85 - What Does It Take to be an Influencer in 2025?

Rich: All right. We've got another guest today, Caitlin. It's so exciting.

Catelin: A recurring guest. A

Rich: repeat guest.

Catelin: I know. I can't wait.

Rich: Uh, so, uh, Danelle Taylor is with us. Um, he's also known as the Omaha Fatty. He's back. Uh, we talked to him a little while ago about like building his brand, being a social media influencer.

Rich: We're going to talk a little bit more about that again, being a local social media influencer, which might I just say we need more of in the Midwest.

Danell: There are

Rich: not enough in the Midwest. Um, and how that thing has changed, like what's changed, what's different. So, uh, we'll talk with him about that. He's here repping his new team t shirts.

Rich: Um, you're looking kind of buff too, like,

Danell: uh, you know, Last year, I did a get back in shape challenge. I still have a belly, so I fattened up during the winter again, uh, but I'm about to start the get back in shape. It's bulking

Catelin: season. It's bulking season. Yeah, it was. Isn't that what the, what the, what they say?

Catelin: Yeah, I just noticed

Rich: the arms and the shoulders, like, what are you doing? Yeah, and people have been commenting on that.

Danell: Yes, I'm good. I do jiu jitsu so I have to make sure to work on my traps a lot so I don't get choked as much.

Rich: Oh, I wonder, I wonder if that's why our drink is the Japanese slipper. Is there a jiu jitsu like combo there?

Rich: There you go. Is that Japanese? Yes. It's,

Danell: it's, it moved, it started in Japan, moved to Brazil. So yes, it originated in Japan.

Zac: I just wanted to hop in to give some background. I think last time we talked about your favorite cocktail, it was Midori Sour. Midori Sour. Yes, that's what it was. Yes. I was trying to remember.

Zac: I was like, who did we

Catelin: talk to about Midori? And this is a

Zac: new kind of Midori classic cocktail. So you'll have to tell us what you think. It sounds so good. All right. All right. Yeah.

Danell: I'll have to try it.

Rich: Yeah, so Japanese slipper. Um, it is green. It's very green, uh, made with Midori, Cointreau, and lemon juice, um, was created in 1984.

Rich: This is a really young drink compared to some of them. Oh, that's like,

Catelin: that's been a minute, but I suppose in comparison to like a classic cocktail. But like, we've had drinks from like 1862 this was

Rich: popular in England and stuff. Relatively speaking, uh, from a, uh, podcast producer's standpoint, it's a very old drink.

Catelin: Um, but

Rich: from a Compared to moonshine, generally. This drink,

Catelin: this drink was born before I was.

Rich: It was. Um, so it was created in Melbourne, which I assume is Melbourne, Australia, by Jean Paul Bourguignon. Um, at Mieta's Restaurant. Uh, became very popular, probably because this looks really easy to drink. It might be a little sweet for some people.

Rich: It looks easy and it sounds yummy.

Catelin: Yeah.

Rich: Um, but it was also in Bulletin Magazine in 1998. So we've got a very 80s thing going on here. Uh, and then, um, wow. Okay. So this was like of the era of the, of the mind eraser. Like that drink, which I know, I don't even know what that is, but

Catelin: I don't want to find, I don't think I would enjoy that.

Catelin: I think that it gives me heartburn.

Rich: Yeah, you just don't, you drink it and it erases your mind, so you drink was. I was like, total recall, what are we talking about? Right? Exactly.

Catelin: It's like activating the gag reflex, that doesn't

Rich: Yeah. That's a young woman's drink. Mind erasers are gag worthy, 100%. Yeah. Um, and also the Toblerone, which I do not know that cocktail or drink.

Rich: I love

Catelin: a Toblerone

Danell: Chocolate bar. Yeah, that's what I was thinking, the chocolate bar.

Rich: Yeah, we're gonna have to feature that one, Zach. Just put a pin in that one for later if you haven't already. Um, so Caitlin, this looks super easy and simple. It's

Catelin: very easy. In a cocktail shaker, I'm just gonna skip right to the recipe, the directions.

Catelin: In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, you want one ounce of melon liqueur, one ounce of premium triple sec, and one ounce of lemon juice, freshly squeezed. Uh, shake it, and then put it into a glass. And you've got a Japanese slipper. Easy as

Zac: good. Uh, one thing I will say is optional is you could put Like honeydew, like with a melon baller, you can put some frozen or cold honeydew,

Rich: honeydew, uh, garnish, um, yeah, I don't like honeydew.

Rich: I, I do like Midori, but I do not like most melons. Uh, I just clicked through cause I was like, what glass? Cause I would of course put this in a coupe glass. Cause that's just me. Wait, wait.

Danell: Was that a joke? You don't like most melons?

Rich: No, I honestly don't like most melons. It wasn't a joke. I, I was not trying to be funny there.

Catelin: And I was like, you could also apply that to other, like, if you wanted to go into like a, like an emoji innuendo, that is also true. I was going innuendo. Yeah. Oh, I see. I think it's like melon. Boob joke right over my head.

Rich: Um. That's

Catelin: how much he dislikes them. Got it, got it. He doesn't even register.

Rich: Um, but the um, the spruce eats where this came from, they've got it in a martini glass and it's, it's gorgeous.

Rich: It's chartreuse y. That's what I was picturing. I was going to say.

Catelin: Yeah. And that's, that's like fully reinforcing the 80s vibe too, is that like neon, bright, like saved by the bell,

Rich: that's what it's, that's

Catelin: what it's giving for me.

Rich: And Midori is a Japanese liqueur. I didn't realize that. Well that makes sense.

Rich: And the name Midori means green. I like that. I think that did make sense. Everything's connected. Yeah. Yeah. So it, it's, it's, uh. It's flavored from the country's famous melons, so,

Catelin: ba dum bum.

Zac: Melon is huge in Japan, yeah. More kinds of mel like,

Catelin: is there a specific Japanese melon that it's flavored from?

Zac: It says they're famous,

Rich: so I think maybe.

Zac: Honestly, with like, with like a lot of produce in Japan, they kind of like, go all in. It's like, especially with melons, I'm not speaking to like, the entirety of all the melons in Japan, but, There's like a Speak on behalf of all the melons, that. How do I say this? There's a luxury produce in Japan. So there's some melons that are hundreds of dollars that get sold at auctions.

Zac: Isn't that where the

Catelin: 20 Air One strawberry comes from? It's a Japanese strawberry. I would not be surprised. It's like a single Strawberry, like it's so stupid. It's

Zac: just like that. I'm pretty sure there's a strawberry there that's the size of like a baseball and it's like sells for a hundred something dollars.

Rich: We should point out, Zach, that you do know a bit about Japan. You are part Japanese. Yes, my grandma

Zac: immigrated from Japan,

Rich: so. Yes, Zach. I like that flow. In that culture, uh, you know a lot about ramen as well. I think that's just mostly because you like to eat. Oh,

Danell: yes.

Catelin: What a segue.

Rich: I know. Speaking of eating, should we talk

Catelin: about some food?

Rich: Yeah. Hey, that's always a good idea. You created your personal brand like as Omaha fatty and it was, you were all about food, but then you're also about like food with a cause. What talk, talk to us a little bit about. How that came to be like, how did Omaha fatty come to be? And how did you figure out like who you were, what you were and what that brand was?

Danell: Uh, I think it was just always wanting to help people. So I will actually, I don't think I know that was always the goal and the mission. And it, even to when I was a kid, I knew I wanted to help people, but I wasn't sure how I was going to do that or what that looked like. Um, and it is one of those things where I just kept putting that.

Danell: into the universe and it kept showing me the way that I was supposed to go. It kind of guided me, uh, to where when I was doing local events and whatnot for the small businesses, uh, I just kept being put in positions where I was in front of people and then I started doing social media and I was already doing the Google local guide thing.

Danell: As a matter of fact, I just got an email for both of my accounts saying that a local guy just turned 20 and I've been doing it for 10 years, you know, uh, with my business. So, um, I was doing the, uh, but I was doing the Google reviews just for businesses in general, but people really gravitated towards the food content.

Danell: And it was so much so that I started saying hashtag Omaha fatty and in my videos, uh, because I would usually introduce myself as Danelle, AKA small guy promotions. And then it turned into AKA Omaha fatty. Um, but yeah, the mission has always been to help. And especially the small mom and pops that don't have the budget to spend a lot for marketing.

Danell: Um, it's tough out there and a lot of them, when they spend so much time working in the restaurant business, they don't necessarily have time for social media. Uh, that's a whole separate job in itself sometimes. So, uh, being able to do that is what helped me grow. And totally for as bad as I say this all the time for as bad as COVID was for a lot of people, it was really good for me and my family.

Danell: I was working from home at the time. I got to hang out with my kids more than ever before. My wife was home for six weeks because she works in the salon industry. Um, and things slowed down. And that was a time where people really started to take notice of Omaha Fatty. I think it was because they were trapped in the house.

Danell: And they were just on their phones on Facebook stuff.

Catelin: Well, and I think people were like, I mean, not necessarily bored, but I do, I mean, probably bored. But I remember very specifically about that time where

Danell: my

Catelin: husband and I were seeking out, like, how do we be supportive of those folks kind of on the margins or who are service based businesses that are more affected by people not being able to gather in person.

Catelin: And we just started doing like. Weekly takeout where we would choose a different place and say like, oh, we're getting Greek this week or we're getting Indian or you know, just Not quite so, uh, paid forward as to like build a business around it. But I, it was very much that same kind of vein where you just, you wanna support the people that are in your community and love on them and Yep.

Catelin: Um, and the other thing too is like the margins in restaurant businesses are so small. So small that

Danell: Yep. So small.

Catelin: Yeah. That it, it gets really, I mean, you can live and die by a single, single review if you're mm-hmm . If your people are, are loving on your business. So that's, yeah.

Rich: Yep. Yeah. For us, it was also selfish.

Rich: Like we just wanted those bars and restaurants to still be here. Like, yeah, there was a real worry that like half the restaurants and bars could close. So we were buying booze to go like that was the best thing. Best time ever. Yes. Best legislative decision in the state of Nebraska ever was, um, making the booze to go permanent.

Rich: Like, yes, yes. We can all get behind

Danell: that one. Yes. Um, I brought home a lot of margaritas.

Rich: Oh, yeah, I, um, I, we did Margarita's from Fernando's and those things were potent. Like they were very talk, like just, um, well, cool. I do think, um, what's interesting is so like, uh, so, um, Sharla on our team and I remember when she interviewed, we asked her what her favorite restaurant was and she's like, well, she's like, my mother in law owns a restaurant.

Rich: Like, and I'm like, oh, okay. So shout out to Korea Garden. I've eaten there. It is twice. I think it's fantastic. Um, it's off 72nd Street, just past Q. So if you haven't eaten there, I would say do it. But, you know, you talk about small business, you talk about restaurants struggling especially, and that's kind of where things gravitated to.

Rich: I think the other thing is, people are just passionate about food. Like, we just care about food. People

Catelin: being us, let's be really I think people being all people. Yeah.

Rich: So how does the food help you broaden your influence? Cause like you, you said you were like just doing reviews for small businesses, but then the food people were kept gravitating to.

Rich: So you kind of built around that. So how do you, how do you pivot that into local help and local support and like the good that you do, I think in those areas.

Danell: Uh, so for me, again, going to helping out and giving back, whatever you want to call it, pay it forward. Um, it, it also like having those additional eyes on me not only allows me to help the businesses, but I'm a big supporter of our local pantry here in Papillion, uh, because I, I've said it many times, I don't struggle to find a meal and I can't imagine what it would be to live like that, or especially for my kids to have to worry about where that next meal is going to come from.

Danell: So it's allowed me to coordinate events where we do a food drive. Uh, and then also partnering with some of the local restaurants who want to help. Uh, I know Lux American Grill out here in Papillion. We were just there last night. Um, but they have been partners over the years and they let me be, uh, in charge of doing a food or food fundraiser there.

Danell: Uh, so that was great. People could donate money. And if they brought an item, they got a free dessert. Um, so that was really cool. It was a little publicity for them as well as giving back. So, uh, just having more eyes on, on the platform. That's what it all comes down to. Uh, you know, uh, I've always listened to a lot of Gary Vaynerchuk and it's about attention, you know, day trading that attention and what I, what I found and what I feel like some people don't understand is whether you leave a positive comment or a negative comment, the social platforms don't care.

Danell: It's attention. And I recently had, uh, that one of my biggest posts that I've ever had was for, uh, Wienerschnitzel that just opened up and a lot of people were upset, uh, or they felt a certain way about it because they're like, ugh, hot dog place, that food doesn't even look good. Well, number one is your opinion is not the only opinion out there.

Danell: Um, when I made that post, because they invited me to their, uh, soft opening, there were people who were transplants to Nebraska from California, Colorado, Texas. And they were excited that this place had come and open up in Omaha. While some of the people who are from Omaha are like, Ooh, why, why a hot dog place?

Danell: Can't we get anything else?

Catelin: Why don't you open your own restaurant? That's pretty much what I said to some of them. That's

Danell: what I said to them. And one person shared my post and they said, Worst advertisement ever. Now, for me, I'm thinking, I don't care whether you like the food or not. It doesn't matter to me.

Danell: I didn't make it. I don't have any ties to the restaurant. But this is what I want you to understand. You sharing my post like that has got that views view algorithm. Yeah. that post. I

Rich: forgot. Yeah. Oh, go ahead, rich. Oh, I was just saying, I forgot we got a wiener. Schnitzel. So there used to be one like down the street from my house in San Diego.

Rich: Oh yeah. And like there was also, there's a movie, I can't remember if it's like Bill and Ted's or what, but there's, they go through a drive through and the guy's like, welcome to Darwin Schnitzel. May I take your order please? Like, and it's almost a sing songy way. Yeah. And so that always goes through my head, but like.

Rich: There is a moment for a fast food hot dog, like, I mean, I think about Milwaukee, uh, Wiener House in Sioux City that's been there since that, like the 1900s. Like, it's a

Catelin: hundred and some years old. Yeah. Yeah. It's

Rich: moved. But like my great aunt and great grandma went there in its old location when it was really small.

Rich: Like, people need to not hate on the hot dog. Like, yeah, like a lot of people have hot dogs.

Catelin: There, yes, we have two hot dog places according to my, my four year, four and a half year old. And so there's the, the hot dog place with the chip. And the hot dog place with the good fries and the hot dog place with the chips is Milwaukee Wiener House.

Catelin: And the hot dog place with the good fries is the Greek restaurant Opa Time that like, and I love them both equally. They're both delightful, lovely places, but the fact that my kid can go and get something that she likes and enjoys eating and I can do the same, you're not going to, you're not going to win for me against a hot dog.

Danell: Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, You don't have to, like, everybody does, doesn't have to like the same things and that's what, you know, variety is the spice of life, as we always say, so, and, and I don't think people understand, like, if you're mad at a, I see this all the time and I'm sure you guys do as well, if you don't agree with a post on social media and you engage with, yeah, you, you, you don't keep scrolling and you decide to comment, You're probably going to start seeing more of that thing because you commented or shared the post.

Danell: So you, like, do you not understand what you're doing right now? So, to the people who shared that post about the hot dogs, I said, hey, I just want you guys to understand this. This is how social media works. Um, and whether you were for or against it, you helped my post reach a hundred and a hundred thousand views.

Danell: Like, like, so, and I responded to the one lady and I said, so here's a breakdown. The restaurant, all they had to pay for was myself and two of my friends to come out and eat. Uh, there wasn't like an ongoing relationship or contract or anything. It was just, they invited me out. I shared content. They got a hundred thousand views on that 45 that they spent for me to come and eat there, which that's at cost.

Danell: They didn't spend 45. And it wasn't an advertisement. It was just publicity.

Rich: And now we're talking about it again, and they didn't pay for any of this. Yes. Like, none of us got paid for it. Right. Wienerschnitzel will take a sponsorship if you're listening. We'll just take it in food. Yes, right. We're fine with that.

Rich: Yeah. Um, I'm going to put that, it's on my radar now. I just looked it up. It's on 72nd, just past I 80. Great location too, right off the interstate. Yeah.

Danell: Once they get 72nd Street fixed. Oh,

Rich: right. Yeah, I'm going there this weekend, though. I'm going to absolutely make the trek over there this weekend. I've got to go to Whole Foods, um, and Trader Joe's anyway, so I'll be coming back there.

Rich: Get your organic

Catelin: kumquats and then get your hot dog and cover up. Basically, yeah.

Danell: And right across the street, or right across the parking lot, Rich, they've got that, uh, that liquor store, Magga Doodles or something, Macca Doodles. Yeah,

Rich: Macca Doodles. Yeah, yeah, so it's right there. Oh, that's fantastic. Oh my god, they're right in the middle of like three hotels.

Rich: Anyway, um, so we talked about like there aren't enough micro influencers So you stumbled into it? If somebody was like kind of like so people are like, hey, I'm not like, you know A Kardashian so I can't be an influencer and that's not really true. Like please don't be a Kardashian either Yes, you you know you having a post and having some people hate on it got a hundred thousand views for a local restaurant It happens to be a chain, but still Yeah.

Rich: The local people need to be supported. What advice do you have for somebody who kind of wants to build a following, grow their following, or become a micro influencer?

Danell: So first, uh, and I actually work with, I worked with a gentleman who was, uh, thinking about that after seeing my content. He says, I always thought about doing that, but I didn't know how to get started.

Danell: And I said, well, here's the first thing. You have to be okay with no one seeing your post.

Zac: Mm hmm.

Danell: You have to enjoy what you do enough, and that's gotta be enough for you. And

Catelin: it will sustain you. Yep.

Danell: If you're banking on how many people read your post or read your review or whatever, that's not, especially when you're starting out, that's not gonna work.

Danell: It's not gonna, like, you're gonna burn out because that's all you care about. Um, so for me, I say it's like a personal diary of my life. Um, so whether people read it or look at it or not, I have that, and especially with the memories that pop up on, uh, platforms nowadays, I get to look back at that stuff and maybe share it again and just reminisce on, like, the time I had at that place or whatever it was.

Danell: Or, like, what's

Catelin: changed since then, too. Like, you talk about, like, publicity for those people, where it's like, oh, I really miss This dish that they had or maybe they'll bring it back as a special or you know It's so great to see my friend XYZ or you know, like all of those things are yeah, so I did that

Rich: I asked about a dish that I can't remember the restaurant I should be better at this but I had asked about something that like they'd had before and they didn't anymore And they were like, Oh, we can make that like, you just have to ask that happened to you in Boston.

Rich: I was

Catelin: like, it happened in Boston when I went to this Italian restaurant and they were, it was fantastic. Like I dreamt about this, um, a pastel, uh, what was it? I don't remember, but it was like, it was like mushroom and it was so good and beautiful. And I went back and I was like, Oh, I don't see it in the server with her.

Catelin: Like beautiful Italian accent was like. Oh, it's fine. We'll make it for you. And I was like, off the menu? Like, that's a, it was just like, and, and for them too, it was like such a beautiful expression of customer service, too. I was like, and, and I, like, I, I am not that, like, I'll order, you know, be like, oh, can I have blue cheese instead of cheddar?

Catelin: But I'm not gonna, like, make you make me a special thing. But it was, like, Every time I'm in Boston, which isn't often, but I'm like, I'm going back to Cantina Italiano because they were so wonderful. Like it was, and the, oh my God, the bread, the bread was amazing. Yeah. See, and that's the thing,

Danell: the experience, the memory that was created based off of the service they provided.

Danell: And I think a lot of times people don't understand if they have a bad experience at a place 99 percent of the time. The restaurant wasn't trying to give you a bad experience. It just happened. And some, some people have off days and maybe that we don't know what happened that day. So my rule is to always give a place a second chance, unless it was completely horrible.

Danell: And they, like, I felt like they did it on purpose or didn't care. Um, like, you know, I, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and at least go one more time. Uh, but so yeah, that's a big thing.

Rich: I've got a lot of friends who are, well, I've got a few friends who are chefs. And I was, I remember this very vividly because I got yelled at by him.

Rich: I was eating and, um, I didn't finish my food. And it was something that I really liked. It was, I think it was a chicken dish. And it's because as I got into it, like there, it wasn't fully cooked and you can't eat chicken. That's not fully cooked. And that's how you get salmonella. Yeah. He owns the restaurant.

Rich: So he wasn't back there cooking. And, you know, so it just went back. I didn't really say anything. I didn't want to raise a big thing. And he's like, you have to tell me. He's like, cause you are the kind person who will tell me this is undercooked. I don't want four more undercooked dishes going out and then somebody getting like sick.

Rich: And then I got the health department come. He's like, I want to know if it's bad. If your steak is overcooked, tell me because I need to go coach the kitchen. If you have an issue, tell me every chef. Actually want 99 percent of the chefs, not every they want to know if something isn't right

Danell: and

Rich: definitely that restaurant owner and the manager.

Rich: Want to know politely and there's easy ways to send something back or be very polite about it But yeah, they want to know because then they can improve and if you tell them they have no idea

Danell: Yes, and we get we get used to that Robotic response. How's everything going? Oh, it's it's good. It's good. And you're like, uh, it actually wasn't really good So I've tried to become better at that and say and there's always a way and my reviews You can usually tell if I didn't absolutely love something, but what I do is I will mention the good and the bad, but I won't mention the bad in the way that, like, tears down the restaurant.

Danell: Because I, my saying is, I never want to be the reason that someone doesn't try a restaurant.

Rich: Oh, yeah. So, the other thing is, like, you might just not like that preparation of something. I don't like soft mushrooms, but if you make them crispy, I love them. I just don't like the spongy. You might hate fried mushrooms and like spongy.

Rich: You want fried mushrooms now? See, it's all subjective. It's

Danell: so subjective. So, I've been thinking about that. Everybody is right and everybody is wrong. Like, so, because it's just so subjective. You know, it's whatever that person wants. And Rich, I do want to circle back to finish answering your question.

Danell: About what, what would I tell people who wanted to start aside from enjoying, uh, what they do? Um, so my, my pillars are doing it for the right reasons. Uh, you know, you got to know who you are and then consistency and just hard work. Like if you do those things, uh, everything will fall into place and I can remember.

Danell: Going back to when I started, people would always ask, you know, how much do you charge for this? How much do you charge for that? I said, I never want money to be the the the first part of the conversation. And if it is then it's not the right conversation for me. I actually had that conversation yesterday with the local place who I met with yesterday because they're doing a promotion for their five years, uh, this week.

Danell: And I said, Hey, and I've, I've supported them and I did a review for them back in 2020 or 2019. Uh, and I said, this is what I like. I like meeting with people. So when he reached out to me, I had talked to him before in person, but he wanted to know, you know, what would it take for me to come out and promote them?

Danell: I said, well, Hey, how about we meet? Because I, I want to sit down and talk to you about other stuff. And then we can talk about the business side because if we can't sit down and have a conversation, then we probably shouldn't be doing business together because I'm more about building the relationship.

Danell: And then from all of that other stuff, that consistency and that dedication, that's where the financial side comes in. And I never want to lose sight of why I started doing what I started doing. Of course, as my value has increased. Uh, the hard part is trying to pay your

Catelin: bills. Yes. Yeah.

Danell: Yes. That monetization side of things is where it becomes hard sometimes because I had to realize what my value was.

Danell: So what I did was I, at the beginning of the year, I ran all my platforms through, uh, AI to have an audit done and see what I should be charging for my services.

Rich: Great use of AI.

Danell: Yeah. Yeah. It was great. It gave me a whole breakdown. So. I have my partner put it on a pricing, uh, sheet and that's what I give to people now when they, you know, talk to me about wanting my assistance and, and don't get, don't get me wrong, 90 percent of the things that I do are for free, because again, I'm just documenting my life.

Danell: Yeah. If I go somewhere and I eat at a place, there's going to be pictures, but if it's not in my plan or in my schedule, I'm short on time and you want me to come out to your place. Then that's where the conversation turns into, okay, what are we looking at financially?

Rich: And I think that's a good difference.

Rich: Like you can be organically influential by just doing the things you want to do. But if you want to shift to that paid. If you're not coming to my place and I want you to because I see your posts, I see how much volume you get. That's when the relationship is flipped. It's not just you living your life, it's you having something inserted into your life you've got to make time for.

Rich: And time

Danell: is the highest commodity.

Rich: Oh, God, yes. 100%. Amen. Couple more things. I've got two questions left, I think. First of all, let's do some plugs. What are your favorite Omaha Businesses, restaurants, whatever. Just give us like three places. If we were going to go to eat on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, where would we go?

Zac: Yeah.

Rich: Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We'll pay. You don't have to pay. So you don't have to worry about price.

Danell: All right. So, uh, I, I, again, I do love in the relationship that I have with Lux American Grill. They, they are great. I, I, and they're right in my area. You know, a lot of it is.

Catelin: So much of it is your neighbors too, right?

Catelin: Like, I want to be with the people that are in my Yeah, I want to be in my, in my neighborhood. Yeah. Yes.

Danell: So they are definitely a place that I, I would go. And they have Kind of like that elevated bar experience. It's not just a sports bar. They, like, I went yesterday and they had a po boy, a shrimp po boy.

Danell: And that's the reason that I went because it looked really good. I saw that they posted it on, uh, social. So, um, that place for sure. Um, if you guys have not been to Sauce by Al Faro and Downtown Papillion, I have.

Rich: That one is a tricky one because of time and the way they do

Danell: things. It's small and they have, yeah, only two fryers I think or something like that.

Danell: So your best

Rich: bet is to go there and order, you'll have to stand in line probably so just deal with it. Go next door, like have them deliver it next door to the bar. Um, because you can go to the bar, you can drink cause it might take, you know, take an hour, hour and a half to get your food. Um, so that's the one time we did it successfully was we knew it was going to take forever.

Rich: We knew that they're busy. That's their business model. It's first come, first served. And so we just went to the bar and we had wine and we had beer and we had drinks and then eventually our food came and it was great. They had me

Catelin: with a good time. Yeah, and it was great for them. I'm looking at the menu for Lux right now and I want all of this.

Catelin: That's right up

Danell: the street. They have good drinks. They

Rich: have good drinks. Okay,

Catelin: okay, okay. This is

Rich: good. This is fine. Alright, number three. What's number three? How about brunch?

Catelin: I was just gonna say, give me a break, give me a breakfast

Danell: moment. Man, there are some places that are really good. Um, I'm actually going to meet with a friend this Saturday.

Danell: Uh, we're going to The Special in Bellevue. Yeah, that's The Special. Yeah, that, that place is pretty good. Uh, so, we've liked them for years and, uh, I don't get there enough.

Rich: Yeah, I've gone there a few times. So, um, one of my breakfast spots is Café Diem, which is right next door to Luxe American Grill. We go there all the time.

Rich: Yeah. Cool, cool, cool.

Danell: That parking lot is full quite often. Yes. Let me throw an honorable mention in there, too. Lisa's Radio Café. Okay.

Rich: Okay, I don't know that one.

Danell: Yeah. Sounds

Catelin: like you've got plans for Saturday.

Rich: Oh, man. I do know, um, the Lemon Tree Café just had a fire. So, it's funny

Danell: that you say that, because they're the same family that owns Lisa's Radio Café.

Rich: Oh, okay. That makes me feel better because I was like, I can't go to Lemon Tree. We just discovered it. I've been there like three times. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Got it. Check on the list.

Catelin: My like favorite brunch place. In the Omaha Metro is Saddle Creek Breakfast Club, but I don't even know if that's what they're called anymore because they know they are, they are, it's still Saddle Creek anymore.

Catelin: I know, I know. Um, they're Banana Bread French Toast. I dream about the Banana Bread French Toast and it's vegan, which is really great because my best friend is vegan. So we Yes. Thank you.

Danell: Thank you for saying that. Because my wife is allergic to dairy and it's hard for her to find those drinks. Yes. Yes.

Catelin: Do they have, um, they have two. This is what, when Whitney and I go to Saddle Creek, we get I my hungry now.

Danell: Mm-hmm .

Catelin: We get the vegan chilaquiles and the, um, vegan french toast. And then we do have seeds. So we have like, yes, the sweet and the savory. Is it chilaquiles or is it something else? But it's like jackfruit.

Catelin: I think it's. Is it? Okay. I couldn't remember. Oh my God.

Rich: It was so good. Like, um, Caitlin's going to be coming down. Um, pretty soon. I know.

Catelin: I'm like, I actually think I'm just going to come like work in the Omaha office for a week and just go to all of these places. It's

Danell: funny that you said that the name of that place, because I was literally out there on Saturday because I had to drop my daughter off at West side junior high for the boys wrestling tournament.

Danell: And I went over to, uh, Camille's bakery, uh, over there in that same area because they're closing down at the end of the month and I wanted to go out and support them. Uh, and they were closed because they had an event for one of their kids. But as I left the parking lot, I drove right by, uh, that restaurant.

Rich: Yeah. Used to be a Starbucks and now it's a Saddle Creek Breakfast Club. Yep. I love that. Oh, that's where it is. We don't want to wrap up, but we have to because we can't have two hour episodes. Um, what do you got going on? What's coming up? What exciting things do you have, like? You know in the near future.

Danell: Hopefully just a lot more, you know as the you use the term micro influencer earlier You know people have asked me for probably a couple of years about merch. So having the merch available I just did like a small trial run And, um, I got an order for, well, the owner of Square Donuts, Elizabeth, she had already reached out to me to buy a shirt.

Danell: Uh, and I delivered it to her last week and then she came back and sent me a message and said she wants to buy 12 more shirts, uh, for her staff. So, uh, yeah, we'll, we'll see how the T shirt game goes.

Catelin: That's so great. Yeah,

Danell: and I've supported her for years and like, we, we love it. And again, Caitlin. They have a great vegan option for their donuts.

Danell: So I go there because my wife likes the donuts from there. And, I mean, we all like the donuts, but some people say that the vegan donuts are better than the regular donuts.

Rich: I've had that a couple places where I've been surprised, like, you didn't know you were eating vegan or you didn't know you were eating vegetarian even.

Rich: But then you're like, oh my gosh, this is great. My first vegetarian thing, um, it wasn't vegan because it had a bun and I know the bun wasn't a vegan bun. But I had a carrot dog in Chicago at a, uh, vegetarian and vegan restaurant. Giant hot dog, or giant carrot grilled like a hot dog with hot dog toppings.

Rich: It was so good. I bet. And then you can

Catelin: marinate them, and season them, okay. And you smoke it

Danell: a little bit. I saw a lady do that online with, uh, she made it into bacon. Carrot bacon.

Catelin: That's what might be one step too far for me. It's, like, bacon is a really tough one for me to replace. I love a vegan dish as much as the next gal, but I, it's a, it's a bridge too far.

Catelin: Yes, I understand. I commend and respect people that are making that, making an attempt at that. It's probably not going to be for me. So, merch

Rich: is, merch is on the way, merch is out there. Some people have it. Yes. You do more.

Danell: We'll see how it goes and then we'll talk about putting it on the website and everything.

Danell: I just wanted to make sure that some of the, the, the people who were really into Omaha Fatty got an opportunity if they wanted it to have that merch. Aside from that, just continuing to push content every day. It's tough to keep up with all the platforms sometimes, so you just figure out what works best for, for myself and help as many restaurants and local people as I can.

Danell: So that's always the goal.

Rich: Yeah, cool. Well, thank you. It's been great having you. I think the biggest things that I got were like, if you want to do this, um, just make it a part of your life. Like you're just documenting what you're doing and who you are. Find something you love, be authentic, be consistent, and also don't care if nobody likes it.

Rich: Do not be deleting posts because they didn't get enough likes. That is stupid. The thing we realized with the podcast, because obviously we started this from nothing. And it's still not huge. It's not like we have thousands of listeners, even, um, but it grows. And what happened is some of those early episodes that had five or six listens is all people will go back and then they'll start to grow and you don't have 50 or 60.

Rich: So I call that the domino

Danell: effect. Uh, and so I'm like, I don't care. Like. Even if it's five years down the road, people are going to start looking at the stuff that I have and they're going to be like, Oh my gosh, you have so much content. Yes, I do. Mm hmm. Exactly.

Rich: All right. Well, cool. Um, you want to take us out?

Rich: Take us home. I would,

Catelin: I would love to. As always, you can find our agency at antidote underscore 71. If you have a question you would like to send our way, you can visit CTA podcast dot live. And, um, if you would like extra super bonus points, you can leave us a voice message on our hotline at 402 718 9971.

Catelin: Your question will make it into a future episode, and we will be back next week. Oh, yes, you, I mean, we're still giving away a cocktail book if you want to call us and ask us your marketing questions. Or tell us your favorite local restaurant. We'll just like, all bets are off. You got

Rich: it. Zach, we're doing it as a, as a guest gift too, right?

Rich: Are we doing that? Yeah. Oh my gosh. You can take it.

Zac: Also, where can people find you at? If they wanted to find you.

Danell: Man. Google Omaha Fatty. www. omahafatty. com That's it, yeah. Facebook, Instagram, threads X, YouTube, LinkedIn, I mean, pretty everywhere. He's a man about

Catelin: town. I'm not like on Discord

Danell: and that stuff, but you know, I'm TikTok.

Danell: I, I'm, I'm there. I'm, I'm busier on Instagram and Facebook for sure. Uh, Facebook is. I guess it's because of my age. That's where, like, my main audience is, is on, on Facebook. Uh, but, you know, uh, we're, we're trying to grow the other platforms as well, so. But, I'm, I'm all over. I love it. Yeah, almost 15,

Rich: 000 on Facebook.

Rich: I just Googled Omaha Fatty, two words, and it, the whole page is you. Yep. Uh, so. Yep. As a matter of

Danell: fact, if you, if you Google Wienerschnitzel, my, my page, my review is the, or not even my review, but my post is one of the first things that pops up. I don't know why they haven't taken that over yet, but New

Catelin: York, Schnitzel, Omaha.

Catelin: It's just fantastic.

Rich: Let's see.

Catelin: I love it. While we're Google searching, we'll read it out. Thank you, Janelle, for your time. No, thank you guys for having me, man. We just, yeah, you're the best. We appreciate you. I appreciate you guys. And I think that's a wrap.

Danell: Thanks, Zach. Thank you guys so much.