Say What? DOD Wants a Waiver - Nicky and Terry welcome 2 guests to discuss Secretary Hesgeth's request for a DOD waiver from the R-S priority.
Intro (00:02):
We are Randolph Shepherd Podcast. We are Randolph Shepherd podcast. This is the We are Randolph Shepherd podcast, promoting blind entrepreneurship and Independence. And now here's the dynamic duo, Nikki Gecos and Terry Smith.
Nicky (00:26):
Welcome back to the very, we are Rand Shepherd podcast for the month of September, September already, I'd like to thank our sponsors, the National Association of Blind Merchants, Blackstone Consulting, Southern Food Service, Sodexo inReach, Greenway Paper Supply, Coca-Cola, Tyler Technologies. You selected Cantaloupe, Kerick, Dr. Pepper and Commissary services of Nashville. Terry, how are you?
Terry (00:58):
I'm doing great and thank you. Thank you. Thank you for going down the list in order so I could follow and make sure you didn't miss anybody. I think that's the first time you've ever done that, so good job. Good job. That's what the month off gives me. Yeah, we took off August and did not do a podcast. A lot going on with summer and it seems like a lot of people are traveling and doing things in August anyway, so they might not have missed us as much. So we took the month of August off, but we are back and we are back with a lot going on in our program, which we'll get to later. Nikki, we got a busy, busy, busy fall coming up. I mean, holy cow. I think we're going to be, I don't know how many states, I haven't counted the states. We're going to be on the road quite a bit. We
Nicky (01:52):
Are just said we took August off, but we had a great blast on the river with cantaloupe. I can't thank cantaloupe a lot enough for the great job they did. It wasn't a sales pitch at all. It was a great training. Somebody said it was the best blast ever. They learned so much about micro markets and then went to California, take jazz back to college and then went to Florida for their meeting last week down in Florida to say goodbye to Bill Finlay once again and got to congratulate our risk for getting that job and spent a lot of time with the Florida vendors whose business is very well. So we did take off, but we did travel. I know you went to Oklahoma and Nebraska, so we did. There's some traveling net. We do have a ton of travel coming up and we are working on the agenda for Blast on the boardwalk October 7th and ninth, and I can give you some Jimmy Newsome, d Jones, Katrina McDonald will be there, Vista will be there. Our new rep for Joe Ette will be there, Lori. And so cantaloupe of course will be a sponsor and be there, Sodexo inReach will be there. So we're putting together a real good agenda and with everything that's going on and we're going to talk about that later. It's time to get together and come and save some money and talk about what's going to go on with the future of Randall Shepherd as we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Randall Shepherd Program.
Terry (03:18):
Yeah, somebody else that we tentatively have planned, we haven't nailed it down, but we've got Sam Sve from I think the Blind Life, who's also the Joseph Blot award winner at the National Convention this year talking about technology, the future of technology, the meta glasses. I mean he could do a half a day for us if we wanted to. You check him out on YouTube. He's very, very knowledgeable, so we are trying to finalize arrangements for him to be there as well. So excited about that and going to have a really good agenda, make sure you register because we have to make allowances for how many meals we're going to have and although we welcome people to walk up and register, it really complicates things on the meal side. And you saw that in Las Vegas in May where we had so many walkups that it made the is very difficult. But come join us in Atlantic City. It's not an easy place to get to, but it's a fun place once you get there and there'll be a lot of good training and you'll certainly enjoy the Vista Show as it, it's always amazing.
Nicky (04:33):
October 7th to the ninth, we start on Tuesday afternoon around four we'll have a reception. We'll have a working breakfast training and a working luncheon. Then the trade show and their big reception with Country Star Russell Dickerson performing this year. So that's pretty neat and the Star has always been a great partner with us and you'll get some great deals and a lot to great agenda. And as we get back to live conferences and blast on the boardwalk,
Terry (05:01):
Nikki, we're going to have a couple of special guests today. A couple of military dining vendors are going to be joining us to talk about some DOD issues and we'll get to that in just a little bit. There's a lot going on in that regard. I wanted to ask you a question before we get serious about stuff. This is a strange question. When somebody dies, do you take 'em off your contact list on your telephone?
Nicky (05:33):
It depends on who. It's if you want the truth, I still have many people who have passed away. Like Scott Young is still on my contact list and many others. I heard something yesterday on the radio. They said, they asked Governor Patterson, who he's married to, Curtis Lee and Curtis Lee Wells running for the Republican for the mayor of New York. And Governor Patterson said, they said, well, would you vote for him? He said, if there was an earthquake and Curtis won, now were the only two left, I would vote for him. So some people like that I take off my contact list, but most times, to be honest with you, I look and I said, man, did they pass away? But I keep 'em on there because especially if I have messages from 'em. Also, I never delete any of those messages. I have some from some people who've passed away and keeps me close to 'em. What about you? You probably took me off a couple of times.
Terry (06:27):
I just block you. I don't take, that's what made me ask the question. I was looking up something and I saw some names and I said they passed away and passed. So I went through my contact list just to see I have 40 people on my contact list that have passed away and I do not have the heart to delete them. It's like you're deleting their memory and they go way back. You mentioned Scott Young and what was it? Thomas Pelota? Thomas
Nicky (07:01):
P? Yep. I still have him on my list. Yep.
Terry (07:04):
In Florida, who's a committee chair and very
Nicky (07:06):
John Mar. I still have on my list.
Terry (07:08):
Yeah, so I've got 40 people and you, I've got some voicemail messages that I have not deleted and it's not that I need the messages, it's just, I don't know. I just thought it odd that when I started counting that I had that many dead people that are still on my phone. It's like I'm going to call 'em tomorrow so
Nicky (07:32):
I can tell you what, when I do retire, if and when I retire, please everybody take me off your contact list.
Terry (07:43):
Oh, I'm changing my telephone number. Oh yeah, me too.
Nicky (07:46):
That's happening sooner than later.
Terry (07:52):
Again, I want to do one thing personal real fast. We moved my mom out of her house into assisted living and I was going through and tidying up the house and we're going to probably try to sell it and I found a box that said Terry's memories and I opened it up and there was a transistor radio from the sixties and it was a radio. For those of you who don't know, I lost my vision as a result of a car accident caused by a drunk driver. And so when I was in the hospital and I was totally blind at the time, my Sunday school class brought me a radio and it was like a Cadillac of radios at the time. It was an Emerson nine VoLTE transistor radio. And I swear that radio saved my life. I mean like a lot of other blind people really loved radio and listened to that and listen to talk shows and listen to sports. And I can still remember times when I was listening to it to a Tennessee basketball game or a football game or whatever it was. It really was a lifesaver. And I mean, did you have transistor radios? I'm sure you did.
Nicky (09:02):
I'm playing one right now for you. I still have mine. I take it to the beach and listen to ballgame.
Terry (09:06):
Oh really? Well, I guess I don't have one, but I found that one. I'm going to see if I can figure out a way to see if it'll still work. I didn't have the batteries to try it, but really it just took me way back. I mean this was from the sixties, so it's 60 years old and just brought back a whole lot of memories about transistor radios. Boy oh boy, what would people think today? I bet I could show it to my grandkids and they wouldn't even know what it was.
Nicky (09:38):
I have two. I have one down the shore. I have one here. I take one to the beach to listen to ballgame because the phone, if Charlie to listen it on the phone, the phone will go dead without service. But we always keep it two, just in case of a power outage, the only thing that's going to work is a transistor radio. You're not going to get your regular radio or Alexa or whatever that all goes off. So we keep the radios and we make sure they got batteries in it. So in case we have to hear something about power or what's coming back or weather or whatever. So still have 'em and still use them, Terry.
Terry (10:14):
Okay folks, now's the time to open your telephone and open your FanDuel app because Nikki and Terry are about to give you their iron clad football picks for the 25 season. I know you guys wait for this before you place your bets on the year. We're going to start out with the NFL Nikki. I don't have a clue. Well, I'm sort of thinking what direction I'm going to go, but I want to hear your thinking first. Who's going to be in the Super Bowl and who's going to win it?
Nicky (10:44):
Okay, we'll give you two surprise teams this year, not for the Super Bowl that are going to be better than what people think. And that's the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. I think the New York Giants defensive line and defense is just going to be much better than they are for the Super Bowl. Three teams in the A FC that will be in the Final four will be Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos.
Intro (11:10):
Whoa.
Nicky (11:12):
And in the National League, the Green Bay Packers, the LA Rams and the Tampa Bay Bucks. And who's going to be in the Super Bowl? It's going to be the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Rams.
Terry (11:29):
Holy cow. You went way off the reservation.
Nicky (11:32):
Well, I think the Rams end of Bucks have the easiest path with their divisions to get to the playoffs and they got to two oldest quarterbacks. And I think Rogers is going to come back this year like Brady did with Tampa and has something to prove. And the first game of the season he plays is against his old team, the New York Jets. And that's going to be exciting to hear at Stadium. So I'm giving you, well, I always go with Baltimore and Green Bay. They disappointed. Baltimore's disappointed me and I'm not picking Kansas City. I'm heartbroken. Oh my God. Can you believe that Taylor Swift and Kelsey got engaged. Oh my God. So he's going to be out of it. He's going to be thinking of his wedding and all those pictures of flowers and all that kind of stuff. So Kansas city's out. I'm a little nervous about Baltimore, but if I had to pick between Baltimore and Pittsburgh, I'm going to go with Mike Tomlin and I like the coach of the Rams and always I picked Green Bay last year and I just don't like any other teams. There's a lot of just so Rams Steelers.
Terry (12:36):
Okay, I'm actually going to take your lead because I thought you would take one of the more obvious teams and then I would take the other one. But since you did not do that, you're forcing me to make my own pick. I always pick Buffalo. They keep disappointing me like Baltimore does you. So I'm going to switch and take your Baltimore Ravens to make the Super Bowl and I think they will play the team you mentioned as being better than expected. I think you mentioned the Detroit Lines. And so I'm going to pick the Detroit lines and the Baltimore Ravens to be in the Super Bowl. And the one that'll be shaking the champagne at the end of the night will be the Detroit Lines. So there you go. There you have it. Put your bets down. Now what about the college?
Nicky (13:27):
You got to go first. I went first with the pros.
Terry (13:31):
This one's hard. I really mean it's up for grabs and everybody thinks Texas and I know you're an Arch Manning fan and I'm not going to go that route. I'm trying to fight the urge to take the team to repeat. So I'm going to keep it in the SEC and go off the reservation and pick LSU to win the national title. And that did not enter my mind until the words came out of my mouth. How much thought went into that?
Nicky (14:10):
I thought you were going to go with UCLA with the
Terry (14:13):
Quarterback? Yeah, with the Tennessee quarterback.
Nicky (14:16):
Well, I was just at USC last week and it's such a beautiful school, but I think it's going to be SEC. I think that first of all, I think Oklahoma and Florida are going to be a lot better than people think in the SEC. And of course I like Arch Mandy, I like him even more that I found out that he donated most of the money that he got from NIL back to homeless shelters and to veterans in the Austin area. But I was disappointed with their coach. So I go with coaches, you know that. So I like Clemson because of a lot of things that they do and I think they'll be in the final four and I think that Alabama will be in the Final four, but I'm going to go with the Georgia Bulldogs to win the national championship.
Terry (15:04):
I thought about them, but no, I can't do that. There are too many Georgia fans around here for me to do that. Okay, so there you have it, folks, place your bets. And I guess we should say we do not, I always tell people I'm not an attorney, so I can't give legal advice. Well, I'm not much of a gambler, so I shouldn't be giving betting advice either, but go ahead and take it for what it's worth. Nikki, before we move on real quickly, we always give time for the WhatsApp section. So tell me what's up.
Nicky (15:36):
Well, what's up with me is that this weekend it's an early labor day, which is the probably if you ask kids, probably if you ask a lot of people what is Labor Day and looked up and said it was the achievement of workers. And I want to wish all of our Randall Shepherd workers and blog vendors that go to work and fill machines and take care of customers, do that, that they have a great happy Labor Day and think about what the holiday is. I get tricked up and we've talked about this that it was always September 7th when I was growing up and then they moved it to the first Monday of September. So it's very early this year on the first. But the other thing too is that it's fall. It's the fall and I like to fall. I enjoy the fall. I'm a good summer guy.
(16:26)
I always talk about the shore, but I like to fall because of, well, my birthday's in the fall. We also have football starting. I like the weather, I like the Christmas of the weather, put a sweatshirt on and go out for a nice walk and doing all that kind of thing. So what's up with me is that it's the fall. I'm looking forward to a lot of work that we have coming up. We talked about how much work and travel we have coming up, but I'm actually looking forward to it. I know we're going to talk about the issue with military dining and with a fees right now, but I think very positive about it mentally and physically. I feel good and I think that we're going to go out and work with, if AFI thinks we want to come in and just take over every machine and not give anything back to the soldiers, that's not right.
(17:14)
We're willing to work deals, we're willing to work with that. We're excited that we're not happy that everything's on hold right now with military dining, but I think that that's going to work out for us, the law's in our favor and we do a good job. And that's the other thing that we have in our favor for that. So what's up with me is come on football and that starts this Saturday with Ohio State and Texas and starts with the pros the following Thursday and it's going to come into some nice weather and some travel. And what happens with travel is I get to see a lot of my friends that I don't get to see much except if at a national convention or at a blast conference or at their state training. So I'm looking forward to going to Indiana, Tennessee, Texas, wherever to see many of our friends and colleagues and stuff like that. We have a lot of work to do. So what's up? Welcome Fall. See you summer. What's up for you, Tara?
Terry (18:11):
Well, I have to tell you a quick story. My grandkids, I can always rely on them to provide me material. My two from Texas came and spent eight days with us. Charlie is 10 and her blood brother Ford, who is six, they came and we took them over to South Carolina for the last three days of that trip to spend with our cousins. I think it's important that the cousins have a relationship and they love being together. I found it funny that we rubbing off on them, Nikki, because back in the day, what did the kids do? They got outside and they played and you wore themselves out or I know sometimes the kids get together and they put on a show, they'll sing and dance and put on a show. Not my grandkids. My grandkids wanted to make a podcast. So they spent the time together making several podcasts. One was as short as four minutes and one was as long as 23 minutes. So that's what they were doing. And it was becoming time to leave and they were saying, no, no, no, hold on, hold on. We got to finish this. So that's what was going on with me just having fun with the grandkids and enjoying them, making some podcasts.
Nicky (19:30):
Well, and we know we're both family people. And I'll tell you grandkids story very quickly. Our son Michael and his kids came down for the first time for the summer and the kids walked in. We were so excited to see 'em, and they walked right by us, said hello and said, what's the password?
Terry (19:44):
Wifi password? That's
Nicky (19:46):
Mostly what's the wifi password? What's the wifi password? And then as soon as they got hooked up, then they came and gave us a hug and everything. But can't go with more than a couple minutes without that phone. So,
Terry (19:57):
Okay, Nikki, let's get on with the main topic of the day. There's been a lot of discussion over the last few weeks about the Department of Defense, and let me just sort of really quickly summarize what the issue is and what's happening and then we'll bring on our guests to sort of give us a little bit of perspective. The Secretary of Defense, Pete EF, has requested from the Secretary of Education an exemption from the Randolph Shepherd priority stating that our vend facilities adversely affect the interest of the United States. There is a provision in the law that allows the secretary to waive the priority if a facility adversely affects the interest of the United States. And so they are relying on that provision of the law to try to get an exemption. It's our understanding the Department of Education is requested for more information. It's also our understanding that the White House has actually been engaged in this at this point.
(21:01)
So we don't think that there's legally any grounds for granting such a justification. We feel strongly from a legal standpoint that if this education tried to grant such a waiver that we could go to court and prevail. But the issue is not really, it's not a legal issue at this point because the Department of Education hasn't done anything. And I think from our standpoint, we need to at least be receptive to the idea of having dialogue and seeing what the real concerns are. Just real briefly, secretary Hexis talked about the loss of income from vending that the MWR needs that money for the troops and their families. They also talked about the poor quality of the food that is served to the mean to the veterans, not the veterans, the troops and also the cost of the contracts are higher than what they should normally be. So those are really the three issues that they hit in their letter. So we're working on that. And Nikki, why don't you introduce our two guests today and let's get started with some conversation.
Nicky (22:17):
I will do that, Terry. And first, the three topics that you mentioned. It's funny that we've mentioned that they take away money from the troops for the vending, but we're willing to sit down and negotiate and work with that also that we are working with, we have three winners this year for troops, for dining at the National Restaurant Association. And of course a lot of our contracts have been directly negotiated. But lemme get to our guest on the phone. And we're fortunate enough to have Wayne Dye from Georgia who was a troop dining who was had a rest area, a number of locations in Georgia, past chair, the committee in Georgia. We're excited that he's here with us today. And also Mr. Michael Colburn from Minnesota, who's also a second vice president of the National Association of Blind Merchants also sits on a number of boards for the National Federation of the Blind and also just was awarded just a few months ago a National Guard location up in Minnesota. So Wayne, Mike, welcome.
Waine (23:25):
Thank you, Nick. Good afternoon. Thank y'all for having us.
Nicky (23:30):
Terry, why don't you ask, talk about some questions for our guests. Let's get this conversation going.
Terry (23:37):
Just to start with, I wish each of you just tell us about where you are and about your particular operation.
Mike (23:45):
I'll go first. Oh yeah, I can
Waine (23:48):
Go ahead, Mike.
Mike (23:48):
Absolutely. Okay, I'll go. Well, first of all, I'm drinking Wild Rose. Oh wait, no, this isn't Nikki's Bar and Grill.
Nicky (23:54):
Sorry, this isn't Nikki's Bar and Grill. Sorry.
Mike (23:57):
Right. Yeah, so Hi Mike
Nicky (23:59):
Col. Sorry we couldn't have Jerry GaN here today,
Mike (24:04):
So Hi. Yeah, so like Nikki said, I'm a licensed blind vendor in Minnesota. So right now the dining contract, the full service contract is at Camp Ripley and Camp Ripley. It is a 53,000 acre training facility outside of Little Falls, Minnesota. It's up in beautiful lake country, premier golfing, ice fishing, beer drinking, some of the best people you'll ever meet in Minnesota up in that area. It hosts military, all the training requirements for the National Guard, and it also hosts international allies. There's a lot of regional recreation and programs up there, hunting and different things for Boy Scouts and youths and whatnot. And we also host a ton of civilian agencies. A lot of state agencies do their training and have their annual meetings and whatnot up there. So it's 365 days a year. The main objective is obviously to provide service for the soldiers up there in the Minnesota National Guard. Beautiful 9,000 square foot, one of the most beautiful, we call it a CDF, not a defect, but the cafeteria dining facility, 9,000 square feet. Beautiful. It's got the old wood lodge sort of hunting lodge feel, beautiful education building and just an absolutely fantastic place to be.
Terry (25:15):
Waine?
Waine (25:17):
Yes sir. I'm at Fort Benning, Georgia. We are primarily a basic training base, but we do service army rangers and other outposts of the army as well. We work through 16 warrior restaurants, 14 being on Fort Benning, two being offsite. We are the largest basic training base that I know of in the country. I think we are also the largest Randolph Shepherd location as far as DOD contracts go. We have been there for a long time now. Randolph Shepherd has been at Fort Benning for probably some 20 plus years now. We have a long history with the army there, and our main mission is to make sure that we feed our war fighters every day as consistently and properly following all the Army's guidelines that lay out for us and really just prepare ourselves daily for the mission that we have, which is a large one at Fort Benning. And we have been very successful at doing so for a very long time now, and we're very proud of that.
Terry (26:34):
So what is it you like about the military dining
Waine (26:41):
Not being able to have served? I've had some family members that have served but not been able to have served myself. I don't know what path my life would've taken had I not lost my eyesight at eight years old and what it is. But it's really an honor, especially at these trade off facilities where these basic trainees going in because these people are these soldiers, these young men and women are coming right out of high school and they're entering the armed services very hugely honorable job that they do on a day-to-day basis to serve our country. And to me, it's just an honor for us and for myself to do everything we can to make them feel like a lot of times the dining meal is the only true break they get every day. So we want to try to make that as pleasant and is a nice of event that we can, because it's really, they get like three breaks a day when they don't have drill sergeants and everybody on 'em all the time because training, basic training is rough on soldiers. And it's the first time that these men and women have been away from their houses in a lot of cases. And so it's just an honor to serve them and to give them a hot meal and a 20 minute reprieve from everything else that's going on in their life that has completely changed in a very short period of time. So that is probably the biggest thing that I take is just the honor to get to serve in whatever capacity I can to support our soldiers in the army and our capacity as the contract managers.
Terry (28:31):
Mike, how about you?
Mike (28:34):
Yeah, in contrast to what Wayne was talking about in Minnesota, this is our first go around at this type of contract and it really is us reintroducing ourselves back into food service. Minnesota has become a very, very strong vending state. A lot of vending machines and vending businesses. But the food service we got out of a while ago, sort of a philosophical pivot. It's been such a tough industry to be profitable. And so we are absolutely stoked to be back in that game. And we also couldn't be prouder to offer our services and be part of a great opportunity and operation up there up there at Camp Ripley. And for me, it's kind of come full service because food service was the industry I was in when I found Randolph Shepherd. And I had had to move away from that business based on some of the perceived obstacles that I was having with the technology.
(29:30)
And you guys remember the old point of sale system? I know Nikki does the old Micros point of sale system and touch screens and technology was coming and the old tricks that I was using as far as how you are successful in the restaurant business, I wasn't able to perform the way that I used to. So I had to leave the industry. So for the fact that I get to get back into it in the Randolph Shepherd capacity as a blind vendor working with Southern Food Service as my teaming partner, for me it gives me a chance to give back to serve. And it's an industry that I love. I absolutely love food service. It's one of those things I think if you love it, you love it. It's a hard business, but it's a very rewarding business at the end of the day. And I echo what Wayne said about the opportunity for folks to catch their breath and have a good meal and all that stuff. So I take all that very seriously, very proud of it, very much enjoy it. Absolutely.
Nicky (30:31):
And I know the two of you, and I'm very proud that you're friends of mine besides just fellow blind vendors, but what is your engagement? I mean, we hear some things that, and engagement at your facility with the contract day-to-day working type of thing. We hear some people go to work very little and we have more people going to work now than not before, but what is your engagement at the facility with the military, Wayne?
Waine (31:02):
Yeah, what I have found over the last almost five years now, that it is a really tight rope that we walk as contract managers. At least that's the way I see it. We have a lot of staff, a lot of support with our project managers, deputy project managers, HR managers with bci, I as our team partner as well and stuff. So where do you find that balance as the contract manager to not step on the toes of people who may be lower down the totem pole than us and stuff like that and allow them to shine as well. So I work a lot with my project manager, my deputy project manager, my HR person, as well as my partner at Fort Benning, Mr. Matus. And we meet daily, we meet with our project manager most of the time daily with our HR person. So it's very different from what I came from vending and roadside and stuff like that to where you had to just be the only person you depended on was yourself to now overseeing a site as large as Fort Benning with a thousand employees and trying to separate, well, I can't run a site the size of Fort Benning by myself, the way I could roadside venting at the time.
(32:39)
Kind of figuring out that part of it. That was my biggest learning curve. And we've got a great system in place now where we let our project manager do what he specializes in. Me and Mr. Matus are always there to support him and anything that he needs, if he has any questions, any concerns, we have to deal with a lot of union issues. We engage with our dining facility managers, but we are more there to build them up, tell 'em what a great job they're doing if they're doing great jobs and stuff like that. But it's not for us to get too far down in the weeds with what and stepping on our project manager's toes or our deputy project manager's toes. They are the ones who are there every single day, the face of everything. And it's, I would have employees come to me when I'd go through dining facilities and they would start asking me questions about this and that, and I would answer them in the beginning.
(33:46)
And I finally found out that I was kind of stepping on toes. So the army's real big about his chain of command. A lot of people that work for us are former military and they're really big on their chain of command. So what we try to do is we have a certain chain of command that we kind of follow internally as Rolling Hills Food Service. And I think it works well, but it is finding that balance. And what I do every day is to make sure that the contract that we as Rolling Hills Food Service is adhering to everything that the government has put into that contract on a day-to-day basis. And that is how I run my part of the contract.
Nicky (34:31):
Thanks Wayne. Mike.
Mike (34:33):
Yeah, it's hard to follow Wayne. I feel like I could just say same, but that'd be a pretty boring podcast. So there's levels to this. So as far as the executive, I mean, I'm absolutely engaged on a daily basis on hiring, on staffing, on training, on wages, on any major decisions that we make, menus, all that stuff. The next level of engagement is with the crew. We have a tremendous staff up there that takes tremendous pride in doing what they're doing and they're good at it. And like Wayne, I had to have the adjustment to what is my role? I have a very different role in my vending business where I wear all the hats, I put out all the fires, and it's really been an adjustment to sort of learn where I fit, what are my strengths, what are my weaknesses, and how I sort of fill those gaps.
(35:25)
So that's been an adjustment. But the final piece is the standard that I hold myself to is at my vending facility at Minnesota State. I've been there for going on 10 years now in April. And one day I took a lot of joy in the fact that my wife went and she was doing some work for me when I was out of town. And she had told me that about three people had come up to her and asked, where's Mike? What happened to Mike? Why isn't Mike here? And that brought a smile to my face because I really am a fixture, they know me on campus. And to be honest, Nikki, and I'll say it, that is my goal at Camp Ripley, and I'm not there yet. It's been a six month transition wearing a lot of hats, still trying to figure out my role.
(36:06)
But my goal is, is that I will have that same, I will have that same relationship with them. I mean, that's the goal, and that's not because anybody wrote a letter or anybody has to defend themselves or justify or answer the questions. But that's my goal. That's the standard that, you know, me and people that know me know that I set a high standard for myself. I'm very hard on myself and that is my goal. And as far as being the face of the business, that's the goal. But I also, like Wayne said, I want to shine the light on the folks that deserve the credit, and that's the whole team, but absolutely actively engaged. And that is always the goal. It's not in my operator agreement, it's not in the law. But I do feel it is important that as a blind individual, a blind business owner, that I hope we are changing people's idea of what blind people can do. They see us working, they see us engaged, and maybe it changes their perception. I don't want to assume that people have a negative perception, but I do think it's important that people see what we're capable of and the accomplishments that we can have and the successes that we can achieve. So all that is very important. Always top of mind.
Terry (37:18):
And you team Southern Food Services, right?
Mike (37:21):
Yes, absolutely.
Terry (37:22):
So guys, to the issue of the request for the exemption secretary ETH referenced in his letter the poor quality of food that is provided and also the impact that has on the Warrior readiness. I'd like to hear both of your reactions to his perception of the quality of food.
Mike (37:52):
I'll go for, go ahead, Mike. Okay, thanks Wayne. Yeah, listen, I don't know if that's just a trope or kind of low hanging fruit. They sort of throw that narrative out there. I don't feel that's the case with us at all. I know we work tremendously hard on our menus on the food that we offer. I mean, we adhere and have implemented the Go for green or the G 4G initiative, which is the performance-based nutrition initiative set by the United States Army as far as peak performance and readiness of the soldiers, feeding them sustainable, nutritious food that their bodies can use and they can be at their best. We adhere to that, to the recipes, the quality. I've watched the project manager ordering, we're always trying to get seasonal vegetables and high quality food, the proteins and tremendous variety. We've worked very hard on our menus.
(38:53)
We realized when we took over that one of the complaints that some folks had is they're on a rotation up there and if they're up there the third week of every month, they were getting the beef tips and the potatoes and gravy every time they were there. We've worked very hard to rotate those menus, 18 day and 45 day menus to give variety. And the quality I would challenge anyone to find. And the consistency, like Wayne said, we're following guidelines and we're not making it up as we go. I will tell a funny story that when we were up there the first couple of weeks, we had spent a tremendous amount of time with the menus and the recipes and getting everybody sort of following the system that we wanted to put in place. And Bill, he's the executive chef with Southern, was talking about recipes and different pesto cappies on these things. And Bruce, the project manager in such a Minnesota way said, listen, these boys are going to have a ride up here if we don't give 'em their tater tot hot dish. But it's also understanding the clientele and what they need meeting their needs. And if anyone has questions about the service or the quality, we would address that immediately and we would absolutely react in the most positive manner. So I hope that wasn't just sort of a one-liner out there to throw it out there to sort of get the headline, but I dunno, I would question that we provide tremendous, tremendous quality
Terry (40:26):
Before weighing answers. The burning question is what in the world is a tater tot hot fish?
Mike (40:31):
Hot dish.
Terry (40:32):
Hot dish,
Mike (40:33):
Yeah. What is it?
Terry (40:35):
Yeah, yeah.
Mike (40:36):
Okay. Well, it's tater tots, cream of mushroom soup, corn, any type of meat, whether it's beef or shredded beef or ground beef, you could probably throw in some peas, some sour cream. Just got to have you guys up to the post to have some tater tot hot dish comfort foods in Minnesota.
Terry (40:55):
Now your operation's a little different. You actually buy the food there, correct?
Mike (40:59):
Yes. I was going to say I failed to mention that. Thank you, Terry. Yes, we are a true p and l business. We buy the groceries. Listen, it's like the restaurant business I come from, right? You have prime rib one night lunch special is beef stroganoff and finally ends up in the minione. So yeah, we buy the food and it is a true restaurant in that sort of respect. It reminds me of the banquet facilities that I operated where I cut my teeth with the Hilton. We can go from 17 people eating on post in a cold January day to 700 people, three meals a day for a week straight. So we cover all the bases.
Terry (41:47):
So Wayne, how about you? What's your reaction to the comment about quality?
Waine (41:52):
Well, I mean I guess it depends on who you're asking. As I said, we are a basic training base, a TRADOC facility for the largest part of what we do. And I think if you ask any 18, 19-year-old, 20-year-old person just coming out of high school that's joining the military that has been eating in their mom's kitchen for the last two decades, if the food is good, I think maybe you might get an answer that it's not that great because they have been able to eat what they wanted to eat for, like I said, two decades of their life. I think that we have very stringent guidelines on the menus and what, and I think if you ask the basic trainees this question, then you ask the Rangers this question, you might get two totally separate answers to it, two completely different answers. But it's one of those things that the army sets the menus, they provide the food, we order the food, but they tell us what we can serve.
(42:55)
They give us all the recipe cards. We are just cooking according to their guidelines on a day-to-day basis. So I think probably back at two or three administrations ago, maybe longer, they did this big push for healthier initiatives and stuff like that, and they spaced out all of the deep frying and stuff like that out of the dining facilities and stuff like that. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just simply saying that it's one of the things now changed so much from where what soldiers used could get with the hamburgers and the hot dogs and the chicken fingers and tater tots and french fries and stuff like that where just those options aren't there anymore. So we always strive to do everything, but we don't have any leadway as to what we can serve. There is a list of things of things that we can choose from.
(43:58)
Now, certainly to Mike's point, you want to vary the menu. You don't want to meeting the same things over and over day after day after day. And certainly you strive to do that. But a lot of times our vendors, the food service, the food providers who actually provide the food to us will be out of things on certain days. And you might have to repeat something, but it's a huge balancing act with, because we have no leadway as to what the soldiers will eat every day. The army sets, like I said, sets the recipes, sets the menus. We order the food, we prepare the food, we serve the soldiers. So I think it's a little unfair to say that the food quality is bad because we get what we order. Now, of course, we do all of our own quality assurance checks on everything, all the temperatures and things of that sort and making sure that it's received in the proper ways.
(44:57)
It's kept at the proper temperatures that our subsistence levels are correct. And it's one of those things that, but at the end of the day, our hands are really tied as to far as to what we can actually serve the soldiers. And we don't get to decide which food distributor we go to get it. They say this is who you're going to buy from and is there, I would think in any restaurant business you're going to have good days and you're going to have bad days. But what I would tell you is that we serve anywhere from 30 to 40,000 meals a day successfully every single day, 365 days a year. And is it going to be perfect every day? Absolutely not. Are we going to make mistakes? Absolutely. But we always strive to do better and to be better than what we were the day before.
(45:55)
As what my LRC director says at Fort Benning, you're only as good as your last meal. And that's kind of the motto that we live and die by at Fort Benning. And if we make a mistake on one meal, we try to make it better the next meal. But I think it's a little unfair for us to say that the quality of food, I think certainly we would like to have more opportunities to serve more different types of food, but the contract is the contract and we do what we're asked to do and what we're told to do.
Terry (46:28):
I think we've had conversations, Nikki and I were engaged very heavily into conversations about three or four years ago, and I think the general feeling is that the Army feels that its overall food service is lacking, whether it's Randolph Shepherd or not, I think we just sort of got lumped in here. I think it's ironic that in the year that he says that we have three vendors who won the Navy's Nail award for having the best mess halls in the Navy. So I thought that was ironic, but I think the army would like to see the food service change. That's why I think you see the pilot project they're looking at for a campus style dining, which would never work at Benning, but it would work at a lot of
Support Message (47:16):
No
Terry (47:17):
And do the campus style dining, which would address a lot of their concerns, I think. But we got to play the hand we're doubt. And so I certainly understand where you're coming from on that. The other point he makes is that the arbitration process forces them to pay higher prices, and the assertion is that we are higher than what they would otherwise have to pay. Now, Wayne, you've been through, you did go the arbitration route at one point down there, so you got some personal experience on that. But just in general, what's your reaction to the issue about the costliness of Randolph Shepherd contracts?
Waine (48:04):
Sure. Mike, you mind if I go first on this one?
Mike (48:06):
No, take it.
Waine (48:08):
Alright, thank you. It's always been kind of confusing to me when they say that Randolph Shepherd contracts cost more as Randolph Shepherd. Of course, we enjoy our priority and that's a great thing. And it's been hugely successful for people who are blind and visually impaired for, gosh, I don't even know how many years now, 80 years, 90 years, I mean, whatever it is. It's just been a very long time. The government sets the pricing. I mean, they set the competitive range, they set the pricing. We go in there and compete just like everyone else does. And it just says if we are in this range that the government has set, then we receive priority. I don't think it competitively gives us a bigger edge because there's other companies in there that are bidding lower than us. There's other companies that are bidding higher than us, but if we fall within that range, I think it's important.
(49:15)
Now, as far as the arbitrations go, I think the Army and in broader, the Department of Defense, I would say kind of misses a golden opportunity here because they also have a very unique carve out that they can direct negotiate with us. And it's always the thing. And I think you're seeing more of that happen now because I think in direct negotiations it saves everyone money. It saves the US taxpayers money, it saves the Department of Defense time and headaches and stuff that we don't have to go through these arbitrations. And I think anytime that you can direct negotiate a contract and you have that ability where in some areas of government that you do not is inherently going to make for a better contract, a more cost efficient contract than when you put us in competitive bid situations. I think that that's one of the things I wish that was discussed more with the Department of Defense and the secretary that you can work with us, get a price that everybody's happy with and not have to go through these arbitrations at all.
(50:25)
These arbitrations are just facilitated normally by the government in certain instances, not wanting to follow the Randolph Shepherd Act. It's not that we choose arbitration and we want to go that path. It is that it's our only mechanism for defending our priority. So I think the opportunity is certainly there for the Department of Defense to sit down with us at any given time and negotiate these contracts directly and to get a price that everybody's happy with. I just think that that is the most important thing that I look at and the opportunity that I think they miss on in a lot of cases.
Mike (51:03):
I would agree with that. The opportunity for them to directly negotiate is huge. And I think that that's overlooked. That's very unique. And Terry, my comment in that would be that for what we offer, if you're looking at a lunch between, you're talking under 12 bucks, whatever that kind of range, nine, $11, 12 bucks, the salad bar, the dessert, the short order station we offer the quality of it, the choices you get. Again, you can eat as healthy as you want. You're not going to find that going across the street or somewhere in town. And again, the pressure that we put on ourselves to deliver the highest quality of product that we can and doing it with a smile on our face, again, I don't want to spend a whole lot of time having to defend that. If they have the receipts and they have examples, let's deal with that to throw it all in one big bucket and say, this is how it is. I don't agree. I think we all work very hard, and again, we're working within their parameters and we negotiated these contracts and we were all in the competitive range and we're not making this up as we go. And I think that they've also learned that you go with the cheapest contract, you're going to get what you pay for. They've probably been burned on taking that lowest bid and watching 'em try to make it. Absolutely.
Waine (52:29):
Yeah. LTPA contracts. I would just like to add something real quick too that I just thought about during COVID. It was a very weird time, and certainly the world went through a great change during the previous administration. They implemented a $15 minimum wage on all federal workers. And I think that's great. I'm, I'm not saying that I'm opposed to that, but in a lot of cases in certain markets that really moved up the price of the contracts, we also have to work with unions. Again, not saying that that's a problem, but we have to negotiate. The government kind of puts us in the position to negotiate. Well, they do put us in the position to negotiate with the unions each year over wage adjustments and stuff of that nature. And these contracts have a way of growing under their own accord based off of just wage adjustments.
(53:27)
But when you get, it moves from a $12 minimum wage to a $15 minimum wage to a $16 and stuff like that. Well, that has huge impacts on the overall cost of the contracts. Now, that's not something that we did as Randolph Shepherd. That was something the government mandated and we had to then move everybody up to those levels. And of course, the price of the contract goes up. I think it's, again, I think you have to look at everything from, you can get into the micro all you want to, but I think you have to look at everything from kind of a 35,000 foot view and see what are the factors that are causing these contracts to become more and more expensive. And to Mike's point, it's not Randolph Shepherd. Everything has become more expensive over the last five to six years. Everything has changed since COVID and it's become more expensive and people aren't willing to work for what they used to work for. And then the government makes changes to wages. And so we have to go in and move everybody up. So again, I think it's easy to use Randolph Shepherd as a, oh, well, Randolph Shepherd is too expensive. Well, I would argue that all government contracts right now are more than they were five years ago. That's just that last point I wanted to make. Thank you.
Mike (54:51):
Well, and $15 an hour, I don't know if we could find anybody to do it for $50 an hour in Minnesota.
Waine (54:56):
Well, we're not there. I we're well above that now. But I mean, in Columbus, Georgia, COVID changed everything. It was just one of those things that changed everything and nobody could get employees and everybody was, we were having to, the challenges that we faced during COVID and stuff where we were having to offer hiring bonuses and incentives, and then they put the vaccine mandate in there. And I will tell you what, this is something I'm very proud of. We ran Fort Benning the entire time through the entire pandemic. We never missed a serving one day for one soldier. We fed soldiers every single day with staffing shortages and problems that you can't even imagine that all businesses were facing. We weren't exempt from those problems during COVID, and we still had the same headcounts that we had to make sure they got fed every single day. And I'm very proud of the fact that we were able to do that at Fort Benning.
Mike (56:00):
And I think you should be. And I think that goes to the point of what we're really talking about here. Again, I've said it a couple of times, I hate to sound repetitive, but there's a whole bunch of us take tremendous pride in this. And I'm very new at this, so I'm not going to hang my hat on the accomplishments of others. But no, that's to be commended. And those are the stories that we do need to tell and that people need to know. And Newton's third rule, right? Every action has a equal and opposite reaction. And I don't want to get crazy in the reaction, but we should be very proud of what we do. And I think that, again, we get a lot of these businesses on our priority, but oftentimes we are the best at what we do as blind with our teaming partners.
(56:43)
We win awards, we provide tremendous service, take a lot of pride in it. We pay great wages that folks can raise a family on and really be proud of. So I'm up for the conversation that for us to, I don't want to say that we have to defend ourselves, but this could be a great opportunity for us actually to explain what we do and how we do it. So like Nikki and Terry, they're always positive that this is an opportunity for us to sort of toot our own horn, if you will. Sometimes you got to do that.
Waine (57:17):
Well, Mike, hey, Mike, just would like to make a quick comment off of what Mike just said there. I think that is a point that I'm glad you kind of touched on. I'd like to broaden out on just a little bit more is the fact that we're not some big corporation food service company. We are individual blind vendors working individual basis. And what more could you want? I think from a government standpoint, that you've got a solid point of contact at any given time. If you have any issues, anybody at Fort Benning can pick up the phone, get me twenty four seven, my project manager 24 7, my partner. Those are the things that I think probably somewhat get lost on this a little bit, is that you have individual companies formed by blind vendors and some with teaming partners and some without that are only there to adhere to this location's needs. The only thing that I'm concerned about every morning when I get up and every night when I go to bed is how is Fort Benning doing on a day-to-day basis? Not how is Fort Benning and 30 other, 40 other 50 other locations doing my sole focus every single day is making sure we complete our mission at Fort Benning. So I think that's a very important point.
Nicky (58:34):
Guys, I'd like to thank you so much. Has a son of parents that were both veterans. My mother and father, and my mother was one stationed at Fort Benning. Thank you. Because the main reason that we do this job is to serve the troops of the United States Army, air Force, Marines, Navy Merchant, Marines, coast Guard. And I think that that's the point that we have to do the job that we do because those are the people that protect us. And we'd have to make sure that we're feeding them with the best kind of service and being there to say thank you, and these are young kids that are coming in. It shock me when I go to a military base, how young some of these kids really, really are.
(59:19)
And our goal is, and we want to also thank you for all the work that you do outside of running your dining facilities and the work that you do at Randall Shepherd. And we have a lot of work to do here. We hope to get these meetings with Secretary Hete and with Secretary McMahon. I know you'll be part of that team effort. So on. We are Randall Shepherd podcast. We want to thank you for taking the time this afternoon, and if you have any closing comments, we'll hear 'em and then we'll say goodbye and wrap it up to the next month.
Waine (59:51):
I just want to say thank you, Nikki and Terry for everything and giving me this opportunity to speak on behalf of something that I am very passionate about. It is an honor to serve the young men and women of the US Army every single day at Fort Benning and all of our blind vendors around the country who are serving in other capacities on different contracts. It was a goal of mine from coming in to the program some 18 years ago that I wanted to achieve this goal and to have achieved it and to feel the pride that it brings me on a day-to-day basis to serve these men and women is just unbelievable. And I would like to thank both of you and the hard work that y'all do all the time on behalf of blind vendors.
Nicky (01:00:36):
Thank you Wade. Mike, closing comments?
Mike (01:00:39):
Yeah, closing comments. Listen, as we're sort of navigating this, I think it is very important and you guys have been delivering the message that we stay one voice, right? A collaborative effort, resources we all have. We have friends and people that we can call on and share in the responsibility of taking on this latest issue, but it's one voice. Stay united. Let's all communicate. And again, you guys have said this is an opportunity for us. Listen, if we need to modernize, if there's improvements need to be made, let's have those conversations. Let's do it responsibly, let's do it thoughtfully and have meaningful dialogue. And if there's problems, let's address 'em. Celebrate the wins and we'll deal with the issues as need be. But we're not going to shy away from it. And I'm very proud to be part of this organization. Thank you, Wayne, for everything you do. I want to say thanks to all the military vendors out there that are doing it. I'm sorry if I'm stealing your spotlight because I'm very new at this. But thank you guys and thanks to our community. Appreciate it.
Terry (01:01:45):
I just want to say in closing that I think the road ahead needs to be a road of collaboration. I think the DOD should be very proud that they partner with two guys like you. I think that's a very positive thing that they should take pride in. I appreciate you guys coming on. I do have to close with this statement though. Wayne always gives me a hard time saying that when he can't sleep, he turns on the We are Randolph Shepherd podcast. I just want to say, Wayne, I hope you help people sleep better tonight.
Mike (01:02:18):
How are the numbers in Bolivia or Lithuania or
Terry (01:02:22):
You're
Mike (01:02:22):
International?
Terry (01:02:23):
Nikki, take us out of here. We got to go.
Nicky (01:02:25):
Alright guys, we'll see you. Happy September everybody.
Mike (01:02:29):
Yeah, thank you. See you Atlantic City. Thanks everyone. Looking forward to the football. My pleasure. Thanks. See. Bye guys.
Intro (01:02:35):
Bye.
Outro sponsors (01:02:35):
So we are Randolph Shepherd Podcast like to thank our sponsors, the National Association of Blind Merchants, Blackstone Consulting, Southern Food Service, Sodexo in Reach. Greenway Paper supplies, Coca-Cola, Tyler Technologies. You selected Cantaloupe Curate Dr. Pepper and commissary services of Nashville.
Support Message (01:03:05):
If you would like to support the We Are Randolph Shepherd podcast, we would love to have you on board. Corporate sponsors may contact Nikki gecos@nikkicolorado.netscape.net. Individuals who would like to support the podcast may do so by donating to the National Association of Blind merchants@www.blindmerchants.org. We would love to have your support. We.