Food Network Obsessed

Lee Schrager on the Evolution of the Iconic Wine & Food Festival

Episode Summary

Creator of the New York City and South Beach Wine and Food Festivals, Lee Schrager, shares the humble beginnings of the festival, which started as a fundraiser, and his favorite festival event today.

Episode Notes

Creator of the New York City and South Beach Wine and Food Festivals, Lee Schrager, shares the humble beginnings of the festival, which started as a fundraiser, and his favorite festival event today. He talks about his commitment to producing a quality event and showcasing promising, upcoming talent within the food space. Lee shares what separates his events from the rest and how the philanthropic mission of the festival is the cornerstone of their organization. Lee talks about his hopes for the future of the hospitality industry and how run-ins with former beneficiaries of the festival have impacted him in a special way. Lee reveals the exciting things he is looking forward to for the upcoming New York City Wine and Food Festival taking place this October 13th-16th and why he is dedicated to partnership with God’s Love We Deliver and addressing food insecurity. He talks about his own journey through the industry and culinary school as well as his experiences authoring three cookbooks.

For tickets to NYCWFF: https://nycwff.org/

Start Your Free Trial of discovery+: https://www.discoveryplus.com/foodobsessed

Follow Food Network on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodnetwork

Follow Jaymee Sire on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaymeesire

Follow Lee Schrager on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leeschrager/

Follow NYCWFF on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nycwff/

Learn More About God’s Love We Deliver: https://www.glwd.org/

Connect with the podcast: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-obsessed-the-official-podcast-of-food-network

Find episode transcripts here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/lee-schrager-on-the-evolution-of-the-iconic-wine-food-festival

Episode Transcription

Jaymee Sire (00:04):

Hello. Hello and welcome to food network. Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things, food with your favorite chefs, food influencers, and of course food network stars. I'm your host, Jamie ser. And today we have a philanthropist and food industry taste maker on to talk about transforming the food network, south beach and New York city wine and food festivals to the multi-day iconic events that they are today. These are star studed annual events showcasing the talents of the world's most renowned wine and spirits, producers, chefs, and culinary personalities. He is widely recognized for his creation of both festivals. It's Lee Schrager. Lee. Welcome to the podcast. We have so much to discuss today because you are widely recognized for the creation of the food network, south beach and New York city wine food festivals. I attend the New York one every year. In fact, I hosted a barbecue event back in 2016, as well as some fitness events. And I got to judge burger bash one year, which is probably my favorite event, but I'm curious what specific event has been your favorite over the years at these festivals?

Lee Schrager (01:19):

You know, it's like picking a favorite child

Jaymee Sire (01:22):

Lee Schrager (01:23):

I, I don't, I, I really don't know that I have a favorite event. I mean, they really change, you know, with the hosts and with the venues. You know, it's hard not to love burger bash because it's been, you know, really the event that probably put us on the map along, you know, in the early years when we started Berg bash with Rachel Ray. So I guess if I had to pick one event, if I, you know I had to pick one, I would probably say it's Berg bash.

Jaymee Sire (01:47):

Yeah. I mean, it's definitely one of the more popular ones as far as I can tell, you know, in the New York city wine and food festival's 15th annual event is taking place this October 13th through the 16th. We're definitely gonna talk more about that in just a bit, but I actually wanted to start with the south beach wine and food festival, which celebrated 21 years. This past February, you are credited with really taking this event from a one day fundraiser at an FIU campus in the late nineties to the stars, studded multi-day gourmet event that it is now known as today. Can you take us back to those early days of the festival and let us know how you got involved?

Lee Schrager (02:22):

You know, I could barely take you back to where I had dinner the other night, so that's a yeah, but

Jaymee Sire (02:29):

Fair.

Lee Schrager (02:30):

Do you know when I joined at that point, what was Southern wine and spirits? I joined them in 19, no, in 2000 I joined them actually 1999, the end of 1999, Southern wine was doing a one day wine and food tasting on the campus of the, what was then the Florida international university school of hospitality on the grounds of their, you know, campus in north Miami. And it was a really nice one day event. And, you know, it was exactly what it was, you know, there was a million things like that, you know, one day events going on. And I really knew that to grow that event, which was one of the things I was tasked with that we probably needed to move it off of the grounds of a campus in north Miami and move it to south beach. And that was really the beginning of, you know, changing the whole perception, you know? Yes, we say that, that from that one day event grew south beach, but really south beach started when we, when we created the first year, you know, 21 years ago on the sand of Miami beach,

Jaymee Sire (03:31):

What was your vision for it at the time in vision?

Lee Schrager (03:35):

It, I think just to do something sexy, , you know, south beach, you know, you know, the vibe, the, feel, the look, you know south Florida in the dead of winter in February, you know, it's hard to resist. So I, I think, you know, moving it to the grounds of, you know, one of the most beautiful beaches in the country in the dead of winter, you know, I thought was gonna be a home run and that was kind of our vision. We didn't have a one year plan or a three or five year plan. We just kind of winged it and you know, 21 years later we're still wing it.

Jaymee Sire (04:04):

I mean, did you have any idea at the time that it would evolve into what we know it as today?

Lee Schrager (04:11):

No, no, no. Of course not. I, I would say at the end of the first year, I think we knew, wow, this could be popular. Mm. I think at the end of the second year, we realized that we needed to, you know, start looking at the future, how you grow this and getting the right partners involved and look at it as a business. You know, what started really, as a fun project grew into this, you know, huge business that we never expected. So we had to build a team. I started the festival with friends, you know, I brought in all my friends to help organize it, you know, they'll work for free. And you know so no, we, we had no idea. I, I think it, the end of the second year, I, I knew that there was potential. It was really the third year going into the third year that I said, Hey, this, you know, we're, we're in the right place at the right time following, you know, the, the network was really peaking at that time. And everyone, you know, wanted to be a celebrity chefs and celebrity chefs were rock stars and rock stars were celebrity chefs. So I think our timing was just good.

Jaymee Sire (05:11):

What do you think it is that allows you to, to see that potential that you were just speaking about for an event and then really take it to the next level?

Lee Schrager (05:19):

You know, it's having a vision, I'm a great visionary, I'm a better visionary than I am producer, meaning I'm not an event producer, I'm an event visionary. I, I like to plan, I like to create, but I don't like to be out on the beach kind of mapping out where the tents are gonna be and loading in the Porto pot, you know, porta potties. I kind of like visioning it. And that was really kind of my vision. So I like, you know, I kind of say that I have the easy job. I have the fun job. I kind of dream it. You know, I kind of dream dream the dream and everyone else brings it to life.

Jaymee Sire (05:50):

Yeah. But I mean that, that's what makes a good leader, right. Is you're able to, to delegate some of that responsibility and, and let other kind of execute it to bring that vision to life since 2002, as you look back, you know, as this event has obviously evolved throughout the years, are there elements of the festival that have remained a core part of the experience?

Lee Schrager (06:11):

I'm sure there are. I'm trying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I'd like to think that something's remained the same. I, I think our commitment to producing a quality event, our commitment to profiling the great talent of Miami, our commitment to working with our title partner, the food network, and, you know, really featuring their talent has remained the same. You know, everything changes, you know, the more things change, the more they remain the same. But I think that we've really been lucky that we've remained committed to producing a safe, comfortable, exciting festival. And I, you know, to, to do it 22 years in a row going on our 22nd year, you know, it's as important for me as it is to our consumers and to our talent that it remains fresh. I mean, to keep me excited, I have to be, you know, there's always new talent. There are new opportunities, there are new events, there are new trends. And that's really what I do all year. Kind of, you know, look at that, look for those.

Jaymee Sire (07:08):

Well, what are some of the things that maybe you tried and like didn't work, you kinda left them behind. And what are some of the things that you've added that have had that real sta staying power?

Lee Schrager (07:19):

Well, staying power, you know, one of our original events, the original event that launched the festival was something called BubbleQ. It was champagne and barbecue. Oh. And it was a great event. You know, it was really in the early years, we didn't have tents, we just did it on the beach. And we had you know, six or seven chefs. And we served that was when the moat minis were being launched in the bottles. And everyone had moat minis all night and they ate barbecue from some of the great barbecue Pitmaster from all over the country. And that grew into one of our signature events, the BubbleQ, and we still do the BubbleQ in some format. We don't do it every year because it's a massive amount of champagne that we need . But we, we, you know for 3000 or 3,500 people, you need a lot of champagne, but Berg bash is gonna be 17 years this year and that's remain consistent.

Lee Schrager (08:06):

Best of the best was an event that we launched, I don't know, 10, 12 years ago. And we really created best of the best because Berg bash was so popular and we had nothing else for consumers to do on Friday night, once we sold out of burger bash. So now we still sell out of burger bash. Now we sell a lot of, best of the best. So but you know, best of the best is still there. And the grand tasting, obviously, where, you know, it's a huge, massive, you know like a, it's like the super bowl of food. there's all these great chefs, wine spirits, culinary demos, great sponsor activations you know, that you can't beat and that's still our, you know, bread and butter 22 years later.

Jaymee Sire (08:46):

What, what do you think differentiates this festival from some of the other ones that we see around the country throughout the year,

Lee Schrager (08:52):

We are legitimately enough for profit. We've raised 36, 30 7 million for the school of hospitality and tourism management at the chaplain school at FIU. I think that we are focused on always keeping it new and fresh. I think we're not afraid to fail. You know, we're not saving lives here. I like to try things and hopefully they don't fail, but if they do you move on and you know, you have a, if you don't try it, you know, I'll try almost anything one time

Jaymee Sire (09:20):

Lee Schrager (09:20):

Yeah. And I'll also kill something if I don't have a good feeling about it,

Jaymee Sire (09:23):

That that's good. I mean, that's, that's important in these types of situations. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned this educational, this charitable pillar of this event, which is so incredible, you know, each year more than 1200 students, volunteers, they really get this real world experience at the festival, which serves as kind of interaction, interactive educational platform for future leaders of the hospitality industry. When you think about the next generation of hospitality leaders, what do you think the future holds?

Lee Schrager (09:51):

You know, I, I think as long as people are continuing to eat and drink, the future is unlimited. You know, when, when, when people stop eating and drinking, we have a bigger problem. So I'm not gonna be worried, but the hospitality industry's been really good to me. It's been good to a lot of my friends and I think it, you know, it's always changing and I think that's the beauty. And I think one of the things I love most about the industry is it's very small. Believe it or not. You know, I run into people all over the world when I travel it, inevitably when I travel, someone will come up to me. I, I just literally was an ishk in Italy last week. And I was walking in down we're at this restaurant Meto at a, in a hotel in ishk and I was walking down, it was dark out pitch black. And someone said, Hey, you're the guy from the south beach, wine foods, festival . And you know, there, you know, people from all over the world, you know, we were in ishk, those people happened to be from Miami. Interesting enough. But then when I got seated, there was a waitress who served us a cocktail and she said, oh, Mr. Shrier, I went to FIU and I worked in the festival.

Jaymee Sire (10:58):

Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Lee Schrager (10:59):

I, I, I hear stories like that all the time. Imagine 22 years of festivals, if there's a thousand new students every year, that's a lot of students who are out in the industry all the time. I go into a restaurant almost anywhere in the country. Inevitably someone has been to the festival attended as a guest, or worked there as a student, which is so rewarding. So, you know, it's a great industry. And I think that for people who work hard, I think it's, you know, incredibly rewarding.

Jaymee Sire (11:27):

Yeah. I mean, what's that feeling like for you knowing that, like you said, you, you have dozens of these stories being out and about, and people saying that they either worked at the festival or they have attended knowing that, that it has had such reach and stay in power over the years. What's that like for you?

Lee Schrager (11:45):

Well, clearly very rewarding. I mean, you know, it's like my child , you know, like when someone says to my mother, oh, you must be proud of your son. It's the same thing. As someone saying to me, you must be proud of the festival. So sure. You know, you've watched it grown. It's legal now 21 years later. And to watch it grow from a dream on the beach with kind of no vision and no direction and you know, really no budget. And to watch it grow into something that's been so successful and has launched so many careers from the hospitality students and really helped launch so much talent on the network and cooking channel. I mean, that's been incredibly rewarding to see that.

Jaymee Sire (12:19):

How do you think we continue to, you know, nurture this new talent and innovation in the food and beverage world going forward?

Lee Schrager (12:26):

Well, there's so much new talent out there. I, I mean, I, you know, I read about talent. I, I mean, this morning I was emailing, texting Alex, goner, Shelly. Who's a great friend of mine. She had posted a photo the other day and I said is so and so someone we should be looking at for the festival in south beach she goes, yes, don't you remember? I mentioned that person to you a few months ago. You know, I, I love new talent, you know, listen, Bobby FLA, wasn't always a major star or guy FII. I mean, I met guy FII originally when he was on next food network star. And he was just this crazy looking guy with spiked hair so, you know, who knew he'd become, you know, one of the biggest names in the network and that's the industry. And I think that for, you know, good people and people who want to enjoy a career in the industry, it's very rewarding. And for me to watch talent become the superstar is kind of from, you know, I don't wanna say from nowhere, but from their early humble days to where they are today has been really exciting for me.

Jaymee Sire (13:22):

Yeah. I mean, you talk about those full circle moments. I know last year at south beach, you guys honored guy. Yeah. You know, so like what kind of satisfaction does that give you when, when you see these full circle moments from talent, or like you said, some of the students as well?

Lee Schrager (13:38):

Well, guy was a really unique story because I watched him win. I was on the set, they were filming it down in Florida during the south beach one food festival. Oh,

Jaymee Sire (13:46):

Wow.

Lee Schrager (13:47):

One guy, you know, I, so I watched it happen and I was there, you know, watching this guy and I, you know, I, I didn't know who was gonna win, so to kind of watch it and then have guy come, you know, the first year after he won and, you know, he had no book out, he was not the big star and guy printed up his own postcards and was signing his postcards when people were coming up for autographs and to see him become, you know, you know, definitely one of the biggest names in the network 21 years later, or however, however many number of years, it is really just crazy to watch.

Jaymee Sire (14:17):

Yeah. That's, that's a great story. Speaking of just like kind of this evolution of everything, how has technology and social media over the last 20 years really influenced and helped the festival evolve?

Lee Schrager (14:29):

Well, certainly social media allows us to get the message out. You know, we use, you know, every form of social media from TikTok to Instagram, to Facebook, you, you know, to Twitter to promote a message, it helps us move tickets. It helps us reach an audience. It helps let, it helps us notify people of changes going on helps let you know, during the pandemic, it was a way that we were able to keep our consumers updated on what we were doing and what we were doing during the pandemic and, you know, launching a Rachel race, summer camp for kids and working with guy Fier and Dave Portnoy on an auction. And that's what social media did for us, allowed us to stay in touch, stay in touch,

Jaymee Sire (15:06):

Coming up next. Lee tells us how the New York city wine and food festival got started and what we can expect to see this October. Let's talk about the New York city wine and food festival for a minute, you know, taking place this October. How did that festival get started? You know, a, a few years after south beach,

Lee Schrager (15:27):

Well, it's turning 15 this year. So it started seven year or about seven years, six, seven years after south beach. And, you know, as soon as I felt comfortable that I could take some of my attention away from my first child and have a second child is when I launched it. You know, New York seemed like a natural place. It's a, you know, the greatest, the food capital of the world in my mind, and to do something, there was something that was really important to me. And obviously to Southern wine spirits, it's a huge market for our brands and a great market to launch new brands in. And so it was very natural. It was not easier. Yes. We learned a lot of lessons from south beach, but New York is a totally different animal, you know, and, you know, we don't own New York city, you know, south beach, we own the weekend of the festival. We don't own New York cause it's so big. And so spread

Jaymee Sire (16:10):

Out I don't think anybody can own, no,

Lee Schrager (16:13):

We, you can't, you can't, but we've made our, you know, we we've made a footprint there, so we're happy about that. And, you know, I, I love being in New York cuz there's so much diversity and talent and so many of the talent live there. So it's very easy to get people there. And October is a great time of the year because cookbooks come out in October. So a lot of people who are launching new cookbooks are in New York anyway, on book tour or, you know, meeting doing media tours. So it's great for us to piggyback off of all the October book launches.

Jaymee Sire (16:41):

Absolutely. And, and definitely fall in New York is unlike anything else for sure. What, what do you think the biggest differences are between New York city wine and food festival and soy

Lee Schrager (16:52):

The location? You know, one is on the most beautiful beach in the world. And one is on one of the most iconic peers, you know, that backdrop of New York city at nighttime, when you're turning around from, you know, the Intrepid or pier 86 or 76, and you see that backdrop, I mean, there's nothing like it. Again, south beach being on that beach in February is amazing, but being in New York and October and being on that pier and turning around and seeing the whole world lit up behind you is pretty extraordinary. Also,

Jaymee Sire (17:18):

I couldn't agree more. Which events are you looking forward to most this year in New York,

Lee Schrager (17:23):

Which events we have a lot of great dinners, you know we, we programmed a lot of smaller events, you know, just for obvious reasons. You know, people, some people are skeptical about large events still. So we have a great lineup of dinners. We have a great lineup of master classes. We have a, you know, a lot of great midsize events. So you know, I don't know if there's any one event I'm looking forward to where, you know, we're launching tacos for us has always been very successful in New York. Mm-Hmm as a mid-size event, meaning, you know, four to 500 people. Now it's a peer event for us on Saturday night, the bigger night, you know? So we, we, you know, we're taking a chance of growing it from 500 to 3000 and the response has been really positive so far.

Jaymee Sire (18:02):

I mean, I've been to the tacos and tequila event, I think one time and yeah, it was packed. So I, I could see it. Definitely. Yeah. I think so thriving on the, on the pier ASM, I'm excited

Lee Schrager (18:11):

To see that mm-hmm , you know, where do we, we're doing Thursday night, we're doing Burg bash obviously for Rachel Ray and Friday night, we're doing the Italian event with Scott Conant. And now it's scar Shelley, Saturday tacos and Sunday, a family barbecue with daddy. CHEI from Chianti, Italy. And with Andrew Zimman hosting that.

Jaymee Sire (18:30):

So fun. Yeah. Anything new that's like brand new to the festival this year for, for some of the repeat attendees that might be looking for a new experience.

Lee Schrager (18:39):

I am sure. I mean a lot of new talent at dinners. I'm sure there's something new, but you know, there aren't a lot of new animals out there, so it's, you know you know, so, you know, there's no new food groups, you know, I, we, you know, we did burgers, we did tacos, we do pizza, we do fried chicken, we got a, got it covered. We haven't done a big scale vegan event cuz I don't think it would be incredibly well received. We're doing an, you know, we're doing an Asian night market, we're doing a drag brunch. We're doing God, what else are we doing? I I'm an oyster bash, you know, you name it? I, I mean, no, we're, we're always looking for a new idea and when we find them, we do 'em, I'm trying to think in New York, if we're, if there's anything new, I think we just kind of tweaked a few things here.

Jaymee Sire (19:20):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What events tend to sell out like the quickest. In other words, if people are thinking about attending for the first time, which ones should they kind of hone in on and buy first?

Lee Schrager (19:30):

I would say if you're a first time, you definitely want to go to the grand tasting the at pier 86, you wanna go to burger bash on Thursday night, maybe taco on Saturday night, you want to go to a small dinner. You want to go to a masterclass, you know, don't overdo it. It's like when people go to Napa, they wanna go to 10 wineries in the weekend. I'm like, don't do that. You're gonna, you know, by the third winery, you're gonna be over it. So, you know, do it pick out a few signature events. Don't, you know, don't tire yourself out on day one and just do, you know, one or two events, one in the afternoon and one in the evening every day. And you know, you have a hard time not having fun.

Jaymee Sire (20:03):

Yeah. You gotta pace yourself for sure. Exactly. also the festival raises critical awareness for God's love we deliver whose mission is to really nourish vulnerable new Yorkers affected by severe illness. It has raised over 14 million to date. Can you speak a little bit about the importance of this aspect of this particular festival?

Lee Schrager (20:23):

Well, I love God's love, they're a new charity partner for us. I've been a fan of God's love forever. You know, in the eighties, they were the charity who was delivering food to HIV patients in New York city. And then thankfully as HIV kind of slowed down a bit, they now feed the elderly and the sick in New York city. So it's a great organization. They do great work. It's one of the hardest working board of directors I've ever met. Every one of their employees are dedicated hard workers and you know, chefs love to give back and to give back to an organization that's feeding people is incredibly rewarding.

Jaymee Sire (20:59):

Why is that such an important part of these festivals for you and your team?

Lee Schrager (21:04):

I think it's important to give back. I, I, you know, growing up it was important, you know, in my family to give back. And I think it's important, you know, in, in our, in my role here at Southern GLS, I head up corporate social responsibility. And I think that giving back in the communities that we do business is in our DNA. We're a family owned and operated business, although 23,000 employee big, you know, it's hard to be family owned, but we are. And I think giving back is just in the DNA here and doing the right thing.

Jaymee Sire (21:32):

I'd love to know also your, your own personal journey through the food industry. How did you initially fall in love with it and, and kind of get involved?

Lee Schrager (21:40):

I am a chef by trade. I went to the culinary Institute of America. Mm-Hmm . I grew up in a family. My mom is a great cook really an exceptional cook. And I kind of had a love for the cooking early on. When I was in high school, I took home EC. I was the only boy in home EC. Then I went to the CIA culinary Institute and I then had a long career after that. I spent I did my externship at the culinary Institute with glorious food caterer, one of the top caterers in New York at the time and still incredibly popular. So I was always into event planning and I always liked planning and I was using stickies yellow stickies before they were even, I had my own stickies before they even created stickies 3m before 3m created them. I spent 20 years with Intercontinental hotels.

Lee Schrager (22:26):

I started as a room service waiter and when I left Intercontinental hotels in 1999, I ran food and beverage for them worldwide. You know, I kind of did every FA you know, every asset of food and beverage from room service, you know, room service, waiter, and you name it. I, I did it through that and I was lucky enough in 2000 to start with Southern GLS and start their event department, which led into taking over the corporate social responsibility, which ended up with me now leading internal, external communications for Southern GLS, which is the largest distributor of alcohol in the world.

Jaymee Sire (23:02):

Wow. Do you miss, like cooking every day being in the kitchen and that kind of thing? Or do you enjoy what you do now? More?

Lee Schrager (23:07):

No, I never miss cooking. no, I don't cook. I only cook in the summer when I'm out east. I, if I cook 10 times a year, that would be a lot I, I, no, I, I, I love to cook, but I J you know, by the time, you know, I get up and, you know, go to the gym or train and work and come home. I'm like, we're going out for dinner or we're not, or, or we're not eating, no, I don't miss cooking every night.

Jaymee Sire (23:29):

That that's fair, but you are the author of three cookbooks, food network, south beach, wine, and food festival, cookbook fried, and true, more than 50 recipes for America's best fried chicken insides and America's best breakfast, favorite local recipes from coast to coast. What excited you about creating a cookbook and what are some of your favorite recipes in them?

Lee Schrager (23:47):

Well, I created the south beach one and food festival cookbook to commemorate 10 years of the south beach, one in food festival. I wanted do some, wanted to do something ki to kind of memorialize 10 years and all the great chefs, you know, in 10 years we had, you know, probably a thousand chefs participating at the festival. So those recipes in that book, every recipe in that book was one of my favorites from the festival for the first 10 years. And then, you know, fried and true. You know, if you're a close friend of mine, you know, I love fried chicken. And so that was kind of a natural after the success of the first book to do it a book on fried at chicken, and then breakfast seemed like another natural since I loved breakfast. So I was just fortunate to have, you know, great topics like fried chicken, which everyone loves and breakfast, which, you know people love to eat breakfast, especially on vacation when they're traveling. So you know, I loved traveling the country for breakfast and fried chicken and visiting chefs and, you know, learning recipes and creating these two books that have been, you know, really kind of great memories for me of you know, the 22 years of the festival.

Jaymee Sire (24:47):

Yeah. Kinda like little yearbooks or exactly. Yeah. , that's awesome. I love fried chicken too. So I'll have to check that one out. All right. Last question. Very important. Can I hit you up for festival invites this year? yeah,

Lee Schrager (24:58):

Sure. Email me. Yeah, absolutely.

Jaymee Sire (25:02):

I'm just kidding. Thank you so much. This been my pleasure been so much fun talking to you. We're gonna finish things off with a little rapid fire around, and then we have one final question that we ask all of our guests here on food network. Obsessed. All right. So rapid fire round favorite food network show.

Lee Schrager (25:16):

If I said that I'd have no talent at our festivals.

Jaymee Sire (25:19):

all right. It's is similar to the kids' question. Yes. Yeah. Yes. next travel destination.

Lee Schrager (25:27):

Wow. I, I, I've just been in Brazil, France and Italy. Wow. Where are we going next? I don't even know, you know, for right now, I, you know, I kind of done a lot of traveling in the last eight months since we started traveling again. So I'm gonna the ham, you know, we're heading east for the Hamptons next week through mid-September, but no big trips planned for the end of the year.

Jaymee Sire (25:45):

Audi sounds like a perfect place to be for the next couple of months, for sure. Alright, festival first timer. What's the must do or see thing

Lee Schrager (25:54):

Burger bash at either of our festivals and the grand tasting at either the festivals.

Jaymee Sire (25:57):

All right. Favorite cocktail or mocktail?

Lee Schrager (26:00):

I am a gin drinker, so I love anything gin based. I also love PIMS. So a PI cup this time of year, I tend to drink PIs cup this time of the year.

Jaymee Sire (26:13):

Yeah. Perfect. I just, I fi finished some Wimbledon coverage recently. Yeah, sure. So accomplishment, you're most proud of

Lee Schrager (26:21):

Accomplishment. I'm most proud of. I think creating two festivals that have really helped promote the hospitality industry and raise funds for great organizations is probably one of the things I'm most proud of.

Jaymee Sire (26:33):

All right. Final question. In the rapid fire round pizza, toppings of choice,

Lee Schrager (26:37):

Broccoli wrap, and sausage

Jaymee Sire (26:39):

On a pizza. All right. On a pizza. Sure. I'll have to try that. Yeah, it's delicious. All right. So final question. This is what we ask everybody here on food network obsess. Everybody has a different answer. What would be on the menu for your perfect food day? So we wanna hear what you're eating for. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. You can time travel, spend, you know, absurd amounts of money, whatever you want. There's no rules to this question. We just wanna hear what your, your ideal meals are for all of those.

Lee Schrager (27:06):

I am the most basic eater so money would not be, I am in, you know, people don't invite us for dinner thinking I have these impeccable eating habits and it's not, I, I am a simple, simple eater. I eat oatmeal for breakfast, with fresh berries. Okay. For lunch, I eat. If I have lunch, it's, it's normally a salad. And my favorite dinner, anyone who knows me knows it would be, you know, roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and a great salad.

Jaymee Sire (27:32):

Okay. Anybody in particular that's cooking these meals for you or you doing 'em yourself?

Lee Schrager (27:37):

Well, you know, I live right by Alex Garner Shelly in the Hampton. So that's a, she, she, she knows what I like. I can walk right over her house. And you know, I love to catch Alex right after she's doing a QVC show when she has all those samples around, but Alex's house is always like a a caterers commissary.

Jaymee Sire (27:53):

. I mean, that's a pretty good neighbor to have nearby. You can basically just wander over there at any time I do all the time. well, that sounds amazing. Enjoy your time at ease. We are so looking forward to the New York city wine and food festival in October, and we'll be sure to let people know how to get those tickets, but thank you for taking the time.

Lee Schrager (28:13):

To see you, Jamie. I'll look forward to it as well.

Jaymee Sire (28:15):

Good to see you as well

Lee Schrager (28:16):

Thank you. Bye. Bye.

Jaymee Sire (28:21):

I'm definitely gonna hold Lee to that invite. So good chatting with him about the creation and evolution of an event that is such a pillar of this industry. This year's food network, New York city wine and food festival is taking place October 13th through the 16th. And for tickets, you can go to NYC, wff.org. Thanks so much for listening and make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. So you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review. We love it. When you do that, that's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.