On this episode of the podcast, Tracy sits down with the power couple behind the incredibly successful Vidies Catering. From behind the scenes catering chaos, to surprising facts about Brandie and Levi, this episode is a fun reminder that some of the best local businesses are built by real people deeply connected to the community they serve. Expect lots of laughter and a few revelations….
The Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media. For information on guest or sponsorship opportunities, email tracy@oquinnmarketing.com.
This episode has been brought to you by Nexthome Team Ellis, Security Bank of Pulaski County, TK’s Pizza of St. Robert, and Sugarcreek Farms.
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**Not Lost in the Woods Podcast**
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**TK’s Pizza**
These days, things change quickly. Here today, gone tomorrow. That’s why having TK’s Pizza is extra special. TK’s is the oldest pizza shop in the area, and the cool thing is, they still do things the way they’ve been doing it since 1979. The dough is made fresh daily, hand tossed and piled with delicious quality toppings. Did you know their pulled pork is actually sourced locally? Yeah, TK’s uses only whole milk mozzarella, never any of that synthetic cheese. And TK’s believes size does matter. From the 20-inch King, the 16-inch Large, 14-inch Medium, and 10-inch Small, you’ll find you’re getting more for your money. Order online at 336fast.com, or call 573-336-FAST, and taste the TK’s tradition.
Around here, home means something different. It’s Friday night lights, early morning heading to post, neighbors who become family, and the comfort of knowing you belong. That’s why at Next Home Team Ellis, real estate has never been just about buying or selling houses. It’s about people. Hi, I’m Lisa Ellis, broker owner of Next Home Team Ellis, and I’ve spent nearly three decades helping families across Fort Lenwood, Waynesville, Saint Robert, and surrounding communities move forward with confidence. As a retired military spouse, I understand tight timelines, unexpected orders, and the importance of having someone in your corner when life changes fast.
Whether you’re selling a lifetime of memories or searching for a fresh start, you’ll have innovative marketing, expert negotiations, and honest guidance every step of the way. Because here, reputation travels faster than advertising, and trust is earned one family at a time. Call Next Home Team Ellis at 573-774-4101 or visit us at buyfortwoodhomes.com. Next Home Team Ellis, moving forward with confidence.
Don’t stop, light it up. Just shine like the morning sun. Don’t stop, turn it up. Just shine, shine, shine, just shine.
**Interviews**
Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. I am so thrilled to have two of my very best friends, my neighbors, one of my favorite businesses, one of the best chefs I’ve ever known, just some real cool people, Brandy and Levi. Levi and Brandy Pine from V’s Catering. Guys, thank you so much for doing this.
Thank you. Hey, it’s awesome to be with you.
I just, I can’t even tell you, like I can’t stop smiling because I’m so happy because we’ve been trying to make this happen. And now we’re doing it. So yay! We have a lot to talk about, right?
Yeah.
First of all, tell me how you guys came to this area. I mean, I kind of know a little because I’ve known you for so long, but I’m betting that there’s I’m going to learn a thing or two here. So whoever wants to start with that.
Well, it’s kind of in Levi’s wheelhouse. A little bit. I mean, I’ve I’ve had uh family down here since uh the Civil War, you know, uh in the Lebanon area, settled in the Lebanon area.
How do you know, like how do you know how how long ago? I mean, have you done that research? Well, yeah, well, we have, you know, we have some documentation, handwritten letters, uh, you know, about uh Johnny Reb coming through and how my great-grandmother used to pack her pistol in her dress and.
That’s so awesome.
And and you know, uh handwritten letters and uh family stories, traditions. Uh my great, my great-grandfather was uh a minister at the uh Sleeper Methodist Church back in the 1950s.
Oh really.
Yeah. So uh Charles Arthur Bird was his name.
That’s a very fancy name.
So yeah, and and and his wife, my great-grandma, she actually, I still have like old uh books and documentation. She she’d list like uh parishioners given them 50 pounds of peas or seed or whatever and then she’d write what the yields were and.
I love that your family saved that. That’s so cool.
Yeah. So and you know, and still the old pistol my grandma used to carry in her dress. We still have.
Is that what I hear up the road sometimes? Bang, bang, bang.
That’s the modern era, Tracy. I do think I get a report back every once in a while.
You sure do. You sure do. That’s funny. So I guess that’s how you have links to there. Now Brandy, is he your only link to there?
He’s my only link.
He’s it, huh?
My my it’s actually funny because my grandfather grew up in Long Lane. Okay, but we never spoke about this area. So we I do have ties, but just unbeknownst to me, I didn’t I didn’t know it until we moved here. So.
Oh really.
Yeah. Her grandfather during the ’40s, uh I guess her his mother moved the she was a single mother and moved four kids down to Long Lane. And so they grew up in Long Lane and and and one of the favorite stories her her grandfather tells is they put uh they had a M80 and they threw it over in the corner or something and the hog ran over there and got it and it blew it blew half the hog’s face off. So.
Oh my gosh.
So mom was mad because there went the meat in the 1940s, you know. So.
Well, I bet you that they just ended up eating a lot of pork right off the bone. Yeah. That’s right.
Maybe no jail. Yeah, no jail. Jail. Fourth of July surprise.
Oh my gosh. That’s so horrible, but funny at the same time.
So so yeah, so we’ve so throughout so a lot of family lineage on some level. Yeah. And then um, you know, at some point in time, I was in a major accident in ’97 and didn’t walk for a couple years.
A couple years? Wow.
Yeah, a couple years. Got some rebuilt hips and all kinds of stuff. A lot of screws and hardware in me, but uh, but we were, you know, I was born in Kansas City, but still always would come down here through summers and business and family.
So you set off all the metal detectors.
Oh, yeah. Well, actually it’s titanium. It’s weird. It doesn’t always I didn’t go through some airports and not get nothing or they’ll be like, oh, you got something in your butt or in your finger. Some metal because it the other you know, the other part of the body trigger something off. They’re like, uh, sir, we’re gonna need to touch you there.
Sometimes you just go to airports for fun, huh?
Well, when I need a quick buzz every now and then, okay. Don’t let all my secrets out, please.
Poor Brandy, she’s like, oh, Lord, this is what I put up with. All right, so is Levi, let me let me ask this. I’m I’m I thought I knew a lot about you. I’ve already learned so much. Um, we’ve talked about what’s in Levi’s butt. No. So Levi, you’re the chef, right? Or Brandy, have you always been interested too or did he pull you into that too? You’re just along for the ride then.
We actually moved down here and and the plan was for me to go to nursing school. But at that time, 20 some odd years ago, um, the nursing school was full and there was a waiting list.
Well, how those times have changed, huh?
Yeah. I can see you would be an excellent nurse. You have that nurse thing about you, that caring and yeah.
She’s an excellent chef too. Don’t let her fool you. As much as we’ve done and as as many people as we’ve served and things like that. I mean, she’s quite the chef in her own right.
He’s taught me a lot. Yeah. But but yeah, but no, I was I was the I was apprentice under Chef Reinhold Pricher in Kansas City and with all the things we do, there’s as much of a chef element as there is the organization, every aspect of lining things up, Miss B handles all that plus, I mean, Miss Brandy does the work of 10 people.
Yes. Yeah. We’d definitely be lost without Miss Brandy being that sous chef that she don’t think she is.
When you’re at an event, you’re both so friendly and everyone recognizes both of you. And so I see exactly what you mean, like you may be the actual chef, but oh my gosh, so much of it is just talking to the public and like you said the organization and all of that stuff, you know.
You guys do amazing work. I I have told you this, I don’t know, we’ve probably not had a whole lot of conversations where I say, I don’t know how you guys do it because I really don’t. What is the the largest number of people that V’s Catering has ever fed?
At one event? At one event. At one event, 2,000 people.
Oh my gosh. No. She’s telling you, you’re wrong. Okay. What is it, Brandy?
Not at one event. That was two separate events. Well, no, that’s at the same event, love. But yeah, no. Well, and and then and then in one day cuz that’s just one event. We’ve also had uh 1,000 people on top. We fed up to 3,000 people in the day.
In one day. Yeah.
How in the world? And and does that intimidate you at all? Because you know me, like I’ve had to do small events where I’m like, oh my gosh, there’s going to be 40 people and I’m like, I can’t sleep tonight.
It doesn’t intimidate you. Well, you know, we’ve been doing this. Well, little well, but she’s a little. Well, and so we’ve been doing this. Yeah. So you know, we’ve been doing this since 2001 and so the first time we had to do 100 people, it was like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? Well, that’s just really twice 50 people. And the first time we had to do 200, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? But really it’s just double.
See you just you kind of get it down and then you just multiply it.
Yeah, and then you just go and two 200 to 400. I mean, that’s just pretty much 400. It really is. 800 is double 400. And so on and so on and so on.
My heart is pounding right now just thinking about it. Not all of us are are built to do these kind of things. I can tell you. So when did you say you started V’s or you guys started V’s? I’m looking at Levi, but both. Was this the dream of both of yours? Was it his dream and you’re like, all right, I’m along for the ride.
2001. I’m along for the ride, baby.
Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It well, she beats me regularly. Only when I deserve it, of course.
I started to say you probably.
Only earn those. But anyway.
It’s really as much about experience and taking care of people. Sure, I apprentice. Sure, I learned a lot under my chef. But, you know, you got to learn the things to your own uh kitchen, to your own specific, you know, specifications, how the customer likes it. You know, this, that. A lot of it, I believe, our biggest success factor, one of our biggest keys, is experience and keeping our minds open and trying to learn and not thinking that, you know, just cuz we’ve done it 100,000 times, we know everything.
That’s the dangerous way to think, isn’t it? Yes, it is. No, you should always. That can be the end of you and your business. That’s it. Always be bright, always learn, always be willing to learn. Because things change. And thankful for the opportunity because in that opportunity, you hopefully should glean some knowledge or something more or you know, even less. You know, depending upon the circumstance.
I was just getting ready to ask you, what has been in this long, you said what, 2000, how many years?
25. So 25 years.
25 years. Was COVID the worst or most difficult time during that or was there something that surpassed that?
By far. By far. Oh, man. Wasn’t that because you guys paid a large, right, and you cater large groups and there were no large groups.
COVID was scary. Right. There was no groups almost, period. I mean, we did very, very few. We went from doing 500 events the year before to maybe 30.
Yeah. We went like six months with goose eggs, nothing on the books for six months.
That’s scary.
And the first week it happened, we had $70,000 worth of business on the books and all of that got canceled, pulled or, you know, rescheduled or, you know, whatever.
Only rescheduled again and be rescheduled for years down the road, which.
Yes, yes. And a lot of it was with people that, you know, we’re we’re also known in in our little bit of the world or whatever people you do business with is that we work with people. We’re not just going to charge you a bill on some stuff we haven’t even ordered yet or whatever. So, you know, we worked with all our customers to make sure that, you know, hopefully it didn’t hit them so hard either. So in that, yeah, we went six months with uh with goose eggs and crickets. And yeah, we honestly, I thought catering or food service like that was like cutting hair. It’s always going to grow.
Yeah.
People are always going to need to be together cuz even when we started our catering business, I always thought it was special events. Right. Well, you know, as much a catering special event is, I got I I brought a group of people here for a seminar. I asked some people to come together and now that they’re here, I have to refresh them or feed them. You know, there’s there’s a certain aspect per, you know, portion of the business that’s like that. So, um, so yeah.
None of us saw any of that coming. I mean, I don’t know that we even realize all the lessons we’ve learned from that because I mean, to some extent, we’re all just finally now to where we can take a breath. You know, it’s like, okay, are we good now? Is everything good? How long did it take y’all to recover financially from COVID? When did it start to pick back up for you guys?
23 was a real good year.
23 is when it really came back.
22 it started to.
Didn’t we get a military ball function in 22? So they started back with the ball function, I believe.
I bet you were so happy to be back to work.
We were. Yes. Well, yeah. And you know, for us because we don’t have that daily retail as of yet and haven’t most of, you know, our whole business. It’s good to see people out and about and everything. You know, if you have a daily retail, you see the people coming in your door or whatever. So, you know, we went for months without seeing a lot of our people. So it was very nice to get back to work, making food, making people happy and depositing checks.
Yes, yes. Depositing. We really like to see the people at the bank.
When I come to them. I don’t want them coming to me.
If they come to you, that’s a bad deal.
The best is when you get to cash the check from the bank. I like those. Yeah. Yeah. Isn’t it funny how the people that we serve through our businesses and the people that we that we serve with as business owners or business managers kind of become our friends. I mean you you don’t see those people for a while and and you think, oh, kind of miss them.
Yeah. I kind of miss him a little bit.
They’re a part of your integral part of your life. The fabric of your, you know, daily life on some level. So yeah.
So in 25 years, how has V’s menu changed? I mean, is there anything that you started out with, okay, this is a staple of our catering business that still is or how has it changed?
Yeah. Most everything. Really? Well, we have a wide variety of mean that so we have a very wide uh menu. So, you know, it’s over several hundred items. So there’s lots of things, you know, it’ll go for a while where there’s a trend where we’re cooking chicken cordon bleu at like.
Oh, my favorite things that you guys make actually.
You know, almost at every event. Then it might switch to uh, you know, chicken Florentine or to this or that. So it goes through trends. Now, one of the things we’re really, which we’ve started working with a gal and trying to work with getting a a web presence and things like that a little bit. Um.
You can plug her. Her name’s Nicole. Yes. Nicole from freelance design. She does a great job.
Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Miss Nicole from freelance design. Actually, I think you’re about the third guest that I’ve had on in the past three or four months that has mentioned her. So, yeah.
Well, good. Yes, rock it on girl on cheese. Doing that for us. So in that trying to also kind of reach out and expand it to where, you know, we kind of showcase in some of the things that we do. You know, what I’m saying and and and uh trying to keep more of a presence on there so people can keep up with us and and you know, see what we’re up to and things of that nature. So.
Because it kind of seems like to me, I mean, almost every event that I go to. I mean there’s a few exceptions, but almost everyone, you guys are the ones that are catering. I’m always happy when I found out that you guys are catering. And it seems like a lot of the people choose the same things and I would imagine that’s because, okay, I go to an event and I know, oh, man, I really love this chicken cordon bleu. So the first time I have an event, that’s my first thought is, do you guys experience that a lot? Are there a lot of things that you offer that people really don’t have a clue about?
Yes, that’s one of the things with our presence. We want to like showcase, you know, we have a big wide menu, like I said, so maybe showcase an item live, you know, that we’re demoing and do some video with it and show and, you know, gives people a new idea or a reinvigorated idea. And also showcasing new items that we’re going to be adding to the menu. And then that way people get a little flare for what it might look like or show them how we put it together, what it might, you know, represent in their mind to taste like.
I’m wondering in in every aspect of any kind of business, there are things we enjoy more and things we enjoy less. So, what is one of the things, you guys probably won’t want to answer this, that people order and you’re like, oh crap, we have to make that. And on the flip side of that, what’s one of your favorite things to serve, to cook and serve?
It’s the chicken cordon bleu. That’s honestly, I’m I’m.
Because it’s delicious or because it’s easy?
No, it’s it’s my thing I hate the most. Not because.
Oh, that’s the one you hate the most.
Not because. It’s just because it’s ordered so often, you know, it’s one of those dishes that that at least if we have five events in a week, guaranteed two of them have chicken cordon bleu, if not all five.
It’s real good, Brandy.
I know. I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it.
For me, I I as much as it’s the thing I enjoy, it’s also the thing that sometimes can be the most dreadful. It’s like, you know, when we do, which I I feel like we that’s one of our things we’re really good at is doing stuffed dishes like, you know, the stuffed chicken with the the shrimp and the rice and the sauce. You’re like the Cajun stuffed shrimp. Or, you know, the pork loin that’s, you know, stuffed with the wild mushrooms and the cheese and all that type stuff. So, creative things like that, they make me the most excited like that. But then also, you know, it’s a five-step process because, you know, you got to make the stuffing. You got to butterfly out your meats. A lot of times then we have to hold them and let them get cold so they’ll seal. You know, if they’re, you know, if you just do it and roll it and put it in the oven.
It’ll all your crap comes out just like that’s what happened to me.
I I made uh I made some the other day these I I took some cream cheese and some, I don’t know, just a bunch of crap from the garden, and some sausage, and I stuffed these chicken breasts with it, and I wrapped it in bacon, and they came out empty in a big pan of goo.
Goo, yeah. Yes. So let them get cold. Yes. Well, you you know, you kind of pound them out where your seal is or where your lip is and then fold them over and then take that last piece and seal it back over.
Then let it get cold.
And then lay it flat on like a sheet tray. Set it in your freezer. I mean, you know, you could let it sit there overnight, but just like even an hour or two so it kind of seals.
Oh, I got you. Okay. And then from there, maybe you would bread it or do whatever you want to do.
But how do you do that when you’re making it for 200 people or 300 people?
All in steps. Yep. All in steps. Misnplause, the old the old uh the old misnplause, everything in its place. That’s how you do it. That’s how it’s done.
Oh, my gosh. Wow. I am I am just amazed. You two always impress me. Are you sick of your own food?
Brandy’s always sick of her own food. I’m I’m never tired of it.
When we when we cater that day, Levi can eat the food all day, whatever we’ve catered. And you can ask all of our the folks that have worked for us over.
They love it. Everybody.
I I am not I cannot eat out of catering hardly at all. I can’t eat what I’ve smelled all day.
Yep. I am the same way. I totally understand that. Well, I mean, I say that. If I was making cinnamon rolls, I probably could.
Well, no. But you know like.
But after a while, even cinnamon rolls get old.
That’s true. I guess. Oh, see Brandy’s actually actually, she said, okay, going back, see, this is why we conversate, right? Let’s go back to what you said about what’s one of the most dreadful things we do. Uh, Brandy, what’s the most dreadful thing we do all year long in one that happens in one season? Begins with the letter T. Turkeys love.
Oh, my God.
Brandy, you’re like, she always love turkeys. Turkey was like, She love turkeys. Oven roasted, smoked. Maybe smoked we could eat cuz we don’t do as many. I smoke I love smoked turkey. But anyway, we do like 70, 80, 100, whatever, plus.
Everything’s.
Roast turkeys. Turkeys are the misses. And and she just.
Why is that? I I well, it’s one of those things that cook all night. So no matter you you leave the shop at whatever time, it’s already smelling like turkeys. You come back the next morning. It smells great. All that sage and butter and oh, man. I love it. Can’t wait to take a taste of that.
The grease of a turkey, I mean, it and you know, turkey turkeys are generally served in the colder time of the year. So the grease that it, you know, its juices that it creates solidifies very quickly.
Very quickly. Yeah. Yes. It gets the jelly type stuff.
So it’s um it’s quite a process. But when you got, you know, 40 bird. Pretty much the shop gets shut down when it’s turkey time. Okay. Nothing but turkeys is going on.
Nothing but turkeys. How has your business changed over all those years?
We’ve been super blessed. It’s just continued to grow, really.
Of course of the last 25 years, sure we’ve tried to make a social media presence here and there or we’ve tried to advertise here and there, but pretty much our head has been down and we’re cooking and serving.
Elbows up, head down, elbows up.
It has to be and that’s what I tell my marketing clients. This can be easily be a full-time job. Do not feel bad that you want to focus on what you want to focus on and turn this part over to somebody else. Because a lot of times, it’s that fresh eye from somebody else that doesn’t see those billion turkeys over and over and over, you know, what I mean?
Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. How much has relationships that you’ve built helped because I know.
That’s our best advertising. Isn’t it? Isn’t that the relationship part of it is so important. Yeah. We well, you know, with the we did a tiny bit of radio when we had our restaurant for a year down on the square. Um.
I wasn’t going to bring that up but since you did I have questions. Go ahead though.
Yeah. No, that’s okay. And um, but that’s what we’re here for. Uh, but uh where was I going with that back to the see now you got me.
Oh, you said you did a tiny bit of radio. I asked how it did change.
Oh, yeah. Right. Yes, yes. And we did a tiny bit of radio then, but for the most part, I mean, all of our business has been word of mouth, taking care of people, them referring obviously to other people, being a presence at at places, whether it’s on post or, you know, in the city or wherever, you know, and and uh so those relationships have definitely and, you know, we’re we’re tight with all those people that we very first started with and they mean a lot to us. Some of those people call us up for just like a cake or whatever, you know, we’re serving thousands of people, but, you know what, we’re we still take care of our people.
And all those people out there, you know who I’m talking about.
We we do. We might be one of those people. Yeah. You guys have always been so great and so, um, I mean, I know you you’re not going to toot your own horn, but toot, toot, I’m going to toot it for you because I know you donate a lot. I know you do a lot of really awesome things and um that’s, you know, and you’re the people I love to toot the horn of because you don’t put it all out there. There’s probably a lot of people that don’t have a clue how much you donate and how many things you do for other people and I just, you know, I think I think you all are just wonderful people and that’s why you’re you’re so blessed with your business because you do things for the right reasons, you know.
Well, and and a lot of times, you know, there’s things where you uh help out or support. That’s the good term around these parts. That we support, you know, and and do what we can. But there’s a lot of times that when we support, we don’t want the.
Exactly.
You know, sometimes when you support you got to have your advertisement, you got to have your whatever that’s just part of the whatever you’re doing. But a lot of times we like to do it where we don’t get that credit. We don’t want that credit.
Yes. That feels good.
Yeah. Well, it’s right. Yeah. It’s right to help people out. You’ve been helped out, you know, and that’s given back.
Exactly. And if somebody helped you out, would you want them to go plaster it all over for their benefit? No, that’s nobody wants that. Thank you. And I think um someday when y’all depart this world, your funeral will probably be much like that of my father’s because he was that type that helped a lot of people. Yeah. And and uh you guys know. I mean, you knew and loved him very much.
Yep. Yeah, we did. Yep. Yeah. Yep.
And the I’ve got goosebumps, the amount of people that came up to me at his funeral and said, your dad helped me do this. Your dad helped me do that. If it wasn’t for your dad, I wouldn’t have this. And I’m like, wow, like I had I mean, I knew that he did but I couldn’t I couldn’t I I I had no idea.
You had an idea, but you didn’t really know. You had no idea. Really, your dad is.
Your dad is a very, very awesome man. Your dad’s the true reason why we’re cornerstoned here in the area the way we are because you know, with our property and everything.
Exactly. He took a chance on some 20 some odd old kids to buy a piece of property that he had pegged for one of his own kids.
I knew you guys weren’t talking about that. I hadn’t thought about bringing that up, but yeah. So tell me tell me about that. Tell me how you got started where you’re at and all that kind of stuff because we were neighbors.
We were neighbors. Yes. I grew up on the same little little piece of land my entire life, moved away for a little bit, moved back. And at some point, y’all rented a space, right?
His mom did.
His mom did. Your mom did. Your mom rented the space. My mom and dad. Dad was terminal. He had a liver disease and he passed away. And then at that point in time, my mother was in that rental unit down there across from your mom and dad’s and Pete and Laura, that, you know, they were great. We love Pete and Laura. They they live.
That was my uncle Pete and Aunt Laura by the way, for those of you listening. And and so they lived there. But anyway, so then through the course of some other things.
We had. Yeah, walking the dog one day.
Yeah. In your neighborhood. Yeah. And came across this oh, well, Robinson’s old house. This this place.
Oh, this place. Yeah. He moved away. He’d lived there my entire life living out there. He was our neighbor and he moved away. So there.
I think and I think it’d been empty for four or five years. So it was kind of overgrown with, you know, the way the trees are like you say, you can’t hardly see them.
Big, beautiful trees on your place. Yes. And so anyway, then, you know, we talked to your dad about it and uh pops made it happen. You know, and so and then that’s that was in 2004 and that’s right when we were Savannah was born just several months later.
We moved in in January. Savannah was born in March.
Well, I have to tell you that you you guys and and your mom were were some of my dad’s favorite people. He loved you guys. He loved people that would work, that weren’t lazy, that had goals, that had visions, that were happy, that were not negative. I mean, he you he just thought the world of you guys.
Oh, we thought the world of him, believe me.
I know. I know. And so I’ve been blessed to have you as neighbors for gosh, 20 four, five.
Yeah, long time.
Since 2004. Yeah. We have a little before that was his mom. That’s right.
We kind of watch out for each other too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
We sure do. We sure do. All right, we’re going to take a quick break. Uh, we’ll be right back. I’m going to ask them or actually, I’ve already asked them some questions about what’s the three things people might be surprised to learn about you. I’m going to see. I haven’t looked at these yet. So, I’m going to see if there’s anything that I didn’t know. Although I’ve already learned a lot. Also, what’s your favorite thing about Pulaski County and the surrounding area? So, we’ll be back to talk about that in just a moment.
**Break**
This is Mike Dunbar with Security Bank of Pulaski County. Trends change. Technology changes. But one thing hasn’t changed, our commitment to this area. For decades, Security Bank has been right here making decisions locally and putting people first. Because when your bank knows your name, your goals matter more. Security Bank of Pulaski County, local then, local now. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender. Online at sbpci.com.
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**Interviews**
Back with Brandy and Levi Pine from V’s Catering. And most of you don’t be looking at my wheel. I said the wheel here and they both were like dogs. They turn their head sideways and looking at the wheel. We’re going to spin the wheel here in a second. Now they’ll be trying to look at it now. So many people know you two from V’s Catering and it’s funny because you haven’t advertised a lot or really, you know, you work all the time. Like you’re probably some of the hardest working people that I know for sure. Um and and it’s funny because when I see you out on our road with your little walks and stuff, I’m like, how do these people find the time to do this? I don’t know. But um, so it’s it’s great that your business has done as well as it’s done when you haven’t really, I’m not saying you haven’t tried when it comes to marketing, but you really haven’t had to, I guess. I mean, it just.
Hypnotizing. It was very hypno. For the most part, it’s been a blessing.
So at one point, you brought it up earlier. At one point, you decided, we’re going to open a restaurant, right? Were you still catering during that time or was it just the restaurant?
Yep. No. No, we were catering too. Well, that was the first year 2012, I guess it was.
Was it that long ago?
It was 2012 and 2013, but that was the first year we went over 400 events in a year because we didn’t know that prior to starting a restaurant. Right. Because also we we just had crested 200 events a year back in 2010. So from 2010 to 2012, we went from 200 events a year to 400 events a year and tried to start the restaurant.
I don’t math well, but I’m just sitting here thinking about that. How in the world? What what big of a staff do you have?
Well, um, you know, we’ve been really fortunate throughout the course of of pretty much our business, last 20, 23 years anyway. We’ve had we have people, you know, who are teachers or have other jobs that basically help us at the events, kind of moonlighter. At this point in time, you know, they’re pretty much mainstays not moonlighters. But um great people who help us out and make it. I always kind of actually a little bit to the dirty dozen. That old war movie. I got We all come together and make it happen. Yeah. You know what I’m saying. Um, but for the most part in the kitchen, I mean 97, 98% of everything is me and Brandy and the family. So.
Wow. So what made you decide you wanted to open a restaurant?
Well, I mean, um, You’re like, I don’t remember. Well, Brandy’s like, no, I did not want to open a restaurant. Thank you very much. She’s like, I’m just going to sit this one out. Uh, well, you know, as a chef, I mean, you know, you always want to, you know, it’s it’s it’s it’s awesome and it’s it it did it it was going to hopefully be that lunch pin to more daily business and more customer service and more things like that. Um, it just like I it just worked out with us having that many events and us trying to, you know, when I started the restaurant, I was changing the menu every week. A different steak, a different seafood, a different pork, a different chicken, different sides every week. So it’s really hard to train your staff to where, you know, you don’t have to be the one pretty much uh responsible for all these dishes because it changes every week. But, you know, I wanted to go chef heavy and.
Oh, yeah. Wow.
How long were you doing that? How long?
One year. About one year. No, I have not finished the question. Oh, yes, ma’am. Thank you. Thank you. I love you guys. How long from the time that you opened your door on the first day to the time that you’re like, I’ve made a mistake? Or do you consider it a mistake?
Part of part of it, part of it kind of coincided also with a physical attribute, you know, I think you know, I got all the metal and stuff. I think we’ve mentioned that for a second. So it was there was a physical ailment that was going on at the time. Plus in the fact that, you know, we were here trying when you have caterings, they’re booked. You have to take care of your business. In the restaurant, you open the doors every day and you hope people come.
And if they don’t, you still have bills to pay.
Yes, you still have bills to pay. So with that, we had to take care of the bookings that, you know, we have to take care of the things that, you know, are booked and guaranteed to make you money. And so it just.
Just is tight again. It just yes. It just yes. Exactly. And it all kind of coincided and, you know, it worked out with J nurse look cuz we were down there on the square.
He had a great spot. Yes.
Yeah. He had a great spot. Yeah. They were great. They were so great to us. It was a great everything was great. But with all that, it just it just didn’t work out and which kind of was a bad deal because, you know, we we had the Secretary of the U.S. Army come. He came into Fort Leonardwood. Yeah. Got a four-star general coin from the fellow.
Oh, that’s cool.
Got a got a security sweep a couple days in a row, you know, he’s like in charge of the United States Army and I’m like.
They’re like, you’re setting off the metal detector.
Yeah, right. What’s in your butt. No. But but yeah, no, so and in that, you know, just to be a you know, to be a chef. I mean, that’s the culmination sometimes and for whatever purposes, things just never really kind of hooked up the right way and just went back to doing the catering.
Well, you know what, you live and you learn and you try things and I have some of those same stories I could tell. You know, when I opened the event center, I was like, oh, this is wonderful and I quickly realized what I loved about it was holding events, but not renting the space. I hated, detested renting the space because it was so many reasons. I wouldn’t even go into it. But I loved the events. Well, in order to pay the bills, you have to keep the space rented and that was the worst part. So for me, so, you know, at some point, it was like, well, we’re going to raise the rent. We’re going to and it’s like, how much do I want to do this? You know what I mean? Not not bad enough, not bad enough. So.
Well, and you have just so happens, you have other things you’re fired to. Yeah. You’re kind of a busy gal too now. Let’s not forget that.
It is and and I’m like, you guys, we’re I think you probably enjoy the busy, you know, it’s nice to have downtime, but then after a minute, it’s like, uh, okay, now what? You know. And so I enjoy, I enjoy a good mix of both and I was having no mix of downtime. There was no downtime. I guess I’m just getting too old and grumpy to do things I hate. You know, at some point, you’re just like, all right, I’ve paid my dues. So what am I doing now? Like I should be at a stage in my life where I’m seeing the fruits of my labor and when is that going to start? And so that’s when for me anyway, you know, I just kind of started focusing on what I love and what’s important to me and not the other stuff. So was that how it was for you guys too?
Even even we have. I mean, yeah, yeah. Well, and we’ve been.
Because I’m older than you guys, a little by a little bit. But.
Well, you know, we’re we’re only 26. Okay. I don’t know what you’re talking about. But one of our one of our biggest blessings is quite honestly is over the past three or four years is we’ve uh we’ve been uh privileged enough and blessed enough to be part of uh Encounter Cove Ministries up at Lake of the Ozarks. And um, so that’s been keeping us extremely busy and um, it it to to cook for that many people because it’s like 1,000 people. Um, a couple meals uh nine months out of the year. And to be able to to to just, you know, obviously make the food good, it’s really good. But also just to be able to accomplish all those things, all those moving parts and all that stuff is is gave us a very big sense of accomplishment. And, you know, it’s it’s allowed us to it’s allowed us to feel like maybe we’re, you know, getting to certain points in our.
Yeah, the fruits of your like we’re starting to see some things come to fruition.
Yeah, we’re starting to see some things come to fruition. So you said you cook for that many people, nine months out of the year. How many times a month?
Uh, one week in a month. It’s one week in a month. So it’s one weekend every month for nine months out of the year.
Yes, not nine months. They’re there’s like a couple months they go.
Nine months total at the end of the year. You’ve done that nine times. Yes, yes. Holy cows. What what do you feed them? Is it always the same?
Um, it changes somewhat. We’ve done everything. I know one time you did burgers and I was like, how in the world do you do 2,000 burgers?
That was a long weekend. Yeah. Right.
How does that even happen? I can’t imagine.
Especially when you hand. Yeah, you get the 10 pound cubes. You get the 10 pound cubes. Not like you’re buying a box of a little flattened gross McDonald’s there’s not again it’s not like anything against McDonald’s but I’m just saying. Not frozen. Yeah, freshly made 1,000 burgers. Grill them up, get them ready. You know, you got to start at 2 o’clock in the morning. So they’re ready to go.
Yeah. Freshly made. That’s true. Now here’s some food. I’m sorry this is all I can do, but here’s some food. Some food. Right. So we pull up into Joplin, right? And it was like the it was like gangs of New York. Uh these you know, it was all volunteer organizations, Red Cross and everything. But they were but they were like gangster in the corner. You ain’t coming around here Slinging no. I mean, really, it was tough stuff. And I’m like, what are we going to do? This was like for real, you know, the Lowe’s Park, all that there on Range Line, whatever all that stuff. All the way down up and I was just like, dude, this I was totally flabbergasted. So we found this one street, we turned off and, you know, everything was flattened but there was this one church way off. We saw, dude, we didn’t know it was a church. It was a brick building. And um, so we pull up there and we’re like, hey, you know, we got all the, you know, we had like food for 200 people. You know, me, I don’t play. So I had all these pans of food and I’m like, hey, you know, do you know where we, you know, anybody need any help or assistance? And they’re like, we haven’t had a day off in three days. We’re the only place where the helicopter can land and take off around here or whatever. And all our staff is just whatever. If they could go home for a shift if you guys would run the shift with your, you know, your food.
They were inundated. How long were you there? Just a day. Just a day. Just a day. But we, you know, made a difference for them people to go home and to, you know, and that’s all I want to do is just go give people some food. But it was seriously it was like gangster. They were going you know, they’re coming with clubs. It’s never been so hard to give away food. Yeah, they’re like, you can’t come around here. This is us. I can say I can so relate to that when I was still at the radio station, there was that huge tornado out in Moore, Oklahoma. And it was just it was the whole area was just devastated and we wanted to do something. Right. So I mean we started asking for everything from, you know, water, whatever you can think of that you would need. And we filled up a box truck. The company owned a box truck. So we filled it up and my husband and I just drove straight out there and took it. And we had this truck full of everything you would think you would need, but it was the same thing. It was like, what are you doing here? What’s your purpose? What are you? You know, and it took us a while but we did find our people that needed us and we unloaded everything and we didn’t we knew we wouldn’t be able to find a hotel out there because everything was transparent. So we had brought our tent and the last place we went, they had all these little kids. They had no home. It was going to rain again and we’re like, do you want our tent? Yeah. Yeah. And we gave away all of our stuff. We still talk about this and every once in a while, we’ll think about going camping or, where’s the bag? Oh, yeah. We gave away our tent. We gave away our tent. So Brandy kind of had a little feem. She’s got the feemous stuff in her blood and we’ve talked to some other people that we know like uh Kevin Hedgspith, isn’t that his name? Yeah. Old Kevin used to be a conservation agent around here. He kind of semi-retired. He ended up going down there by boat arc. And uh, but anyway, he’d said he him and his wife go and do some disaster relief and then of course, Jose Andreas with his little food thing. We talked about trying to donate some time to World Kitchen when we get a little older. That’s awesome. You guys are so great. All right. Well, I want one of y’all to spin my wheel here. Lady’s luck. Lady luck. Come on, babe.
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