Entrepreneurial Appetite

Transforming the Bar Scene: A Conversation with Benjamin Pratt founder of TapRack Social

• Langston Clark • Season 6 • Episode 22

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Ever wondered how military skills translate into successful entrepreneurship? Meet Benjamin Pratt, the brains behind TapRack Social, who is joined by fellow veteran and business partner Aubrey Lewis. Together, they’ve crafted an innovative entertainment venue in San Antonio, combining a bar, gun range, and golf range, all enhanced with top-tier tech. Get insights into how Benjamin's Air Force background laid the groundwork for this venture, empowering him with problem-solving prowess and communication finesse that are now pivotal in his entrepreneurial journey.

Explore the intriguing concept of TapRack Social, where the buzz of a cocktail bar meets the thrill of a high-tech laser shooting experience in a Topgolf-like setting. This episode unveils the behind-the-scenes strategies that make this tech-forward venue a success, spotlighting the strategic location choices and dynamic partnerships. Benjamin shares how mastermind groups and mentorship are instrumental in navigating the entrepreneurial landscape, offering listeners a glimpse into how veterans can harness their unique skills for impactful community investments and business growth.

We wrap up our conversation with a discussion on balancing business with family life, particularly for veterans stepping into entrepreneurship. Benjamin opens up about the importance of a supportive family, making time for his son, and how veterans can play a pivotal role in economic development through strategic investments. To inspire your entrepreneurial spirit, we also touch upon literary gems like "Think and Grow Rich" and "The Alchemist" that offer profound insights. Join us in this engaging episode for a mix of personal stories, strategic insights, and inspiration for veterans looking to make their mark in the business world.

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Langston Clark :

Hey everyone, thank you again for your support of Entrepreneurial Appetite. Beginning this season, we are inviting our listeners to support the show through our Patreon website. The founding 55 patrons will get live access to our monthly discussions for only $5 a month. Your support will help us hire an intern or freelancer to help with the production of the show. Of course, you can also support us by giving us five stars, leaving a positive comment or sharing the show with a few friends. Thank you for your continued support. What's up everybody? Once again, this is Langston Clark, the founder and organizer of Entrepreneurial Appetite, a series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism and supporting Black businesses. And today I have Benjamin Pratt, who is the founder of TapRack Social. And so, before we get into this innovative new way of thinking about entertainment and the bar scene, Benjamin, if you would just give us a little bit about your background and talk about your journey from being in the Air Force to becoming an entrepreneur?

Benjamin Pratt:

Sure, yeah. So I am a San Antonio native, texan through and through, lived all over the world, but Texas is home. I'll always claim it as home. But a little bit about me again, from here. Went to high school here, went to college, out in Arizona, went into the military around 2011. I am a Judson alumni. For anybody from San Antonio or Texas who's curious, I am a Judson alumni. So went into the military 2011.

Benjamin Pratt:

I was an intelligence analyst for what would be about six years and then I cross-trained into the Air Force Special Warfare or Battlefield Airmen side of the Air Force, which is a very, very small group. Usually there's some type of entry program you have to go through to get in and get accepted and get approved to make it to a high attrition inflow course and then you get to start the real training process to becoming, whether it be a pararescue man, combat controller, tactical air control party member which is what I am or a special reconnaissance airman. So this is a very, very small, small segment of the Air Force. We're talking less than a percent of the Air Force. And so, again, as an operations intelligence analyst, I did some fighter squadron intelligence, done some signal stuff. I've kind of worked all over the place, but what that really gave me was the ability to start one or rating on a much more effective level, becoming more articulate with how you lay information, essentially because what you're doing is giving pertinent information to parties that need it in order for them to go and do their job, and so I made sure that I was able to provide that in the highest capacity that I could.

Benjamin Pratt:

From there, I went in to the, again, special warfare battlefield airmen side of the house, but in that arena, what that taught me was to solve problems at a very high level, anywhere from kind of an overall to a small right in front of you level, but with that, being able to communicate effectively and solve these problems very complex problems really fast. What that gave me is the ability to talk business, and I didn't know it at the time, but as everything kind of progressed, I was able to start to connect those dots in my head and go hey, man, this translates directly to your ability to pitch and present a product. All you have to do is have the idea. You can relay it in an effective manner by using these skills that you've gained from being in the military. And so, coming up on my 13th, 14th year in the Air Force.

Benjamin Pratt:

Now, as I've done this, I also started up Tap Rack Social, as you mentioned earlier, and then in that my business partner and I as well, we also brought on board a local cocktail bar in downtown San Antonio also, and so we've kind of just been kind of growing this entertainment enterprise as we progress through. But again, everything is a problem-solving aspect. So when we first saw the space that we wanted and we knew it was kind of what we wanted and where we wanted to be, which is 1604 and 281, specifically A10402, us Highway 281 North. Suite 114 is where we're at. We're right next to the Lifetime Fitness on 1604 and 281.

Benjamin Pratt:

But when we saw that space, really for me it was a matter of let's just get in the room with the people that we have to pitch to get into it. We knew we had the product, we knew we had the idea and the concept had teeth. We just have to get in front of the right people to hear it. And my business partner and I went in the room Aubrey Lewis. We went in that room and we put on a show. It was like watching Magic and Kareem or Shaxs and Colby or Tim, tony and Monica, right, just a pitch and a pitch and going back and forth and just feeding off of each other and it was a slam dunk and we absolutely killed the pitch.

Benjamin Pratt:

They gave us to go ahead in the room and from there, probably about four or five months later, we started to build out demolition, renovation in that space, and it's been a lot of big steps along the way, constantly solving problems, whether it be getting in there with the contractors and figuring out spacing, whether it be getting with the city to figure out what needs to be done by what time, whether it's getting with the state and figuring out what needs to be done by when. It's always a problem-solving mechanism with this. And so I think both my business partner, who's a veteran as well, both him and I are able to look at these things, and we graduated from what we like to call figured out university. We put these things together. If there's a problem that I can't solve, he can. If there's a problem that he can't solve, I can. But we put our brains together, there's no ego involved and we just drive this thing forward betterment of our concepts.

Langston Clark :

So before we get into Tap Rack, I want to go back even further. So San Antonio is, for those of you who are from San Antonio, who are listeners, known as Military City. That's one of its monikers. That's what it's known as being, and you mentioned that you're from here. So what inspired you to go into the military? Do you come from a military family? Was it just the context of growing up in San Antonio that was part of that push man? That's a really good question.

Benjamin Pratt:

So, yes, both of my parents were in the military. My dad was a fighter pilot what would essentially be considered a testy airman modern day and then my mom was an intelligence officer, for both of them for 20 plus years in the Air Force. My dad just retired from FedEx, actually after 40 plus years of flying, so big ups to him. But basically watching them and how they were able to raise both my older brother and my younger sister. So my older brother is a tech attorney in Austin and then my younger sister is in PR up in St Louis, and so between the three of us, man, I think they did a phenomenal job.

Benjamin Pratt:

And so, really, if you see something that works is basketball coaches say, right, if your right is working, why go left?

Benjamin Pratt:

Let's try to replicate this and then branch off and do what I want to do from that. And so, yeah, watching both of my parents successfully raise us, provide us with everything that we needed while we were coming up and then, to that effect, giving a positive example of what it looks like to be one a family unit, successful, cohesive, loving in the city. Man, that was an easy like let me replicate a good thing, right, yeah, so I've been essentially taking everything that I can from them and trying to mold that into me, and I've been doing that since well, you could probably call it the time I really started paying attention was middle school, right, so by the time I could start to do it, it was how do I replicate these behaviors, how do I replicate these actions? How do I carry on a legacy, right? How do I represent myself and my family? Well, and so I've been trying to carry that mantle as far and as long as I could.

Langston Clark :

You know you have this family that has a military background. You go into the Air Force yourself. You went to college, If I heard you correctly, are you still in the Air Force right now? I am, so you're managing being in the Air Force and having your business at the same time. Yes, Can you tell us one? Give us a description of what Tap Rack Social is, because you have a really unique concept. Then explain how you're able to be in the military right now while at the same time having this business. That is actually a unique and phenomenal concept.

Benjamin Pratt:

Sure. So Tap Rack Social is a it's a, it's a one of one. Nothing else like it exists in the United States. So we are a simulation shooting terrain, simulation golf, and then we are a full bar and a pizzeria all in one venue. So for all these big company events that we've been doing for the past couple months, man, it's been huge having people come out and at least see it. It's a good marketing tool for us. What we do is we've got all of your basic weapons, we've got your shotguns, we've got your AR frames and we've got your pistol frames, 9 mils specifically. So Glock and 6R. But they are inert weapons. There's just a laser inside of them. You shoot them at a screen.

Benjamin Pratt:

If I had to simplify it all the way down to its basic form, it would be think of like Duck Hunt on Nintendo back in the day. It's like Duck Hunt, but on steroids, right, you can pick and choose what games you want to play and then you can kind of compete with your friends, family, date nights I've seen couples get in there and they start shooting against each other for top scores and all that, and so it gets really fun and really exciting. All the while you can eat and enjoy a drink while you're doing a very safe and sterile environment. Drink while you're doing a very safe and sterile environment. Same thing for golf, right? My business partner is an avid golfer. I don't know anybody outside of my dad who probably golfs more than Alex Lewis, and so if you hear me, by the way, refer to him as Aubrey or Alex, if you call him either one when you see him he'll respond. He's kind of got the two first name thing right, but he's an avid golfer. I don't know many people who golf more than him.

Benjamin Pratt:

And so, for the golf side of the house, it was important that we got all state-of-the-art stuff, all high quality equipment, so you can go in there and you can play Pebble Beach, you can go in there and do driving competitions, you can do putt-offs. It's up to you what you do if you want to rent one of those bays, but the concept was to basically take a shearing range and fuse it with the Topgolf model, where you get a private bay and you got your own table and you guys can sit and you can eat and you can drink and you rent the bay by the hour and then, whenever you're done, if you want to go golf, you can go golf. Or if you're done golfing, you can go shoot. Or if you just want to sit and hang and watch the game, we have open really just a space where you can have fun, or you can just enjoy drinking something to eat.

Langston Clark :

And so like. As you're, as you're still in the military, how are you able to juggle both of those responsibilities?

Benjamin Pratt:

It's a team sport. So business is a team sport. Right, you have to have a good team around you and I think we probably have the best team in the city. Our business partner, like I said, is he's out, so he's fully veteran, so he kind of is there during the day. The moment I leave the base, I head over, tap him out. He heads our bar downtown. I'll man the fort at Tap Rack and then at some point throughout the evening I'll probably head to the bar downtown and then push back up to the north side where I stay, and it's kind of just a steady rotation of that.

Langston Clark :

So it's interesting that you mentioned your brother's a tech lawyer in Austin and what I'm hearing you say about TapRack Social beyond the fact that it's this unique concept where you've taken Topgolf and integrated it with shooting that not only is this a bar, not only is this a gun range, not only is it a golf range, it's also somewhat of a high tech place. Yes, so talk about because when I because there's a lot of people who come on the podcast and we're talking about people who are trying to invest in tech and all of that stuff we had to blockchain people and all of that but when I think about a bar, I don't necessarily connect that with technology. So talk a little bit about what that means for you to be really a tech forward bar.

Benjamin Pratt:

With the innovation that we basically brought to bear it took us a minute to find the company that was doing it but to try to work something to where we can build out our own package, because they're just breaking into the entertainment sector. They've done law enforcement, they've done military, but they hadn't breaking into the entertainment sector. They've done law enforcement, they've done military, but they hadn't broken into the civilian sector really. And so for us, it was an opportunity for us to exploit that and go hey, we will be your test bed in the US, right? The only things we ask are if somebody else is coming, let us know, because that might accelerate our timeline or shift it back, depending, right. But also, with with that, we'd like to be the beta test for a lot of these programs that you're doing, because we'll give you real-time feedback.

Benjamin Pratt:

Hey, we're seeing people like this more than this. Maybe some people want to hunt more, maybe some people want to do kind of the first person shooter stuff more, some people want to do target shooting more, some people like the competition shooting stuff. It all depends, right. But we'll give you real-time feedback on that product so that you guys can make your updates or adjustments to your sales pitch. In return for that, what we would like to do is build out a package that allows us to have not the tech proprietary, but this package be proprietary to us. So if somebody buys anything that's based on these top-selling items, we'd like for that to be something that they purchase, with us attached to it.

Langston Clark :

I imagine that being like a almost like a shark tank pitch, you know.

Benjamin Pratt:

It is a little bit. It is a little bit For us. Fortunately, there was nobody else in the tank, so we were like hey, like we're the only player in town, y'all with a shark, yeah yeah, first to market means like give us the opportunity to do this before anybody else comes on board. Let's build this working relationship now, something that benefits all parties, so that we can take and grow this concept in full.

Langston Clark :

So let's go back again, right? Because here you have this technology that, if I heard you correctly, was being used in a very niche type of way, that wasn't for, like, broad consumers entertainment, but you all had this idea before you had awareness of the technology. So where did the idea for Tap Rack Social come from? With the shooting in a bar very good question. I've taken my wife to the range. So we got you know how, like I don't know you got you got your friend that you do the bar with right and so, as you come up, you get married before you have kids.

Langston Clark :

There's a lot of people that have the couple that they go on dates with Absolutely the best friend couple, absolutely so our best friend couple. We went to the gun range with once, but that ain't you know that's not the same as like going and enjoying. Imagine being in a bar drinking and having that loaded gun and the Colt is like hold the gun here. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, it's different, yeah, yeah, yeah. So how did you get from that to where you are now?

Benjamin Pratt:

It was an evolution for sure, right? So the idea originally started as one being Black and not shying away from firearms right, I enjoy shooting, I do it for work right, but if I'm good at it here, how do I translate that into business? Is really the thought process, right? So it's not necessarily, man, you have to be an enthusiast. It's like, how do I translate something that I'm good at or something that I enjoy? It might be both right.

Benjamin Pratt:

If I enjoy it and I'm good at it, that's a perk. If I'm good at it, how do I monetize it? If I enjoy it, how do I monetize it without it being a hobby? So those things kind of all come together. But really what came about was there are no Black-owned gun ranges, which was the original concept, and so, looking for outdoor ranges, the problem popped up that there is no more grandfather clause and what that means is if you buy land and you start a gun range on it and a population center or a population growth comes near it and they don't like to hear it, if they complain enough, they can shut you down now because you weren't open before a certain time.

Langston Clark :

Yeah.

Benjamin Pratt:

Right, and so, if that is the case, being anywhere around San Antonio or Austin is dangerous because those areas are growing so fast. Yeah, it could be grand rising, grand closing simultaneously, depending on how your business goes, and so kind of working through that you get the we can go further out, but that's less convenient. And if the goal is to be convenient, well then you want to be closer in. But if you're close in then you risk being shut down faster, and so there was no real sweet spot for that, because what I wanted to do originally was like an upscale outdoor range, outdoor shooting range, very high-end, upscale, members-specific type of thing, yeah. But that just wasn't able to come to fruition, just based on the logistics of kind of the grandfather clause and land ownership. So I started to look towards indoor. Problem with that the initial capital input for an indoor range, just for the HVAC system that's required to pull that bad air out, is well over the $1.5 million mark.

Langston Clark :

Okay.

Benjamin Pratt:

Right.

Benjamin Pratt:

And so you're talking like a high capital injection on the front end just to potentially see that on the back right. So let's kind of stay away from that. So my brother and I were sitting around brainstorming one day and just man letting ideas flow you say something, I say something. You say something, I say something, you say something, I say something. And if there's one person on the face of the earth that I feed off of more the most excuse me, it's my brother, right like. And the ideas of the earth that I feed off of more the most excuse me, it's my brother, right Like. And the ideas flow. The two of us in a room together, man, we can get something really going. And so he mentioned one thing. He basically said how do we make it shooting, but with top golfs, right, or shooting but a top golf experience? And I remember the moment he said it, the light bulb went off in my head and I immediately started researching, like there's gotta be something, or this thing will work, there's gotta be some way that this thing will work, there's gotta be some way that we can morph this Right. And so I finally did some digging and I found this company. I don't want to give up the name of the company. I just said I'm still working with them, but name of the company, still working with them. But I found the company and in finding them, what I found was they have everything that we need already. All we have to do is get the build out, but they provide a team that sets it up. They've got all the hardware, they've got all the software. They've got everything we need to bring this idea that we had just meshed and melded out to reality. And so finally get a hold of this company. Drive out to go see them they're a couple hours away. Drive, go, sit with them, talk with them, test the products that they have. Man, I love this. I love this. I think this would be huge. This would be huge. Got that part down. Purchase the product. When somebody offers you a great deal, you take it. So because they were in a closeout, it's easy for me to go hey, let's slow down on this in a strong way, let's lock that in.

Benjamin Pratt:

Shortly after I secured the product for the shooting side of the house, my business partner, alex, came to me and mentioned that he wanted to do something similar, but for golf, and his concept was more on the philanthropic side of the house. So he's big into philanthropy, right, as am I, but his whole setup was for philanthropy. So essentially, what I said is, why don't we put these two things together? Like you have an idea that I think works, I have an idea that I think works, and I think the two of them together really work. So how do we, the two of us, put these things together in a way that allows us to drive both ships forward under one roof? And we have experience working together previously on a nonprofit that him and another really good friend of mine, marquise Bynum. They started this nonprofit in San Antonio called Project Help SA or Project Help San Antonio. Help stands for Humanity, evolves, loving People, and essentially it was.

Benjamin Pratt:

Take the concept of a Friday house party. If everybody's going to be hanging out, right, and we're going to have a couple of drinks and we're going to eat and have music and do all that, why don't we put together supplies to support the houseless population of the city as well? Right, and so that was massive. This is pre-COVID. This started up and it was huge. I deployed shortly after it started, but man, being able to watch them grow that thing and them, allowing me to be on the board of it while it grew. It gave us the opportunity to work together, and so when it came time for us to have a conversation about putting these two concepts together but again no ego involved this is a very easy kill for both of us. I think, right, like I've seen how you work, you've seen how I work. We know the personalities, mesh. Let's put these things together and let's grow in the betterment of one. I think the city because the city needs to see that you can be young, black, successful in industry other than the established already.

Langston Clark :

Something new, and it was time for San Antonio to have something, I think, as well that they can say that like this is ours, yes, yeah, there's a few things that you mentioned that make me think about some things that you hear on podcasts or you read books related to business. Have you ever read Think and Grow Rich? I have not, man. You got to read that book, oh my God, and you don't even have to read it. I don't know if you got a library card. You can download the Libby app and you can get Think and Grow Rich and listen to it and it's phenomenal.

Langston Clark :

So there's a concept in Think and Grow Rich where the author, napoleon Hill, says the mastermind group and basically the mastermind group, it takes a biblical concept of when two or more are gathered, then like, the Lord is in the midst Right, concept of when two or more are gathered, then like the Lord is in the midst right. But he says he takes that idea and he says when two or more people get together, you can like and you're really focused on a goal and you're aligned spiritually and all of that. There are some amazing things that you can do. And so Think and Grow Rich evolved out of Napoleon Hill following all the robber barons like, like Carnegie Ford, all that stuff.

Langston Clark :

Yeah, vanderbilt Rockefeller, yeah he like, followed all of them back in the day and so he learned what they did to be successful. Well, they would get together in these mastermind groups and plot and share ideas and this is how, like, they were able to conquer and do amazing things. So what? I'm hearing you talking about you and your brother having a sit down session, right, and you. So what? I'm hearing you talking about you and your brother having a sit down session, right, and you know, people have talked about we wrote it down on a nap. That's a math to me. That's a mastermind session, right? I'm talking about your business partners. Like that's a mastermind session, and I think oftentimes people find themselves in whatever endeavor that's innovative, and sometimes they feel alone, don't have a sense of community, and sometimes they feel alone, don't have a sense of community. So can you talk about how you've been able to cultivate and sustain a community of support or just places of rest to help keep you doing what you do? And I'm going to give context for this for the audience.

Langston Clark :

So there's two times that I met you. First time I met you was at Four Nine Cigars, which is actually really close to, relatively close to Tap Rap Social. Four Nine Cigars is, which is actually really close to relatively close to Tap Rack Social Four Nine Cigars is a phenomenal place. It's a cigar lounge that was founded by two veterans who are omegas and it's a really like I don't know. It's an elegant masculine place, is how I would describe it, and I saw you there one day.

Langston Clark :

Then there was another time you were at this speakeasy called Pastiche and I saw you there one day. Then there was another time you were at this speakeasy called Pastiche and I saw you there and actually I don't think you were drinking when I saw you there. I think you. It seemed to me like you was politicking, whatever. So talk about how you have been not only negotiating with the person who owns the space that you want to build Tap Rack Social, negotiating with the people to have the technology that's going to help you do this innovative thing, but also building the social capital necessary to get those other forms of support that you need to be successful.

Benjamin Pratt:

Yeah, absolutely so. Four Nine, man, I can't say enough about the place, so one, it just fosters friendship. From the moment you come in, everybody greets you, you shake hands and the next minute you're raving about sports, or it could be, you're talking about best actors. You never know what the conversation is going to be, but you know it's going to be good, it's going to be fun, it's going to be lighthearted, right, and it's a really good time. It is a very good time to go in there. If you like cigars, they've got a phenomenal selection. If you like good conversation, you'll probably get some of the best at 4-9. Again, it's right off TPC Parkway in the Villages Shopping Center. But those guys opened up the door for my business partner and I when we first kind of sat down. One of the first business meetings we had actually the first business meeting we had was at 4-9. He and I went in there. We sat across from each other at a table. Same thing put it on a napkin, except we put it on a computer and some notebook and some notebook paper.

Benjamin Pratt:

Let's write this out, let's draw this out, let's type this out, let's get this thing in a way that makes sense to us. How do we split this? How do we split that? Not percentages, but how do we split lines of effort? Hey, I'll be responsible for the admin, you be responsible for the general contractor work. And then let's, let's press those lines forward and we'll just check in, usually about once, maybe twice a day, depending on how chaotic it got. But let's touch base so that we, you know we're in the loop. If you need me to roll in on this, I'll roll in on that. If I need you to roll in on this, you roll in on this. Let's get with our contractors, let's get with our food prep, let's get with all these things and push us forward.

Benjamin Pratt:

And so we sat down and we hashed that out there and we would usually go about once a week and eventually we ended up setting it up to where it was a weekly between my business partner, me. We had another good friend of ours, ned Cox, who's a financial advisor. He started meeting up with us and then we just made it a weekly, like, hey, this is our getaway, we'll come here, we'll sit, we'll have a cigar, watch a game maybe scotch and then relax, decompress, and then we press on with the rest of the week. Right, and so we were able to really garner a good relationship with Garland and EB at 4-9 off of that, to the point where we've had some partnerships where they've been able to come out and do some stuff with 4ix9ine at another venue of ours. So I know you said one of the two places we met was Pastiche and you'd mentioned that I was in their politic and I was, and I was politicking because my business partner and I actually bought it shortly after that meeting.

Langston Clark :

Wait, wait, wait, wait. A minute, Benjamin On pastiche. Yes, Benjamin, okay, we're going to dovetail. We're going to dovetail for quite a podcast. This is still going to be a podcast. I didn't know that.

Benjamin Pratt:

Yeah, we're moving behind the scenes, but yeah, I had no idea.

Langston Clark :

Okay, so you don't know this, but the last Friday of every month, the last Friday of every month, I get a group of brothers together, we go to Tank's Pizza and we just eat pizza. It's almost like going to 4-9. Yeah, just hang out. Yeah, have a good time. I send an email out, calendar invite. Okay. But like in the back of my mind, even planning for this podcast, I'm like I got to get Benjamin Reciprocity for coming on. So I was going to text yo get some guys, yo let's go to Tap Rack. But I didn't know. Pastiche, that's also yours, listen, that's like listen. I didn't come on, I didn't know this.

Benjamin Pratt:

Yeah, I was working behind the scenes on that one man. I was working behind the scenes on that one.

Langston Clark :

So those of you who don't live in San Antonio, those of you who do because I think most of my listeners actually aren't in San Antonio when you come visit, I think, the bar or the speakeasy that's the best bar speakeasy in the city is actually Pastiche prestige, and so I remember going there when it was almost brand new. But even now you see all of these particular days that attract certain audiences to come out and just chill. And, if I can make a request for my wife, she wants the day where people can come and read a book back again because that's her vibe. But I'll talk to my team about that, so I didn't know that.

Langston Clark :

So, listen, I got to tell you about that. So, bitch, I didn't know that. So, listen, I got to tell you, me and my wife, listen, lord, have mercy. Pastiche is sort of like. Pastiche is like one of the places that we go on dates. So only three years in the game, almost four years in the game hey, god's Lake is, by the way, yeah. So we will go to Pastiche on a quiet day when no one's there, and we will get a board game out and we'll just play a board game for hours. That's why they're there.

Benjamin Pratt:

That's why they're there yeah.

Langston Clark :

Yeah, In the nook in the little corner, Like when you walk in the little library part, we'll just be over there playing board games.

Benjamin Pratt:

Oh yeah, so there's a book that's in that corner you might see it on the table because a lot of times people will pick it up and read it but it's called the blacklist and it's, uh, african-american history of black history from man. He's gonna kill me if I mess this up from 1590 forgive me if I mess that up, marquise uh, from 1590 to today, and it's all of the important and pertinent black facts and black stories that have happened. So again, big shout out to my guy, marquise Bynum. It took him a while to get all this information, this data, together and to pull it for everybody, but it is in a very digestible format in that book. So Marquise wrote that book, marquise wrote that book, and you'll see that in Pastiche we try to incubate everything in an internal. So if we can support our own, the whole purpose is to have an apparatus where we can support our own in the city, and so I like to use this phrase and feel free to take it Anybody else who wants to use it. It's yours if you want it.

Benjamin Pratt:

But the reason for pastiche, which again I saw it love what it is, love what Ben crick, who's the guy who built it? And then we just basically took it, did some tweaks to it and and grew it to another level. I'm a firm believer in like a rich gentrification. I'm glad that you were able to come in and build this. Now let's help it build a community Right, and he was absolutely doing it. We're just now on a larger scale because we grew the crowd base Right, and so I'm grateful to him for allowing us to be the ones to buy that product. And now I'm grateful to the city for giving us the feedback and allowing us to listen to their input so that we can give them a product that is unlike anything that the city has seen before.

Langston Clark :

Yeah, Listen, this is crazy. Now I want to know the story of Pastiche, because and I'm harping on this Sure Because this to me gives greater context for what Tap Rack Social is going to evolve into, seeing the good work that you all have already done with pastiche. And so I have to reiterate this when I have people come visit san antonio and I say that there's a place we're gonna go and it's a nice upscale, swanky place to have a drink and enjoy it, can Can we go into pastiche man, please? Yeah, absolutely. So now I want to ask the question.

Langston Clark :

You know you mentioned family. Family's big, yeah, huge. You have. You have your own family, based upon what I saw on the Instagram pictures. You know what I'm saying. You're a dad, husband, all of that stuff, but you're driving from pastiche to the base to Tap Rack and all of that stuff, yeah, and I know it's a team sport, yep, and I know your family's very important to you, based upon what got poured into you 100%. So I want to know what advice do you have for someone who's a veteran? So we're thinking about entrepreneurship and they're big on family, but they also want to have large impact, which now I have a better understanding of what you're trying to do. How are you doing all of that but still maintaining your responsibilities as a father and a dad and all of that stuff and so?

Benjamin Pratt:

the most important thing I do is be a husband and a father, right, like that's, that is the most important thing. Everybody else, everything else kind of falls in place after that, right, but that is the most important thing I do, right. And so I make sure that by days, one big shout out to my wife for being understanding. She knows that sometimes a phone might pop up and it might be an emergency and, hey, I might just have to rip and run and go move some stuff from this place to this place and move some stuff from that place to that place. It's a constant problem solving game, but she understands that, right. And so it's a constant problem solving game, but she understands that, right. And so it's huge to have a partner in any of these things, right. So if you're going to do it, just make sure you like, tell your partner what it is going to mean. It's going to be time consuming, it's going to be arduous. It's a short-term bite for a long-term gain.

Benjamin Pratt:

Yeah, bear with me on that, on that process, right for my son. I'm here usually by the time he gets out of school, hanging with him. We eat, fortunately, the industries both of them are kind of nighttime things. Yeah, hang out with him, watch a couple cartoons, maybe a couple episodes of Bluey we play, we read a book, you know all that good stuff. We watch some stuff about the planets, and then I'll lay him down for bed, usually around that time and I'm headed out to one of the spots.

Langston Clark :

Yeah Well, Benjamin, it's probably like one of my most surprising but in a very positive way interviews that I've ever done.

Langston Clark :

I want to say this, and this question is even more, I think, pertinent it's the point of on what I've learned about you today, and I think about San Antonio, military city, I think about Fayetteville, north Carolina.

Langston Clark :

I think about some other cities San Diego, san Diego, right that are military cities, and these are places where Black folks have gone, joined the military, done well, and in the conversations that I have in a podcast, because I've had a few like investors and venture capitalists come on, one was actually prior military. But I think in this city where we live, and maybe a city like San Diego or Fort Bragg, excuse me, or Fayetteville or Fort Bragg, I think the core group of people who are poised to be the investors in other people's businesses, people who are poised to be the investors in other people's businesses, are the veterans. And so do you see yourself? I know right now you're building up all of these different pieces of the entrepreneurial impact that you want to have, but do you see yourself as someone who later on, is going to be investing in other folks building their businesses, or what are your thoughts just generally on what I just said? Absolutely man.

Benjamin Pratt:

I would love to be able to invest financially in other people's business and give them the opportunity to succeed. But as of right now, I've got what's called OnTap Collective, which is public speaking, mentorship as well as business consulting. So I'm working with a young veteran right now who's a couple blocks away from us at a place called Three Star Bar Guy, who was in the Air Force, by the name of Chris Molly Fried Hard is the name of his restaurant in there. But if you're ever in that area, which is right off the Pearl or Grayson man, go check him out and support his business. But he reached out to me shortly after I started, kind of making it known that I'm going to be doing some consulting and really what we're looking to do is grow his brand to the next level as well and give him the ability to scale up, scale out and continue to grow so he can transition into doing some more things that he wants to do.

Benjamin Pratt:

So it's an investment of time right now, more than it is financially. It's an investment of time for me effort and then I'm a firm believer in like you shouldn't have to learn lessons twice, right, if I already learned something, there's no reason for the next person who's coming up to have to do it? Yeah, to have to learn that same lesson, right, let's like, let me give you that tip, so maybe you don't have to like, take that jab step. Maybe you can just cut straight, right, yeah, or maybe you take that jab step and then pivot, who knows Right, but let's not relearn a lesson that I've already learned for us.

Langston Clark :

And even that even avoiding a mistake saves money man time, effort and money. So I saw in another interview that what you think about TapRack Social as its growth and scaling. So talk a little bit about how you see TapRack Social growing and scaling and your plans to have an impact on veterans as you all grow and scale your plans to have an impact on veterans as you all grow and scale man.

Benjamin Pratt:

So the goal is to build it into a franchisable model where somebody getting out or a group of individuals that are getting out or have gotten out, have the ability to see it and go. Man, this thing has the possibility of being really successful in this area and with that you can do a market survey. I'm going to do a real quick kind of short cheat sheet for what I think is a good market reference for if there's disposable income in an area right, because if you're going to do entertainment, it has to be disposable. Yeah, so there's four, really five, things that you can utilize. They're brick and mortar places. If you see them, they're usually a good to go. Sign right.

Benjamin Pratt:

So one is there, a. Is there a Starbucks in the area? Right, starbucks doesn't open anywhere where there isn't the ability to buy a $5 cup of coffee at least right, and so they've done the market research before they put one there. That's first. Chick fil A right, is there a Chick fil A there? Chick fil A doesn't go where there isn't a market for people who have some amount of disposable income. Target is is it a super target or is it a kind of regular target? How do you figure that? If it's a super target and you've got a Starbucks not a Starbucks that's inside of it, but another Starbucks separate from that I think that's a pretty good metric, right? Those are three with the Chick-fil-A associated. The biggest one that I think would be my bellwether is their Whole Foods. Whole Foods ain't going anywhere where they haven't done a 10-year plan out and they know that there is the ability for people to come buy $87 grapes Right, like, that's just what Whole Foods is based on, right. And so if you can get two of those four, the fifth one is a juggernaut and there's not a whole lot of them, but if you see them, that's also a good sign. Lifetime, right. Or equinox, right. So you've got equinox for lifetime, plus those four, man, you're probably in a really good space. Now there are others that you can bank on, right, if you've got high-end stores or whatever. But this is going to save people, I think, a lot of time on doing the market survey, right. Like, is there a capacity for people to have disposable income in this area? If there's a Whole Foods, yes. The answer is absolutely. If there is a Lifetime there. Yes, they're banking on people spending close to $250 a month on just gym membership, right? Yes, there is disposable income in those areas, probably greater than $100,000 to a household. That's usually about what you're going to see in those or average household income will be probably somewhere between $100,000 and $180,000. Yeah, so just with that alone, that saves time and energy.

Benjamin Pratt:

On where do I need to look? So once these veterans come to us and I is I'm still building this franchise model out, so bear with me. But once they come to us, the intent and if anybody who's listening has any feedback, please feel free to reach out direct to myself. Or if you have to reach through on Langston to get to me, feel free to, because I'm always open for feedback. But when they come to us and they say, hey, this area would be great for it, we like it. Now, is it something that you just like in concept or is it something that we can put data behind and go okay, yeah, there is an appetite for a new entertainment venue in a place that has disposable income and a population that wants to support something new, right, and so if those things can be met and the background check is cleared, then I think it's an easier move for us to go. All right, let's talk terms and let's press.

Langston Clark :

Yeah, that's pretty dope. I'm still just amazed, Benjamin, that you got Tap Rack and Pastiche.

Benjamin Pratt:

And I had, I had no clue, ok we try to, we try to, we're trying to. This is probably the loudest. I think that we've been with it right. We used to try to be behind the scenes, yeah, in the background, but in the meantime that you would see me in there politicking. So I felt like it was imperative for you to know that, like I wasn't just in there politicking on behalf of like Tap, I was genuinely politicking on like I wanted. I want to, I want to work the space.

Langston Clark :

This is what I imagined. This is the fiction that was in my head. I saw Benjamin at Fortnite Cigars, then I saw him at Pastiche. I'm like, is there an underground secret society of business owners that get together and just had a thing? Because maybe it's not like a secret society, but people get together and they talk and they're all running the same networks? And obviously there is.

Benjamin Pratt:

But I just thought it was one of those tight meetings I didn't even know it was. Was you about to own pastiche? Yeah, yeah, we, yeah, we did it. We did a relatively quiet like takeover as people were were watching. They probably only saw kind of the the environment shift. We, we did some aesthetic aesthetic changes to it Small nothing, nothing super crazy, other than the vinyl wall when you come in. Uh, initially, but sonically it started to change pretty rapidly and we noticed the biggest shifts when we did our first Neo Soul Night and the first time we did it it caught fire and after that man we couldn't miss and I would argue that we've got the best rotation of DJs in the city, right, like they don't miss our DJs do not miss.

Langston Clark :

And we needed Neo so night. I haven't been to one yet but like in the in the group me for the yellow black professionals, it's the y'all going to Neo soul night, like it's the thing Y'all going to.

Benjamin Pratt:

Neo's whole night, like it's the thing, I love it, I love it. And again, the city gave us good feedback and for us you're always good as your customer base, so we try our best to listen, right. So if the city doesn't like it, we'll know, because they ain't coming to it, right, it's like maybe that's not a thing for us, maybe we shift away from that and if we know we get good feedback here and now. It's like between the craft cocktail experience, between the ambiance when you come in, between the music that's playing and just everybody kind of situated conversing, right, that's the real thing is when you come in.

Benjamin Pratt:

That's something that Ben did and set up wise. That I thought was huge is setting everything up to where it faces other sections, because you'll get people that don't know each other that sit down and conversation just sparks it. Now everybody's talking across the table. Right now we do a really big singles mixer and we're working on another concept up on the north side of town too. I won't give too much into it, but we're working on another concept that'll be kind of a brother-sister, to pastiche.

Langston Clark :

That's what's up, and I would add, for those of you who like to go to the bar but don't drink alcohol, there are also really good mocktails, a lot of mocktails. Yeah, really good mocktails. I want to ask this question in closing, and again, thank you for joining us here on Entrepreneur and, as I mentioned, we have origins as a book club. So, of all these things that you've done, all the things that you're currently doing, what is a book that you're currently reading, or a book that you have read that has inspired your journey as an entrepreneur?

Benjamin Pratt:

oh man, um, the book that I think. So this is again in the group chat with. I got've got some buddies of mine. I usually re-hack this book once a year. My boy, marquise, does the same thing. We'll probably be off cycle when we do it, but we'll always re-hack like, oh man, just re-did re-read this man, it's, it's the Alchemist, it's the Alchemist, right, like.

Benjamin Pratt:

That book was huge, probably one of the first books my mom really gave me that I actually like sat and read Because she would give me books before and it was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I read it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read it. Yeah, sure, sure, I read it. I read it, read it when I was in middle school and high school. That's the first book I actually ever sat down and read and like started to piece together like the energy that flows, and so I was like man, this is huge for me and it was transformative because it started to shift how I approach a lot of things in life and it still affects it to this day. So usually about once a year I'll reread that book. That's what's up Between the World to Me is also a phenomenal, one too Deep, in a Different Way.

Benjamin Pratt:

Yeah, very different way, Very different way yeah.

Langston Clark :

Deep in a different way. If you like the Alchemist, I think you'll appreciate. Think and Grow Rich. It's not telling someone, I'm telling you. I'm going to listen to it the next time I go. Oh yeah, it's not telling someone's story, it's very prescriptive, but what he is saying is really inspirational. All right, thank you for joining us, take care. Thank you for joining this edition of Entrepreneurial Appetite. If you liked the episode, you can support the show by becoming one of our founding 55 patrons, which gives you access to our live discussions and bonus materials, or you can subscribe to the show. Give us five stars and leave a comment.