

hundred percent. I agree with you. I've been on this festival and that was, I will say, not a frustration, but okay, let's give it one shot and see what can we do

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 23:14

Mm-hmm.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 23:14

enhance these talent.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 23:16

So how many years have you been doing the festival now?

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 23:18

Since 2009,

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 23:19

That's great.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 23:20

year, uh, as, as any festival was a shit show. we put everybody in one room and I closed the door so I don't hear noises. It was so bad. it was disastrous. But, uh, you know, you learn from your mistake. Uh, we, I remember sat down with my team at three in the morning after that day I say, okay. What did we not do wrong here?'cause everything went the wrong way. But customer did not know that

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 23:47

Right.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 23:47

fun.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 23:48

Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 23:48

learned that we saw that and we missed one important thing. The first year in 2009, there were no chefs

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 23:54

Mm-hmm.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 23:55

that, I think what bothered me that they was like, okay, I'm doing something wrong here. We were doing the food, don't take me wrong, but that's not the point of the event. year, 2010, we went full on board. Bring every good chef of New Jersey. And you know what? Let's bring some talent from New York City chefs as well to show what New Jersey can offer. That was the whole mission behind it

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 24:17

Uh, and obviously you've done a great job with it. It's been around for a long time. It only grows in stature and attendance. How many people come to this thing?

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 24:25

on Saturday. So the, the program start on Friday, wine salad event, Chef dinner. Another event in the chef's garden and a cabaret event that's all on Friday. Mixologist will start in, uh, on Friday as well. Mixologist competition. Saturday is all the seminar. The lunch on every single room is having either an educational or something inspiring that you should visit as a seminar. The grand tasting is starting from five o'clock the way till 10, and then we go to an after party. Let's have that on the side. The after party is different. Animal we can discuss that we see through the weekend around 3000 customer.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 25:08

That's fantastic.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 25:10

62% of our customer return year over year.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 25:15

So let, let's, uh, let's plug this'cause we wanted to have you on because we wanted to talk to you about the festival, but I also wanna plug it because the restaurant guys are gonna be there. We're gonna be podcasting from there. The restaurants aren't participating this year, but that's'cause Mark and I'll be up there podcasting while the rest of our staff runs the restaurants down here. Um. So we suggest that you come, uh, we suggest that you enjoy the festival, and if you're gonna be coming, you can email us, the guys@restaurantguyspodcast.com. Let us know. You'll be there. We'll try and hook up and say hello. But how do people get tickets? How do people sign up? Can they stay over? Tell us about that.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 25:46

Yep. Through the website, through our website, we have links, uh, to every single seminar. Uh, the wine festivals on Crystal Spring resort.com. It's our website, our resort website. The wine festival we have is own page. And from there, uh. You'll see every single seminar, lunch on breakdown by day. Uh, it, you can add room to it, you can add a golf to it. It's, you can build a package however you want.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 27:36

I love it. I love it. Well, we'll send people there. I do wanna ask you,

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 27:41

Please.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 27:42

about your, your personal rise to power I or to power about your personal rise at Crystal Springs and in the restaurant business. I mean, you really worked your way up from busboy to CEO of this large organization. you know, one of the reasons that restaurants are so important is because they offer a different path. Because what we need is more and more paths for people to rise and either own their own business or learn the skills they need to learn. Um, and you have an inspirational story. Can you give us the Reader's Digest version of how you got to be where you.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 28:13

Oh, thank you. Uh, yes, obviously, um, never is enough. Uh, surround yourself or I surround myself with the people that I learned from. or, and it does not need to be in your industry from other success story within the industry. from your mistakes, which is you should so a lot, make a lot of decision, calculated decision, there's always, I had a goal set and I did not know that goal, to be honest with you. I do not know my goal today and there was always like something I'm reaching, but I cannot see, I cannot catch, uh, yet. I never looked at it. It's a work, it's a moral lifestyle. Um, and I did not know that, but my mom reminded me, which is crazy how we were born and all. So in my bedroom, in my house, I don't know what was thinking about. Think about it. It's a little weird. I always had a table of four with a carafe of milk or orange juice and water. I remember my mom used to yell at me, why? I'm. The orange juice wasted and on. So I always thought that there is somebody friend of mine, and it was only 14 that will come to my house. Now if you tell somebody, it's like, that was creepy. That was weird.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 29:28

I'll be honest. I'll be honest with you. That's a, that's a little creepy.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 29:31

weird. It

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 29:32

Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 29:33

Uh, so combination of that. Fa Grandfa was an ice cream maker going with him three in the morning to steer the milk. And also I can get something while the ice cream is still hot, or before getting to an ice cream in Lebanon, Beirut, in a beautiful area called the Beca Valley, which is obviously the, I always say the good part of Beirut because there's not much left.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 29:55

Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 29:56

with that saying, my grandma was a forager, which is seasonality was the only option and only option. never seen a fruit when it's not in season. It was all about the harvest and making the gems your tomato paste your on, and I did not know all that. You were young, you were just, and then you, I came to United States, but that was my, platform or what I, what I have seen or what should be done. Right. What's a good olive oil? What's a good salt and why this region exists now? Anyhow, I stepped into the operation. I took the first step, which is I will always tell to young, uh uh, uh, uh, talent. I called my father. My father was an Air Force pilot. was like, I have a thousand employees and it is going downhill. I'm here 18 hours 20 hours I don't know what to do. am all over the place. I'm trying to touch everything. He's like, okay, lemme tell you one thing. When I take off on a runway, it is a very short runway, and I, uh, he had a, a, an English airplane called Ker Hunter, which has a Million gauges you know, everything, English, like million Watch, engage. He's like, I will only look at the specific one to the specific time to my task, meaning when I'm taking off, I'm not looking at my gas, I'm not looking at my oil pressure, I'm looking at the specific thing to be up in the air. So I learned from him. break the task on priority only and one at a time. Achieve it and go to the next one. Uh, I will tell everybody a 6,000 employee or three employee are the same thing if you break the task and the chain of command accordingly. Number of employee does not make you a good or a bad leader, or does not make you a power leader. employee, if you treat them well, is equal to 2000 employee. And I always tell everybody, don't worry about the number because your behavior as a human is this, or as a leader, it's need to be the same.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 31:56

You know, it's funny, you're talking a lot about you talk, you've wrapped up. Management and leadership there together. And to do those two things like that is really important. And I think it's great that you came and worked your way up from, you know, frontline employee to running the whole place. There's one thing I did read and we did a little research on you coming in and, uh, I, it, it came across in the notes on you. It said that, that you had a, you had a wine chip on the shoulder moment when somebody told you that, uh, you didn't know enough about wine, you didn't know enough about wine, and that motivated you to go forward. Can you talk to us about that motivation?

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 32:29

Yes, uh, I have a very pleasant, uh, I don't like to obviously put anybody down or I usually, I'm not a person that speak loudly in a crowd. I just listen and learn. in that situation, obviously I was a bit embarrassed. Now I travel. I speak multi-language. I can understand region culture. I have a good grandma background that's sufficient enough to understand what's coming from that soil, I wasn't there from the knowledge of the wine and on, and that person put me down. So much puts me down to the point that if you don't have a certain certification, if you're not going to the school and understanding every label and the wine maker wife's name and his cat, then you are nobody.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 33:16

Right, right.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 33:17

don't look at it that way. I look at it. The wine is culture. The wine is history. The wine is agriculture. Yes, winemaker is respected because that person is carried that piece of art. But I don't need to study about that winemaker's wife and his cat's name or, or in love of a label. With that sayin, I, to be honest with you, took it extremely personally. I couldn't sleep for two, three night. Like, shame on you, Robbie. You wanna be in the business And there is always a person, by the way, behind me, I don't know who's that person if you look in my office, I have a rat. Uh, remember this food critic of tui?

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 33:53

Yeah, yeah, of course.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 33:54

him here because that person, I think he's always, you know,

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 33:58

Over your shoulder.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 33:59

my shoulder

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 34:00

Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 34:01

to prove myself to him.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 34:02

Mm-hmm.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 34:03

And I said, you know what? If I wanna be in the business, let me be the best at it. else, what I'm doing here?

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 34:09

Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 34:09

So I went to, I remember Bar and Noble, I was so embarrassed to buy Wine for Dummies. Every single dummy

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 34:16

Great book actually. A really good book.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 34:18

I tell everybody, I was like, this is how I learned is Wine for Dummies. forward, uh, I proved myself.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 34:27

Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 34:27

I had the, now I had an opportunity, which is, doesn't happen for any youngster. G Mo was the, developer or the visionary or what created Crystal Spring and on, uh, him opening in 1947 La la or. OLE or on was for you and I opening a a a K light. So how many youngsters they're gonna have that opportunity. I was lucky able to taste what that wine is. And by the way, it does not make an expensive wine or rare wine, uh, your platform. No, not at all. can buy a piece of art for$3, or you can have a piece of art for 3 million. For some people, the p the$3 piece of art may means a lot to them than the other piece of art. So the, the value does not make sense and you don't learn that till years after. Uh, so that's how I enhance my personal education with the tasting. Understanding the food acidity and on. So I can immediately click, wait a second, that's a Bordeaux. Well that's in Italy. okay. That's a new word. And why how I self-train myself?

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 35:49

Well, so to give people a little bit of perspective, Mobil Hill is a gentleman's. Started Crystal Springs and he had, well, he had a few dollars here and there laying around,

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 35:56

Oh God.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 35:56

and he had one of the best wine collections in the world. And that he, he put that wine collection available at Crystal Springs, which is how it went from to be a, like, literally a world class wine cellar. And for you to have that. To be able to, the hardest thing to get in the wine business is a, is a frame of reference. Mm-hmm. And, and the reason that, that, your story here struck me where somebody said, oh, you don't know enough. And then you mo moved on. I had a similar moment. I, I was always interested in wine and uh, I worked for a guy named Scott Ferra, who remains a good friend of ours. Mm-hmm. And it actually came to work with us later on, owned his own restaurant, sold his great guy. Uh, but Scott Ferra said to me,'cause I was the bartender at a place called The Frog in the Peach, and he was the manager.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 36:36

That was another great restaurant

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 36:38

It's still there. Still there, it's still a great restaurant. Um, but Scott, I, Scott and I, Scott wouldn't, would have wine salesman come into the Frog, which was the Novo restaurant of the time, and they would taste them unwins. And he very generously would let me taste wines with him. And he taught me, he knew much more than I did. And I'll always remember one day Scott said to me, I did something wrong. And he said, um, you know what, Francis? You don't know piss from Chardonnay. Oh, that's right. Piss is the warmer one. I was like, I, I was furious. I was furious because he was right. And uh, you know, so years go by and we're teaching a wine class that we started at The Frog and the Peach. He's gone, his gone onto his own thing and the New York Times Jersey Weekly section writes about Mark and my wine class and teaching his wine class and says it's the best consumer course in Jersey. Scott called me and he said, I guess, you know, piss from Chardonnay now, huh?

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 37:29

Yep.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 37:30

And I, it was a moment I will tell you. And you touched on two things, uh, while you both were talking in that last little segment that are so important. In the restaurant business and Francis and I try and touch on these things as much as we can. One. Okay. My director of operations started as a hostess. Mm-hmm. My, one of my top mare started as a hostess, started the with no restaurant experience. 17-year-old kids who didn't know Piss from Chardonnay. Yeah. Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 37:59

Yes. I like

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 38:00

And they work their way to the top of my organization. Uh. The restaurant business allows you to do that? Yeah. More than any other business that I can possibly think of. Uh, the other thing that the restaurant business allows you to do, it allows you to taste both food and wines that. The average human being never gets to try, right, right above my pay grade. Well, right above the amount of money you could possibly pay. how many bottles of$3,000 wines have I tried that I have no business trying, right? Because of, of where I am in my life. As far as the restaurant business, it's an absolutely amazing experience and people crap on the restaurant business a lot. Okay. And people talk about how hard it is and people talk about, you know, it's not a good lifestyle and blah, blah, blah. And even I do that sometimes, but there are so many cool things that happen because I work in the restaurant business in my life and to the people around me. I, I, I think that some of that doesn't get enough credit. People don't talk about it enough. How, how many cool things we get to do.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 39:08

Oh God. Yeah. You know, and we don't look at it from a war. I think we're born for that.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 39:14

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 39:14

Uh, we love to entertain people. We love to see smile even when they come to our house, the way we

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 39:21

Yeah.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 39:21

uh, we, I call'em guest, which. In a second, they feel like home. This is due to how we're born to serve others, we're servers.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 39:32

Yep. Yep. Well, I, I just, I, we're gonna bring this to a close. We're gonna send everybody again to the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival, where they're gonna see us, podcasting

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 39:41

I

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 39:41

with.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 39:42

to come back and go to the foundation stage left.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 39:46

Yeah,

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 39:46

to bring back this good memory

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 39:49

I love it.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 39:50

of your success to

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 39:51

Well, we'll raise a glass together and we'll make sure that it's Chardonnay. Okay. That's what I,

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 39:55

cannot wait to see you, by the way.

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 39:58

and it'll be, it'll be well chilled. Indeed. Listen, you are the best. What you're doing here is great. We can't wait to be up there with you. Wanna encourage all our listeners to come up upstairs, May 1st to the third, go up to Crystal Springs and see us there and meet Robbie and all the cool chefs at restaurateurs who are gonna be there and we will not be playing.

robby-younes-_1_03-25-2026_120233 40:13

to see you both

the-restaurant-guys_2_03-25-2026_120239 40:15

Excellent. We'll see you there. We'll see you there. We'll be back in just a moment. Don't go away. You can always find out more about us@restaurantguyspodcast.com.

Mark 40:59

Hey guys. Welcome back. Hope you enjoyed that interview with Robbie Eunice. I think the festival's gonna be great.

Francis 41:05

Jersey, Anna in the house,

Mark 41:06

you're gonna be able to see us do live podcasts on Saturday, May 2nd, we'll be podcasting right from the festival. We hope that you're gonna be there with us. it's gonna be a tremendous time. They've got great wine tastings food tastings, it, there's a lot going on.

Francis 41:21

It's great to talk to somebody else who's promoting New Jersey and uh, we are the garden state and people drive down the turnpike and they think, why do they call us the garden state? That's a tiny little part of our state. Go

Mark 41:32

west.

Francis 41:33

Yeah, we got some great shit going on and we would love to see you. So please come to the festival, I'm Francis Shot.

Mark 41:39

And I'm Mark Pascal.

Francis (2) 41:40

We are the restaurant guys. You can always find us online and also you can find us at the Jersey wine and food festival at Crystal Springs.

Francis 41:47

see what Jersey has to offer and hang out with the restaurant guys.

Francis (2) 41:49

Hopefully we'll see you soon, like follow and subscribe@restaurantguyspodcast.com.