Mark Huizenga: Well, this is another Conversations with Mark podcast. I'm really excited to have with me today, Johnny Brand, pretty much a legacy. If you're from Grand Rapids, you know the brand name. Restaurants all over the place, but it's got deep seated history. Johnny, can you tell us a little bit about your family and the restaurants and maybe how they got started? I know it's not as easy as like one person owns one restaurant. It's a little bit complicated. So can you walk us through that a little bit? Yeah, sure. And thanks for having me. It's a real honor to be here today. Yeah, thank you. So Brands actually started as a concept called the Stag Bar back in 1935. And it was right downtown Grand Rapids, Oaks and Division. And it was a male only bar back then. My grandpa and my great uncle Tom started it together. It converted into the Porter House Room about five to eight years later, somewhere in there. It was a long time ago. So the Porter House Room was a really well known steakhouse, more higher end. And that existed through the fifties. And then in 1960, my grandpa stumbled across a cut of meat in Chicago called the sizzler steak. And he opened a brand steak house in 1960 on Burton Heights and Burton division there. And that's how brands brands started. He was selling sizzlers and you would get really excited because it's a certain cut and a certain aging process and you know, how he does, how he did the meat and he would sell. Maybe 25 a night and it would get really excited. But then in 1967, he started selling eight or 900 a night because the Grand Rapids Herald did a story. that's how our legacy started. Yeah, that's incredible. Your organization, you have branched out a lot and took the brand's name and I have to look at the list because there's a lot here, but you've got Kitchen 67 on the East Belt line. You've got the brand's restaurants we just talked about. The Duck Pen Bowling, that's Also really cool. But you know, we're here sitting today in your office, a natural trajectory from all these great restaurants to an office furniture dealership. Hayworth dealership. Tell us a little bit about the restaurants you have and why they're different and how you chose to go down a different pathway with some different naming. And obviously they have different demographics and things you're targeting, but what exactly is going on with those? Yeah, sure. Well, thank you. Kitchen 67 was, I opened that up, it'll be 15 years in August. And that was an opportunity to do something a little bit different with the brand's name or our brand's concept. I wanted to do something to branch out a little bit, get a little more innovative with some of the design and concepts of the menu. Brands is such a staple in the community. If you change something, regular customers will say, what are you doing to brands? Don't mess with my menu. So that gave us opportunity to get a little more innovative with some of the products and that allowed us to use that as a test kitchen for putting new menu items onto brands food or drink. So really served as that purpose. it worked out well. So yeah, I enjoy doing that. That benefits both brands, BRA and DS. And then I opened Woodrow's Duck Pin. It's a bar down in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. I'm opening a second one in Florida and the village is coming up here in June. Cool. So that's coming. But is that's the... I mean, I've seen the duck pin on the East Coast, the shorter... I mean, it's not like you're going to the wangers or the click and, you know, throwing a regular ball. It's very different. Exactly. Yeah. Smaller ball, shorter pins, shorter lanes, no bowling shoes. Yeah. And really, all demographics enjoy it because older... older folks who are bowlers can still play it, you know, if they maybe had some other challenges and health challenges. But we get people of all demographics, families, big corporate parties. It was really an opportunity to take that space in the Emily Graham Plaza and do something fun with it again. used to be Tootsie Van Kelly's. I remember. Yeah. so I was a real honor to bring that space back to something with entertainment, entertainment venue. And it served to be a really interesting model because it's just bowling, the duck pin bowling. and the alcohol sales. And with that, we allow people to come in with their own food or cater it from other restaurants. And it works really well. And it's an interesting business model because I've always ran regular traditional restaurants. And this really performs really well from a profitability standpoint. Well, it's exactly the opposite of what you think of as a restaurant. Exactly. Yeah. So it's fun to start. So you've been in the business for a long time. You've seen restaurants change a lot. Obviously the COVID made a big impact. Restaurants all shut down. It was a terrible time for restaurants and then frankly, all of us in Michigan and across the country. But right now we continue to see the slide in demographics, less people available to work, challenges with inflation, higher prices of everything, whether it's gas or your electric bill at home or your heating bill, people feel the heat of inflation. And yet you guys still work really hard to make sure that there's an affordable meal for people. And I guess one of the things that I always think about the brands is like, people oftentimes have memories of like, went to brands for such and such event, because you try to keep it family friendly, a place for people to go and to still maintain affordability. Yes, that's right. Yeah, it's been really the reason our concept really was successful is because my grandpa started the concept with the idea that a blue collar worker could afford us a steak dinner. And so we've really worked hard to hold true to that still to this day. It is definitely more challenging now today than it really ever has been before. We have really strong partnerships with our vendors and manufacturers and people that we work directly with on our products, which goes a long way because we are able to help to mitigate some of those costs just because we have a good volume and those relationships matter. So we can compete with national chains with our pricing because of the great volume that we have and we've been around such a long time with our loyalty to their companies. So that supports that a lot for us. So nonetheless, it's a struggle to make sure that we still run a strong business and honor that today. It's been more difficult than before. Yeah, for sure. Can you talk a little bit about the office furniture business? You're a Hayworth dealer. West Michigan is Office Furniture. Hayworth has an incredibly good name here. You know, when I was in college, I was a truck driver and I used to go to Hayworth all the time delivering mostly just, you know, things like plastic laminate and fiberboard, particle board and stuff like that. So I've been to all these facilities over the years. But how is it that you chose to get into the office furniture side of things? Great question. So, I sit on some community boards. One of them is the Economic Club of Grand Rapids. And I'm the membership chair still today. And back nine, 10 years ago now, Franco Bianchi was the chairman of the Economic Club, CEO of Hayworth. So we were friends and got to know each other. And one day he called me and asked me to come out to Holland to have dinner with him. And so I said, of course, you know, I'd be happy to. Didn't know what I was, you know, I thought we were just catching up. And within the first couple minutes, know, Frank was a, you know, bold personality and you know, he's got a direct very direct Italian gentleman. And he said, so I want you to buy interface. He's like, that's what I want you to do. I said, okay, all right. Sure. What is it? Yeah. So know what it was. But so we ended up working together. Um, what, what was really interesting and fun for me, Hey, we're a very large family business, but a family business. I of course, I'm very, uh, very well aware of family business. So we aligned in values immediately. Just the way the Hayworth family conducts themselves in the community, they want a long-term commitment. Somebody who knew, had relationships and knew the community that was going to be established and willing to tell the story of how Hayworth has been around for a very long time. And Dick and Matthew Hayworth is still families, ownership that's in the building every day. And so it was was a real honor for me to have the opportunity to purchase Interphase. And that's that took a little bit of doing after about a year of working with the seller of the business. But I was very fortunate to make make the purchase. Yeah, that's cool. Great story. You mentioned the Econ Club. This podcast is really about taking away the mystery of a lot of things. And so people may have heard about the Econ Club, but what it is is oftentimes mysterious. I can tell you firsthand that I've experienced the econ club. like to go every year. Okay. Nerd alert. I like to go to the, the, the economic outlook report every year. like to go to that one. And, it's not, it's not like it's the country club. lots of people go, have a good meal, but there's great lectures that happen. But one of my favorite things is that, that actual economic projection. And in fact, when I was a, the mayor of city Walker, I had always used that report to help me. guide our strategic plans for the year for our budgeting to say like, Hey, I actually saw these guys from this ITR company talking about three over three and 12 over 12. And here's the trends and here's what we should look for. Here's how we can help with our budgeting. And so the econ club isn't just a place for people to go and have social experience and have a nice meal. There's really great information that comes out of that, that I think makes our city and region better, a better place. And I'll tell you this, I still go to that because I sit on the appropriations committees in the city and the state of Michigan and knowing the budget and what the economic forecast looks like here, Michigan and nationally, it matters. And so sometimes I might have a contra point. You sit on a bunch of other boards you said too. What other boards do you sit on? Yeah. Well, I really enjoy, I love our community and you know, there's been so many amazing people that have done so much beyond their own businesses and building their own family businesses. so I'm, I'm following in footsteps, but, the economic club of grand rapids, the West Michigan policy forum, the grand action 2.0, the corridor authority board for the west side of grand rapids, coral health foundation board, the Ford foundation board, the coral health, the Ford museum. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Our hometown hero. That's right. Yep. Yep. It's, it's a really amazing board because on that board you have. I mean, Dick Cheney was on it until he recently passed Liz Cheney's on. mean, there's Donna Rumsfeld was on. I mean, there's some really amazing, you know, figures from, uh, from politics from around the nation and then some really amazing families, you know, here in town and people that are in business here. Um, yeah. And a few others, talent first and, um, the Kent County futures council and I chair the, uh, Coralwell health board each year. So the Coralwell health gala board each year. right. The one observation I have is those are all about. boards to not enrich you, but to make our community a better place to live and work. And organizations like Grand Action, all part of things like the soccer stadium, things like the Atkinshire Amphitheater, historically other big venues that people like you give back to their community because you care and you want to make West Michigan a better place to live, work and play. And so thank you for that. And for everyone else that serves on those boards. Grand Rapids is actually a really special place because there are so many people that care. And one of the comments I made to somebody early on when I was the first guy in the House of Representatives was the fact that the people that really care, that sit on these boards, they spend time also talking with their legislators. And I think oftentimes like, by these, you know, some of these people are really rich. They probably have lot of other things that are really important going on, but why would they talk to legislators? Because they care about our state. They want to care about good policies. And I'm sure those are all the same reasons why you continue to serve our community on all those different boards to make our community better. Thank you for that. Well, thank you. It's an honor to do it. you know, it's to your point, it's really interesting in this community that it's all it's been a culture that's, you know, been cultivated over the last 40 to 50 years from a lot of these these leaders that have really built Grand Rapids and West Michigan. And it's a culture of not just writing a check, but also sitting in a chair at the table with each other. Absolutely. Stepping up and actually doing the work, not just saying, I'll write you a check, but saying, I'll pay attention. We'll keep this project going and we're going to find ways to get it done no matter what. And you and other people in these community organizations have come to legislature and say, here's what we think and here's what's next. And you kind of get this seal of approval because you've got such an incredible track record of creating venues that are successful, whether it's using county bonding, what have you. What we have here is really special. It is yes. Do you have a personal or meaningful story from? Any of your businesses or restaurants that you think really exemplifies the specialness of your organizations or maybe just even of why West Michigan is special Well, thanks for asking, you know, there's so many stories from brands, you know for you know, almost in business You know since the stag bar 90 95 years or so And even with Interphase and Woodrose and Kitchen 67, I would say honestly, there's numerous stories of having the ability to employ people and really get to know those people and they become family in all the businesses that I've had and my family's had involvement in. I can think of so many stories where there's been funerals that we've had employees that have for maybe their parent that passed away. And they may not have the ability to really give a good funeral and we're able to step up and help those employees that need in time of need to provide a great funeral for their family. My family's done that quite a bit with a lot of employees that we've had giving back to the community, just having profits important. So we can make a profit and then have the ability to give back. we do that often and we do it quietly, but we'll do it because it really does make a difference whether it's with a Helen DuVall Children's Hospital and just providing gift certificates for to our restaurants for families that have their child in the hospital for maybe months. Yeah, extended stays and they need they need a night out or you know, to the point of the soccer stadium or the new Joan Secchi Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, you'll be able to give a larger cash donation to something like that. That's very meaningful and we'll or serve kids that are in need. Or just the amphitheater or soccer stadium, that's just going to be great venues in town. So I think having the ability to do that, that's really an amazing benefit of having businesses, being able to employ people, being able to hopefully run a good business and have some good profitability and then doing other things within the community. Yeah. Johnny Brown, thank you for your service. Thank you for making our community a better place and thanks for taking time to join our podcast today. Thanks for having me, Senator. Appreciate it. you.