Jeff Bell & Richard Betts at Please Don't Tell | Standing Table

**Jeff Bell** (0:00)
Some people are drinking less, but they're also drinking better. Like Richard just said, I was drinking my face off. And a lot of people in the early 20s aren't doing that the same way, which I think is also good for me as an operator of nice places.

**Dan** (0:10)
Is luxury the place to be right now? If you were to do it all over again, where do you think the best opportunity is to make money doing it?

**Richard Betts** (0:17)
Being authentic in some way or another and figure out what is it that makes you tick, and does that intersect with the opportunity curve. And I think that the authenticity is an absolutely essential ingredient.

**Guy** (0:28)
When you see like a Sammy Hagar years ago, Cabo Wabba, does that offend you at a certain level? No.

**Richard Betts** (0:34)
And you know what? I fucking fived a Sammy. Like he brought that shit before anybody. I mean, that was what? The first celebrity alcohol, actually.

**Dan** (0:42)
He is not a Van Hagar guy.

**Guy** (0:43)
Are you a Van Halen guy? Please tell me. Just lie to me and say yes.

**Richard Betts** (0:46)
But it was better with David.

**Guy** (0:48)
Of course it was. Thank you.

**Dan** (0:50)
New York City, the finance capital of the world. It has more ambition than one tiny island can handle.

**Guy** (0:57)
And it's not a bad place to get a bite to eat either. For three decades, we've made it here on the markets, calling our shots and always speaking our minds. But the best conversations happen across the table.
So pull up a chair while we break bread with founders, CEOs and creators, all in the iconic spots that define the greatest city on earth. This is Standing Table.

**Dan** (1:26)
Presented by Apex Fintech Solutions.

**Guy** (1:31)
Today we're in the East Village having ourselves some teenies and weenies. Let me explain.
Inside Crip Dogs, through a secret phone booth entrance, we find Please Don't Tell, one of the most iconic cocktail bars in New York City.

**Dan** (1:47)
This speakeasy earned the title of World's Best Bar in 2011 and was the first ever James Beard Award Winner for Outstanding Bar Program in 2012
With secret doors, world-class cocktails and some of the wildest hot dog collaborations you've ever seen, you can't keep a place like this secret for long. Proving once again that people do in fact tell.

**Guy** (2:10)
PDT is currently run by award-winning bartender Jeff Bell. Jeff started as a bar back in 2010 and he now owns the place. How about that?

**Dan** (2:21)
He joins us alongside Richard Betts, one of the leading voices in wine and spirits. There are fewer than 300 master sommeliers in the entire world and Richard was one of them.

**Guy** (2:30)
If that wasn't impressive enough, he's also built some of the most distinctive brands in the industry, including Sombra Mezcal, Astral Tequila and most recently Tequila Komos.

**Dan** (2:47)
All right, we're gonna have a little fun here, because Guy needs to hear about the business of speakeasies and luxury tequila, because he's just still stuck on brown water on the rocks. Are you neat, are you neat, or are you on the rocks?

**Guy** (2:59)
I'm brown water on the rocks, but this is an amazing place. Thanks for having us, guys.

**Dan** (3:03)
It's awesome.

**Guy** (3:04)
When I was a kid on Sesame Street, there was this gig they did called One of These Things Is Not Like the Other.
Take a look at what's going on here. You got me with the tie, and you three all dressed in black. Then you are the modern version of Johnny Cash. What's going on?

**Dan** (3:18)
You didn't get the memo about Dressed Up Friday. No, I got the memo. By the way, Jeff doesn't normally let people in with a suit and tie.

**Guy** (3:24)
Nor should he.

**Dan** (3:25)
It's an equal opportunity situation, but you just fucking look like a dud.

**Guy** (3:28)
No. Well, but that's my look. It's sort of my uniform.

**Dan** (3:32)
Yeah. Jeff, give it to us, maybe. How did you come up with this thing?

**Jeff Bell** (3:35)
I'm not the originator of this business, so I can't take that credit, but I've been here since 2010 Krift Dogs opened in 2001 by Brian Shibaro, and then the bar opened in 7 I started here three years after that, and spent my time here, but all started as hot dogs, and then there was a Bubble Tea Lounge here that went out of business.

**Dan** (3:53)
You know Bubble Tea?

**Guy** (3:54)
Yeah, I used to go there all the time.