NYSE Texas: Buda Juice CEO Horatio Lonsdale-Hands on Ultra Fresh Growth

**Brian Daniel** (0:12)
From Dallas, Texas, welcome Inside the ICE House podcast. I'll be your host today. I'm Brian Daniel, president of NYSE Texas. I'm joined today by Horatio Lonsdale-Hands. He's the co-founder and CEO of Buda Juice, a company here in Texas. Horatio, welcome. Thanks for coming on with us today.

**Horatio Lonsdale-Hands** (0:31)
Thank you very much, Brian. And wow, what surroundings.

**Brian Daniel** (0:34)
Well, we wanted a piece of historic Texas, and we found it here at the Longhorn Ballroom here in Dallas, a music venue that's just packed with history, and Texas has a lot of cool history, and I think we're on the verge of what looks like a brand new chapter in Texas, this time in the business community.

**Horatio Lonsdale-Hands** (0:51)
It's amazing. You know, when I moved here in 1988, there was the SNL crisis, the oil crisis, restaurants were going dark. I mean, it was a tough time.
And yet, look at it now. It's exploding. I think there were 2.7 million people living in the Metroplex. And I think there's now, what, over eight?

**Brian Daniel** (1:12)
That's right.

**Horatio Lonsdale-Hands** (1:13)
Eight and a half, something like that. I mean, this is the place everyone wants to come.

**Brian Daniel** (1:18)
And when you think about that, like when you think about the Texas business, we would say Texas business climate, when you think about where we are now and you think about where it's come since 88, what are your thoughts about that? If we zoom out to that 30,000 foot view, if we're gonna describe that to somebody who's not here, who's not been a part of it, how do we describe that to them?

**Horatio Lonsdale-Hands** (1:44)
Well, the environment, it's like the Old West. I mean, I've done business on the East Coast and the West Coast, there's nothing like Texas. It's all done still on the gut and a handshake. It's really incredible. The people here are amazing.
I'm actually, now we're listed on, dual listing on the New York Stock Exchange in Texas. I'm a Texan.

**Brian Daniel** (2:09)
Yeah, that's right, that's right.

**Horatio Lonsdale-Hands** (2:10)
And also, you know, I've been broke twice in my life. Once was a young man in Paris. Looking back at it, that wasn't too bad.
And the second time was in 1989 in dark Texas. It was very tough because it was the summer and it was very, very, very hot. And I moved here from California. And yet, the people made it okay. And I had a lot of friends of pioneers back then, of very successful business people, who also went broke. And I feel like I'm part of the club now.

**Brian Daniel** (2:45)
You know, you mentioned 1989 Now, that's just not that long ago. And yet, a few years have gone by since 89
But I don't think a lot of people who don't have this experience steeped in Texas probably appreciate economically how dire it was in Texas in the middle to late 80s. And if you think about just what the state has done from both an economic and business perspective in the 30 or so years that we're talking about, some have called it the Texas miracle, but I don't think it was a miracle. I think it was just a lot of hard work on the part of a lot of people.

**Horatio Lonsdale-Hands** (3:27)
If you know the uptown area, I believe there was the Crescent, which Caroline Hunt, the family, developed, and then the Rolex building. That was it. And it was really rough back then. But yeah, the pioneer of the Texans, and right now, I think the rest of the world is realizing how extraordinary the state is. Of course, JR put it on the map, you know? I knew Larry Hagman back then in the 80s when he was filming, and he really was like a true Texan.
And that's based on real people. It's amazing, you know?

**Brian Daniel** (4:03)
Well, and I hear from friends in Europe that they still see reruns of Dallas in a lot of Europe, and I find that absolutely amazing.

**Horatio Lonsdale-Hands** (4:10)
It's incredible. Wherever I go. I was in Japan recently for spring break, and they talk about it there, and in Europe, they say, ah, JR, JR And they come here, and they go and see South Fork, and it's like this tiny little house with a small swimming pool.

**Brian Daniel** (4:24)
They think, ay, ya, ya. That's somewhat of a wedding venue these days. I mean, people are using it for that.

**Horatio Lonsdale-Hands** (4:29)
No, I mean, this state has exploded. It's very pro-business.
My only fear is, you know, all these Californians and New Yorkers and everyone moving here, I hope they don't change the environment, because look what happened in California. I mean, you know, it's what, they had what, a $40 billion deficit, and Texas has a what, a $40 billion surplus, you know, it's just the way you run it.