“You’re Getting Scammed!” Joshua Weissman Reveals How Restaurants REALLY Make Money

Graham Stephan (0:00)

So you started out as an overweight teenager who loved food, and now you're a shredded, rich, successful YouTuber with 10 million subscribers. How much time is realistically needed to get to a decently impressive home chef?

Joshua Weissman (0:11)

I didn't go to culinary school. I worked in restaurants, in real life scenarios, learning real life techniques and tricks.

Jack Selby (0:17)

Where's the land source? What's the worst thing you've seen in a restaurant? State officials today are looking to address the growing issue of substance use within the restaurant and hospitality industry.

Joshua Weissman (0:28)

There have been people that I've worked with who were like, and then one day, they just disappeared. Someone was standing up with their chef knife. The person stood up and turned into their knife. They got rushed to the hospital, got stitched up, went back to service.

Graham Stephan (0:40)

How much money do you think your restaurant is going to make?

Joshua Weissman (0:42)

I have no idea. I mean, how much does Gordon Ramsay make on this restaurant? It's like $200 million a year. This is my new restaurant, which officially opens today, and it's called Ben and Lynn's.

Graham Stephan (0:51)

What's the most you've ever paid for a meal?

Joshua Weissman (0:53)

One of the most expensive ones was for you guys.

Jack Selby (0:54)

I wouldn't say it's phenomenal. Not my cup of tea. It's too buttery.

What is the biggest mistake that you have made?

Graham Stephan (1:08)

Joshua Weissman, thank you so much for coming on The Iced Coffee Hour.

Joshua Weissman (1:10)

Oh, thank you for having me. Happy to be back.

Graham Stephan (1:12)

So you started out as an overweight teenager who loved food and now you're shredded, rich, successful YouTuber with 10 million subscribers.

Jack Selby (1:19)

Jesus Christ. He did this intro, and the first thing I said was Jack.

Graham Stephan (1:24)

I'm like, I actually kind of like it.

Joshua Weissman (1:26)

That's so funny.

Jack Selby (1:26)

Jack's like, Graham, don't worry about it.

Graham Stephan (1:28)

He's a friend. Yeah, it's fine. So why should people listen to you?

Joshua Weissman (1:32)

Listen to me? Well, it depends on the advice I'm giving. If I'm giving advice about cooking, I can give you a few reasons.

Jack Selby (1:37)

I feel like you're an expert though at cooking, cars, watches, and business. You're really good at all those things.

Joshua Weissman (1:45)

Sometimes I feel like an expert in many of those things, and sometimes I don't. I feel like in cooking, yes. Like in cooking, I've spent my whole life learning how to be good at it, learning how to avoid mistakes. I've made a million mistakes cooking. I spent my whole life doing it. So my goal is to help other people avoid making the same mistakes I did in cooking. That's pretty much all I ever do. So if you ever watch any of my videos of me cooking, you're going to see I oftentimes interject and go, oh, by the way, don't do this because XYZ or do this because XYZ. So my goal is always to give value. That's kind of it, but do people need to listen to me? No, there's a million resources out there, right?

But I like to think that I'm doing something to help people.

Jack Selby (2:26)

Why are people so drawn to cooking?

Joshua Weissman (2:28)

Something I feel like everybody can understand to a certain extent, right? Like everybody eats. I feel like this has been said so many times, everybody eats. But the reality is if you pick up something and it tastes great, there are certain things that universally tastes good, right? Like a perfectly ripe and crispy apple, right? Lots of people love a perfectly ripe and crispy apple. Some people could sit down and digress why it's so good, why I enjoy it, why I think other people will enjoy it. But at the end of the day, anyone can pick that up, eat it and understand it. It doesn't matter what language you speak, doesn't matter where you're from, you get it. So I think it's something everyone can touch.

Jack Selby (3:04)

How did you learn to be a cooking pro?

Joshua Weissman (3:07)

Oh, God, a pro? You guys are throwing the questions at me.

Graham Stephan (3:10)

You get paid to cook, right? And you were a pro.

Joshua Weissman (3:13)

Were? Whoa. And you are a pro. You are a pro. I'm messing with you.

I mean, I think the simple rule for life is just repetition. You gotta be able to do it over and over and over again and not be afraid to make mistakes. And over time, you will master it. But what was the rule? It's like the 10,000-hour rule. It's kind of like, I look at it like that, right? Like, the more time you spend just failing and f***ing up and, you know, making small modifications, getting a little better every time, eventually, you're gonna reach a tipping point where you have a total understanding of a subject. And in the world of cooking, it really comes through repetition.