Wednesday, May 6, 2020 - Assam Tea Industry Update

Video Subtitles:

Hello Internet Happy Wednesday.
Happy May sixth I am reporting

today from Origin from a Psalm
India to give a nice industry

update of what's going on in
the world. And I'm here in the

tea fields of a Psalm India and
most more specifically deeper

deeper Bogard India. Beautiful
place in the world. If you ever

get a chance, you should
definitely try to come here.

Very sunny, very Green.
unfortunately, you know the

Green coming from the tea
plants. But the soil here is

not looking so sharp lots of
Agriculture chemicals and other

and things.

Let me just make sure that all
of our friends are invited here

before we get started and I
start giving this news. From

the source.

Have you guys like my new look?
I've been working on it. I'm a

dinosaur now I don't know what
kind of dinosaur I am if if you

can recognize the the kind of
dinosaur I got a long neck If

you can recognize the kind of
dinosaur I am I'd greatly

appreciate if you could comment
on the the kind of dinosaur

what dinosaur you believe I am
and if you guys want to see me

as a dinosaur, you should visit
the live video that is playing

all throughout the Internet. On
a Facebook page on our

Periscope, which is Twitter's
live stream on Twitch as well

as on YouTube. Thank you. I
love this visual to Teri. I

like this one. I think I'm
gonna stick with this one,

especially whenever I have
important industry updates to

offer to the world to offer to
the world on our. So, yeah, let

me get started. I just wanted
to give a little update of some

articles that have been going
around about the Asante

industry, which is you know,
probably one of the largest or

is the largest industry origin
India. An article came out

today that says that the tea
industry lost of 500 core rupe

and for just a sum for their
tea industry and in Uss the tea

industry is the biggest
organized industry of the

state. so this is major, you
know. this is not some small

thing just to give some.
Reference or let you know what

500 core means to the rest of
the people around the world so

500 core Rupe is essentially
five billion rupe and five

billion Rupe translates to
roughly about

65 million dollars US. That's a
lot of money and that is losses

of the entire industry To this
pandemic that we're dealing

with so this is multiple
prompt. you know it's starts

with the shutdown so the States
are literally not able to. The

hairdo throws me off. Yeah.
Well, I got a little cut. Yeah,

I got a little cut. Let's see
what kind of effect so I got a

little short shoulder. Oh,
yeah. If I wanna move my hands

around, I got that.

Always fun learning what my
Public can do. What's this? Oh,

excuse me. Wow you saw. I'm not
wearing any pants today that's

embarrassing. Okay so back to
the news to more important

pressing things so yeah this
this loss of 60 -

five million dollars US for the
Assam T industry is directly

connected to the covid- 19
pandemic and so this is huge

for India. This would be huge
for the States as well. I mean

I haven't seen any direct
figures of how the U S T market

has been affected by
the pandemic I'm. Once that

information starts to get
shared, we'll understand that

more but this, this is coming
from the source from the

origin, which is really
important for us to keep an eye

on because yeah, we need our
tea we and we need to protect

our source. So you know I first
started hearing about the

losses in a Psalm directly
through email. That I would

receive from the producers
stating that they were facing

economic hardships and we're
looking for investments cold

email just looking for direct
investments. no understanding

or you know transparency about
what that investment would get

one but you know the fact that
someone is sending cold emails

like that really does say a lot
about the dire condition that.

the industry must be facing at
source.

So the rest of this article,
which I saw this article

cross-post across four
different news outlets. so you

know this is definitely getting
around Eight hundred and 20

companies employed 28 thousand
workers while 780 - three big

tea gardens and 10180 small
gardens have already started

functioning so even though the
lockdown is happening which

I've come to learn the official
lockdown of India will continue

until May seventeenth. so if
you're waiting for any business

from India, Be patient for a
few more weeks May seventeenth

is the new extended lock down
period for the country.

Obviously certain industries
are being allowed to go back to

work such as the tea industry.
so yeah, that account for a lot

of this loss and the markets
and or loss for these

industries. it's just that they
couldn't produce the tea, but

now we have the second effect
of this pandemic is that the

Market is kind of at a stand
still you know, I'm not we've

talked about this before that.
there has been there has been

some increase in online sales
but the majority of

distribution of specialty is in
restaurants it is in food

service and I think even
commodity level product is also

down. People are consuming less
people are conserving more and

so there has been a effect on
the markets and so that's the

other issue with the loss of
the industry of the economic

loss in the industry. and this
is the part that's

unpredictable and unknown is
how fast will the market

recover and revive back to it's
right before or if it ever will

So I. Uncertainty here.

So they're estimating that they
will incur a loss of 80 million

kilos of teas. so that's like.

Eight thousand tons 80000 tons,
it's a lot of tea. That's a lot

of tea, just to put it into
reference to that goes through

about a 20 tons of tea a year.
so that's a lot of tea to be

lost which is valued at 1218
core. so that's Gonna be almost

a billion dollars, No not a
billion dollars, maybe like

200 million dollars that's the
anticipated total loss as a

result of the pandemic I get a
lot is unpredictable and

unknown of how quickly the
market will recover and if it

ever will recover back to, it's
former state just a little bit

of. Reference of how much tea
as produces per year in 2019,

the region produced 715 million
kilos. so yeah they're.

80 million I see okay, which is
around 52 percent of India's

total tea production of
a hundred a 1389 million kilos

but due to the lock down
production figures are expected

to dip by 32 million kilos,
which translates to losses of

more than 500 core. So that's
where they got that number

that's pretty impressive. In
the 19 nineties Psalms tea

production was at 388 million,
so that's pretty incredible how

quickly the region has
increased its production that's

more than double almost double
just in a 20 year period less

than 20 year period and you
know I I would assume that

majority of that is going to
the domestic market. At Terry

says that we need to order more
online now before prices go up.

you know I don't I my
prediction is that prices will

not go up. I think you know
there is a little bit of a

rumor going around and you know
that some contacts have

expressed to me that they feel
that there's you know a little

bit of potential for. What's
the word

I'm forgetting the word, but
it's just not true that it's

it's a manipulated information
to build artificial confidence

in the industry and in the
market that the prices will

actually increase due to a
smaller supply and that works

and you know, supply and demand
economics. That's how it works

when there is a decreased
supply like let's say, there's

a drought or there's something
that happens in that season

that harvest that reduces the
quantity of. In the market that

will drive the price up right
cuz there's more scarcity in

that more exclusivity in that
and that causes the price to go

up. But in this case we have
this other effect that is even

more powerful than the effect
of the limited supply. is the

market demand and so when the
demand is going down and the

supply is going to. That is not
going to have the same effect

of driving the prices up so as
far as what's we have seen in

reputable news articles about
the price of tea in India the

prices have gone down the only
number that we've seen

definitive number that we've
seen is that the prices have

gone down 40 percent and so
that that makes sense. Because

the market in the market
effects of this pandemic so far

in dealing with the stock
market and dealing with even

commodities such as Petr we've
seen prices going down so I

don't think that we should you
know, try to hoard tea with the

fear that price will go up. if
you wanted to think in that

perspective we should have
started hoarding two years ago

when we started seeing that
there was going to be some

negative consequences from
climate change on our supply of

tea that. Is true and people
have been saying this for

years, most notably is Nigel
Milligan from T craft in the

UK. He's one of the world's top
tea consultants. he started

saying a few years ago that
within the next 10 years, it's

very likely that's a lot of our
favorite producers of tea and

supplies of tea will be in a
very different state. you know

be it's more mechanized. Of
more intention towards extracts

and finding applications for
those products here are always

someone on Instagram says as a
poor drinker, he's always in NT

hoarding mode. That's true too.
Yeah cuz with with priorities

or teas that can be aged. so
there's no fear in hoarding it

if you have the resources to do
so you'll be rewarded with you

know very good tea. The future
and so there is truth to that.

and yeah, if you have the extra
the extra resources and capital

to maybe hoard is not the
correct term, but to invest in

the things that you value,
especially things that have a

long shelf life and have
increased value over time like

where the and not limited to
just pour tea. We're talking

about black teas and long, Tess
and even White. In some Green

teas too, you know it
definitely wouldn't be a bad

choice to start holding on to
some tea for yourself if you're

a business as well. you know, I
think the last time I heard

Nigel Milligan give this
presentation to. A the UC Davis

Global Initiative he did talk
he did crack a joke about how.

People that have the tea stas
for 30 years from now, we're

going to be the lucky ones. so
yeah, there's some merits to T

hoarding, but I don't think
that we should hoard tea with

fear that the price will go up.
if anything there's fear of the

supply being threatened and not
just by this immediate economic

issue that I'm talking about
right now but. The climate

change is gonna be a much more
impactful fact then this

pandemic that we're dealing
with right now.

Back to the article, I will
finish sharing the information

with you so now that the
lockdown has been relaxed to

some degree, there is
production happening in some

India but there is a lot of
risk and a lot of cash flow

issues and so right now the
industry is seeking out

investments

This is quoted directly from
the article. It says there is

speculation that many US
Japanese Korean companies are

considering moving out of their
manufacturing facilities from

China to India to persuade
these companies. the Assam

government has taken up the
matter with the Indian

government and Japanese and US
trade and business bodies,

including the US India Business
Council in the US Chamber of

Commerce as well to try and
motivate and attract few of

these companies. so this is
their strategy for investments

to support the cash flow issues
of the Assam T industry with

abundant natural and human
resources, A Psalm strategical

advantage robust industrial
infrastructures and dependable

connectivity makes a huge
industry friendly environments

so we may start seeing a lot of
industry in a song and maybe

not tea industries specific but
other. and last time that I

went to a, I did see that there
has been some major expansion

and growth of industrial
business in the area unrelated

to tea a lot of it related to
plastics. you know and and

other products that we
conventionally think of China

when we think of so the
interesting developments and

you know if we see that change,
we could know that it does have

some connection to the tea
industry and that's. You know,

it's investing the continued
supply of a of a tea for the

world.

Final note on this article is
that the government has set up

something called a Psalm
startup the nest and it is

intended to guide and inspire
and mentor and enterprising

youth returning to Assam from
different States. So that is

something nice. that's this
pandemic has returned people to

the rural areas to be with
their families to support their

families during this time and
you know at this time because

you know things have become so.
Extended for so long that's the

youth are starting to build
some roots and dig some roots

in there and in their home
village which is always an

issue with T prior to the
pandemic with all of the you

know, globalization and and
commercial growth. it became

very unattractive for young
people to be in the Middle. To

be in the tea growing community
because they could have a far

more prosperous life living in
the city working in the city,

having a tech job having some
type of corporate job and

sending money back to the
family to support them because

the the life of the a farm
worker, even in an independent

small trower like with the
majority of the industry is set

up. And cultivation it's it's
always been more attractive to

have your youth to have your
children in the city to take

care of the family in the
village. so it's incredible now

that the pandemic has a brought
people back home and now these

young people are trying to
build their own roots and

trying to build their own
opportunities. you know what.

Will help these communities
build more resilience for the

future? You know beyond this
pandemic and beyond what we're

dealing with right now. So
that's kind of the light at the

end of this tea industry
updates. let's hope that those

young people to decide to go on
to the path of becoming a-team

Masters so that they can become
a renowned artisanal tea maker

and gets to sell their teeth.
The developed markets of India

and the specialty markets
around the world like us you

know, that's that's what we'd
like to support. you know I

give all these numbers and
update of what's going on in

the industry and just wanna
give a reminder that majority

of this tea that we're talking
about is T that. Tea drinkers

would never even know of or
would never drink this is tea

that's going not only in tea
bags. It's it's mostly being

produced for the domestic
market to be used in milk tea.

which milk tea Chai tea Chai
tea. That's funny. It's like

saying TT at chai Masala Chai
or milk Chai. those are very

comforting and symbolic symbols
of Indian culture. I should say

very important to separate that
it's modern culture, but it's

not the Orthodox artisanal teas
that the specialty tea lover is

used to drinking. so if you see
this doom and gloom type of

articles and updates about the
feeling industry and the lack

of hope there is for it. don't
assume that it is a direct

threat to the specialty that
you may be thinking.

that is definitely a part of
the industry that we can

continue to support by enjoying
tea and I hope that you guys

can all find ways to enjoy it.
We of course, have our website

T and it's people dot com now
where you can browse all of our

different teas and order them
for yourself. So that's a great

resource for supporting and
specialty T and you can trust

that. If you get tea from us,
we will make sure that all the

supporters are well supported
and and having a sustainable

future. So that is my tea
industry update for the day. I

appreciate all of you enjoy my
new puppet. let's see if I can

get the heads to know. Some of
these puppets like you like

grab their hands and do things,
but this one doesn't look like

it does that.

That's cool. Alright with that
I think I'm gonna return to my

desk return to my tea-table and
drink some tea with you guys

and hopefully someone will want
to hop in the tea room to chat

with me. The tea room is open
actually let me put the link up

so that you guys can see it and
not to come here.

Take this time now to discuss.
Here we go. Just come to this

link bit dot LY slash tela T
Buda. How are you doing? How

was your webcast this morning
and you're tasting? I missed

it, but I'll watch the replay
of it actually let me see if

it's up. Maybe I can play a
little bit for the live show

right now.

It's sunny here in Vegas you
see.

Thanks here in Vegas are good
starting to get hot. Oh, I

forgot I'm still on the on the

Facebook Live or the live on
the Internet, I am sitting at

the desk and Assam India.

Super fun So, yeah, please.
Feel free to join the tea room.

The link is there if you go to
bit dot LY slash Tela Tea

party.

I'm trying to find. Here we go.
I'm trying to find the video of

your tasting This morning.

Our friend and Sri Lanka, Oh,
it's not up yet. I'll have to

wait until it's up and I would
love to What am I trying today.

I actually haven't even started
drinking tea yet. I've been too

busy doing this. this industry
update. Let me go get the teeth

the water.

Can't hear me you should be
able to hear me Amber Maybe you

need to turn the mic or turn
the volume up. Let me go get

the teeth the water. Yeah. It's
it's playing audio here for me.

Yeah.

Bye. What to drink? What do you
think I should drink? I've got

a bunch of here. Everything
from Elah Black tea White tea.

So tomorrow is an exciting day
and the reason why I'm

practicing with the puppets
here on Facebook is because

tomorrow we're going to be
doing a recked rebroadcast a

very special rebroadcast of the
virtual tea Festival on Twitch.

So Twitch is a.

Streaming website. That is
usually more targeted towards

gamers and you know other tech
related communities. so you

know we're trying to reach a
new audience, a new audience

that I'm sure is already
drinking tea a accustomed to

drinking tea but you know may
not be as connected as we are

through the social media
platforms. so yeah, I just

wanna try to find a way to get
them connected and drinking tea

together the broadcast will run
from eight A. AM until Two PM

Pacific time, so gotta do a
little calculations of that's

is in your area. It's early
morning for me, I usually don't

get my day started that early.
But it's okay for the

community. I'm more than happy
to do that. so the tea that I

decided to to drink here. Let
me get back to the desk for

everybody else so that way.

But you can see me.

Please join me in the At the
virtual tea-table by going to

that link, if you feel prepared
to you can even turn your

camera off. That's okay. if I
know who you are, of course, If

I don't know who you are, I
might not be able to. keep you

there cuz gotta watch out for
the trolls on zoom. So, yeah,

the tea that I brought to brew
is called Black Pearl. It is a

highly oxidized tea from
Taiwan.

Bye.

Alright ladies it's. I am hi
everybody. See you

dengan media

The teeth it's a little wet
here but.

Baldo like classic Taiwanese
style oh look at some sunshine.

I like that. You can see it
too. It's amazing when you're

brewing this bold new lungs
whenever you first, you know,

put them in or start brewing
with them. You're always

surprised with how little tea
you need to steep. after I

finished steeping this tea this
will probably expand and

completely fill this guy one
but right now, it seems like

it's a little bit of tea and
that's just because it gets

processed to be so compact.

So, as is expected with a
higher oxidized ulan tea, it

has a deeper sweet notes to it.
Like Brown sugar, you know,

that's how you can imagine the
difference between you know a

black tea or Green tea is that
are you know higher oxidized?

so yeah, Terry the T festival I
I I am going to like restrain

it across all the different
platforms. In addition to

Twitch Twitch is gonna be the
main platform that I will be

encouraging people to go to for
people to go to. that's fun for

the turn that off sorry that
was Twitch. I'm just putting

the link here for the the
Twitch profile. That's what

we're gonna be like instigating
the most conversations and

interactivity to happen if you
don't feel comfortable on that

platform, it's too new for you.
you know we will be

broadcasting it here on
Facebook. I can't guarantee

that we will be as engaged with
your questions and comments as

quickly as we were last time
that we were. That we

broadcasted the the virtual tea
festival but we'll try our

best. I'll try to be jumping
back and forth between the the

Facebook and the Twitch stream
to answer everybody's

questions. Sorry for my camera
angle, I've been playing around

with my computer to make sure
I'm ready for tomorrow's

broadcast cuz it's gonna be a
long time. I'm gonna be

broadcasting for six hours
straight, so I need to make

sure everything is rigged up. I
just right for for the party

for the festival, I should call
it so as we usually do on

Thursdays we will be
collaborating with Tea Talks

our friend. Hi Gabby Good to
see you got the Vegas Sun with

me today. we will be
collaborating our live stream

our broadcast with tea talks
which is a

I don't want the link to it yet
it is a virtual tea House.

that's our friend. Sam Kaplan
from safety Tea Shop has put

together and manage that I
collaborate with on you know

and and and invite our
community to come and interact

with other tea lovers on that
platform tomorrow's Tea Talks,

which is open to all the
public. you guys will all be

welcomed to join with us there
and and converse and the

Speaker. Will be the same, but
here's the thing only about

half of them are going to be
presenting and we're giving

them double the time actually,
we're giving them like triple

the time to be able to do live
Q and Q and A's after their

presentations so even though
you've seen their presentation

before you know it'll it'll
it'll be a much richer

experience for you because now
you'll be able to actually

engage with them and ask.
Questions that you might have

from before cuz last time we
were on such a time crunch that

we weren't able to address
everybody's questions so that's

that's the good news about
tomorrow. So the the tea Detox

Tea room, I highly recommend
that all of you be prepared to

participate in it cuz it's
gonna be a lot of fun. it's

gonna be much more than this
and you know drinking tea with

new tea friends. there's
actually going to be like a

choose your own adventure sort
of activity to get you to your

virtual tea room. We have 12
different hosts that we'll be

hosting different rooms and to
discover which room you want to

enjoy and enjoy. You will go
through a the virtual tea House

choose your own adventure. You
know path to find out what you

would like to do so I'm really
excited about that. I was gonna

kind of show it to you now, but
it seems that it's not ready

just yet. we'll have to wait
till tomorrow. It will be a

surprise. there is a link that
you can visit to sign up for.

For it and let me put that link
here. Now, if you sign up here,

we will remind you and give you
all the proper instructions

about how to enter the virtual
tea the virtual tea House.

And yeah, I'll I'll go ahead
and post that across our social

media as well so that you guys
have access to that and you can

just you know, enter your
information. it's mostly just

your email address so that way
it'll last time we've done the

Eventbrite sign up to make sure
that we could let everybody

know about the the broadcast
but you know now we're doing

this sign up, which is a lot
more secure as well Eventbrite.

so yeah. Go ahead and sign up
if you anticipate to join us

tomorrow for the Tea Talks
always lots of great

conversations going on there
and nice tea friends new

friends to meet from all over
the world.

So, yeah, I was talking about
degree of oxidation and tea and

how it affects the final
profile of the teeth when the

tea is lower and oxidation.
This is mostly applicable for

Oolong teas right cuz that's
the the category of tea that

has the most variation
depending on oxidation the

lower and oxidation the more
flowery the character will be

and that's in aroma. That's
also when it's texture. so it's

gonna be like a. Kind of like
fresh cut grass type of a

stringent and kind of roughness
to it versus a higher degree of

oxidation is going to be giving
you. Sweetness that of fruity,

you know fruity type of
sweetness. I think of like

stone fruits like pears are not
Paris. I'm sorry but like

peaches or you know fruits that
have like a deeper sweetness to

them. I always think about like
what happens to sugar when you

caramelize it. it's not the
same reaction that's happening

in oxidation of tea, but the
changes that. Are very similar

not exactly similar, but
they're very similar and that's

it's like darker in color. So
that's a similarity and that

the sweetness turns from like
this bright sweetness to this

like a deeper lower sweetness
almost bitter but not bitter

But that could be you know like
a. Tannins, which is something

completely different. So you
can see this. Brewed it's not

completely dark, but it's
pretty dark. a greener Huong

would be like more yellowy
color less more opaque. don't

know less opaque

Oh, my brother wants to come
in.

Let's see let's see what Mike
wants to talk about. Hey, Mike.

How are you doing? Like your
mic might be off.

It's a common issue with them.
Hey, Mike.

I can hear you now. alright,
How's it going. I'm good come

in to test the room for
tomorrow's commercial vessel

make sure everything's ready to
go. Yeah. Yeah. We're ready to

go. I wasn't I'm not
broadcasting in my puppet into

it. Just now I could I guess if
I turn it back on you want me

to try that that you like you
just select your own. put it

down to your. And select camera
and come right up No-I had to

turn the off. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
And that's always the issue.

What are you drinking today?
Mike? You're just oh nice.

Okay. Oh that's interesting. So
if I have this zoom camera on

and then if I turn the puppet
on then it works cuz that's

still working for you right. So
yeah, let's see I might be a

way for us to like just be able
to look at the camera within

the. The application to wear
that will work for them to

close it down.

Bye.

It's it's it's not letting me
come. You know you can't twist

is working properly. It's that
one 's working through.

The way you're planning to do
is zoom interaction. No no no,

so this is just like an extra
an extra of whistle. Yeah. It's

not working. I'm sure if we
could play with the system and

get it to work. For tomorrow,
yeah, I'm just gonna be doing

Zoom Rooms to. Capture people's
videos to answer the Q and a

portion.

Yeah. But the public look good.
I like it's a lot of fun. Yeah.

it's cool. Look very official.
Yeah. There's news-worthy.

As you post it to the team
planters so we'll see yeah see

if they find a news-worthy
enough. What is this dinosaur?

No? The dinosaur trying to
educate all the dinosaurs. It's

funny right. I was a lot of
money, though Huh

650 million dollars expected
lost so far. Yeah, it's like

just I mean you know you got
hit by this for three years ago

during the strike. so you know
it's like not let go. I guess

that's I guess this is gonna be
the worst the worst of it

current events, but yeah, I
don't know yeah the the strike

was you know a bigger a bigger
issue than this, but. Where can

you find links so Terri, I just
sent the links there on the

comments of the video for
signing up tomorrow to make

sure you get the emails and
notifications use this link. I

just posted it directly to you.
go to that link and fill in

your Email so that we can
contact you. I know it's a

little confusing that website
that we're taking you to is

it's a new platform. It's. Very
difficult to explain if if I

was to explain it all right
now, I would take you know it's

own show perhaps in the future
all I'll use the opportunity

here to explain what it is and
you know my enthusiasm for

participating in this website,
but it's it's a co-op. it's

it's a storytelling platform
and it's intended to be very

simple and very not consumer
facing. It's not meant to be

you know a fancy website to get
you to buy products. It's it's

a storytelling platform. so.
Very simple purpose just go to

that link and fill out the
form. It's a safe very secure

website and that website is
where that's virtual tea House.

Choose your own adventure
journey. we'll be hosted so

you'll become very familiar
with the flow of that website

as a storytelling platform.
It's pretty cool. It's like a

rabbit hole can take you very
deep into Different nodes of

information.

It's intended my goal to be
like a Post-it notes, kind of a

thing you know, so you you're
not meant to like write one big

page with all the information
all the like one article with

all the information you're
meant to share an idea and if

there's more to that idea that
you create a whole new page and

then share that idea and if
there's another idea after

that, then you'd create another
page and it kinda takes you.

This flow Which you know you
could end up spending hours

going through several different
memos. They're called memos. So

yeah, it's kind of like a post
it note.

So how's Austin doing? You know
they extended the the stay at

home until the fifteenth okay.
So you know they got the state

opened up, you know Austin
decided that to close down even

on the businesses. We're gonna
open up. you know they're

saying like movie theaters been
open up. They've you know they

decided not to so a lot of
businesses were already or

thinking about that. They were
also ahead of the game to when

they first started to shut down
because it's three days before

we're already doing it
themselves. So. Bye. Still the

same, but stores are doing like
curbside pick up so I'm about

to go to. To pick up an order
of Curbside, so a lot of retail

stores are offering that so if
you order online and then we

want to get there, you call
them and then you roll down

your back window. They throw it
in. So, yeah, if you have your

front windows that they don't
ask you to roll up the windows

and go for your back window
down and then they'll throw it

in there. Oh that's serious. So
like you know best buy was

doing that even during the
lockdown. So that's why you

know they were like one of the
businesses essential businesses

open. I can sort of see the
following and following that

model. The people who try to
walk up and go to the store and

people outside we're telling
them, but yet we're online and

curbside to bring the car. you
know. Yeah.

I wonder if that's gonna change
retail you know after all of

the stay at home, homeowners
are done, We go back to normal

if people are gonna become so
accustomed with the whole

curbside pickup thing. Yeah, I
think for the for the consumer

and they feel safer for the
store they feel safe. They were

for their employees. So I mean
that's a safety factor and why

wouldn't you know why I was.
Risk bringing people in and

then having to back and then we
keep keeping up on that. so.

This-we're for convenience,
too, I think people are gonna

become accustomed that
convenience of being able to

like not have to deal with
interacting with anybody or

walking around the place and
searching for what they want.

They can just do it on their
phone before they go and it's

ready for them to pick up.
Yeah, you for fast food is it's

happening here so we found
myself or the online and not in

the drive through, but you know
it's just tell them. I have

this online order and Tell you
the part and then somebody come

out and roll down your back.
And it keeps keeps you in a

little bubble. I think yeah, I
read some articles yesterday

that some of the fast food
chains are having supply chain

issues wendys in particular,
that was the main chain that

was mentioned in the article
that 20 percent of Wendy's

locations don't have any beef
anymore. So that's interesting.

Yeah, I keep her Peak's is the
local burger shop. I haven't

seen any issues there. so I
guess maybe just that Meet

distributor. Yeah. I mean you
might know more about this is

distribution of me. You know
comes from one processor. Yeah.

So Wendy is unique of all the
fast food restaurants and the

only reason why I know this is
because when I worked at Maze,

we made the patties from
Wendy's and the reason why. We

did that versus you know most
others are very centralized

place where the Patties get
frozen and then they can be

distributed everywhere but
Wendy's is unique in that they

have all fresh patties so
that's why they they work with

the distributed network of
processors that will make the

patties for them. The patties,
of course, come from frozen

meat, but like from when the
patty gets. To the Wendy's,

it's not frozen so that might
be why there's some supply

chain issues is because you
know a lot of those smaller

scale meat processors. More
localized meat processors are

having issues with keeping up
with the demand. I said for a

small towns where there is only
a wendys or maybe one other

place to eat. So I mean that
could that could suck, but

they're not Austin there's but
Tristan to to select from so

yeah or you can just cook every
meal you know, and that doesn't

suck at all. I think you know
like I don't know if people are

considering that enough, you
know that that is viable

option. Are you doing a lot of
cooking? Michael You're trying

to to make some stuff from
scratch trying to? There's

other professionals that do a
lot better than me that you

know I enjoy and you know it's
been about three weeks since I

went to the store and before
then, so it's five weeks six

weeks ago when I went to the
store and stock up for two

weeks and then once that ran
I'm supporting the local

restaurants again. So.

Well, this is come up a couple
of times in our live videos

that some businesses are saying
that they're actually Losing

money being open, you know so I
don't know if like saying that

we're supporting the local
restaurant by by demanding you

know curbside pickup is the
right you know. it's the right

perspective. And I think it's
their choice. You know that I

feel like you know they make
that choice because they want

to feed people. So yeah exactly
so that's that's the reason why

they're open, They're open as a
service to the community And

they also want to keep their
employees employees. so yeah,

you know having to cut the
majority of their stuff so

those people that they employ
helps and being the people. so

you know, it's a it's a way to
you know advertise you know. I

mean, yeah. it's hard. You
can't remember that hey, this

person was open the whole time
knowing that they lost money.

So yeah. Here are some people
to to you know so hopefully

with all that stimulus check
that everybody has you know

push that one yeah, hopefully
they have left over from you

know having pay their rent or
whatever bills.

Yes, it seems like a lot of
people that you know in my

apartment complex around like a
lot of people work remotely.

There's a lot of tech right. A
lot of tech jobs in Austin,

which is really feasible to But
then whenever the market

effects like Uber, for
instance, is starting to lay

off people not just drivers are
suffering, but they're actually

like tech employees cuz you
know the market is affecting

their business. But just gives
us more time to be

entrepreneurial. Yeah. You know
they, they were trying some

things you're like the lips
they were trying to do like

deliver stuff for you know like
well. I wanna send this to you

know Grandma or send this
somewhere. Yeah. This is where

business to business
deliveries. Yeah. We're just a

supplement by you know you know
new services like that. who

eats you know they tried a
little bit so I don't think

Gore's to do well here and I'll
send some like a. More on the

market share that there's still
still trying. Yeah. There's did

you see that viral thing from
last week, We're a restaurant

owner shared their report from
their Grubhub accounts showing

you know how many sales were
made, and then all the fees

broken down how much money
actually made it back to the

restaurant. The restaurant had
done like. Eight hundred and 50

in sales and then received only
like a hundred and 30 or even

something like 38 dollars,
something really bad. It was a

really bad. There was so many
fees on top of it. A lot of

restaurant owners are trying to
encourage people to to try to

order directly from the
restaurant so that way they

can. And it's good that
restaurants are we doing that

you know, they're understanding
the cost and I see that I guess

there's other services out
there that are that can bring

the menus online and for a lot
cheaper and not taking this.

Yeah. I mean the issue is the
discoverability right. That's

always the issue. It's like why
you choose to use one platform

or another is that one is going
to expose you to more customers

and help with your marketing
and it does so. To grow up and

I can find you find restaurants
are open. It's everything

Google as far as like you know
the times of dating, so you

just use it as a search engine
and then you go directly to the

door. Okay. that's good. I
don't think most people are

doing that. Yeah, this is a
thing you know, but you know to

understand that the food that
they take and you can go to

their website. More of it's
gonna go to the restaurant. So

that's interesting. Yeah.
Whenever I like once a week, I

get a message from Uber Eats
giving me like promo codes.

Postmates give me a promo code.
So that's something else to you

know is that the the services
are making it like really

affordable for the consumer
like attracting the consumer to

to use their platform of course
cuz they end up making so much

so much money off of the
transaction. Some of the

restaurants I know they they
just upcharge. Yeah. Yeah and

then when they go and see the
menu there at the window they

go. Okay. Next time you know
so. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's all

you know. yeah somebody from
out of town. Just want a quick

bite to eat there. I'm not
gonna waste another two to five

minutes to go around it so it
is go with it. Yeah, that one.

You know here in Vegas,
something that's taken off.

There's a company here called
Secret Burger started by you

know a local food entrepreneur
that like would do like special

one -off like off menu items
and create like a special event

for releasing that menu item
just having like a special

tasting or whatever and so, of
course, they can't do those

events anymore cuz there's no
dining in but this. Has started

working with the chefs within
their networks to create this

like cook with chefs so and so
at home and so you order it and

you go pick up your kit from
the restaurant and it has like

all these bags and containers
of all the ingredients that

you'll use and then they they
do like a professional Facebook

live video. so Esther was doing
that. Esther's did one yes, you

know all the high profile
restaurants here in town are

doing it all the high profile
chefs are doing it. it's pretty

incredible. Because it's very
pricey for like cooking your

own. you know and so it makes
me think like how are they so

successful in getting people
and a lot of it has to do with

just the kind of like following
that the chefs have and I think

that says a lot about the value
of a restaurant is not just the

food itself that you eat. if
you go to the restaurant and

you can eat this food and leave
it's like eating at the.

Restaurant makes you a part of
this community. It makes you a

part of this following of this
personality that you look up to

and respect so you know it's
been kind of fascinating seeing

that it's caused me to ask a
lot of questions you know cuz

Kerry at the intuitive for or
Farmers Market Downtown. you

know I'd offered her to help
promote her boxes so for like

the same price of like getting
one of these cooking kits from

one of these chefs for like a
single serving of one dish, you

can get a whole box. I will
feed you for like two weeks,

three meals a day and so I told
her I'm like hey, I'm gonna do

it. I did that you know all
those dishes that I was sharing

photos of I actually like films
cooking all of them with the

the Canon and the tripod in the
kitchen. they have all of that

footage and I wanna put it
together into like a series of

videos of like Here's how
everything in this box can be

cooked and there's like 15
different dishes that I made I

give it a try right, so I hope
that's cool. I mean, yeah, I

mean. that's why why not here's
the box of 70 bucks and here's

some some recipes and some how
to videos of what you can do

with it. You know we'll work
with this type of ingredients

before so. yeah. So yeah that
that's gonna be my project next

week After this, you know
virtually fest tomorrow. I'm

gonna take a little breather
for a few days and then I'm

gonna jump on that project and
try my hand at some. Editing

cuz it's a lot of video. It's
it's a lot but Then you know

like I don't I don't have the
same foodie following that this

really popular chefs have but
maybe it's something that I can

develop you know just through
social media, creating some fun

engaging videos and we
encourage people to. Cook for

themselves.

Well, hopefully these people
that are buying the boxes will

provide their email address so
that you can you can promote

some of ideas. Yeah. Get them
to share and I'll just make

people more aware of this. I
think it's a really good idea.

Yeah great community like I'm
assuming that people that have

already bought this box. We're
already you know a farmer's

market customers that are
already know how to cook their

stuff and already have their
own practice and everything so

they don't really need someone
like me to come in and tell

them how to cook their
vegetables. what I wanna target

this to. Is the people that
never thought about shopping at

a farmer's market or never
thought that they you know

could have the confidence to
make a really interesting dish

with a bunch of greens or
something but I think like

tapping into that community
that already exists and

encouraging them to help
cocreate the content and the

ideas could be really
interesting because then

they'll wanna share it to their
networks and say hey look I'm

like contributing to this. This
interactive cookbook come check

out what I've done you know
could expose it to to more

people. Cuz I think people that
like to cook want they also

have a similar a similar
passion like I do for like

empowering others to cook more,
but maybe they don't know how

to or maybe they're afraid that
they'll be like that annoying

friend. That's like you know
you're vegan friend. That's

always talking to you about how
important being vegan is it

doesn't have to be that way it
could be like really fun and

you know like in all the
different. I made were like not

hippie raw vegan dishes like
you know I was making like

decadent food like food that
people you know would be just

comfort food and you know
things that that people normal

people non farmers market
people would normally go for so

yeah, This is a farmer's market
project here in Las Vegas. Our

friend Keri Cosby has a company
called intuitive for she's been

growing this company. Years and
years and years and all along

the California Coast of
different farmers collecting

their produce and transporting
it here to Vegas to sell to all

of the like fancy restaurants
on the Strip and you know

several years into building
that company she launched a

farmer's market so that all of
the surplus from her restaurant

sales could be shared with the
community and then recently.

She's developed a box so it's
like Super easy. It's a simple

website. you just go in and
there's two options. I think

they're trying to add a couple
of more but just a small box

and a big box and you can
either have a delivery or

curbside pickup. so yeah, I
think it's like so much less

stressful than going to the
grocery store cuz you know the

grocery stores are still
pretty. I think that's what

attracted to me, you know cuz
yeah, you know. I really for

me, I've been trying to avoid
the grocery store. I think

that's one of the Corona is.
Well, that and just and just

like the politics, the
community politics that are

just I don't know how it is in
Austin, but here is pretty bad

and and there's a story in
Michigan, where someone

actually got shot. You know
where you know different people

have different ideas and
perspectives about how we're

supposed to be protecting
ourselves and protecting the

community from our germs. and
so it's like it's a combination

of like dirty looks and you
know like judgments and all of

that and then does. Is just
feeling overwhelmed with all

the chaos and anxiety of being
out in public and then there's

other people that like they're
just going to the grocery store

every day cuz it's just
something to do. There's the

there's a lot going on the
farmers market is very chill.

I've gone there. I think four
times during the pandemic and

every time I've gone, it's been
like really low traffic and

It's definitely politics about
face mask and all of that there

too, because some of the folks
at the farmers market are very

aggressive opinions about how
it affected face masks are and

how much of a conspiracy this
whole thing is government

conspiracy to to gain control.
So I don't know I kinda feel

like regardless of your opinion
on that, you know, I think

you're you're welcome to to
have those ideas. There's a lot

of valid arguments and
anecdotal evidence that

supports that. But you know
this is about solidarity with

the community and in creating a
supportive environment for the

community. and so I think that
should come first to be beyond

any personal ideas that we have
about. you know the politics of

what we're dealing with right
now, you know, I think it's

just enough to be. It's like
wearing a seat belt. Yeah, I

mean I know Michael. there's is
a very strong demographic of

our. That does not want that
they feel like they're civil

liberties are taken when we get
to that point. so it'll be very

defiance and it's just creating
more and more conflict and

divide and let's get to me.
It's like let's just build some

harmony first and then we can
move on from there. I think

hopefully they're ones will be
on it and we'll make a

mandatory and hopefully they'll
do it in a proper way. people

will get trained and ideas for
will change. you know those

people that don't wanna wear.
We'll find that they won't go

to fly. Yeah. Well, I'll be the
first the absolute first step

would be if our leaders were to
touch it even if it's not

required. It's just like, okay
our President or whatever every

time we see him on TV, he
wearing one okay. That's it.

That's the culture. It's it''s.
He's gonna hear it today. I'm

sure from reporters just like
how it pss. When you went to

the Mayo Clinic, yes, it means
a lot you can't, you know you

should learn from it. You
can't, but they're probably

doing it out of defiance. just
like what I said. It's like

they don't know for sure that's
him. Yeah. That's it. There's

like no like yes. that's fake
news. This reporter is just

trying to you know low blow me
right now like this is not

important and it's like that
doesn't matter what matters now

is like solidarity and creating
a culture to get us over this

like. It's it's interesting I
just wish it was only that

didn't have it all cuz that's
where that's where I think it's

hit hardest this, but every
sees everybody else wearing an

except for him. That's when
yeah, that's when it's most

most effective, you know. is
like the

you know something even more
yeah yeah thank you

it's crazy If you don't like
wearing a mask, just don't go

out, that's my opinion on it. I
don't like wearing the mask so

I just don't go out and if I do
go out, I've got to the grocery

store. one time I finally went
and yeah, I wore a mask the

whole time and when I saw
people without a Mass, I didn't

get them dirty looks, but I'm
thinking that this is

interesting like I would feel
so insecure. If I didn't have a

mask on right now, I feel so
insecure that everybody's

judging me and that everybody's
hating me right now, you know

so someone that's not wearing a
mask cuz like that was yeah.

The first four weeks I had a
burning those pretty scarves.

Oh, yeah, you know, it's it's
pretty big. You know. it's like

it's hard hard to breathe and I
was like cuz it was so much.

Yeah, you know the massive and
make it hard to breathe. So but

on the the controversy point
you know I discovered a new a

new website by the CDC. that's
I feel like. Completely just

downplays all of the arguments
for controversy or. Being a

conspiracy is that and I don't
know why no one ever talked

about this before like all of
the different countries health

organizations have records of
burials of like official deaths

and this is like years and
years of data and they can

create models to predict how
many expected deaths and across

the board at the end of more.
Every country's expected death

like the the death number like
superseded it significantly and

the numbers almost match the
same. You know pronounce you

know, Covid- 19 deaths. so it's
like that data should be enough

to let people know this is real
like this is not lying.

hospitals are not lying just to
make more money like no one 's

making money on this. not a
single person is making money.

The only people making money
are the ones that are

like newly. In stocks and and
you know other stuff that's at

a lower price right now, no one
's making money I

don't understand. Now look how
they're they're using like the

high resolution images of the
satellite imagery to determine

what the best you know. so you
know, I think we'll we'll know

soon enough. You know the full
impact of this. Yeah. I don't

think yeah, I don't think that
we have to rely on the numbers

of of of death certificates.
Let's say Covid- 19 on it. We

can just use a process of
elimination to be like. okay.

This is how many hard-hearted.
We're expecting this is how

many you know accident deaths.
we're expecting and this is how

many deaths that actually
happened, and that number

doesn't lie like no one 's
claiming that number is a lot

people are claiming that the
the attributed cause is the lie

but anyway. Moral of the story
is we should all take this very

seriously and you know,
regardless of what your opinion

is on what's going on with most
important is solidarity and you

know just supporting our
community and if someone's

giving you a dirty look at the
grocery store, it's not because

they're a jerk. It's it's you
know it's you gotta understand

their perspective of what
they're thinking you know,

they've told by their leaders
and we have to do. So then

they're confused like why you
know anyway. Yeah, it feels

much better to walk around with
the with that it does. Yeah,

you feel more secure you know
not health wise, but just like

no one 's judging you or no one
's like don't feel like you're

a jerk If people are gonna get
over this, You know cuz it's

give me the community that's
gonna do it yeah. I don't think

wearing a mask so I just stay
home and I am pretty happy with

Home' Mike. Well, I think I'm
gonna sign off get to work get

ready for tomorrow but thanks
for your help today. Thanks for

having to you with me to
connect happy to see you've got

your your teeth your tea-table
flow in there in your living

room. Yeah, it was every now
and then I was I've seen so

much of it right now. To keep
you know, you'll be watching

next thinko and get back to
work more coding. What are your

codding right now? go to nine
and interactive kiosks? Okay

well like Museum. One of the a
lot of animals to go through.

Well, you have a good time.
cool. Good luck for tomorrow.

Yeah. Thanks. yeah. yeah,
hopefully don't let the

controls get here. Yeah. Yeah.
Well. that's why I'm trying to

be the puppet you know so yeah
they can attack the puppet if

they want not me personally,
you're pretty good. You're

pretty good at not feeding the
trolls so you could be fun.

Alright Mike. Have a good
night.