00:00.000 --> 00:02.310 Sean Murray: Hi, I'm Sean Murray with deBanked and today I'm here 00:02.310 --> 00:03.990 with Kosher Guru. 00:04.650 --> 00:07.050 Kosher Guru: I am Kosher Guru and I'm super excited to do a 00:07.050 --> 00:11.640 kosher food and cash advance cross over here at Reserve Cut 00:11.640 --> 00:13.770 in New York City with none other than deBanked. 00:21.570 --> 00:23.700 Sean Murray: Have you ever eaten here before or is this your 00:23.700 --> 00:24.870 first time at Reserve Cut? 00:25.110 --> 00:28.980 Kosher Guru: So I am guilty of coming here many, many times, 00:29.010 --> 00:32.940 love Reserve Cut. It's actually one of the premier kosher 00:33.240 --> 00:37.230 restaurants in the kosher world. So we'll call it a more high end 00:37.230 --> 00:41.220 restaurant. So I'm sure you've had kosher food sometimes in the 00:41.220 --> 00:41.910 past. 00:42.000 --> 00:44.400 Sean Murray: Okay, yeah. So full disclosure. I'm assuming you're 00:44.400 --> 00:45.660 Jewish as the kosher guru. 00:45.690 --> 00:47.430 Kosher Guru: That's right, that assumption is correct. 00:47.430 --> 00:50.220 Sean Murray: Okay. So I'm Irish Catholic. But I grew up on Long 00:50.220 --> 00:53.310 Island. And Long Island is kind of a melting pot. 00:53.340 --> 00:56.100 Kosher Guru: kind of, I live there. So I know the melting pot 00:56.100 --> 00:56.670 part of it. 00:56.720 --> 00:58.880 Sean Murray: So I did grow up around a lot of different Jewish 00:58.880 --> 01:02.630 people. But I didn't always eat kosher food. I've had it. But 01:02.630 --> 01:06.350 I'm not, I'm not an expert in kosher food. And so can you tell 01:06.350 --> 01:08.240 me what it what is kosher food? Exactly. 01:08.540 --> 01:11.930 Kosher Guru: Okay, a quick rundown. And I'm no rabbi so 01:11.930 --> 01:14.330 let's not get into all the details. I just enjoy eating, 01:14.330 --> 01:17.150 and eating a lot of food. If anyone follows me on social 01:17.150 --> 01:20.690 media, they'll know all about it. Kosher Food is we're 01:20.690 --> 01:24.590 following in the Old Testament. Quite a few will call it rules 01:24.590 --> 01:28.820 and regulations, almost like standard operating procedures. 01:29.120 --> 01:33.350 We don't mix meat and dairy. When it comes to meat, we only 01:33.350 --> 01:36.590 eat animals that have split hooves and chews the cud, like 01:37.160 --> 01:41.210 deer, venison cow, certain chicken stock is kosher, it has 01:41.210 --> 01:45.290 to be slaughtered in a humane way. So there are what we call, 01:45.560 --> 01:48.440 we're going to call them rabbis or they're known as what's 01:48.440 --> 01:51.140 called a Shochet, which actually does the slaughtering in 01:51.140 --> 01:54.080 slaughterhouses to make sure that there's absolutely no pain 01:54.080 --> 01:56.750 for the animals. And that when they do check the animals it 01:56.750 --> 01:59.570 meets all requirements under the kosher laws. So in the course of 01:59.570 --> 02:03.470 the years, the kosher restaurant market kept pushing the envelope 02:03.500 --> 02:06.470 of what they could do next, and how they can be just like any 02:06.470 --> 02:09.470 other restaurant, anybody who's anybody whether you're Jewish or 02:09.470 --> 02:12.140 not Jewish, keep kosher, not keep kosher, feel comfortable, 02:12.140 --> 02:17.720 have that level, level of food experience, service, so on and 02:17.720 --> 02:20.780 so forth at a kosher restaurant. Yeah, um, now thank God in the 02:20.780 --> 02:23.600 kosher world, we have many restaurants on that caliber. 02:23.870 --> 02:27.470 Reserve Cut is one of the premier on that caliber, as you 02:27.470 --> 02:30.980 can see from the tacos to the fish and that wagyu steak that 02:30.980 --> 02:34.010 the chef said he's cooking up. That sounds amazing. Looking 02:34.010 --> 02:34.610 forward to it. 02:35.260 --> 02:37.870 Sean Murray: You know, this neighborhood is actually it's 02:38.170 --> 02:40.840 quite historic. It's, you know, it's Wall Street or technically 02:40.840 --> 02:43.000 it's Broad Street. It's not even, it's not- a lot of people 02:43.000 --> 02:45.610 think this is Wall Street, we're right off, right off Wall 02:45.610 --> 02:47.770 Street. But the stock exchange is right over there. Right 02:47.770 --> 02:50.740 there. But I used to work right over there on 14 Wall Street. 02:50.890 --> 02:53.500 Really? So this is part of like, this is the heart of the 02:53.530 --> 02:55.090 financial industry, right? 02:55.090 --> 02:56.320 Kosher Guru: Is that when you started in the merchant cash 02:56.320 --> 02:57.010 advance industry? 02:57.020 --> 03:00.210 Sean Murray: I started working in Midtown. And well, actually, 03:00.210 --> 03:02.310 I started work- Before that, I started working in College 03:02.310 --> 03:06.180 Point, Queens. Before we were even in the city, I was working 03:06.180 --> 03:08.250 in College Point, Queens, and I was commuting from Long Island 03:08.460 --> 03:12.150 into Queens every day. And then we moved into the Empire State 03:12.150 --> 03:15.300 Building, believe it or not, and that's when, we were there for 03:15.300 --> 03:20.040 about six months. And then we moved from there to I guess you 03:20.040 --> 03:23.040 would call outer Murray Hill, maybe even Curry Hill, it was 03:23.520 --> 03:27.630 around 31st and Park Avenue South is where we were. Yeah. So 03:27.630 --> 03:31.710 I was there for, I guess quite a number of years. And then when 03:31.830 --> 03:34.740 deBanked started, I was actually at 37th and Broadway. So that's 03:34.740 --> 03:36.810 right outside of Times Square. Right. But that's not where the 03:36.810 --> 03:38.880 industry is. People think New York, they think Times Square. 03:39.270 --> 03:43.170 But people don't work in Times Square. Maybe some do. But- 03:43.170 --> 03:46.770 that's up to you. Right. But that's mainly for tourists. And 03:46.770 --> 03:49.020 I ended up getting an office down here. Because if you really 03:49.020 --> 03:51.630 wanted to cover the industry, which is what we have to do, you 03:51.630 --> 03:54.210 got to be where everybody is at, right? Because it's one thing to 03:54.210 --> 03:56.760 just talk to people on the phone, send them an email, do a 03:56.760 --> 04:00.150 Zoom chat. But it's a lot better if I can literally just walk to 04:00.150 --> 04:04.110 their office. And I literally would come right outside and 04:04.110 --> 04:06.660 come out one building and just go into the next building and 04:06.660 --> 04:07.110 e like, "Hey." 04:08.000 --> 04:10.470 Kosher Guru: So one second, you used to visit other ISOs and 04:10.470 --> 04:11.130 funders? 04:11.840 --> 04:14.750 Sean Murray: So when deBanked Magazine started, it's kind of 04:14.750 --> 04:16.790 funny, because it started very organically, and I don't come 04:16.790 --> 04:19.490 from the magazine business I come from, you know, come from 04:19.490 --> 04:22.160 the finance industry, right? I worked in MCA many, many years 04:22.160 --> 04:25.190 ago. And so it's hard to get people to subscribe to a 04:25.190 --> 04:28.850 magazine that doesn't exist in the beginning. Right. So what I 04:28.850 --> 04:31.580 would actually do, it was kind of funny looking back is that I 04:31.580 --> 04:35.240 would take I would have them all shipped to our office. And then 04:35.240 --> 04:38.450 I would take a bunch and I would hand them out in this 04:38.450 --> 04:41.600 neighborhood. So I would I would knock on- I knew where everyone 04:41.600 --> 04:43.580 was, right? Because I saw everyone's address and I would 04:43.580 --> 04:47.180 find out who's not really there. Right? Everyone in that building 04:47.180 --> 04:49.310 who has that address is not actually there. Right? Well, you 04:49.310 --> 04:52.280 know, but all the ones on Wall Street, Pearl Street, and even 04:52.400 --> 04:55.670 Fulton Street, Water Street, I would go there and I would hand 04:55.670 --> 04:58.280 deliver the magazines. That's actually how we got off the 04:58.280 --> 05:01.340 ground. Believe it or not. But I know you as the Kosher Guru in 05:01.340 --> 05:02.630 one part of your life, right? 05:02.660 --> 05:03.110 Kosher Guru: Yes. 05:03.130 --> 05:05.280 Sean Murray: But you actually work for Velocity Capital Group 05:05.310 --> 05:06.420 in the other part of your life. 05:06.460 --> 05:08.730 Kosher Guru: That is correct. Right, I have my fun after-hours 05:09.210 --> 05:12.060 work where sometimes we can't tell you know, Jay and I do it 05:12.060 --> 05:15.180 sometimes during the day. Yeah, but sometimes I'm guilty of 05:15.180 --> 05:19.710 that. Yeah. But all joking aside, I do have my regular, you 05:19.710 --> 05:22.200 know, you got to make a living somehow a regular day job we'll 05:22.200 --> 05:23.190 call it and fun job. 05:23.230 --> 05:25.730 Sean Murray: Okay, so where is Velocity Capital Group based? 05:25.760 --> 05:27.710 I'm gonna have one of these ones while yo tell me if you don't mind 05:27.790 --> 05:30.360 Kosher Guru: Velocity Capital Group is actually based out of 05:30.510 --> 05:32.430 Cedarhurst, New York, which is on the south shore of Long 05:32.430 --> 05:33.930 Island. How was it by the way? 05:35.180 --> 05:36.080 Sean Murray: Oh, it's really good. 05:36.110 --> 05:39.320 Kosher Guru: It's really good. We are a merchant cash advance 05:39.320 --> 05:43.970 company. We do anywhere from first, first through fourth 05:43.970 --> 05:46.070 position offers, reverse consolidations, yeah, some 05:46.070 --> 05:51.560 consolidations. And we are a merchant cash advance company in 05:51.560 --> 05:53.150 the industry that you cover so well. 05:53.870 --> 05:55.430 Sean Murray: What is a reverse consolidation? 05:56.710 --> 05:58.570 Kosher Guru: Okay, this is a- what are- you're hitting the 05:58.570 --> 06:03.550 hard questions first? But for the most part, when a merchant 06:03.550 --> 06:05.980 has, we'll call it overleveraged, has took out 06:05.980 --> 06:08.440 unfortunately, too many advances, they have, let's say 06:08.440 --> 06:13.810 five or six advances, and the merchant is just bewildered on 06:13.810 --> 06:16.960 to how to make the daily and weekly payments. So we'll 06:16.960 --> 06:20.350 reverse, we'll come in and say, listen, you have 20 weeks left, 06:20.350 --> 06:22.720 and whether it's a daily payment or weekly payment, you have 20 06:22.720 --> 06:25.690 weeks left on these five or six advances, what we're going to do 06:25.690 --> 06:29.560 is we're going to help you cover those payments, we're going to 06:29.560 --> 06:32.800 give you x amount of dollars a week, that'll cover every 06:32.800 --> 06:35.620 payment that you don't have to wor-, you don't have to worry 06:35.620 --> 06:39.130 about. And then sometimes so that this the merchant now knows 06:39.130 --> 06:42.040 that they took on way too many advances, doesn't know how the 06:42.070 --> 06:44.740 merchant is going to handle it. But now I have this reverse 06:44.740 --> 06:48.550 coming, which is sort of gonna give me a tranche or weekly 06:48.550 --> 06:51.010 payment to help cover those payments, okay. And then 06:51.010 --> 06:54.100 depending on what the merchant's gross revenue is, and where 06:54.100 --> 06:57.460 they're, where they're holding business wise, we might be able 06:57.460 --> 07:00.460 to say, listen, we're gonna give you an additional 50 or $100,000 07:00.670 --> 07:04.330 for your operating costs, you'd be able to get the product you 07:04.330 --> 07:07.510 need, get the inventory you need, get the restaurant, get 07:07.510 --> 07:11.020 the new oven you need, okay, so on and so forth. And at the same 07:11.020 --> 07:13.720 time, we're going to help you cover these advances right now 07:13.720 --> 07:16.240 to sort of get you out of it. So you could have a clean slate 07:16.240 --> 07:16.930 moving forward. 07:17.410 --> 07:19.180 Sean Murray: Okay. Makes sense. 07:19.540 --> 07:20.230 Kosher Guru: To an extent. 07:20.920 --> 07:22.570 Sean Murray: Because people throw that word around, you 07:22.570 --> 07:24.310 know, but I don't- I don't know that it's a term that I was 07:24.340 --> 07:27.430 familiar with before this industry. 07:27.769 --> 07:28.079 Kosher Guru: So actually, before working at Velocity Capital 07:28.079 --> 07:32.009 Group I knew of reverses, never interested in them, never did 07:32.009 --> 07:35.519 them. Yeah. But now with a lot of changes within the industry, we 07:35.849 --> 07:41.459 are one of the few funders that are actually doing reverses 07:41.459 --> 07:43.019 and we're known as a reverse funder 07:44.270 --> 07:47.570 Sean Murray: Okay. So it's safe to say, since you're here and 07:47.570 --> 07:50.270 you still work for Velocity Capital, that Velocity Capital 07:50.270 --> 07:55.940 has survived the pandemic, right, but I want to ask you 07:55.940 --> 07:59.840 like, what has it been, like, from your from your role at 07:59.840 --> 08:03.110 Velocity? Like, what what was it like starting in March or April? 08:05.720 --> 08:07.850 Kosher Guru: So first of all, I just want to say that Reserve 08:07.850 --> 08:10.490 Cut roll, that Toro. Yeah, insane, like insane. 08:10.540 --> 08:11.890 Sean Murray: Yeah, I'm not even listening to what you're saying. 08:11.950 --> 08:18.700 I'm just concentrating on the flavor. I ask you a question and 08:18.700 --> 08:20.770 I hope you give a really long answer. And I'm like ooh, ooh 08:20.770 --> 08:21.010 yeah. 08:23.130 --> 08:25.290 Kosher Guru: So by the way, while we're here, I don't know 08:25.290 --> 08:28.020 if I'm allowed to go into it yet. Are we going back to 08:28.080 --> 08:30.450 deBanked shows in person anytime soon? 08:30.660 --> 08:35.130 Sean Murray: Uh oh. So we rescheduled Broker Fair, the 08:35.130 --> 08:40.110 in-person one to March 22 of 2021. It gives us enough time to 08:40.110 --> 08:41.850 see what's going to happen, especially with the election, 08:42.000 --> 08:45.570 right? People, you know, the media's narrative could change. 08:46.350 --> 08:49.470 We could come up with a vaccine. I don't know, it could be safe 08:49.470 --> 08:52.080 to gather in large groups if you take certain amount of 08:52.080 --> 08:54.720 precautions, I don't know. But we pushed it out too, early next 08:54.720 --> 08:58.380 year, March, March of next year. And we do have the ability, a 08:58.380 --> 09:00.750 lot more so a lot more confidently so now to reschedule 09:00.750 --> 09:04.410 it if we need to. So, you know, the day comes up and the State's 09:04.410 --> 09:07.230 like, you know, "no mass gatherings." It's not like oh, 09:07.230 --> 09:09.930 my God, we're back to the same spot where we, you know, force 09:09.930 --> 09:12.450 majeure, you know, like, oh, what do we do? We have the 09:12.450 --> 09:16.230 ability to move it. Now. I recognize that not everybody is 09:16.230 --> 09:19.770 cool with just waiting 10 months for an in-person conference that 09:19.770 --> 09:23.130 they paid for in advance. So we did a virtual event. 09:23.420 --> 09:26.360 Kosher Guru: Which happens to be, it was awesome, like a whole 09:26.360 --> 09:29.840 'nother level the way you had it laid out. And the technology, I 09:29.840 --> 09:31.670 don't know what you did, or who you used for that tech 09:31.670 --> 09:34.280 overnight? Yes. You, it seems like you did it like overnight, 09:34.280 --> 09:36.380 because you didn't have like a year to plan. Yeah, it's 09:36.380 --> 09:37.250 actually very cool. 09:37.280 --> 09:38.090 Sean Murray: I appreciate that. 09:38.090 --> 09:40.430 Kosher Guru: The chat rooms and you visit the companies, I was 09:40.430 --> 09:41.060 super impressed. 09:41.080 --> 09:43.700 Sean Murray: Yeah. And I'm glad you were and we learned a lot 09:43.700 --> 09:48.710 from it. And I'm glad we did it back in June. I think now, 09:49.070 --> 09:52.580 people have a little bit more fatigue to things that are 09:52.580 --> 09:56.660 virtual. We're all used to Zoom by now, doesn't mean we love 09:56.660 --> 09:57.140 Zoom. 09:59.060 --> 10:00.500 Kosher Guru: I mute it, turn the video off. 10:00.660 --> 10:02.250 Sean Murray: It doesn't mean we love what you know, it doesn't 10:02.250 --> 10:05.130 mean we love webinars now. We're used to it because that's what 10:05.130 --> 10:08.520 you have to do. But I think there's this, especially among 10:08.520 --> 10:12.330 younger people, it's almost like a repulsion to having to do 10:12.330 --> 10:16.170 something virtual because you wish it was in person. And I've 10:16.170 --> 10:19.350 taken that as a strong indicator of how we should move forward. 10:19.380 --> 10:22.080 And I'm looking at what other event companies are doing to see 10:22.080 --> 10:25.140 how they're handling things. And they're all they're all going 10:25.140 --> 10:28.950 virtual. Like "virtual is the future!" I actually don't think 10:28.950 --> 10:30.090 virtual is the future. 10:30.090 --> 10:31.500 Kosher Guru: No, that I agree with. 10:32.130 --> 10:33.900 Sean Murray: In- in-person is the future. 10:36.390 --> 10:38.040 Kosher Guru: I'm getting really really side-tracked with all the 10:38.040 --> 10:40.980 food coming out right here and we'll go into that in a second. 10:41.790 --> 10:42.420 Oh, wow. 10:48.570 --> 10:49.320 Oh, wow. 10:50.160 --> 10:51.930 Sean Murray: I want to tell them that that one's that one's for 10:51.930 --> 10:52.170 me. 10:55.290 --> 10:57.060 Kosher Guru: I gotta get my camera out for this one. 10:57.060 --> 11:01.830 Sean Murray: Wow. I've never seen that before. Now we're 11:01.830 --> 11:02.190 talking. 11:02.700 --> 11:05.790 Kosher Guru: As Sean Murray just said over here at Reserve Cut, 11:05.790 --> 11:09.990 now we are talking. Take a look at this chicken on fire 11:09.990 --> 11:10.920 Sean Murray: literally on fire. 11:10.920 --> 11:14.010 Kosher Guru: It literally is on fire. Take a look at what's 11:14.010 --> 11:17.730 going down over there. This is normal for me just videoing my 11:17.730 --> 11:21.690 lunch during a business meeting while we are being interviewed 11:21.690 --> 11:24.870 for deBanked, but I can't hold myself back. This is Reserve 11:24.870 --> 11:29.370 Cut. Oh, Allesandro, thank you so much. 11:30.890 --> 11:34.730 But the biggest thing is is that the-- and just give me one 11:34.730 --> 11:36.350 second, I'm anticipating the steak coming out right now. 11:36.350 --> 11:38.000 Sean Murray: Yeah. And yeah, I'll allow you to take a bite. 11:38.240 --> 11:39.500 You deserve a bite right now. 11:39.570 --> 11:42.420 Kosher Guru: So aside from the actual, there is no blessing 11:42.420 --> 11:44.490 they will say well, the rabbi blessed the food. That's a 11:44.490 --> 11:47.910 misconception. Similar to when you do grace before a meal. Yes, 11:48.030 --> 11:51.150 we make a blessing before and after. That's the only blessing 11:51.150 --> 11:53.820 done over the food. Okay, so when people say oh, well it's 11:53.820 --> 11:56.790 blessed by a Rabbi, the food is blessed, the answer's no. We 11:56.790 --> 11:59.640 might as a religion we will make a blessing before and after. We 11:59.640 --> 12:02.310 might say like say grace. Yeah. What do you say grace? Whenever 12:02.310 --> 12:04.440 we have a family meal? Yeah, but that's about it. Okay. 12:04.440 --> 12:05.640 Sean Murray: Let's definitely try this. 12:05.670 --> 12:07.690 Kosher Guru: Okay, let's take a look over here. Oh wow. 12:14.720 --> 12:15.320 Okay, you ready? 12:16.610 --> 12:23.360 Sean Murray: I'm ready. Oh, that's good, that's really good. 12:27.320 --> 12:30.980 Kosher Guru: O-M-G. This steak is insane. 12:31.220 --> 12:33.880 Sean Murray: It's really good. 12:36.500 --> 12:38.570 Kosher Guru: I do have to say it was a pleasure talking shop with 12:38.570 --> 12:42.140 you today. Talking cash advance, talking kosher food, two of my 12:42.140 --> 12:44.960 passions of what I do for a living, what I do for fun. This 12:44.960 --> 12:45.620 was a lot of fun. 12:45.710 --> 12:47.990 Sean Murray: It was fun. Thanks for having me here today. 12:48.890 --> 12:50.750 Kosher Guru: Listen if you're ever back in town, if you want 12:50.750 --> 12:52.940 to catch a lunch over here, I'm always available. Okay. 12:52.980 --> 12:54.660 Sean Murray: Sounds great. All right. 12:54.780 --> 12:57.090 Kosher Guru: This was a lot of fun. Sean, thank you very much. 12:57.990 --> 13:04.020 Sean Murray, deBanked. Reserve Cut over here. This was amazing.