Blue is the New White Podcast
with Matt McMahon, President of S&K Oil

Blue is the New White Podcast #95

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Hello there and welcome back to another episode of the Blue is the New White Podcast. Today we sit down with someone close to my realm of the industry.

Matt McMahon is the President of S&K Oil Sales and a former restauranteur who literally built hundreds of restaurants, including Chi Chi's and Outback Steakhouse.

Matt gives us a glimpse of the trades from an end-user perspective and talks all about it. His experiences over the years in the restaurant industry. You tune in to hear us talk all about the fundamentals of success, the importance of the trades, and how his current business is revolutionizing the cooking oil industry.

And don't forget to subscribe to this channel and on our website at blueisthenewwhite.com to receive all the latest updates. As always, this show is not monetized and we don't run ads. We rely strictly on word of mouth from our listeners to further the mission. So if you enjoy this episode, please take a second to rate it, review it and share it with someone who cares. The future generations of tradespeople depend on it. They depend on you. So thank you again and enjoy this episode of Blue is the new white with Matt McMahon.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Blue is the New White podcast. Super excited about my guest today, Matt McMahon of S&K Oil Sales is joining us to tell us all about his journey, his experience, and the importance of the skilled trades within the industry that we both know so well.

Matt, welcome to the show.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Thanks, Josh. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

I'm looking forward to this conversation, sir. So for the audience's sake, why don't you go ahead and just kind of give us your background? Tell us your story of where you come from and, you know how you got to where you are today.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

There was a long track but I made it. I started, I'm from Detroit MI originally and I started in the restaurant business there when I was very young. Working my way up as a dishwasher and became a cook and waiter and bartender at a place called Steak and Ale. Not many people remember.

Worked for them for a while and then I went into management with them, finished college and went down to Toledo. OH, and this restaurant opened up across the street from me. It was running the steak and ale as the general manager, and it was called Chi Chi's great restaurant. It is the third one of their chain food that was phenomenal. I said I got to work here. This looks like fun, so I. Got in with a bunch of guys that had a little bit of money. We bought the franchise rights to the company. We built 32 of them and then we went out on the East Coast and built them and I had their restaurants from New York all the way to Florida. We built the company, we ended up with 271 restaurants. when I left.

And then another cool concept came up that I liked a lot. It was called Outback Steakhouse. And an old friend from Steak and Ale was the founder, Chris Sullivan, and Bob Basham. Went down to see him. Down in Tampa and it was pretty cool, their restaurant. Was so busy, they were actually physically working, which I wasn't used to seeing. They were waiting on tables, they were doing it, whatever they took and said this is this looks like fun. I got to do this so I left Chi Chi's and I got the franchise rights to Outback in Arizona and Mexico. Came out here in 1993 and built 24 Outbacks between the two States and had a great time.

And then about eight years ago, a guy by the name of Conrad Cantor stepped into my life and was trying to sell me this concoction that there was a little machine about this big. He told me how good it could filter my fryers. Well, right out back, you have to filter your fryers about every hour and. 1/2, two hours at least. We used to. I think we have. A thing called the blooming onion that makes a mess of a fryer. So we tried it, and he let me use it at one of my stores. We kept burning the engine out on it and I was like kind of, this isn't going to work. And he said. I'm an inventor, that's what I do, tell me what you want. I said, well, I want safety and I want quality. If you can give me those two things in the machine, and he goes, you let a couple of your guys work with me, he goes. I'll make the machine for you. So he did about a year later.

He came up with this concoction called Zeco Filtration and we tried it one of mine and it worked extremely well, just it was easy to use and it was the safety, and I don't know, I I know you know, but hopefully everybody listened to those two, those filtration machines that are in our restaurants today have an open area where the oil, hot oil is running through there, 300 and 63,170 degrees. A lot of kids get hurt in our restaurants because that oil is exposed. They're cleaning at the same time that they're emptying the fryers. Kids make mistakes. The floor is wet, whatever it may be, people get hurt and I'd seen it or heard of accidents back east at Chi Chi's and Outback, of people getting hurt by those filtration machines. And so I wanted one that was closed in. Well, Conrad made this one totally enclosed. You never see the well, it does its job and then the most important part is, that you get good oil out of it and you can make it last longer. And then I don't know if you're aware of this., oil costs have almost doubled in the last six months of what they were.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

And I'm sure a lot of my restaurant listeners know exactly what you're talking about.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Well, one of the spectacular parts of the Zeco that we didn't even try for two months into the ME using his equipment, I put it in two of my restaurants at that point. We also realized that we were using about 50% less oil with this. So I bought 10 more of them and put them in my restaurant. I had sold off some of my restaurants. At that point, I only had 12 stores and after that it's history. We used the machines and then about seven years ago, six years ago, I sold the OUTBACKS, the rest of my Outbacks, back to the company and I said I want to go, do this Zeco thing and I hooked up with Conrad, and the rest is the history.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Wow, it's amazing. You know how things turn out, right? I talk a lot on the show about being in the industry and the surrounding industries of the skilled trades, the restaurants obviously being one of them and just the types of relationships that you built, right, that's something that not a lot of people talk about when they talk about the skilled trades. It's always, hey, can you swing your hammer? Can you turn the wrench? Can you, you know, can you do all this stuff? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what about the people you meet? I mean, it is, it's remarkable, right? And I'm sure aside from Conrad, there's just been. dozens and maybe hundreds or even thousands of people that you've cultivated fantastic relationships with through your journey, right?

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

I've been very fortunate. You know, one of the things, there's a Restaurant Association, has a tournament coming up pretty soon for a golf tournament. They do this to raise money for their political fund and some other things that they need for the educational foundation. But just doing stuff like that, you see all these people in our industry and you think we all hate each other. No, we're all friends, and it's kind of cool because you can, you know, John Salazar, one of the owners of Manuel's restaurants here. Great guy, we call each other for support and help. At times we got questions or concerns or you have a struggle. It's great to be able to have those people in the industry as well, not just the outlying ones, but the ones that are in the industry end up being your best friends.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Yeah, absolutely. You know it and another thing I'd like to talk about on the show is college and the ROI from college. I'm curious because you said you went to college and you got a degree. What was your degree in?

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Is associates in business OK?

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Associates in business and so you carried a lot of the information that you learned in your college education, I'm sure, into the restaurant industry and building and maintaining and growing these businesses, yeah.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Yeah, you know, I wish I could say, yeah, it's all my college, I worked for some great people that were very smart and they were patient and they were good at teaching. And I think I picked up a lot of my business thoughts from people that have done very well in our industry and some other industries as well. College is great. I think everybody should go to college if they can. Just for a couple of years at least. And just to get some of the disciplines down. You know, it's funny you bring up college because I remember one of my professors tried to recruit me to go into sales to sell copy machines. That was when copy machines were, this was a while ago. This was 1976-77 and copiers were just becoming a big thing for everybody to use. You had to be special to have a copier, even schools that had them, they were hard to work and they didn't work very well. But they've come out, they've gotten much more sophisticated. No more. Forget, he, he was good, I remember that, he was a good guy. Easy name to remember Jim Smith.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Oh that's that is easy. That's funny. And you know I I've got a little bit different opinion on college than you. I think I like to relate it all back to the ROI, right, because there's the way I see it, there are so many different paths these days to be successful. You know that college in my eyes just isn't a requirement, but by all means you know if what you want to do requires a college education, then go down that route, you know. But when we talk about stuff like the skilled trades, you know, a lot of people I don't, I don't want to say a lot of people don't realize you don't need a college education to do it. You've got trade schools, you got apprenticeships. Stuff like that. But people automatically assume that because you don't need a college education to do it, that they're low level, low paying careers and you being on the back end, I'm sure have realized. You know and realize probably pretty quickly you know how lucrative those types of jobs can be, because let's be honest, you're the one writing. The checks right? So it's interesting. It's an interesting dynamic and the other thing about college too is kind of like you had mentioned, I hear this a lot that you know the value of the college education comes a lot from the relationships and you know, there's usually certain professors that make a big impact on students. You know and give them. A heck of a perspective and a good outlook, but really the value is when you graduate or when you or when you enter into a profession that you have these people that are that surround you like mentors and that's where the that's where the magic happens for, for lack of a better term, right, you know the. The college is great for the fundamentals, but to really succeed in a position, you've got to surround yourself with the people that have been there and done that.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Yep, absolutely, ok, absolutely. Well, you know, I never got to work with my father. You get to work with your father.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

I do.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

But my dad, I can't really say he was a mentor, but in some things I. Can but not. In business. But there were little things that I learned from them that I did carry on the business, and I'm sure the same thing for you. You guys get to work side by side, so. You have to say he's your mentor, whether you. Want to or not? Just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Of course. Yeah, no. And that's, but that's and. And so I'm really glad that you brought that up because I think that's important for people to recognize you know, because I certainly don't want anyone to, you know, feel remorse or regret whether they went to college or not. You know what I mean to so. oh, I should have gone to college or oh I shouldn't have gone to college cause I hear that a lot too. You know, some people's perspective. It's an interesting thing and it it's hard to it's hard to gauge kind of where where someone is at. You know when they feel that way because it's like, well, you got to find the value in anything that you do otherwise not there. Make it, you know. And I don't know that's just my opinion. But we're going down a rabbit hole.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Well, just to close this off is that the Richmond business isn't rocket science and it's not brain surgery, but what it takes is dedication. And really, you've got to, you've got to dedicate yourself. To that restaurant or whatever you're doing. In business, you can overcome anything because you have people like yourself to count on for your equipment and your restaurants and you have electricians that you can count on. You have to hire the right people and you don't learn that in college, you learn that by just talking to people. I remember once we were in Allentown, PA. Was opening up a restaurant there for Chichi's and this was back in the early 80s and things were tough in Allentown, of course. Billy Joel wrote a song about it, but I couldn't get anybody to apply for a job. Here we are. I need to hire around 300 people and I can't get anybody to apply, so I called up the newspaper and I said, hey, I need some help. I've been running all these ads with you guys and I can't get anybody to apply. And you got all these people on unemployment, but nobody's coming in to apply. Or a. Paper headlines restaurant tour blasts. Allentown the people of Allentown for not applying for the job well.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Oh my gosh.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

I thought I was gonna no longer have a job, but more importantly. I thought I Was gonna be thrown out of town. But instead, I ended up with over 1,500 people the next day standing in line. We were hired in three days. I had the best staff I've ever worked with in my life, but sometimes, being courageous and that's the passion you have for your position. You can win. And it's just having that to me, it's. About the passion and the restaurant business. As much as anything.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Yeah, that's an amazing story. What do you attribute that to? Is it? Do you attribute it to just the passion that you showed? You know when you called up the newspaper? Or do you think that people kind of saw it as a challenge or why did that happen?

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

I think people, the people, the good people of Allentown saw that as hey, I want to work. I don't you know the problem was too is it was minimum wage jobs and they were used to making back then $20.00 an hour to work in the steel mill. That was a lot of money back then. That's it's still a lot of money today, but that's, you know 15 to $20 is what we're having to start employees out in the restaurant business now and it's tough. Because everybody thinks the restaurateurs are breaking even. You know, we worked with about a three or four, some bottom line. We're making about 3 or 4%. People don't realize that. Yeah, your higher volume stores and sending you know they might be making it, but your local mom-pop. They're not making. 20% profit like everybody thinks they are.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up too, because that's a point that seldom people know, right? Is that the margins are so razor thin in the restaurant industry? Like, I mean your systems processes and efficiencies have to be top-notch in order for you to make make sure you're pulling a profit of any kind you know. And so especially through COVID, like, it bugs me anyway when people leave poor reviews for, you know, in restaurants for no good reason.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Ohh yeah.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

I know I probably won't get you started, but even especially through COVID like, I'm looking at, you know, I mean, I love to go out to eat, so I'm always looking for the next restaurant I want to try and you know you go to Google and you look at the reviews and there's people during COVID, you know, writing these, these one-star reviews all the service is slow and all this and that all the food's too expensive and it's. People need to realize, like how, how difficult the restaurant industry is, to begin with, let alone throwing a global pandemic into the mix. Like you know, I just think it's an important point. I know it's kind of a little off-topic topic from the podcast, but I want everyone out there to know. Go out and support your local restaurants. You know, it's vital, vital for these businesses.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

You know, can I comment on local restaurants? We've been running a promotion all through COVID supporting restaurants. It's called the Restaurant Angel program. We ran it on 96.3 real country and what it was is people could e-mail in their favorite restaurant and then the DJ would pick one a day, Monday through Friday, and then I would go buy a gift certificate from that restaurant, mail it to the person and you know, it helps the rest. So we sent them 35 bucks, $10 was supposed to go to the server and $25.00 to the food. Now, if everybody did that, that's great, but I'm sure some people fudged on it, but that's OK, and the message got out there. But it was to support the restaurants and then the restaurant that got picked every day got that day's worth. The DJ would talk about it for six hours. Not just his program, but the afternoon program would talk about that restaurant winning. So they got free advertising while eating local, which I think is really important. Not that I want to take away because I know a lot. You have a lot of customers that are national chains as well, but locally. We've got to support our restaurants. They've been through a rough time. The local people have, and so we're doing a promotion starting May 1st on 96.3 that is going to be, we're local, you are local, and we're going to do this same thing. Calling your favorite restaurant. And I'll buy a gift certificate and I'll mail it to whoever that day and we'll announce the restaurant. But at the end of the month, I'm going to pick one restaurant every month and I'm going to give them $1000 to spend on 96.3 for free advertising. And that will give them about 10-12 spots, possibly where they can do some advertising that they maybe never been able to do before, so it's a great way to support local. I'm glad to hear that you think like that too. You still got to support the national chains and we're all stuck with them because without them we wouldn't have the food that we have at times because they are convenient and there always. You can always count on most of them to give you food in any city you might be in. Good food.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Yeah, absolutely. But I'm right there with you. I think that's a remarkable program that that you're doing and ever important again the listeners out there that that are hearing this podcast, you know support your local restaurants, eat local, it's very, very important. I don't remember what the statistic is but you know we all know. That small businesses make up the majority of the economy today, and a very high percentage of those small businesses are restaurants. And I don't know if people realize that.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

No, well it's just like in this business with S&K we have one competitor that's a national company and they're much larger than we are and they're, they're a big company. But I was meeting with one of their reps about four or five months ago, and I was telling him he goes well, you know, I don't want to step on any toes, but we're, you know, we, we have a lot of business and he's just going on telling me how great his business is and how great he was. Well, that's wonderful. I told him, I just leaned over the table, said you just keep doing all the big chains, that's OK with me. I'll keep picking up the small stuff cause there's plenty to go around. There's 9,700 restaurants in the state of Arizona. There's plenty of room for both of us and it's true that I got all the small restaurants and they have all the chains. So it's kind of funny. I know all the restaurants we do business with are all locally owned.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Oh that's fantastic. So on the on the topic you know I kind of want to use this as a transition. You know your in your journey through your career and the restaurants and things like that that you've owned, you obviously rely heavily on your vendors, you know and and that's shown by the. The story that you told about S&K and how you know how they came in and improved your operation, which is fantastic, and I think that you know the skilled trades are a part of that too. Obviously, you need your, you know, HVAC PM you need. And here's the other thing too, and something I didn't know before I got into the industry right is. Is the hot side technicians, the hot side, equipment companies, ovens, fryers, and stoves. This is one of those industries, right? These ever elusive industries that nobody knows a whole lot about, everybody goes out to eat at the restaurants, but nobody, nobody thinks you know, how does that food get hot? How does it? How do? How do those? How do those machines keep cooking, you know? Well, they need technicians to maintain them and to repair them and to install them, you know. And all of this stuff. So can you speak a little bit to the importance of the vendors that you've had specifically in the trades?

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Well, it for for instance, just talking about kitchen equipment. There is nothing worse than you go to open in the morning and that. The oven doesn't turn on. And you've got to, you've got to call somebody. Well, you can't go through. The Yellow Pages because you got to go online now, but when you do there's not a lot of people to call #1, and if you aren't a repeat customer, they're not going to come out for you right away. You need loyalty is really important to those people, because that's how you get your service when you want it or when you need it. I should say. And when you don't need it right away, make sure you're conveying that information to them so that they don't. Come out right away, thinking that you needed immediate service but without the people that repair our stoves and our hoods, and I mean there's nothing worse than your fan goes down on your hoods. You can't. You're done. Yeah, so you need the HVAC guy to come out and fix it, but you have a guy that can come out right away. And no, we count on those people constantly, and then, you know, just in building restaurants, they built so many in my past thinking of all the trades that we worked with and how important it was once I got going here in Arizona. For instance, I stuck with the same electrician. I stuck with the same carpenters. That was the only way to go because once again that was a relationship and I could count on those people in a later time if I had any problems, they would come out to take care of people where it was in. Remember when I was building this fence here and when I was down in the 90s, Arizona was starting to pick up in business. It was hard to find good people. Whether it be union or non-union. It's just great to have people that are skilled and are willing to work as hard as they do. If I can talk to you just for a second about a couple of local companies that are used, one for purveyors because they were important to me too. Shamrock., it's a great company, in the sense that I had a guy, Chef Scheffer was his name. He's no longer alive but he was my first salesman here. The guy would do anything and then that's the way that company was run at the time. And I'm pretty sure it still is. I know Mike Stevens and his crew that are there, that they take care of their customers and then another one is grand. Ave. here in town. On Grand Ave., previous has been here for a really long time, but he was my first produce company when I started and he's still the produce company for Outback Steakhouse. So those relationships are so important, but those people really cared about their customers and that's why I stuck with them.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

And that's and that's so important too because that's the other thing that we don't often talk about, right is that you know, you can talk about careers and the different trajectories and how much money can be made if you're a technician. But at the end of the day, you know, we have to be careful not to measure. Are worth based on just how much we make or how much our company makes. You know it's the, it's the things above and beyond that, right, like you mentioned, you know, these are all people that you counted on. These are all companies that you counted on. Well, you know, you reach a point in life where that's what you want. You want to be counted. And you want to be relied on, you want to, you know, have that loyalty and that relationship, you know, and the partnership, if you will, you know, because that is, I don't know. That's one of the ways that I define success. You know how well can somebody rely on me and my company to do well, do a good job and help them essentially run, you know, their operation. And so I think that that's just something that's not talked about enough that needs to be emphasized as one of the benefits of you know. These are the industries that we're talking about.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Well, it's not always the bottom line. And restaurant tours. It's a tough thing to swallow because that's how a lot of us are brought up. But it's not about the bottom line, it's about sales and it's about your people and the people you have relationships with because the way I started telling the Outback and my staff when a  guy comes in to repair something, treat them like they're a customer and give them a seller to take care of, that they want something. If we're a restaurant, give them something to eat, they may be hungry, he may be. He may be cutting out his lunchtime to come in and take care of you, but it comes back to you 100-fold.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Yeah, that's it.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

And grief.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

It does, and that kind of leads me right into, you know, S&K like we were talking about before and how you had mentioned that, you know, you were talking to Conrad about what it is that you need. Right., and he didn't have to go back and invent something that worked. He took time and probably money out of his pocket. Because he wanted. He wanted you to be able to count on him. Yeah, you know.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

That's that's that's. That is an excellent example of someone that wanted to. Not he wanted to do something that would make a difference in the industry, and he did. He created a machine that is now international. We have 8 patents on it. It's the only one like it in the world. Nobody can duplicate it. And it's great and it's very affordable. I'm not doing a commercial, but it's it, it's very affordable now, but we've been able to tweak it a little bit and it's a great opportunity for everybody to practice, and even now with oil prices going up the way they. Are and we were talking about it lawyers people need to be using filtration. We never thought about it all those years and it's like Conrad will always say, people do you know what's in your fryer? Not just to tease them. But he says do you really know what's in your fryer? And a lot of people look at him like he's, they don't know. And if they did, they would probably take on filtration a lot stronger than they have.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Ohh absolutely, you and I know that very, very well. I'm sure you know.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

You'd be surprised at all the restaurants that I visit, still are using a cone and a coffee filter to stream to filter their oil.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Ohh my gosh.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

I thought that out.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Talk about those.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Well, yes, there are some people that don't feel they're there. I ran into a restaurant just a couple of weeks ago. He's going through about 1213 boxes a week.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

That even filters it at all. Right.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

And I go, I said that there's something wrong there. You go can't be that great, he goes, yeah, I'm doing about 40,000 a week and I said shouldn't be going through that much, or like there's something wrong, goes well, I don't pay the other day you dumped you all. Oh, my God.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Ohh my gosh.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

He just dumps it whether he needs to or not, which it's good, that's good.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

It's costly.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Yes, yes.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

It's cost us and you can, you can achieve that same result by the filtering right, I mean in essence at least for a lot longer.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

There are some large format properties. I'll just leave it like that, have some chefs there that dump the oil every night, and that's the way they were taught in school. And they think that's the right thing to do and maybe it is. But it's also not. It's not going to help your bottom. Line very well either. Quality is you can oil is one of those things that can be saved. By cleaning it. That's why there's a filter on your your car and your oil, it's good. Think about how long that lasts.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

And that's a really good point, you know. But you know, we also have to walk the line of innovation as well because you know, I mean, you're talking about resources and commodities and things that that you know it's not, it's not that anybody wants to cut down on the quality, it's that we want to find a better way to do this right and so. To me, when you're talking, that's what I'm hearing is this is a better way because you get the best of both worlds, you know.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Well, and once again, restaurant tours are and can be the most innovative people in the world that you see the things that they do. In the restaurants, nobody helped him with that. They sat back, looked at it, and found other ways to get things done, whether it be a new computer system to finding better ways to get the food out faster, better ways to train our people in that they you've got to keep, you got to keep evolving. You're absolutely right.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

And you know what? Honestly, it's the. It's the same way in the trades too, you know. I will say the trades are sometimes a little bit behind as far as the innovation is concerned, especially with regards to you know technology and things like that. I think we're finally at a place where they're starting to catch up a little bit, but you know if anybody out there. Is considering getting into the skilled trades and you know you're worried that it's going to be an industry that's kind of stuck in the past. I want you to get over that because the innovation that is potentially available in this industry is unbelievable, whether you're a technician or whether you're in. The office or your management this. This in this entire industry is ripe to be innovative right now, especially right now and there's just a ton of potential. You know, it's like almost a blank canvas, if you will, with all of the different avenues that we could take in and innovate it. So I want to point that out. Because you know, obviously this shows about the skilled trades and what's interesting about the skilled trades and the environment and you know the possibilities and. Just like restauranteurs like you said, you know that innovation is there and the satisfaction that it brings is just unbelievable.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

You know, you were talking about the. Trades again. Just think about it, if we don't recruit people to start getting more involved in trades over the next 10 to 15 years. By the time you're my age, you won't have anybody to fix that air conditioner. You may not have somebody to come out and fix that stove, and it's going to come back to bite us badly if we don't get people involved in the trades again like we used to. I used to be a big deal. My father was a pipe fitter and. plumber and he started a union back in Detroit, and I don't know if you're pro or against unions, but he started a union back in the 1930s. That's what we needed. And today everybody now I think is strong enough to stand on their own. Those things were protected with so many things from the government. These guys and girls need to go out there and realize they can make a mark on their own. They don't necessarily have to join a trade union, but trade unions do help in a lot of ways. Obviously, if you're trying to build a quality building, you're going to want to, I know everybody's going to get mad at me., you're going to want to hire people that come from a good background of training, and most unions give. They have apprentice programs and you get paid while you're going through the program. Good money. And then you make even better money when you're done. It's as if my son wasn't working for me, he'd probably be going to electrician school, right?

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

And you know what? That's a good point. And you know it there are. I'm not for or against unions it per se. I think that you know, there are some industries in which you know, you have to., you have to be in a union and there are other industries, that you know are not so reliant on a Union type atmosphere. And there are pros and cons, right? I mean it's give and take on both sides, there are benefits to being in a union and there are benefits to to not being in a union. It really comes down to personal preference in my opinion on that, so you know, but, but you're absolutely right. I mean it's unbelievable. And this is kind of the information and the message that we've got to get out there and you know one of the things that I'm working towards with this show, in the book, and everything else. So yeah, it just it incredible insight from your perspective. You know, being on that side of things. All right, so I can't believe have we been talking for 45 minutes.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Already. Oh my gosh.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

So before we close this up because we're going to have to wrap it up pretty soon. But is there anything that we didn't cover that you kind of wanted to interject, or you wanted to let the audience know about?

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

No, I think the biggest thing is that you know, support your local restaurants. And I'm I'm. I know everybody does, and I know everybody's back out eating again and everybody's feeling good. Hopefully, we get more people vaccinated and we can not have to worry about this epidemic ever again. But I think the biggest thing too is that if you're gonna have a restaurant, you gotta have a Zeco and you gotta filter your oil and you gotta show your customers you do care. You know our slogan for our company is Better Oil, Better Food and That's A Fact. And you can't do it unless you're filtering properly. There's my commercial for the world to hear.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

I agree. One more question before we wrap things up. It's just something that I like to ask everybody because I'm fascinated with the answers. Obviously, you know you've had quite a journey over the years with everything that you've accomplished and kind of all the transitions that you've made and all of that and we talked a little bit. On the benefits outside of monetarily, right? So that leads me to success, and I'm fascinated with people's definitions and different definitions of what success means to them. So I'm curious about you, Matt, what does success mean to you?

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Watching people that you work with grow and develop as one, and you know I switched. I was in the restaurant business. for over 40 Years and I switched and went into manufacturing and sales, totally out of my realm. Success here with Zeco is in, and that is once again spreading the good word of what Zeco can do. Getting Conrad's invention out into the industry, one of the frustrating things is a restaurant tour is that I go to other restaurant tours and they look at me like I'm crazy. At the corporate level, when I go to a, you know, my pop place, they're all ears. They want to hear about the ZIP code. They are interested. And that's why when I say support local, it's not just because I can't get the corporate people to participate in the Zeco system. It's the local people that really do care about their customers, obviously because they're willing to do that. But back to your question of success. It's also having fun. Doing what you. I really enjoy what I'm doing. I like learning every day and to me when I learn something new, that's part of the success is that I'm bobbing my horizon and I know everybody is looking at this old guy going. What's he need? Should be retired? I don't want to retire, I want to have fun and some people's fun is .going out and going golfing or bowling or whatever. Is being successful work watching the people come in here and hiring new people that are able to develop our business and help me with their ideas of better ways to do things? It's unbelievable the process that people if you let them think on their job and not just come in and do a job, have them think of it as a career, that they'll do so much for you. It's unbelievable. You just have to let them grow.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

Yeah, incredible incredible insight. And I really, really like that answer. So that being said, Matt, where can people find Zeco S&K?

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Please just go to zecoeco.com and you'll be able to pull up S&K and the whole family of us. All the stuff we do, all the stuff we've done, we've got videos on there and of course, we're here in Glendale, AZ and we're coming to your restaurants.

Josh Zolin (Podcast Host)

All right, Matt, well, I really appreciate you spending time with me today. Thank you so much.

Matt McMahon (President of SK Oil Sales)

Thanks, Josh.