Join host Greg Boulos for this episode of The Boulos Beat as he sits down with Josh Miranda, a leading restaurateur based in Portland, Maine. In this insightful conversation, Josh reflects on his career path—from his early beginnings at the Village Cafe to his evolution into a successful entrepreneur and owner of four acclaimed restaurants: Via Vecchia, Blyth & Burrows, Papi, and Off-Track Pizza. Josh shares candid insights into the complexities of managing multiple dining establishments, the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the significance of crafting distinctive guest experiences. He also addresses industry-wide challenges, including rising rents and labor costs, and emphasizes the importance of adaptability in a constantly changing market. Looking ahead, Josh discusses his strategic focus on refining and strengthening his existing restaurant portfolio.
Episode 64: Featuring Josh Miranda, Owner of Via Vecchia, Papi, Blyth & Burrows and Off-Track Pizza
Join host Greg Boulos for this episode of The Boulos Beat as he sits down with Josh Miranda, a leading restaurateur based in Portland, Maine. In this insightful conversation, Josh reflects on his career path—from his early beginnings at the Village Cafe to his evolution into a successful entrepreneur and owner of four acclaimed restaurants: Via Vecchia, Blyth & Burrows, Papi, and Off-Track Pizza.
Josh shares candid insights into the complexities of managing multiple dining establishments, the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the significance of crafting distinctive guest experiences. He also addresses industry-wide challenges, including rising rents and labor costs, and emphasizes the importance of adaptability in a constantly changing market. Looking ahead, Josh discusses his strategic focus on refining and strengthening his existing restaurant portfolio.
MSD 25-0188 Josh Miranda
Sun, Jun 22, 2025 8:59PM • 1:05:36
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
restaurant business, Josh Miranda, Via Vecchia, Blyth & Burrows, Papi, Old Port, COVID impact, staffing challenges, restaurant industry, Portland food scene, restaurant ownership, business strategy, customer experience, restaurant design, industry trends
SPEAKERS
Josh Miranda, Greg Boulos, Speaker 1, Speaker 2
Greg Boulos00:00
Greg, I'd like to welcome our listeners to The Boulos Beat podcast. I'm your host, Greg Boulos. The Boulos company is northern New England's largest commercial real estate services firm with offices in Portland, Maine as well as Manchester and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We've been selling and leasing real estate in Maine and New Hampshire since 1975 This podcast is designed to provide insight into Maine's leaders, its movers and shakers. And speaking of leaders, I'd like to welcome Josh Miranda. Josh is a prolific restauranteur and owner of some of the best eateries in Portland. This includes Via Vecchia Blyth and Burroughs Papi and Off-Track Pizza. Josh and his partner, Mandy St Pierre, live in Windham as a child. Josh lived in the east end of Portland. Josh can be seen in the Old Port any time of day, up until 1am on the weekends, managing his four restaurants. Welcome to the bowl of speed podcast, Josh. Josh, thanks for coming in with a bowl of speed. Tell us about your first job at the village Cafe, which used to be located in Portland before it was demolished for condos, and how you had to lie about your age.
Josh Miranda01:11
I was 14 years old. My birthday is in August, so all my schoolmates, classmates are a little older than me, and they all had their licenses and cars. And I knew if I wanted my own car when I turned 15, because back then you can get your license when you were 15. I needed to work, and so I started. I applied to be a dishwasher. There a prep cook at 14. They asked you, how old are you? Are you 16? I said, Yes, sir, I am. Otherwise they wouldn't give you the job. No, but the village cafe was, I don't know if people love to play the remember game with restaurants in the village. A lot of people have great memories and very nostalgic when it comes to village, but it was a beast of a restaurant. I remember going there every now and then with my family. And, you know, the line to get in there was huge, you know, you'd be waiting in that little hallway entryway for 45 minutes before you got a seat. And there was so many sections, it was just, you know, and I remember the kitchen being just enormous. They had, it was about the size of a hot tub, a small hot tub, and that's where they made their sauce, and they had the stainless steel paddle that looked like a canoe paddle, and that's how they stirred
Greg Boulos02:25
it well. And that was what, 30 years ago.
Josh Miranda02:29
Oh, we see here if I was 14, it was about 1986
Greg Boulos02:35
Yeah. So how did you get into the restaurant business? Other than starting the village, I
Josh Miranda02:40
kind of grew up in it my dad's best friend, who was like an uncle to me, he had a seasonal restaurant up in Raymond. And my dad used to be a cook. My uncle was a bartender. My stepmom was a waitress. And as an eight year old, I tell the story all the time. I was a bus boy slash dishwasher, and my uncle would give me 50 bucks a week, and I would bus tables, and I used to go behind the bar, and this is where I always knew I was destined for this business. I always felt comfortable behind the bar, and they had these old school storm pours with orange juice. And then I used to make myself what I say, Tequila Sunrise without the tequila basically orange juice and grenadine. But I was always fascinated on the layering of the grenadine and orange juice and the ombre coloring I had in the glass. And honestly, I'd probably drink about five, five of those, five of those a day. It just hopped up on sugar when you were eight. Yeah. Well, I was eight, and then it was so hot in there, you know, you know, Maine in the summer, and my every now and then, my dad would go to Mia, and he'd be in the walk in cooler, reading the paper on a milk crate. And I would go in there and hang out with him and and I would read the paper with him. And, you know, sitting on a milk crate was reminds me of my dad.
Greg Boulos03:59
Yeah, great memory. Yeah, early in your career, you worked in New York and Miami and Portland. What was that era all about?
Josh Miranda04:07
I've only lived in three cities, and those are the three cities as a kind of a joke, where I've never lived off. I 95 you know, I've got in and out of this business so many times my life, but it was around 2003 where I moved to Miami, and I stayed in the business, and I have never left,
Greg Boulos04:28
and we working in restaurants down there I
Josh Miranda04:30
was, I worked at a really high volume place called Cafe to cafeteria on Lincoln Road. And this is kind of origin story, where I started fresh in Miami, and I remember walking up and down Lincoln Road and just saying, Are you hiring? Are you hiring? Are you hiring? And I walked into this place called cafeteria. The manager looked at me. He's like, the owner will be back later, fill out this application and come back in two hours. And I did. They hired me on the spot, and I started on. Next day, at what capacity I was a bartender.
05:04
Have you ever been a chef? You
Josh Miranda05:07
know, not since the village cafe. I was never a chef. I do like to cook, and I used to cook a lot, but yeah,
Greg Boulos05:14
so you worked for Commonwealth hotels, I believe, and they operate the Hyatt Place in Portland. They sent you around the country for a few years, opening new properties. They
Josh Miranda05:23
did. They sent me to a few places, and I would go to a new property, and they had a like my kitchen colleague, and I would do the front of the house, and he would do the back of house. And he was a seasoned chef based out of Cincinnati, Covington area where Commonwealth was head headquarters were and we would just outfit the entire food and beverage department. So would you design it or no? No, no, you know, I would have say and where to put the wells if I needed to move some things around and the shelving. But pretty much, you know, it was almost done. I know when we did the glass lounge at the Hyatt, I pretty much ripped out the entire inside the bar of what that was originally there, because they just had one small well. And I Where was this and glass and the in the Hyatt Place? Yep. And I knew the place was going to be at potentially high volume at times, and to have just one well for 50 seats is not going to be enough. It's going to take forever to get drinks. And sometimes, you know, I look at restaurants or bars as a boat, and having one well is having one engine. So what is with the ice? Is station, a cocktail station? Okay, you know where the person makes the drinks. So,
Greg Boulos06:53
and I understand you have owned or operated a number of restaurants over the years, correct? I mean, right now you have four, but before that, you've owned and operated other restaurants.
Josh Miranda07:03
I was a minority owner of a small club for a couple years, but no, that's it. Before that, I was just a hired gun to open places. I think in my life, I'm almost up to 20, or maybe 20 now I've opened
Greg Boulos07:20
so let me, let's focus on what you do own now, and I'm going to give you the names of restaurants that you own, and maybe you could tell us a little bit about each one. Via Vecchia. Via Vecchio, one of my favorites, by the way,
Josh Miranda07:32
mine too. Via Vecchia is a Italian restaurant located on Dana street and walk street the corner and the infamous 10 Dana Street building is the building covered with ivy, beautiful building. Yeah, and that is my 120 seat Italian restaurant. I try to bring back a little old school failing red sauce joint.
Greg Boulos07:55
And who designed the bar in there? I did. It's
Josh Miranda07:59
beautiful. Yeah. I had a woman named Wendy polstein from pole design helped me with some of the design aspects. Like, she's the one that picked out the gold ceilings. And I would show her my Pinterest page and say, Hey, can you find me this? And she would, you know, procure the lights. She helped me find a lot of the lamps in there and the chandeliers. And when I had an idea for a green upholstery, she brought me in 40 different swatches to look choose from
Greg Boulos08:27
another one, uh, Blyth & Burrows on exchange street
Josh Miranda08:30
life and Barrows. Yes, is that your first? That was my first cocktail bar. Yeah, that was, that's my baby. That's the one that started the whole thing. And that's going to be eight years old this year.
Greg Boulos08:39
So that's eight, and the via vecchi is how
Josh Miranda08:43
old five. It's gonna be five next month.
Greg Boulos08:46
And Blyth & Burrows, it's cocktails, but you can eat there too, right?
Josh Miranda08:50
What do you know? My original concept was a cocktail bar and a raw bar. I thought cocktails and oysters go. I think you know Maine's knowing, known for lobster, and everybody comes up here and gets lobster, but I really do think the the oyster scene up here is just world class.
Greg Boulos09:11
And you've got, is it still there? It juts out into to exchange Street, the carlet, or whatever they call it, where the rocklet? Yes, parklet, yeah, where the tables are, and you still utilize
Josh Miranda09:24
that I do, and tell you truth that I worked last night and helped, and it was, you know, one of the first nice days of the year, and everybody wants to be outside. And a lot of people didn't want to be in the dark bar in the back, but so the backside wasn't as busy, but the parklet was. We had a lot of people out there. We probably sat about 50 people out there last
Greg Boulos09:44
night. And do you have to rent that from the city, or
Josh Miranda09:47
do we do? You know, you pay the it's you renew it. When you do, you renew it. When you do your liquor license, it's about five grand
Greg Boulos09:56
a year, yeah, and in the wintertime, obviously, you're not out there.
Josh Miranda10:00
No, we have to take it away by, I think, November 1. Okay, actually dismantle it. Yeah, we, we actually the ones in front of Papi and Blyth. We have a guy that comes in and puts it on a forklift and drops on a flatbread, and I put it in storage up at my brother's brother has a business in Windham, and we just put it on the outside of that. It's funny, you see them driving down the road, but yeah,
Greg Boulos10:24
and that all stemmed from COVID, right?
Josh Miranda10:28
A lot of people weren't comfortable eating inside, drinking inside, so it helped. And you know, really did help keep restaurants afloat. I was listening to your podcast with David turmer and how the restaurant industry has changed so much from COVID. And this is one of the things where it does help, because we get a little bit a few more outside seats, and some people want to enjoy the weather, especially this time of year. You know, it's the tourists aren't quite here yet, and if it's one of the first nice days. And so let's be honest, it's been a miserable spring, miserable. I think it's rained every Saturday since February, and rain this weekend, yeah, man. So the first nice days, people want to be outside. They want to be on decks, you know, they want to go their old spot. So if we didn't have outside seating, it probably would have been much slower last night. I know it would have been
11:23
Papi on exchange. Yeah,
Josh Miranda11:26
Papi was a passion project. It was a Latin foods trending, and I had some people that I worked with, and I thought this was going to be a really tight concept and something different. I wanted to build something different, and it was a Lululemon, it was a vanilla box, and I got to create something that, you know, that doesn't look like any place else in Borland.
Greg Boulos11:55
So did you spend time in Puerto Rico? I have Yes. And is that what influenced you on
Josh Miranda12:00
this? It did. Doesn't mean I tell people that there's a bunch of places that have influenced the way Papi looks. I've never been to Cuba, but I've been fascinated with Cuba. I lived in Miami for many, many years, so I kind of know the Cuban culture, but the inspiration for Papi was Old San Juan meets Old Havana meets old port.
Greg Boulos12:23
Well, I think you know my significant other, Naila Alvarez, and she's from Puerto Rico originally, and she just absolutely loves the restaurant, as do I. But it's a small space. It is, yes, that presents certain challenges. I would
Josh Miranda12:38
imagine it does at times when it's easy to fill up and you don't have a lot of standing area, it's a narrow venue where the bar to the table is just a walkway. Sometimes people want to stand and it makes things difficult for people passing through. But that's just the old port in general.
Greg Boulos13:00
Now this was fairly public, but you had some issues with the doors. Yeah, the doors to the entrance were they brought in from Puerto
Josh Miranda13:07
Rico? Yeah, I got them out of a salvage yard in New Jersey that they were from Puerto Rico, originally from Old San Juan. And you know, people like you should have known better. And the story is, I when it was the Lululemon space, they had a different door front, and somebody from the city, maybe I don't know those the doors were on, and they told me I needed to replace it. So I remember talking to historic about where I could put some signage up front and the vents, and I told him I had to change the doors. And he's like, Yeah, that's fine. I went ahead and changed the door the whole thing. And I think there was a misunderstanding where he thought I was just going to change the door itself, but I changed the whole frame, and I brought in these antique doors, and at the end of the day, the doors didn't meet the new codes for ADA. And even though the doors were the same size as black and Burroughs, black and Burroughs doors were original and grandfather, then all new construction need to be at least each leaf thing needed to be 32 inches, or 36 inches for ADA compliance. So, you know, the city really did work with me, and on the timeline of changing them, I know they got a lot of grief for coming down on it, but it was an ADA thing at the end of the day, and it was a miscommunication. Nobody was at fault.
Greg Boulos14:26
See, I didn't know it was an ADA issue. So I'm just from reading the paper. I thought it was a historic preservation issue where they didn't like it didn't fit in with the there
Josh Miranda14:35
was did maybe a little at that, but in a day, it was an ADA thing. You know, the sad thing is, is that I thought I was doing something special. I shopped and looked hard for these doors to try to match like the floral design, the finial concepts to it, the wrought iron, the curve looked like the curves on the same building and across the street for. The the archway, the transom, I really did put some time in and try to match up with the restaurant. The architecture is in the Old Port, but in a day it was an ADA thing.
Greg Boulos15:12
My father always said good and good intentions paved the way to hell. Yeah, so your good intentions really weren't meeting the city expectations.
Josh Miranda15:21
No, and I had to replace it, and I had to get a custom made door, and the city worked with me. They, you know, I said, Can I have the summer with these doors? And I'm like, you know, yes, you can. And they were really accommodating. Where are the doors now? They're in my office upstairs. I had, you know, I have an idea of bringing them into the space someday,
Greg Boulos15:41
Off-Track Pizza, also on exchange Street. Tell us about that.
Josh Miranda15:45
So I never was really happy with the pizza offerings in the Old Port. There weren't many places to offer just slices, just a slice, and I know the space was coming available, and I thought the Old Port could use a spot that sold New York style pizza by the slice. There's some great pizza in Portland, some great pizza, but there aren't many places in the Old Port, especially where you can get a New York style slice, just a slice. So I wanted to do a spot. And I thought it was full circle, because many, many years ago, in the 90s, I used to work at there, when it was a restaurant called Walters cafe for Mark Lorig, who's been like a mentor to me over the years. I
Greg Boulos16:34
know Mark, yeah, yeah. We just go to Walters all the time at a lunch, yeah, oh yeah. And then crazy lunch, they moved over to temp. Well, he sold it, right? Yeah, he sold it over Temple Street. Concept totally changed, yeah, but it was placed for business Walters on Temple Street. Everybody went,
Josh Miranda16:49
that was a business launch. That was when there was a business lunch now, yeah, yeah.
Greg Boulos16:54
And business lunch now has is non existent. Why is that? Just because people aren't
Josh Miranda16:58
downtown, people aren't downtown anymore. And, yeah, they're just not. And I also think people don't really want to spend the time having that leisurely lunch. I know when we did the Walters lunch, we the goal was to get him in and out in 45 minutes. You know, the kitchen was well seasoned, and they had a menu that they could execute. They always had that one, you know, hotel Pan Dish special that was just a scoop and go that, you know, they would throw in the window. So that was be a special. But, you know, they the, the idea was to get them in and get them out quickly.
Greg Boulos17:35
And everybody descends on a restaurant at noon time, yeah, but you could make a an appointment for lunch with somebody not even mentioning the time. And everybody knows, mentioning the time. And everybody knows it 12 o'clock. Yeah,
Josh Miranda17:45
we opened there 1130 and then by and then we would get flat sat, but by noon and flat Sat means, basically everybody comes in at the same time. What is it called? Flat SAT? Flat sat, yeah, never heard that term, yeah. It's a it's an industry term. Is
18:01
it like 86
Josh Miranda18:02
it's different meaning. But yeah, like, what's 86 means? You know, there's a couple origins of this. What 86 stem from? The one I like to go to is a speakeasy in New York called chumley's on Bedford and Barrow Street, B, A, R, R, O, W, s, and it was a speakeasy where there was two entrances. One was through an alleyway. Actually, there was one of the first bars I went to in New York. And if someone was out of line or they needed to be escorted out, they took them out of the 86 Bedford street side. So like, oh, 86 him.
Greg Boulos18:37
Get him on it. Yeah, get him out. And when you're out of a certain item. What's that called?
Josh Miranda18:41
86 oh, that's 86 too. That's what it means. Yeah, interesting. Something's 86 it's done so,
Greg Boulos18:47
Josh, you don't cook. We know that at your restaurants, but you must spend all your time managing the restaurants, and four of them are all located within walking distance. And was that by design?
Josh Miranda18:58
It was, it was, I mean, I always think the Old Port is the Broadway of Portland, and that's where the action is. That's where tourists come. And one of the ideas of looking, when I look up a space, is, how's the foot traffic? Are people going to come in? You know, I'm not really destination place. It's a place that, oh, it's, it's, what's going this far. Do
Greg Boulos19:22
you have a concern yourself about parking? Is that ever a consideration
Josh Miranda19:27
for my staff? Maybe, but I figured the clientele will figure out. You know, parking, the Old Port, is a game of musical chairs that started in 1995 you know, you just never know something. You know, I don't think it's as bad as people think. There are plenty of garages around, but there are spots you can park in. It's
Greg Boulos19:46
all relative. I mean, you go to Boston try to find a parking space, yeah, heck of a lot worse than Portland, for sure. And you see, it's an issue or a challenge for your employees. Do they have to pay their own parking or do you take care of that for them or arrange it? Oh.
Josh Miranda20:00
I do have parking for a lot of the managers, and then on the back alleyway and back of popping in Blyth, it is commercial zone where I advise some of the other staff. If you get combo plates, you can park back there for a little bit. I know there was some issues. Past year, the city of Portal started cracking down on people that kept refeeding the meter. But my staff doesn't usually get there at least the front of the house till two o'clock. So you know, they're they all have the app, so they just may have to move their car once, or at least feed the feed the meter at least once. They don't usually take it after 530 ish
Greg Boulos20:42
by all accounts, Blyth in burrows, Via Vecchia Papi and Off-Track Pizza are all very successful. However, believe Henry is located the corner of exchange and four streets opened in July, 2023 but closed just a few months ago. Joe soli was a partner of yours in the Henry's venture. What happened with that particular location? What challenges
Josh Miranda21:05
did you have? You know, Joe was really fond of that space. It was his first foray at the Portland. He had a restaurant there many, many years ago, and Joe was my landlord, black and boroughs like I want to be where I am today, if it wasn't for Joe giving me a chance. And for a while there the bullfini space, which used to be the SEMA space, was coming available, and Joe always wanted me to take it. And I kept saying, No, it wasn't for me. And then when I started doing the Via Vecchia space, and this is a great story involving Joe, he didn't think the space was right for me, Via Vecchia. And I remember when I was I gave a deposit for the lease, and it was going through the motions, he came in and gave me an envelope. He goes, How much money do you have invested in this so far? They said, Just give him a $10,000 deposit. That's it for escrow. And he goes here, and he gave me an envelope, $10,000 in it. And he said, walk away. This isn't for you. And looked at it, and I
22:20
was even though he owned the building.
Josh Miranda22:22
No, this wasn't a building he didn't own. This is via Vecchio. This is the via vaccine. Okay? And I said to him, I said, Joe, I'm moved by the gesture. I really am. And I slid the money back to him. I said, this is mistake I have to make. I believed in the concept so much, and I'm glad I stuck to my guns. Fast forward, years later, he really wanted me in that space. He wanted to bring it back to what he remembered for the Siemens club, and he asked me to do it. He would partner with me, and we wanted to come back and bring back an American style tavern, a public house. And I believe the concept was good, I do, but there was limitations with the space. It was an old building. A lot of square footage. It was huge. It was mostly on the second floor.
Greg Boulos23:10
And for our listeners, this is the building right on the corner of exchange Street and Fourth Street.
Josh Miranda23:16
Foreign exchange, beautiful building. So you know what's funny is that I don't tell many people this story, but I've always wanted to be in this business many, many years ago, and I was probably 25 and someone told me this restaurant was for sale, and it was a seamless club. And I remember going in there, and I didn't know Joe, I didn't know his name, and they said, This little guy is gonna give you a tour. And I remember him showing me around the space, and at the end, he's like, you're gonna buy it or what? And I said, What? Said, well, Mikey's like, listen, but time for kicking tires if you want it, you can have it today, if not, get the f out. And sounds like, true, yeah. And I was like, I you know, I'm glad I didn't take it, because I really didn't know what I was doing. You could argue I still don't know what I'm doing, but back then, I really didn't know what I was doing, but that was my first time meeting him, and I didn't know his name. I didn't know who didn't know who he was. I just remember this old guy being very, very blunt, you know, and he had a sailor's mouth, and I could talk like a sailor myself, and we did have a connection. But at one point he was just like, you know, pissing it off the pot. And this is in like, one hour, and I was just like, you know, I I think I'm gonna pass on this. But fast forward, years later, he wanted to, I think he wanted the action and bring it back to its own glory. So we try to do it, and we try to do seven lunches, seven dinners. And that was, you know, be a true public house. I believe that is one of those places where it's always open. You don't have to look as it open this Monday or Tuesdays. Do you know if it's open or closed? It's not, you know, it's always open, and we did that. Unfortunately, you have to pay people to do that and to work it, and the numbers just weren't there. So we started closing for lunch, and then we closed on certain nights, and we've. Finally got to a point where it was doing fine, and then Joe died, and I just didn't have the heart to keep going. It wasn't worth it. That's five restaurants was a lot. Yeah, it was a little too much, too fast, and I'll be the first to admit that. And do you know what's in that space now? Or it's empty. Okay, they got a couple of people looking at it. But restaurant use, yeah, I think they might divide it up in a certain way. It needs some love. You know, they got gorgeous windows, but they're drafty. The floors need some work. HVAC probably needs to be addressed.
Greg Boulos25:34
We call that deferred maintenance, yeah, business, you know, tell us about the opening of Via Vecchia in the COVID era, and at the last moment you didn't obtain a C of O, a certificate of occupancy from the city, which would have allowed you to open up, what's that whole story
Josh Miranda25:52
about? So the build of Via Vecchia, we renovated the entire place and
25:59
and was it? When was this and
Josh Miranda26:01
pre COVID? Yeah, it was pre COVID. It was 2020, and we renovated the entire place, and we finally got staff in. We're doing training. We able to get a liquor license, but we didn't get a CFO the city was we had it scheduled. And then two days before our final inspection, which was the day after St Patrick's Day, City Hall had its first case of COVID, and they called me and said, We're shutting down. Don't know when it already open. We'll see on the other side. And I was two days away from, yeah, I was already training people. We had payroll. Yes, product. We had products. We had, you know, we were ready to go and just two days away. And if I had opened just one day, I would have gotten some of that government money that a lot of places got because Vivica didn't get anything. Then no grants, no PPP, none of that. How did you all the restaurants get the PP just at that point, was just Blyth and blight, they'd get some PPP. You know that in hindsight, though, I remember when the first round of PPP came out, they said you had to spend this in 12 weeks. You had to use it for the staff. You have to pay the staff. So what I did is I actually follow the rules. I you know, I'm listening to the day Victoria. We didn't know. We thought this thing was just going to be a few weeks. You didn't really know how long the shutdown was going to be. But I I spent the money and and my staff missed one week of payroll, and I paid them their average what they made the year before, and I used all that money. It was gone like that.
Greg Boulos27:39
And did you have any concessions from your landlords in the various locations or at two locations? Then,
Josh Miranda27:46
you know, Joe was my landlord at blaith and Burroughs, and he said to me, pay rent when you open again,
Greg Boulos27:56
meaning the accrued rent as well. No
Josh Miranda27:59
or just, just stop painting running again when you open. That's incredible. Yeah, he said, Don't tell anybody I did this. Well,
Greg Boulos28:05
you just approached that, yeah, but that's okay, yeah, you
Josh Miranda28:09
know. But he he was, he was, he was, he had a soft heart. He was a good he was a good guy. He was in that sense.
28:17
And then, Via Vecchia,
Josh Miranda28:19
the landlord wasn't as accommodating, he told me he would defer rent, but I would have to pay it back. Eventually, he would give me a little bit of a discount, and then he suggested maybe I sublease the back part of it to one of those. This is when all these weed spots were popping up in the Old Port, and he told me, maybe I could sublease the back to a grower or a weed marijuana retailer. And then I just said, I can't do that. The whole concept is based on both sides. You know, half my kitchen's on the other side. So, you know, I sold shares to be a backyard to some people. And every other week I, you know, ran out of money and figured out some way to keep it open.
Greg Boulos29:06
So when you open up restaurants, do you generally bring in equity partners?
Josh Miranda29:11
I've had to Yes, yeah, investors,
Greg Boulos29:14
yep. And has that generally worked out well
Josh Miranda29:16
for you? Yeah, it has, and hopefully it's worked out well for them.
Greg Boulos29:20
We have a saying in the business partners are for dancing. Partners can be good, but when they're bad, man, they can be bad, but it sounds like you've lucked out.
Josh Miranda29:32
I think they have a blind faith in that I have their best interest in mind, and I'm sure you
Greg Boulos29:38
do during COVID. What were the challenges of hiring people
Josh Miranda29:43
well, pre COVID at Via Vecchia, we were staff. We were ready to go. All positions were manned, and then once we were able to open back up, very few of the staff wanted to come back. So. Uh, some of them were getting pretty good unemployment, and they chose not to work. Some people didn't feel comfortable. I remember our first night of opening, we were doing the soft opening. When you had to do the 50, 50% occupancy rule, you had to have a plexiglass in front of the bar of the wells. People had to wear a mask and had a bartender all ready to go. And he came into the office half an hour before the shift, and says, I don't feel comfortable working. I'm sorry, because of COVID. Yeah, so many unknowns. And couldn't fault him, he felt generally sad, but you could see the fear in his eyes. He's just like, I don't feel safe working, and then I couldn't ask somebody to work if they didn't feel safe. So to jump behind the bar, I did. I had to put on the the apron and get behind the bar.
Greg Boulos30:59
And Wasn't there a phenomenon where workers could get more money by not working? Then what? I wouldn't say,
Josh Miranda31:06
more money, but they got paid where, you know, and I don't fault anybody, if you got a chance to make three quarters of your paycheck that you were getting, or half your paycheck and stay home, as opposed to going back to work with so many on you know, so many uncertainties, you know. And so the people, you know, I tell people that my original staff in the kitchen, or the avec, it was a ragtag group that wasn't a season as I originally planned. And you know, when the product that we were putting out wasn't to the level that we originally hoped. Since then, the restaurant's done on 180 as you know, we were talking about at the operations meeting this week that we're getting ready for a five year anniversary, and how much this restaurant has done on 180 and how good the food is. I'm not saying every dish that comes out is perfect all the time. Me doing a high volume, high end restaurant, things are going to slip through the cracks every now and then, but the food that we put out, I will often go into the restaurant, sit at a table and have the bartender or server put an order so they don't know it's me, and just be blown away how good it is.
Greg Boulos32:15
Yeah, as I've told you, that's one of my favorite restaurants. It's
Josh Miranda32:19
an experience, and that's part of my part of my business model is to create an experience escapism. And you know, I want to create a place that reminds you of a different place in a different time. And
Greg Boulos32:41
you certainly accomplish that in particular with puppy, yeah, with it just, you feel like you're in Puerto Rico. You really do, yeah, and you must spend a fortune on the interiors of these spaces,
Josh Miranda32:52
way too much. But it's not what it's not about the money. It's it was about creating experience led to it. And I think in some way, it's also a form of artic artistic you know, artistic
Greg Boulos33:08
integrity, integrity, you know, you sound like an artist speaking right now, as opposed to a businessman.
Josh Miranda33:13
Yeah, I'm probably not that good of a businessman, but I can build you a cool restaurant that that doesn't look like something you've seen before. And that's like I said, that's always the goal is to build something that, you know, that's different than what else is out there. We certainly have done that.
Greg Boulos33:30
What are some of the other challenges facing restaurant owners in Portland in particular? Game post post COVID?
Josh Miranda33:37
Yeah, the game has changed. It's, you know, obviously what I have to pay to keep staff. You know people. The biggest complaint is you can't get people to work staffing. You can get people to work, you just need to pay, well,
Greg Boulos33:50
they may know, do they get a salary plus tips? There's some law where they had to, maybe it's been contemplated, where they would actually get a certain amount of money per hour. You got
Josh Miranda34:01
to be careful with salary people. You have to make sure if they're salaried, you still have to pay them overtime. If they're not, salary exempt you. There's a lot of different laws that a lot of people don't know about,
Greg Boulos34:17
and easily get in trouble if you don't know. How about chefs, keeping chefs happy and with the restaurant, because you lose your chef?
Josh Miranda34:24
Yeah, yeah. Problem, you know, the game has changed where I finally with COVID, I think the back of the house is finally getting the love and appreciation that it's been long overdue. And part of our business, our company, what we try to preach is quality of life. And, you know, I've worked at places where I was doing 6570 hours a week. I mean, I still do, but at least I own the place now, but you did it for somebody. Else and and nowadays, I really don't we try to limit people's hours to no more than 50. We try to give them consecutive days off, not trying to have everybody closed. You know, I've worked at places with a chef closed five nights a week, and he was there 12 hours a day, 14 hours a day, six days a week. And like, you know, Chef Avi avecchia, I, you know, I give him two days off. I don't call him and make sure, you know he's not closing every night. So, you know, I, I really to try to give him that work life balance to there's a burnout factor this job, there really is. And you see, I've seen it, I've been on at the end, the other end of it, where you get burnt out.
Greg Boulos35:44
So would you give chef, say, two days off? Who fills in? And how do you keep that consistency of product?
Josh Miranda35:51
You know, hopefully he's able to how you measure how good a team is, is you take any piece of it out and see if it still executes on the same level, and if it doesn't, then you're maybe not as strong as you think you are.
Greg Boulos36:11
So you mentioned burnout a second ago. You know, you own four restaurants. Aren't you worried about burnout and spreading yourself too thin?
Josh Miranda36:18
Yeah, and that's one of the reasons why I I thought walking away from the Henry would have been a good move. I can focus. And now I'm back on the floor four nights a week, and I'm actually working the businesses. And I feel comfortable there doing that, but I'm able to do that because I took a little off my plate. I think I, you know, like I said, I'll be the first to admit it, I took on too much too soon.
Greg Boulos36:45
But even with four restaurants. I mean, I know on weekends, you're there till what 1am
Josh Miranda36:50
yeah, I am Friday to Saturday, sometimes later, off track shows until two. There was a couple weeks where I was there until 2am
Greg Boulos36:57
and how does that affect your relationship with your partner.
Josh Miranda37:02
She knows the deal. As long as I give her Saturday mornings and Sundays, she's good, and we try to do it date night during the week.
Greg Boulos37:10
Any particular restaurants you'd like to go to, oh, she's a
Josh Miranda37:13
big fan of any new restaurant. I'm not allowed to go to a new restaurant without her. If I do, I'm definitely gonna get a little heat for it, but we have, we have our favorite spots.
37:25
You guys been together
Josh Miranda37:26
for a while, 12 years. Yeah, happy for two. I don't know which two, but that's what she tells me.
Greg Boulos37:34
She obviously is the boss of that relationship, right? Rents seem to continually rise in the Old Port? How do you manage that? What percentage of sales Do you try to keep the
Josh Miranda37:45
rent at? You know, somebody smarter than me once told me the magic numbers in this industry. And even then, that has changed. Back in the day, the magic number for cost of goods and labor was 30. Obviously, you have to pay people more now, and I'd be lucky to get 40% cost of labor cost. So because of that, the money has to be made up in other ways. And so you're going to have to get the cost of goods close to the 2025 you five, you get any restaurant book how to run a restaurant, restaurant for Dummies, and they tell you your rent should be 10% of your of your gross sales. I don't think I'd be in business if I had to pay 10% I think if you can get your what you probably could budget from Rent is closer to seven, seven and a half.
Greg Boulos38:46
That's good. That means you're doing volume, if you could
Josh Miranda38:49
do that. Yeah, sometimes you're not, like, I know off tracks, not doing that right now.
Greg Boulos38:55
But that's relatively new.
Josh Miranda38:56
It is, it's, it's, we just turned one, and this will be our second summer, and we finally got the labor down in that's the one place that could use a few more bodies. It's tough to find people that want to make pizzas, who can make pizza as well. And so we're trying to get some more bodies in there so we can open, we can open back seven days a week.
Greg Boulos39:17
So if you go to my house, you'll see a refrigerator with nothing in it, because I eat out all the time. But I every time I go out to eat, I get the bill, I say, oh my gosh, this is twice as much as it was. It's
Josh Miranda39:31
crazy. Or three years ago, it's crazy, true, I don't know about twice as much, but, you know, I looked at a menu I did drink menu that I did 10 years ago, and looking at the pricing of the cocktails, they were about anywhere from 10 to $12 and now cocktails are about 1516,
Greg Boulos39:55
yeah, I was, I forget the restaurant I was someplace with weekend. It's two. Bucks for a cocktail,
Speaker 140:01
really, locally, yeah, wow. I don't know if
Greg Boulos40:05
it was a mistake on the bill. I, you know, I signed the check and I looked at I said, Jesus,
Josh Miranda40:09
you know, depends. Did you order a called Spirit? Did you ask for some high end bourbon or Nancy tequila?
Greg Boulos40:19
I just have wine, a glass of wine, but Nayla sometimes has a cocktail, and I'm not sure what she asked them. Put it maybe she wanted a double maybe because she had spent some time with me. But you're 52 years old. Yes, sir. How long do you expect to continue with these restaurants, and what if any do you have for an exit strategy? You know,
Josh Miranda40:47
the sad reality is, you know, once I probably want to move on to the next chapter. I don't know if I'm gonna get anything for what I've built. There's no guarantee in that. You know, I did a panel once recently, Jay valani was with me, and he was at 188 for many, many years, and I don't know, he built this restaurant up and had a great name. I don't know if he got anything for it. I don't. So
Greg Boulos41:21
if you don't own the real estate, yeah, it's difficult. It is. And I we've sold some restaurants around town, and when the owner of the restaurant owns the real estate, oftentimes the real estate eclipses the value of the business significantly. Yeah, it does. And
Josh Miranda41:39
I was listening to your podcast with David Turan and how he tries to find a space that was a failed restaurant before mistake I made is I did a change of use for Blyth & Burrows and Papi. I took two spaces that were retail and I formatted them, rebranded them as a restaurant, and had to go through the change of use, and all the headaches that came with that, and also the expense. Yeah, that's the hood system and everything. Hood system, obviously, we talked about tours, but 88 bathrooms and fire suppression and walk ins, and I remember in the beginning of life and burrows, because it was a weird layout, they wanted me to put an ADA bathroom in the front. And I had to consult a expert out of Boston. I used Kaplan Thompson architects, who were the ones that helped me get permitting. And they were great, you know, they were really good to me, and our plans probably got kicked back, I'm gonna say no less than 12 times before I finally got a building permit.
42:50
And what about that bathroom in the front? They there was a threshold
Josh Miranda42:54
where, as long as I had one in the back with an 88 bar, I got away with it, and they, they let me not put one in the front, because there was a threshold number that of estimated business I would lose by putting that bathroom in. And I don't know the formula, what they use, but we, we were able to say that we, hey, we, if we put a bathroom here, would kill the business plan.
Greg Boulos43:20
Josh and we spoke recently, you told me people are not drinking as much. Why is that?
Josh Miranda43:26
I just think trends have changed. People aren't drinking as much as they used to, even myself included. I you know, there was a point there where I would get a cocktail, one or two cocktails a night after work, and I don't even do that anymore, but I think a lot of people are choosing sober living, but I also think too disposable income for the percentage I paid for rent back in the day is was a lot less than what you have to pay now, what people have to pay, and they don't have the income or disposable money to go out as often as they once did. So when they do choose to go out, it's not as frequent, but they're going to places where they know either they can get a great experience or great value,
Greg Boulos44:15
and with margins on alcohol are generally very high in restaurants, that's going to affect your bottom line.
Josh Miranda44:21
It does? It does? I margins have become tighter. I remember talking to somebody who owns a restaurant in the Old Port. I bought a restaurant that's been there since the 80s, and I asked him how things were in the 80s and 90s. He's like, You wouldn't imagine the margins we used to make back then, you know, I was making 15 20% and I was like, oh, nowadays, you'd be lucky to make five, if you make money at all in
Greg Boulos44:49
terms of the overall restaurant, yeah, you know, important, there's so many good restaurants, a new restaurant really has to knock it out of the park to get noticed. What advice would. You give to somebody opening a restaurant now on how to succeed in this highly saturated restaurant market known as Portland,
Josh Miranda45:10
be adaptable. What you may envision, the place to be may evolve into something else, and you got to be willing to change gears a little bit. The market will dictate what they want from you, but at the same time, have an idea of what your concept is and what you want people to think about your place. It's you know, the I, I I know we talked earlier about the remember game, and everybody loves to talk about, remember this restaurant, remember the village cafe, remember Carbo, remember the original Walters, and those are great places. And but I'll say this, and I'll die in this hill. I think the restaurants in Portland and the bars in Portland, and not just in the area. Well, have really evolved into something special. What Park is coming out now is so much better than what was before Al, and I'll give you an example. 25 years ago, there were probably maybe one or two bars that knew classic cocktails that had a new stirrer, cocktail had the ingredients and give you the proper glass. You know, I remember 15 years ago, there was only two rides available in the state of Maine. You know, people asked when the growing was like, What's Campari? I had to explain what Campari was 20 times a night. The consumer is more educated, but you now, you there are 20 bars in Portland that can make you a proper Negroni, the proper technique, they can make you a last word or Bijou. They have the ingredients. They know what's in it. 20 years ago, every drink came in a pint glass, and it was just usually, it was a called spirit and a mixture. That was it.
Greg Boulos47:03
I think, in my own opinion, I think the restaurants in Portland are better than the ones in Boston, generally speaking. And I go down there quite a bit, yeah, but for the size of the population, do you think that? Or
Josh Miranda47:17
I think Portland punches above its weight, but the size of the city it is, and the offerings for the food, I think it punches way above its weight class. I remember I did a trip to Chicago, and there was this Filipino bakery restaurant that was had a lot of buzz. It was a James Beard winner, and two hour wait to get into it, and a phenomenal bakery, and they were supposed to have this legendary breakfast sandwich. And I surprised my dad, and he was out there, and we, we got the sandwich together, and it was a fine sandwich. It was really good. But I said, you like this? He's like, Yeah, this was great. The next week, I had to meet me in town, the old port, and we went to Juanito and got their breakfast sandwich. And he was like, This is so much better. I said, isn't it? You know, meanwhile, Chicago, you got a place that was featured on the bear, it's a James Beard winner, and got a two hour wait, and it was a, it was a great sandwich. But meanwhile, Market Street, you got this little takeout, mostly take out only spot that's going to give you just a good, if not better, product with no line. You know, it's, you know, there's some places in Portland, I just think are hidden gems.
Greg Boulos48:31
How did Portland evolve into a foodie town?
Josh Miranda48:34
You know? I think every restaurant tour needs to pay somewhat homage to Dana Street. I think street company was the first, what I call seated table place. You know, they cooked it in the same skill they served it in. And I think a lot of the places evolved from that. I do. They
Greg Boulos48:55
really set the standard. And they're still, they're still doing it. What is saying, you know, if it's not broken. Don't fix it, yeah, but geez, every time I go in that restaurant, it's packed. It's not easy to get into. It's maybe I'm trying to eat on a Saturday night,
Josh Miranda49:09
but yeah, I think any restaurant is busy on a Saturday night. I got the restaurant that I think is just phenomenal. Has always been forestry and scales. I just think those ones do evolve, and they just put out
Greg Boulos49:21
a great product. Yeah, I also, I like scales, those big windows. I mean, you
Josh Miranda49:25
can't get in there, try again in there. And I'm in the industry, and I gotta pull strings to try to get in
49:30
there, because you must know a couple people. Yeah, I do. I don't
49:34
like to call in that favor too often.
Greg Boulos49:37
In the past few months, the Portland Press Herald newspaper has run stories on a number of restaurant closings. Are you seeing more closings than one typically sees? And what do you think the reason is for these restaurants closing
Josh Miranda49:51
I think this industry has gotten incredibly tough. I have always felt poor, unsaturated. I. So for the reasons what we talked about before that people aren't going out as much as they used to, that if you're not giving them a value or a great experience, elevated experience, that you're probably going to have a hard time keeping the doors open. I think labor cost has gone up. The cost of, you know, you saw the price of eggs this past year. You know, what are you gonna do if you are breakfast place? You know, you're gonna have to charge a lot more money. I think it comes in cycles. I'm a big fan of Portland food map. And response to that, one of the sponsors, yeah, and he he re shares articles from the past, and you're able to get a sense of history what happened. But I think it was 10 years ago. There was a newspaper article that he shared that with Meredith gold, and the Press Herald was talking about all these other restaurants, sillies and a couple other restaurants. And they, you know, they didn't use the term restaurant apocalypse, but it was a similar thing. So I think things do come in cycles. But I also feel like Poland is really competitive, and we're in a down cycle right now for the restaurant industry, like people aren't going out as much, not drinking as much.
Greg Boulos51:15
And I've heard that in the brewery industry too.
Josh Miranda51:17
You know, I think Poland peaked. I did. There was lot breweries, a lot of breweries, and the micro brewers maybe were on the decline of that bubble. But Paul has some great beer. It really does. And what's your favorite the next one I'm gonna
Greg Boulos51:39
drink? What a politically smart answer. I love it. What's the best decision you ever made with your restaurant? And there's going to be a flip question after this one
Josh Miranda51:50
best decision. It's tough. You know, a decision I made recently that turned out to be smart, as I got rid of pizzas over at Via Vecchia. I like those pizzas. Yeah, I got rid of that station, and that was a good business decision. Profit Margin wasn't good, or profit margins wasn't there, but it was three factors, the space it took up in the kitchen. You had this big, huge oven that everybody had to walk around. It took up a space. It was, you know, ginormous, the prep time to make the dough. What a sit for two days, the storage space and the walk in for the dough, and then you'd have to have somebody that was just making pieces and pieces only, and that only did one thing, but at the end of the day, it was slowing the line down, because we can only put three pizzas in the box. I call the box, the oven. The oven, the box, you can only do three and if you had a big ticket, order up, all the other stations got theirs up, and the pizzas were behind. Like, no, I'm four minutes out, Chef, you're gonna have to and so, yes, you had to delay everything else so the peaches could catch up, and it made us something fully slower. And the name of the game is, you know, not to sound so callous, but get them in, get them out. And if you can, with a reasonable hour, and the pizza station was bringing the whole team down. So get rid of that station. Take that body that was once only making pizzas, and he can help do other things. So the other dishes on the menu, we can do elevator, because no just have one person making it. Now you got two people helping out. There's a turn in a restaurant, and like seedings, you know, you get your five o'clock seating, your seven o'clock seating, nine o'clock seating, it was a seven o'clock turn, where the one position in the kitchen called Garmo. He also did desserts, and he would get hit with the seven o'clock turns appetizers, and the five o'clock turns desserts if he get crushed, and he's all by himself, doing all these things. Now we're able to give him, or them, a second body to help leave that turn, and made us more efficient and made the quality of the food better than what we had on menu. It really did, and I think that was a smart decision.
Greg Boulos54:13
Worse the flip question I mentioned, what's the worst decision you've made?
Josh Miranda54:22
I think opening so many places in such a short time,
Greg Boulos54:27
your stress level must be off the charts.
Josh Miranda54:31
No, I'm okay. I am. I would be a wreck, you know, I'm okay, like, I have a saying, and I say to the staff, you know, there's only 100 things that can go wrong in a restaurant, only 100 I mean, sometimes it happens all at once. What happens for restaurants? That's yeah, it happens popular night, the internet went down, two coolers went down, and we had a leak, okay? And someone called out all right. And that was a good night. I. Um, it's just dealing with those things, you know, air conditions not working. It's, you know, no one, your contractors, phone numbers by heart, having a good relationship with them, even being, being ahead of the mistakes getting, you know, your HVAC service before the hot days come in, you know, and it's still gonna
Greg Boulos55:19
crash. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, there's always going to be problems,
Josh Miranda55:23
right? Always only 100 things, and they are going to all happen, and then they could all happen on once. But, you know, having a contingency plan, and we always talk about having a contingency plan, and
Greg Boulos55:33
do you have, like, weekly meetings with your staff? We do we, well, to get all four restaurants or separately?
Josh Miranda55:39
No, we do separately, like the staff, we do what we call a pregame, a pre shift meeting, and that's usually about a half an hour before the shift starts. We all get together and go over the daily specials, any issues, any things that were out of stock, steps of service that we want to focus on. And then I have a Each place has a what I call operations, meaning once a week, and we talk about big pictures, things.
Greg Boulos56:09
Let me ask you a totally different question. I I spend a fair amount of time down in Central America, and I'm sure this is true in South America too, but when you go out to eat, you know, I'm waiting for the bill. I'm waiting for the bill. Waiting for the bill doesn't show up. And from what I understand, they won't bring you the bill until you ask for it, because they think it's rude, because they feel like they're pushing you out. You talked about the turn in the restaurants. Every restaurant in the United States I know of, they bring the check over. Oh, yeah. And is that to kind of prompt you to Yeah? Time to go.
Josh Miranda56:43
You know, it's funny. I was a consulting for a project for a hotel restaurant concept and the Azores, and I used that time to go to Lisbon a couple times. And I loved Lisbon, but I was told what you just said, like, they won't bring you to check until you ask for it. They think it's rude. Then again, there's not a tipping culture over there. And this, it's, that's, this is a topic, heated topic, but there's not a tipping culture over there. So sometimes, like, they'll get you your first round, and then you won't see a server or bartender. Again, you have to flag them down. Which is, yeah, which it was kind of tough, because I there's no incentive. There's a balancing act. We want people. I'm not going to say names or but there are places that I've gone and been served in and out of there and 3540 minutes and I went with a friend once he was like, This is my only night out. I kind of want to enjoy it. I feel like I got rushed out of there. You want to give people an experience, and you want them to enjoy your time. But it's, it's a tight rope. Really. Give you a quick example. When we first opened up a COVID, I only had a couple of big tables at Via Vecchia, and I had a six top that was there, and they had a great time. It was some people catching up, and I think it was their first time meeting, and they were there for three and a half hours, and at the end, they just had water glasses on the table, and we had a reservation behind them that we were able to push back a little and move them. And then I had another reservation that had no place to put them. So at one point I had to go to the table. I'm like, I'm sorry. I have another party. I need to accommodate. I need to ask you guys kindly to settle up. They went and left me three one star reviews ruined the night. Even though they were there for three and a half hours, the party that waited had to wait an extra half an hour to get seated. They left me a one star review, and it's like, I can't win you, I can't.
Greg Boulos58:56
And were these local people? No, they weren't, but people should know better.
Josh Miranda59:03
You know, sometimes people don't care. They don't and but you want to create a space where, if you want to hang out and hang out as long as you want, but the same time, not at the expense of other people who are waiting in the doorway, like I'm in the business, and if I'm in a busy place and and I see people, there's a line, I'm I'm not going to take my time. I'm going to try to out of respect for the people waiting in line in the business. I'm going to try to finish my meal or my drink in a timely manner. I'm not going to gulp it, gulp it. But, you know, there's a fine line. And I think, I don't think as people are as considerate as they could be. To be honest with you, if
Greg Boulos59:48
you're in the restaurant business, though, you're more aware of that, yeah, people leave generally 20%
Speaker 259:55
tips, or I think it's gone depends. I think it's gone up a little, really, more than 20. Percent, yeah, like, what closer to 25 I don't want to be considered cheap, so I guess I gotta
Josh Miranda1:00:05
know, because I have to tip personally more than that, you're in the business. I'm in the business. And I, I, I thought I people didn't know why it was, but the more and more I go out, people do know you. I was like, oh, so I got to make sure I take care of my colleagues, because I know, I know I could be difficult at times, and I could be a jerk, and I just want to make, hey, I may be a pain in the ass, but I'll tip you well. Have
Greg Boulos1:00:33
you ever in any of your restaurants had a situation where there was a fight broke out, or unruly customer or, oh, yeah, can you give one or two stories?
Josh Miranda1:00:42
Geez, I could give you a million stories,
1:00:46
husband and wife fighting. You know,
Josh Miranda1:00:51
I know when I had a club, there would be a bunch of fights, and I've never been in a fist fight, but I break it up, broken up a lot. I have a wrestling background. I used to wrestle in high school and college, so I'm able to wrap people up, but yeah, I've been, I've been hit a bunch of times in these restaurants that you own. Now, have not been hit at the restaurants I own now, no,
Greg Boulos1:01:13
but of the restaurants you own now, what situation happened that
Josh Miranda1:01:19
I know at the Henry I had to get involved in our first weekend of dragging a guy out.
Speaker 21:01:23
Yeah, because he was, he was
Josh Miranda1:01:27
belligerent, and I think he may have thrown a punch at somebody, and we, we had security, but I was closer to the guy than than the other security guards were, so we had to grab him and take him out. You've
Greg Boulos1:01:38
got a quite a presence about you. I don't think I'd want to get in a scuffle
Josh Miranda1:01:41
with it, you know, yeah, don't mess with the old guy
Greg Boulos1:01:44
or the older guy. Yeah, what's next business wise, for Josh Miranda,
Josh Miranda1:01:49
I think I, somebody smarter than me, just told me I should consolidate what I have and focus what I have now and run it the best I can. So I want to take what I have now and and really make it the best, make it the best I possibly can. And that's, you know, that's the product and the service. And at the end of the day, that's what it's about. It's the product and service and the vibe. You know, I always believe the vibe is important, and that's one of the things I think I do differently than a lot of other people that I've done my research, I've, you know, traveled like you have. I've gone to other markets. And one of the things that I think things have changed in Portland is the lighting has gotten better. I think that's, you know, the music. It isn't, you know, you can almost tell when a restaurant was open by the lighting. If it is, if it has white track lighting, is probably pre 2000 drop ceilings. Yeah, yeah, exactly for it has Edison light bulbs. It's around 2010 but I'm a big fan of ambient lighting. I'm a big fan of lowering the lights. There's been a study people drink more as it gets darker, but it's, you know, just turning light off entirely. No, I can't do that. But, you know, you see, you see people like, I'm getting to the point I'm sure you're there where sometimes it's difficult to read a menu. Thank God for iPhones with the flashlights. I see people breaking those all the time.
Greg Boulos1:03:22
Backlit menus I have, yeah, they've got those at the Wentworth up in Jackson, New Hampshire. Oh, yeah. And I've never felt so old as being presented with a menu that was backlit.
Josh Miranda1:03:32
Yeah, I'm what you could read it. I'm a big fan of having natural flame on the table some way, somehow, either a candle an oil lamp, and there's such that's just for ambience, yeah, well, this, it gives off a light too. I love my back up lighting too. I'm a big fan of that.
Greg Boulos1:03:50
It like I always think of puppies, the lighting in there, you got a lot of neon, yeah,
Josh Miranda1:03:57
it was very well. We put a lot of thought into that. And that place was, it was designed from places I had gone to and been inspired by, yeah,
Greg Boulos1:04:09
well, Josh, this is the end of our podcast, and I really enjoyed this. This is very
Josh Miranda1:04:15
interesting. Thank you for so much for inviting me. This was, this was great. I appreciate it. I appreciate all that you do in Portland. I mean, I will say this that Realtors don't get the credit for really cultivating some of these spaces that operators like me can come into. And so I appreciate what you guys have done.
Greg Boulos1:04:35
Thank you very much. Appreciate that, Josh, thank you for being our guest today on The Boulos Beat, the Boulos company podcast, I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us. You can learn more about Josh's restaurants at their websites, which are blythmbros.com. VV old port.com Papiportland.com off track. Pizza.com their social media accounts are at life and Burroughs at vvoport, at Papi Portland, and at Off-Track Pizza. And if you'd like to learn more about the Boulos company, please be sure to visit us@Boulos.com you can also find us at the Boulos company on Facebook and LinkedIn and at Boulos CO on Instagram and x. And lastly, if you want to know the secret to owning real estate, it's pretty simple, just be sure to outlive your debt. You.