Balancing Passion and Leadership in the Restaurant Industry with Christy LoPresto

In this episode of Restaurant Leaders Unplugged, host Sebastian Stahl chats with Christy LoPresto, a dynamic restaurateur and wellness entrepreneur redefining leadership in the hospitality industry. Christy takes us on a journey through her 20+ years in the restaurant business, sharing her evolution from server to owner of several acclaimed New York City eateries, including Kin, a fast-casual Thai concept, and Babbalucci, a Harlem favorite.

Dive into her experiences of navigating challenges like the pandemic, creating a thriving team culture, and balancing multiple ventures, including her wellness brand, Soakwell. Discover how Christy’s focus on mental health and self-care fuels her ability to lead with empathy, inspire her teams, and deliver exceptional dining experiences.

This episode is packed with actionable insights on scaling a business, embracing change, and building a strong community—perfect for seasoned restaurateurs and aspiring entrepreneurs alike.

Connect with Christy LoPresto:

• Instagram: @christy_lopresto728
• Restaurants and Brands:
  • Kin NYC: @eatkinn.nyc | Website
  • Soakwell: @soakwell | Website

Get inspired by Christy’s passion for culinary innovation, wellness, and the art of leadership. Tune in to discover the recipe for success in today’s restaurant landscape!

Restaurant Leaders Unplugged with Sebastian Stahl

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Transcript

(0:00 - 0:41)

Not everybody's going to be perfect right off the bat, but if you train properly, most people, and treat them correctly, and make them feel good, then you're going to find that people will stay. People will do their best, and I feel like that's the most important thing. It goes back to being a good leader.

Welcome to the Restaurant Leaders Unplugged podcast, where real talks with restaurant leaders take center stage. Discover the challenges and victories that define success in the culinary world. Dive into essential strategies for marketing to operations, and gain insights that will transform your approach to your restaurant business.

Don't just keep up, lead the way. Join me, your host, Sebastian Stahl, on this journey to excellence. All right, Christy, welcome to the show.

(0:42 - 1:32)

Welcome to the Restaurant Leaders Unplugged podcast. It's really a pleasure to have you here. Thank you.

Thanks for having me. All right. So, Christy, let's start at the beginning, how you got started.

I know you've been in the industry for over 20 years. Definitely a lot of experience. So, how did you get into this crazy business of ours? Well, like most people, you start from the bottom and work your way up.

So, I've been in this industry working as a server in various positions, bartending, managing, and now restaurant owner. So, yeah, it started pretty early for me. Right.

So, tell me a little bit about when you first started. Of course, you were in the restaurant ownership. When was that and how was that experience for you? First restaurant ownership, co-owned restaurant started about 10 years ago.

(1:33 - 2:29)

And it's been an interesting experience. Not easy to be an entrepreneur. But the experience that I've had in the past led me to this.

So, I was general manager in my own restaurant and owning the restaurant. So, yeah, it started in 2014, 15. And we're talking about New York City here, Christy, right? Yeah, New York City.

Okay. So, then what was the first restaurant that you actually opened? Babaluchi is the first restaurant that I opened up in Manhattan. Harlem, to be exact.

Yeah, we opened the restaurant, I believe, in 2014. And we just recently actually, I've been able and very blessed to open other restaurants through that. So, I currently co-own a couple other restaurants in Manhattan.

Okay. I know that your current project or your current restaurant is Kin, which is actually a Thai restaurant. Can you tell us just how you developed this concept and how you started this new business? Yeah, Kin opened about a year ago.

(2:29 - 2:50)

I'm really excited about it. It's my first, I always wanted to open a Thai restaurant, due to the fact that I'm Thai. And it's a fast, casual concept.

For now, I have other concepts, but Kin is my baby, as you would say. A lot of, I'm on the other side of this now as a restaurant owner. So, I'm actually like working in the kitchen more, like the chef, these are my recipes.

(2:51 - 4:25)

So, I'm excited to share that with everybody. And it's in New York City, downtown, 26th and 12th Avenue. And yeah, we're pretty new and fresh, about a year.

So, we're still in the building stages, but it's doing well. Right, right. So, Christy, what challenges have you faced? I mean, transitioning from your first restaurant and going into Kin, you were going full-service restaurant, now going to the fast, casual world.

Is there a reason that you're doing this and what challenges have you faced in getting this new restaurant open? Well, COVID, as most restaurant owners and people in the industry will say, has changed that whole dynamic tremendously. So, fast, casual is now like this new thing where I feel like COVID changed that full-scale restaurant business industry. It's been challenging, but as to open and operate a full-scale restaurant since 2020.

But the fast, casual has seemed like the new way of dining for everybody these days. People just want to come in and out. I feel like a lot of people are still nervous about that happening.

And I feel like there's less stress as a business owner, because there's so many moving parts to a full-scale restaurant. There's definitely less moving parts. And it's easier to manage, easier to scale, to be honest.

I mean, we could move this to another location and open other locations. And I think that that's where my headspace is at, is to be able to have multiple locations of something that's fast and easy and quick, but still offering people an experience. Because that's what Kin really is.

(4:26 - 4:47)

Right. You're talking here about, of course, the trends that are happening in terms of the full-service restaurants being a little bit more, well, not a little bit, I would say way more complicated to run these days, especially with raising costs and food and labor. So at Kin, is it a fully fast, casual restaurant, or are you guys doing a combination of full-service and fast, casual? Because I know your recipes and your experience is a little bit involved.

(4:48 - 5:18)

So how does that look like? I'm offering the customers a full-scale experience, but in a fast, casual setting. So basically, there's seating there. I have a wine menu that will offer biodynamic wines, their service.

It's just a way smaller scale, obviously. And fast, casual really means you just come in and you're going to get your water in like five to 10 minutes. And we're pretty fast-paced.

I have a full staff. It's not something that's just takeout only. You can definitely come in and dine in their service at the bar.

(5:18 - 5:42)

And that's what I mean by I'm offering people that experience still, but there's no pressure. You can come on a date. You can come and get takeout if you want.

And that's where I am at with it. Obviously, I have another concept in mind for Thai that I want to do full-scale, but that's going to come in time because I'm still going to be very cautious. There's so much that you have to be worried about in investing in something in a larger scale.

(5:43 - 10:35)

But for Kin, we're moving in the right direction. And I'm really happy and pleased with how everything is turning out. I mean, we're doing better each month.

So that's all that matters. A hundred percent, especially in a city like New York, so competitive, right? So if you guys are doing that, that's fantastic. So Christy, I know you have a passion besides the restaurant business, also for wellness.

Tell us a little bit about how you got into this complete other business and how it's really helped you with the hospitality business as well. Well, Soapwell is my wellness line that I started in 2017 because of my own personal self-care needs that I needed. I started creating products for myself, started with aromatherapy candles, things for my self-restoration, which is so important because the stress level is so high when owning and operating a restaurant and being an entrepreneur and managing.

At that time, I was managing about 20 people. And it takes a toll on me, the hours. So I found myself not in a good space, rather.

And I feel like it's very important to be able to balance that out. You have to take care of yourself and self-care is so important. So I started creating these products, bath products, self-restoration products, like I said, aromatherapy candles, and it kind of turned into, Hey, I want to share this with other people that are going through stress.

This is just one way of self-restoration. There's so many different ways or a healthy way, healthier version, rather, instead of like, Hey, I'm going to drink wine. I'm going to, I mean, we're still doing that, but we're still always going to do that because we're in the industry.

But yeah, that is one of the things I want to do, share. And I also really found it therapeutic for me to create these things. And through that, I was like, you know what, the creation of the products itself, and then being able to share that was something that I really enjoyed.

So it's a double thing for me where I loved it. And I still do. It's been since 2017.

My product line has scaled where I have more products now. Hopefully you'll see them in some stores. I have a couple of my products in downtown, in the space that I share with Ken and I have my stores online.

So I'm basically online based, but that's how it started. We're still going and I still use my products. Yeah, no, that's fantastic.

I think it's totally needed. I think yes, in our industry, there's the stress levels are really high in so many levels. And it's a notable industry for being, having stress problems and addiction problems and a lot of those things.

So definitely having a wellness brand like yours and bringing that into the environment in the restaurant industry, that's great. So Christy, I know that running a restaurant, especially post-pandemic has a lot of ups and downs. What have been some of the key operational challenges that you faced after the pandemic when you're running your business? Well, for sure, the cost of labor, obviously the return is not there.

Number one thing that I find to be most challenging, especially in the full scale industry is that you don't want to compromise the quality of your product and having to make cuts because the cost of products are going up is also a factor and you don't want to raise prices too much because then in return, the consumers like what's happening, it's too expensive. So those have been challenging. And also you don't want to compromise the quality of the service as well by making cuts.

And that's something very challenging as well. So it's like cutting staff, cutting costs, but you still need to have the same quality product has been very challenging. So having to operate with less people and still trying to source the best product out there so your consumer gets what you used to offer, that's been very challenging.

On both ends, whether it's the food service or the product industry, it's been the same because everything has gone up. Right. So in your opinion, what are the most important factors in creating a successful restaurant in today's landscape? Definitely the work environment.

I think the work culture is very important, who your team is, because you can't do this by yourself. I've been fortunate enough to be able to have some great employees and we're so many that would take with me to all the locations if I can, like a family, if you will. And the work culture is very important, cultivating that because that translates directly to your customers.

And you're only as good as your team as well. So scaling, I wouldn't be able to scale anything if it didn't have that. Work culture to me is very important.

I try to create a great working environment for everyone. Being a good leader is absolutely important. It's just like you're in direct sales.

So it's just like being able to train your staff properly, make sure they're happy, because again, it translates directly to the customer. So I've been fortunate enough. Team building, I think is most important if you're in direct sales.

(10:36 - 11:25)

So Krissy, how do you go about selecting your team? I mean, hiring is a whole thing in itself, especially now in the restaurant industry. So how do you go about choosing your team? Is there a specific process that you follow to kind of filter out the ones that won't be a good fit and keep the ones that will be? It's super hard. Like the beginning, the first is super hard, as you know, to find the right staff.

But I feel like not everybody's going to be perfect. I think the process that I've gone through is just using my instincts. Energy is very important.

Obviously, a typical interview, people will say whatever they do, never know how it's going to be. But also you can sense I feel like and also not everybody's going to be perfect right off the bat. But if you train properly, most people and treat them correctly and make them feel good, then you're going to find that people will stay.

(11:25 - 12:10)

People do their best. And I think that that's the most important thing. It goes back to being a good leader.

That's always worked best for me. And like I said, I've been very lucky to still have a great team wherever I go. And I feel like they feed off your energy.

You're a good boss. If you're a good leader, if you treat people correctly, they're going to work for you. They're going to be loyal.

And that's important. Because in the past, I will feed off my own experience. If I was in their position, how I was treated, I always go back to how I used to feel with certain people and certain managers I've had.

And I've used all of those experiences from the bottom up to be able to like build on that because I know how they feel. I've been in their position. And I will always say that I would never ask them to do something that I can't do myself.

(12:10 - 12:28)

So if I'm on the floor working and I say, hey, can you go do this for this table, blah, blah, blah, for example, well, I'm not going to ask you to do something that I can't do. I'll do it myself as well. Like I'll help.

So it's good to have that as well. Not just telling people what that's always worked best for me. But going back to that is instinct.

(12:29 - 17:55)

Yeah. I think you're talking about one of the great quality when it comes to leadership, which is empathy. Because you're not connected to how people feel and the things that they're going through.

There's just no way that you can truly lead. And so since you've been in the industry before in their place, then you can lead in a whole different way. Yes.

I definitely think that that's helped me. Yeah. A hundred percent.

So Christy, as a leader, what has been the most emotionally challenged situation you faced? Because in leadership, we talk about a lot of different things. Of course, empathy is we're going to the mental and emotional part, but sometimes it's just techniques and kind of like on the outside. But leadership, like we were talking about discussing here, is more, I think it has a lot to do with the emotional side of things, how you deal with your own mental and emotional state, and then how you reflect that to your team and then help them and lead them into the right direction.

So tell me a little bit about those challenges and how you have overcome them. Well, that goes back to my self-care for sure. You have to take care of yourself and your mental health, and you can't bring your outside world into your work environment.

And setting the tone every day because I want to have a good work day is very important. Like being uplifting, biggest challenges were when I've been under a lot of stress, you don't want that to affect the staff, you don't want that to affect the team, something's happening. Listen, I meditate every morning and I feel like that sets the tone.

But prior to me doing my real self-care, which was a couple of years into opening my first restaurant, I hadn't originally taken care of myself 100%. Stress was just laying on me and it affected everybody. You don't want to be rude to a staff member or short with anyone and taking things personally, because this is not what it is.

And those have been my biggest challenges. Dealing with different people's personalities is very stressful. And at the height of my restaurant, like I said, I was managing 28 different personalities, like scheduling, calling out like what's happening.

And I feel like reacting to everybody's personalities is something that was hard for me, because it's like I have to stay grounded and know that this is their personality. It's not something directly an attack on me or they're not being rude or things like that. Managing the different personalities was most challenging.

So yeah, and my stress. So after I started dealing with how I manage my stress, and I started doing so well and really taking care of myself, all of those factors didn't bother me so much. I knew what I was bringing to the table.

And every day I wanted to have a good work environment. So that was my intention. And it still is my intention every day when I go to work.

And also being a good communicator. Like if I see somebody's upset today, you know, that's being a good leader, hey, are you okay? Do you need to take a break, making sure everybody's good so that the team is okay. Like we want to have a good dinner service, we want to have a good lunch service, and everybody you're tripling effect.

So I think communication is very important as well, when you're dealing with a lot of different personalities, hey, do you have a problem? Let's talk about it. You know, these are all important factors, because I care. And I think that that's sets the tone.

Because I do care about every person, you're not going to love every single person. But yeah, you got to care. And I think that that's when you show that it's good.

No, for sure. You're also describing like being in tune with yourself and then with other people's way of being, because there's no one size fits all when you're leading, right? Because if you can't speak the same way to this person, like and then everybody else, because everybody else has a different type of personality. So you have to be carefully read the situation of each person to be able to be a good leader.

So exactly. And it's definitely a challenge, because we need to be able to stay centered to be able to even see that, right? Because there's just no way. Exactly.

So Christy, I also know that, of course, entrepreneurship can feel isolating sometimes. And so how do you maintain a support system? And what role does community play in your life as a business owner? Oh, community is huge. I have a lot of friends that are business owners.

And that's so important, because I'll be like, hey, we'll talk about so many things. And that's so important, because you're not the only one going through these things. Like if business is down, different ideas, we bounce off each other.

What are you doing? They give me some great ideas as well. Sometimes you're just like, hey, maybe you should do this with the restaurant. Maybe you should add this.

So I have a great support system of entrepreneurs that I speak to all the time that are really good friends of mine. And that's so important. You have to and I do the same for them.

We truly support each other, like even on social media. And I love that. I love being in that environment, because community is so important.

Yeah, I agree. I agree. It can feel like a lonely road and just being connected to other people and sharing not only ideas, but I think it goes back to the emotional part, like being able to share the struggles, right? Because that's like, it really helps you connect with each other and then kind of find a way through that.

Yeah, it really is. Christy, so looking at your personal growth, how has running Kin and your wellness brand shaped who you are today, both as a leader and as an individual? I would not have been able to be where I'm at without my wellness brand, to be honest, because it goes back to everything that I just said. I wasn't ready for Kin maybe a few years ago, because again, I'm in a different role.

(17:55 - 20:17)

My role was always as a business owner to be the business owner and to be the general manager. And like I said, I wasn't prepared at that time to share my other creative part of me, which is I'm love cooking as well. I mean, I've always loved that.

And so now for me to be able to really say, hey, because I'm not a trained chef per se, but no, I love cooking. I love entertaining. I love all that aspect of it as well.

I was the face of the restaurant or the restaurants or whatever. I was always the host and doing all that stuff. So I would not have been able without Soapwell center and balance myself to really like we talked about and then move into now this other creative part of me, which is actually I'm the chef of Kin and sharing my recipes and entertaining and I'm still the face.

So I'm doing different roles. Now I've added this to my resume and I'm happy about it. I love it because I've always wanted to share Thai food and my recipes with people and it's being well received.

So I'm happy about that. Yeah, well, that's really good to hear for sure. And so where do you see the future of Kin and your wellness business heading over the next few years? Well, I'm doing a lot of different things with Soapwell.

I'm doing a couple of workshops, things like that wellness workshops. I see my products being in some stores and things like that. I'm going to add products, doing more workshops so people can learn about wellness and the importance of it.

I'm excited about that. That's coming up in November. Like I said, my products being in different places.

I definitely see myself scaling Kin and I, like I said, are moving and opening a fuller scale restaurant or maybe another location of that, which I'm actively looking constantly. It's all about location. So when you're in New York, okay, let me go look at this space.

Let me see this space. It's more of location right now. So I just see myself scaling and I feel excited about next year in the future with everything that's going on.

Because like I said, Kin's doing well and Soapwell is moving in the right direction like I want it to be. And I really want to teach more about what we were talking about, the wellness aspect of it, the finding the balance, the being an entrepreneur is hard and how to navigate through the ups and downs and how those things tie together. So it's very important.

(20:17 - 22:34)

No matter actually what industry you're in, you need to find that balance. I think it's a hundred percent, again, especially in the hospitality business, where it's just such a challenge. So are you looking to open in the same markets or you're exploring new markets? Cause I mean, New York is a challenging market for sure.

But you're talking about location and that's a hundred percent true. I think even like a hundred years going still to this day, I think location plays a huge role. So are you exploring locally to the markets? Are you looking at different markets as well? I'm looking at different places for sure.

But I'm looking outside like definitely Manhattan, downtown, currently looking at smaller scale restaurant spots. I've been looking and seeing what's up, but it's a tricky thing because of since COVID. It's just like people aren't coming out like that.

I mean, I'm not a Brooklyn person, but a lot of people have restaurants in Brooklyn that are doing well too. So I'm looking more at Manhattan. I'm open to within the markets, different markets, I'm open to everything.

If it fits right and my instincts think it's going to be good, then I'm going to go with it. Currently, I haven't found that yet, but it's coming. It will definitely.

So Christy, when it comes to marketing, cause we're talking about location now, where you want to place your restaurants, what have you found that has worked for you in terms of marketing, besides of course, having a great location and service and everything that's operational, everything needs to be working properly. But besides that, anything that has worked for you that you've found? Well, I mean, social media is obviously a huge thing. Social media is a big thing actually.

And I work with a lot of my friends or local entrepreneurs. Some of them are like people that went viral on social media with their creations and their restaurants and their food. And that is a huge, I mean, it's just out there.

If you know how to work that and for marketing, then that's key. I mean, I'm in the process of actually hiring somebody for Ken to do my social media marketing, which I think is so important. And when I speak to other entrepreneurs and restaurant owners, they definitely say that push with the social.

And what I've learned, obviously the hard way is when you first open anything, you have to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. Like I'm not good at every single aspect of running the business. Like, so you have to hire the right people and put them in place to make those things work.

(22:34 - 26:15)

And I think where a lot of people don't understand is they try to do everything themselves. And it's just like, that doesn't work. You can't be good at every single aspect.

Like it's not possible. You have to have a team behind you. So I definitely know what my strengths and weaknesses are in that aspect.

So like I said, with Ken, I mean, like we're slowly building, but I'm at a point now where yeah, I'm going to do... When I first opened Ken, I hired a publicist. She actually opened our other restaurant for us. So she got us some good press and stuff like that.

That was important. That has to put a buzz out there. We're in New York Times, we're in all infatuation, like all those things that you need to get to a restaurant to get that buzz, because people do look at that.

So marketing is so important. And a lot of people, like I said, say that social marketing and social media, you got to find the right people though. Because a lot of people these days are saying that they're social media management people, and they're just not, the numbers aren't giving.

So you have to also do your research. There's so many different... People hit me up all the time about, hey, do you want to do this? Do you want to do that? And I'm just like, no, I want to see how you've scaled this, because it's not easy. So yeah, social is important, I think.

As well as if you have a good publicist, if that's in the budget, you have to make it part of your budget. For sure. So those two things, in my experience, they're essential.

But also, I think one of the things that we can't forget as restaurant owners, especially because we're so busy is creating a plan, having a plan for it. Not just posting on social media, having a publicist, but then what happens after you open and the publicity is not there anymore? Because there's no stories to write. So how are you going to keep people coming back? So the first thing is gather customer data, especially the fast cash flow restaurant is pretty easy to do, because then you have a POS and you have a system in place.

Because the more data that you have and you collect, the easier it's going to be for you to communicate with them. And then just anything that you come up with, the specials, anything that you're doing, then you can bring them back. So Christy, and lastly, this is a little bit of a different question.

What is one truth about entrepreneurship or leadership that you've come to realize over the years that might make others uncomfortable, but has been crucial for your success? You know, an ugly truth, basically. There's so many, I guess. I mean, you're taking a risk.

As an entrepreneur, you're taking a risk every single time, every single day, you never know what's going to happen. So you have to prepare, you have to be able to pivot and to take change. Like tomorrow, your whole staff might quit.

Like you don't know what's going to happen. This is the truth. And you know what, you do have to know how to run every aspect of your business.

If you're not willing to be 150% in, then you're going to find a very difficult road. There's no days off. And this is the ugly truth.

Like you'll be on vacation and somebody calls you and you're just like, Oh my God, the restaurant's on fire. It's like you have to be able to, you know what I mean? Like, if you think you're going to be off, it's not true. It's no days off.

That's a huge thing that I see a lot of people think that they can own restaurants, and they open a restaurant and they have no idea what they got themselves into. Because you got to be committed. And it's hard.

It's hard. It's like if I'm sick today, and something happens, I still have to go in. So I have to make sure everything's okay.

That's the ugly truth. You have no days off. For the most part, yes.

And everybody that asked me, I think most restaurant owners, if they asked them, if it's a good idea to open a restaurant, anybody that hasn't started a restaurant, they will tell them, don't start a restaurant. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. And also another thing, you don't know what you're getting yourself into.

And also, if you think you're going to open a restaurant and be like making all this money right away, it's not true. It's not. It takes time when you're building.

(26:15 - 26:47)

It's not an overnight thing. You have to be patient. And that's the truth.

Yeah, I feel like the only way you can really make real money is if you're scaling, and you have multiple things going on. Because from one place, yes, you could do well. But you're not people think, Oh, my God, you know, restaurant as well.

It's like, hi, let's take into consideration all the factors here. Like, do you have a business partners, you know what I mean? It doesn't mean that you're going to be making all this money. But that's the ugly truth, too, that people don't realize.

(26:47 - 27:03)

Right, right. Well, yeah, of course, that happens that people when they see you in a restaurant, you're running a restaurant, misperception that they think it's a glamorous business that you're just talking to people and hanging out. And there's just it couldn't be further away, further from the truth.

It's not glamorous. It's really tough. The margins are super thin.

(27:04 - 28:50)

And I think it's about 90% processes and 10% creativity. Yeah. And how do you keep the customer coming back? You know, like you said, and what are we doing? We're working every day to keep that height, you know, you always want the height of the business to stay there.

But you have to be willing to also change things. You know, if this isn't working, then we're changing this. And you can't open a restaurant for yourself, you have to open a restaurant, you know, you open a restaurant for yourself in the beginning.

But then you realize like, Okay, well, guess what, this isn't working. So I'm going to change this, you know, I don't like every single thing on the menu sometimes. But hey, guess what, the consumer wants this.

So it's fine, we're doing it. And if the consumer wants, hey, this wine, people keep asking for it. Okay, cool.

We'll put it on the menu. It's just like certain things like that. It's just you have to be willing to make changes.

Yeah, things don't go accordingly. Yeah, 100% Christy. And if you had to give a piece of advice to your younger self, when you were starting out in the restaurant business, what would that be? When I first started in the restaurant business, as a server? Knowing what you know now, what pieces of advice would you give yourself? Every day is a learning experience, good days and bad days.

I used to internalize as a server, or a bartender, all of the interactions I had with customers, and it would just wear me out. But you know what, that's made me be able to deal with people on a different level now. And I always said this, everybody should work in the service industry when they're younger, because that's customer service.

Like, I mean, you're able to handle so many different personalities. It has built my personality to who I am now. And that would be my advice to my younger self, don't internalize, like every day is a learning experience to take you to a different level.

(28:50 - 29:22)

I agree. Don't take things personal. It's definitely not easy.

All right, Christy, thank you so much for your time and for all your insights. It's been a wonderful conversation. So for anybody in the audience that has visited New York City or they're local, where can they find Kinn? Okay, you can find Kinn at 601 West 26th Street.

It's between 11th and 12th Avenue, close to Hudson Yards. And yeah, we're open every day except for Sunday. All right, well, that's a great day to be on.

(29:22 - 29:35)

Menu and everything on. Right. You can find my website is at ekinn.com. Fantastic.

Well, thank you, Christy. Definitely. If I'm in New York soon, I'll give you a ring and I'll stop by.

(29:35 - 29:43)

Yeah, you have to. I want you to stop by. I will do.

All right, Christy, thank you so much again. Thanks for having me. All right.

(29:43 - 29:45)

Thank you so much. Thank you.