[Music]
addict IV drug user arrest record liar
volatile depressed
jobless
homeless
I’ll ask you to think about those words
and think about the images that
immediately come to your mind what sort
of what sort of person am i describing
what do they look like what is your
story I’ll ask you to hold that image
for just a minute
giving back restaurateur leader growing
employer financially stable think about
those words what sort of person comes to
your mind who is that what is their
story
those words could be used to describe my
story all of those words because they’re
all true they’re all a part of my story
and while they don’t define me in total
they define what has brought me to this
moment to be on this stage I want to
talk to you about the industry that I
love love the restaurant business we
have this amazing opportunity every
night to have this intimate experience
into your life your first date your
anniversary dinner you’re getting
together with old friends your divorce
party the date you’re not supposed to be
on we have the front row we have the
front row to this beautiful theater of
wonderful food and wine and in an
enticing ambiance and that’s part of my
industry and I also work in an industry
where every night we leave work and we
drink ourselves into unconsciousness
we’re addicted to drugs and we’re
overdosing in record numbers I work in
an industry where when tragedy strikes
in Charleston the phones start ringing
about the charity fundraiser that we’re
all going to come together to raise
money for your charity there’s no more
group of charitable people
and chefs in this community to get asked
to cook for your events and right after
those events we have chefs at night
after night restaurant people night
after night say I’m not going to do it
again tonight I’m only gonna have one
I’m not gonna call the drug dealer and
night after night after night they do it
and they can’t stop
I work in an industry where recently and
many in recent years in Charleston a
farmer their barn burned down all the
livestock killed within 48 hours the
Charleston restaurant community came
together we did a barn raising
we bought livestock the farmer was
restored and I work in an industry where
people drove home that night and died
because they had had too much to drink
at a recent festival very popular wine
and food festival in the southeast three
chefs under the age of 35 died of opiate
addiction and the next day in the paper
there wasn’t one mention the headline
was about the bourbon tasting and the
wine flight and where the after-party
was I work in this industry that is
filled with these charitable souls that
are seriously addicted there was a study
done of the National workplace of drug
use in all workplaces the national
average was eight point six percent drug
use in the restaurant industry is 19
point one it’s time we shake it up in
that same survey they looked at
alcoholism in the workplace 6 percent in
the restaurant industry eleven point
five it’s time we shake it up we all
turn in nightly to all the chef’s
celebrity shows and we watch these guys
with tattoos and they’re rock stars and
they’re dying and they’re walking out of
their restaurants calling it stress
it’s an industry that I love it’s an
industry that’s given me a life that I
could have never possibly imagined I
want to talk to you about another word
sustainability we all shop at our
organic grocery stores we want to know
where our food is from we want to make
sure the animals were ethically raised
we we live in Charleston we want to talk
about fishing in the right waters at the
right time and we don’t talk about human
sustainability
I work in an industry where when we all
come to work every day we talk about how
many shots we did last night we
high-five each other but when our friend
who doesn’t look so good anymore who you
can tell isn’t making it on time who you
can tell is struggling we’re not an
industry that stops and says are you
okay it’s time we shake it up being
sustainable means that we care about our
people and we have those conversations
that are uncomfortable we have we
stopped and we pause and we say listen I
think you need help it’s time we shake
it up this is my friend Ben Ben was a
happy guy Ben was a chef in Atlanta
I met 20 years ago when we were opening
a restaurant he was a blues guitar
player he always had a joke he kind of
reminded me one of those guys in the Rat
Pack he always was having a good time I
had lost touch with Ben in recent years
and a mutual friend connected us I was
opening a restaurant and I needed help
and they said you know Ben is cleaned up
his act so Ben walked in the door he
said hey Steve I said hey Benny said
I’ve cleaned up my act and I didn’t want
to shake it up and say well what does
that mean Ben worked for six weeks I
never saw him take a drink he works 16
hours a day
suddenly Ben’s stopped showing up to
work we had put him up in a hotel room
and I went to that hotel room to talk to
Ben because I was worried
and then wouldn’t answer the door a
friend of mine said Steve you should
call the police
I knew the owner of the hotel I didn’t
want to create a scene I didn’t want to
shake it up I didn’t call the police Ben
committed suicide and shot himself and I
wish I had shaked it up the picture on
the right is been surrounded by four
other chefs three of those chefs were
sober I was there that night I was sober
something in Ben’s ethos something in
the culture of our industry told him
they couldn’t just reach out and say I’m
struggling I need a hand
can you help this time we shake it up I
came back to Charleston after calling
Ben’s mother and having to explain what
had happened and the story started to
unfold Ben and bit in detox six
different times Ben didn’t know how to
ask for help we have to shake it up so
from that perspective with my friend
Mickey bast a fellow restaurateur and
sober person we started a nonprofit
called Ben’s friends and we meet weekly
we meet weekly as a safe place for
people that are having a problem with
drinking we meet weekly as a resource to
get people into facilities to offer
mental help to offer financial
assistance we meet weekly just to show
people that you don’t have to drink and
be in the restaurant business we started
a year ago there’s a Ben’s friends in
Raleigh there’s one in Atlanta I get
calls from all over the country people
reaching out saying I want to help we
have to do something I love my industry
it’s provided a life beyond anything I
could ever imagine
but one thing I know is that you can be
sober in the restaurant business that I
want to spread that message I want to
challenge the notion that you have to
drink and do drugs in our industry and I
want to shake it up thank you very much
you
[Music]
addict IV drug user arrest record liar
volatile depressed
jobless
homeless
I’ll ask you to think about those words
and think about the images that
immediately come to your mind what sort
of what sort of person am i describing
what do they look like what is your
story I’ll ask you to hold that image
for just a minute
giving back restaurateur leader growing
employer financially stable think about
those words what sort of person comes to
your mind who is that what is their
story
those words could be used to describe my
story all of those words because they’re
all true they’re all a part of my story
and while they don’t define me in total
they define what has brought me to this
moment to be on this stage I want to
talk to you about the industry that I
love love the restaurant business we
have this amazing opportunity every
night to have this intimate experience
into your life your first date your
anniversary dinner you’re getting
together with old friends your divorce
party the date you’re not supposed to be
on we have the front row we have the
front row to this beautiful theater of
wonderful food and wine and in an
enticing ambiance and that’s part of my
industry and I also work in an industry
where every night we leave work and we
drink ourselves into unconsciousness
we’re addicted to drugs and we’re
overdosing in record numbers I work in
an industry where when tragedy strikes
in Charleston the phones start ringing
about the charity fundraiser that we’re
all going to come together to raise
money for your charity there’s no more
group of charitable people
and chefs in this community to get asked
to cook for your events and right after
those events we have chefs at night
after night restaurant people night
after night say I’m not going to do it
again tonight I’m only gonna have one
I’m not gonna call the drug dealer and
night after night after night they do it
and they can’t stop
I work in an industry where recently and
many in recent years in Charleston a
farmer their barn burned down all the
livestock killed within 48 hours the
Charleston restaurant community came
together we did a barn raising
we bought livestock the farmer was
restored and I work in an industry where
people drove home that night and died
because they had had too much to drink
at a recent festival very popular wine
and food festival in the southeast three
chefs under the age of 35 died of opiate
addiction and the next day in the paper
there wasn’t one mention the headline
was about the bourbon tasting and the
wine flight and where the after-party
was I work in this industry that is
filled with these charitable souls that
are seriously addicted there was a study
done of the National workplace of drug
use in all workplaces the national
average was eight point six percent drug
use in the restaurant industry is 19
point one it’s time we shake it up in
that same survey they looked at
alcoholism in the workplace 6 percent in
the restaurant industry eleven point
five it’s time we shake it up we all
turn in nightly to all the chef’s
celebrity shows and we watch these guys
with tattoos and they’re rock stars and
they’re dying and they’re walking out of
their restaurants calling it stress
it’s an industry that I love it’s an
industry that’s given me a life that I
could have never possibly imagined I
want to talk to you about another word
sustainability we all shop at our
organic grocery stores we want to know
where our food is from we want to make
sure the animals were ethically raised
we we live in Charleston we want to talk
about fishing in the right waters at the
right time and we don’t talk about human
sustainability
I work in an industry where when we all
come to work every day we talk about how
many shots we did last night we
high-five each other but when our friend
who doesn’t look so good anymore who you
can tell isn’t making it on time who you
can tell is struggling we’re not an
industry that stops and says are you
okay it’s time we shake it up being
sustainable means that we care about our
people and we have those conversations
that are uncomfortable we have we
stopped and we pause and we say listen I
think you need help it’s time we shake
it up this is my friend Ben Ben was a
happy guy Ben was a chef in Atlanta
I met 20 years ago when we were opening
a restaurant he was a blues guitar
player he always had a joke he kind of
reminded me one of those guys in the Rat
Pack he always was having a good time I
had lost touch with Ben in recent years
and a mutual friend connected us I was
opening a restaurant and I needed help
and they said you know Ben is cleaned up
his act so Ben walked in the door he
said hey Steve I said hey Benny said
I’ve cleaned up my act and I didn’t want
to shake it up and say well what does
that mean Ben worked for six weeks I
never saw him take a drink he works 16
hours a day
suddenly Ben’s stopped showing up to
work we had put him up in a hotel room
and I went to that hotel room to talk to
Ben because I was worried
and then wouldn’t answer the door a
friend of mine said Steve you should
call the police
I knew the owner of the hotel I didn’t
want to create a scene I didn’t want to
shake it up I didn’t call the police Ben
committed suicide and shot himself and I
wish I had shaked it up the picture on
the right is been surrounded by four
other chefs three of those chefs were
sober I was there that night I was sober
something in Ben’s ethos something in
the culture of our industry told him
they couldn’t just reach out and say I’m
struggling I need a hand
can you help this time we shake it up I
came back to Charleston after calling
Ben’s mother and having to explain what
had happened and the story started to
unfold Ben and bit in detox six
different times Ben didn’t know how to
ask for help we have to shake it up so
from that perspective with my friend
Mickey bast a fellow restaurateur and
sober person we started a nonprofit
called Ben’s friends and we meet weekly
we meet weekly as a safe place for
people that are having a problem with
drinking we meet weekly as a resource to
get people into facilities to offer
mental help to offer financial
assistance we meet weekly just to show
people that you don’t have to drink and
be in the restaurant business we started
a year ago there’s a Ben’s friends in
Raleigh there’s one in Atlanta I get
calls from all over the country people
reaching out saying I want to help we
have to do something I love my industry
it’s provided a life beyond anything I
could ever imagine
but one thing I know is that you can be
sober in the restaurant business that I
want to spread that message I want to
challenge the notion that you have to
drink and do drugs in our industry and I
want to shake it up thank you very much
you
[Music]
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