From Cocoa Bombs To The Hive: Brittany Russin Smith’s Journey

Wendy & Rich 0:00
Hey, everyone is Rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning 10 this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared a episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we've shared laughs, tears, and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next 10 years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios. Harford County Living presents Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

No, no, no, no, it's who it is. 

Rich Bennett 1:00
I am sitting here with two lovely young women that have already been picking on me before I hit the record button. Joining by my lovely co-host Tami WINGROOV of Full Circle Boreds makes the best freak 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:12
check is around, 

Rich Bennett 1:15
even if she didn't bring me any today. And we have another lovely young lady here. How many years now have we been trying to get her on? 

Tammie Wingrove 1:23
Probably at least I'd say 

Rich Bennett 1:26
years. Well, how long have you been 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:27
two 

Rich Bennett 1:27
doing this now? Two years. 

Tammie Wingrove 1:29
Two years. We connected. 

Rich Bennett 1:30
And I said before we connected, I said how I've been trying to get her off, but she keeps ignoring me. And 

Tammie Wingrove 1:38
ignoring me, too. We've been trying. 

Rich Bennett 1:39
Yeah, and then finally, yeah, we had a big thing down at her place and she didn't have a choice. She had to talk to me. Well, she had a choice, but she can never talk to me. And she's like, what the hell, where have you been? How come you haven't been on your show yet? And she said because I don't like you. 

We have Brittany Russen Smith. That say it right? Say of the hyff. 

The Hive, are you, because it's two different businesses, right? 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:11
Correct. 

Rich Bennett 2:12
The Hive at Roomsy Towers. 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:13
The Hive at Roomsy Creative Kitchen 

Rich Bennett 2:17
and events. We met what? 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:19
So the downstairs is the Hive at Roomsy Creative Kitchen and events. 

Rich Bennett 2:22
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:23
Which is a Commentary Kitchen and events space. 

Rich Bennett 2:25
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:26
And then you have the Honey Loss Suite, which is just a venue upstairs on the 3rd floor of Roomsy Towers and Top Down. 

Rich Bennett 2:33
All right. First of all, explain to everybody because some people may not know, explain to everybody. 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:38
Commentary Kitchen is a commercial kitchen that is used by multiple different vendors. So right now, we have about six or seven vendors 

Rich Bennett 2:48
really 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:48
that are licensed with the county at either Caterers, Food Trucks or they have some kind of license. 

Rich Bennett 2:56
Retard Kutche 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:57
Boards. Right 

Tammie Wingrove 2:59
here, 

Brittany Russin Smith 2:59
full circle, 

Rich Bennett 3:00
one 

Brittany Russin Smith 3:00
of our vendors. 

Rich Bennett 3:02
There's no other kitchens like that in Hartford County though, is there? 

Brittany Russin Smith 3:05
No, nothing. I'm aware of. There used to be the 4-H, or what it's called, Cree. Oh, 

Rich Bennett 3:13
yeah. Deep Creek, the 4-H club up there. Yeah, 

Brittany Russin Smith 3:15
yeah. They used to have one 

Rich Bennett 3:16
and I didn't know that. 

Brittany Russin Smith 3:17
I think something like they're septic or they couldn't have a lot or management change or something like that because there's different stipulations from when you have public water to sewage 

Rich Bennett 3:27
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 3:28
and how many people or how much water can go through and all that, but we're on public. So our limits are a little bit different. 

Rich Bennett 3:35
Okay. All right, so in high school. Is this your dream? Is this what you always wanted to do? 

Brittany Russin Smith 3:41
No. 

Rich Bennett 3:42
What was your career growing high school? I hate that. I don't believe it in high school, you should have a career goal. But anyway. 

Brittany Russin Smith 3:49
I 

Tammie Wingrove 3:50
agree with you. I completely agree. We're too young to just lock in. 

Rich Bennett 3:54
I'm still trying to figure out what the hell my career is. 

Brittany Russin Smith 3:56
So I guess in high school, now what I think about it, I did want to go to Harvard Tech for culinary because I loved baking, baking with my passion. But I also like helping people in the community. So I said, either, you know, the game of life, you know, that game you always play. I always try to either be a cop or a nurse because I always wanted to give back to the community. 

Rich Bennett 4:19
I always just tried to have a baseball team as a family. 

Brittany Russin Smith 4:24
Yeah, I only got one kid. So I'm down that one. I didn't go to work. But in the game of life that I always played, I always wanted to either be a cop or a nurse. So that's where I was when I was younger. Never really thought that I'd be running a commercial kitchen or a commentary kitchen in an event space. 

Rich Bennett 4:42
So after school, then what did you do? Did you go to college or? 

Brittany Russin Smith 4:48
nope, I took some classes in criminal justice. Um, 

Rich Bennett 4:51
OK. 

Brittany Russin Smith 4:52
I actually got in with NSA, I was doing, I have a government contractor, I had my first house at 20. 

Rich Bennett 5:03
Nice. 

Brittany Russin Smith 5:03
I did security down there. I had worked. I graduated early from job town so I did work release. So I graduated in January because the way they were, they were worked. But I worked at Gossys Pizza. I worked at Alvin Character. I worked from my aunt company when I was in high school. And I literally had probably 19 jobs throughout my high school senior year. 

Rich Bennett 5:27
Wow, 

Brittany Russin Smith 5:27
I worked. So I just I always hustled. And, um, when I was 18, my aunt said, Hey, why don't you come over with me at Northand Grumman? We do security. And then I got in and I had my clearances and stuff. So, I did that for a while. And then back in 2013. I started with Maryland State Police because my contract ended. 

Rich Bennett 5:51
OK. 

Brittany Russin Smith 5:52
So I was looking for other things to do and then that's when I mallied the whole gun laws and licensing and all that came about. So then I got in the job at State Police and I was there for 10 and a half years. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 6:04
You took, wait a minute. 10, what year did you graduate? 

Brittany Russin Smith 6:08
Oh, six. 

Rich Bennett 6:11
Oh, women. 

Tammie Wingrove 6:12
The math math. 

Rich Bennett 6:13
Yeah, that was 20 years ago. 

Tammie Wingrove 6:14
Hard to 

Rich Bennett 6:16
believe. 

Brittany Russin Smith 6:16
Yeah, I was with the government for a while. And then when I decided, you know, government pay is great when you're on government contracting pay. 

Rich Bennett 6:25
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 6:25
But when it stops and you come back to civilian like to the civilian life, you either need to keep those clearances to keep that lifestyle, or you need to pivot. 

Rich Bennett 6:36
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 6:36
And I was like, I don't want to do this again. I don't want to sit here on my contract and then I can't find something to make that money. So I took the loss went with the state police and it really wasn't a loss because it was a blessing because I enjoyed what I was doing. Well, I was going into the state police. My admiration was to actually be a paratrooper and I went through I got my EMT certificate. I was going through EMT class, and then my goal was to become a trooper so I could fly on Medevack. 

Rich Bennett 7:06
Oh, okay, when you said, 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:08
not jumping out of 

Rich Bennett 7:09
I'm 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:09
planes. 

Tammie Wingrove 7:10
No, I was picturing. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:11
No, no, no, no. 

Rich Bennett 7:14
State police have paratroopers. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:15
No, but the paramedic you have to still go through the academy to be a paramedic and a trooper. 

Rich Bennett 7:21
So your time. Oh, so with the NSA was a government contract. So you actually weren't employed by 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:27
government. 

Rich Bennett 7:27
the 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:27
No, I was a 

Rich Bennett 7:28
So 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:28
contract. 

Rich Bennett 7:28
that time when it go. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:30
Right 

Rich Bennett 7:30
retirement with state police. wow. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:33
No, 

Rich Bennett 7:33
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:34
No, 

Rich Bennett 7:34
man, that does suck. All right. So you get out of that. Decide to start to him. The hive. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:39
God. I think that's like. 

Rich Bennett 7:41
He's. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:42
Something there. 

Rich Bennett 7:42
head. 

Tammie Wingrove 7:43
We got the 

Rich Bennett 7:44
But did you ever decide? Did you ever take culinary classes? 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:49
No. I in 2020. My girlfriend and I started to vomit days. So this is how. 

Rich Bennett 7:55
Oh, shit. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:57
That. 

Rich Bennett 7:57
Thank you too. 

Brittany Russin Smith 7:58
Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 7:59
Oh, damn. Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 8:01
Yeah. Yep. So I was working with the state and I actually got injured. So I was all for a while. And as like a little side thing, I was started doing hot cocoa bombs. So we wanted to do something for Christmas. And I was like, oh these look so cool, which is like, I just ordered a bunch. So we go in our kitchen and we were just making Christmas presents. It wasn't anything of any sort. 

Rich Bennett 8:25
It blew up. 

Brittany Russin Smith 8:26
And it did. 

Rich Bennett 8:27
Oh, I know. 

Brittany Russin Smith 8:28
And it did like we were next thing. You know, we're creating orders. And we're looking at the licensing and what, what goes into that. But we didn't need a license because it falls under the cottage food laws. 

Rich Bennett 8:38
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 8:39
So here we are doing this and it just kind of sparked that baking back inside of me and like getting into doing the cake pops and stuff like that and the baking. I said, look, I want to do more with this. And she's like, I don't. She's like, I am not a baker. It's too time consuming. When you come to the baking, like we would do the hot cocoa bombs and stuff like that. But then it 

Rich Bennett 8:58
loves them. By the way, just. 

Brittany Russin Smith 8:59
Yeah, but they got overpopulated everyone caught on everyone caught on to it. You know what I mean. So I'm sitting here trying to do more creative things and make them look different to stand out from someone else that's doing them or what do you have to offer. And that's what kind of like sparked the culinary back in me was doing those how could the bombs? 

Rich Bennett 9:18
So any plans of taking culinary 

Brittany Russin Smith 9:22
classes? I mean, 

Rich Bennett 9:23
no, 

Brittany Russin Smith 9:26
no. I don't want another. I paid off my criminal justice, like little degree that I the couple of classes I took for the criminal justice stuff. And I don't want to know. 

Rich Bennett 9:34
I was going to say, doesn't like our community college have the off would he call off not off credit? 

Brittany Russin Smith 9:40
Not credited. 

Rich Bennett 9:40
Not in credit ones. Places. 

Brittany Russin Smith 9:42
I don't know. I'm not sure. 

Rich Bennett 9:44
You could always just find a local chef, but you won't pay street. 

Brittany Russin Smith 9:49
I mean, I do a little bit of everything. I do have a catering license. 

Rich Bennett 9:52
Okay. What made you train you? 

Brittany Russin Smith 9:54
Sure. Self trained self taught. 

Rich Bennett 9:58
Me too. I just love cooking. Okay. All right. So why are you 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:02
so we are the 

Rich Bennett 10:04
high 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:05
and 

Rich Bennett 10:06
why? 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:07
So in 2023, I think 

Rich Bennett 10:14
we started. Okay. Sure. 

Tammie Wingrove 10:16
Yeah. Because you had just started, we were like one of the first ones that I come in with you when you 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:22
Yes. When 

Tammie Wingrove 10:23
had 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:23
I. 

Tammie Wingrove 10:23
started. 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:23
So it honestly fell into my lap. The space. So in Georgetown, where we're at in Ramsey, towers, it's been Santinis. 

Rich Bennett 10:34
Mm 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:34
It's 

Rich Bennett 10:34
hmm. 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:35
been butchers. 

Rich Bennett 10:36
It's been 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:36
But 

Rich Bennett 10:36
several 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:36
butlers kitchen. It was Lignap was the last restaurant that was in 

Rich Bennett 10:40
different. 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:40
there. 

Rich Bennett 10:40
Uh 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:41
Uh 

Rich Bennett 10:41
huh. 

Brittany Russin Smith 10:41
huh. Teres and Desmond are amazing. They had they were the owners of Lignap and I met Teres by going in there and saying, Hey, can I put my hot Cocoa bombs out here for someone if they wanted to purchase them or something like that. She needed help in the kitchen. Like with the front counter and I have wait your seeing experience from. 

Rich Bennett 10:59
All the other 

Brittany Russin Smith 11:00
have 

Rich Bennett 11:00
careers. You 

Brittany Russin Smith 11:00
all the other jobs that I've had and you know, now they're like a second family to me. So she had the full of the catering business and she had the Creole style and like the best food ever. I like when they have their seafood stuff and they're like, oh, we're cooking. I'm like, yes. Yes. They make the best pobois. Catfish. Yeah. So. She really mentored me on because she had already had the commercial kitchen and was kind of having a commissary. She had a smaller and commissary because she was running a full restaurant. 

Rich Bennett 11:34
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 11:35
She didn't have as many. So for her, there was four 10 empanada started there. 

Rich Bennett 11:40
Oh, I didn't know that. 

Brittany Russin Smith 11:41
Yeah, four 10 empanada was one of theirs that used her kitchen boards by Dana. 

Rich Bennett 11:47
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 11:47
She started her secretary business started off with Lynn. Yep. And then creative chef catering. Now, he has created a chef mobile. He has a catering license and he just opened up his food truck is there too. So they all started with Lynn. Yeah. And I was with her and you know, helping her and stuff like that. And I would help like I make some desserts or put them on 

Rich Bennett 12:08
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 12:09
her menu or something and she decided that she didn't want the the space anymore. She wanted to go back to work. Like, it's a lot. It's a lot to take on. It's a lot. 

Rich Bennett 12:19
Yes. 

Brittany Russin Smith 12:19
It's a lot when you're one person and and does them is always very supportive. Her family is very supportive and she still does like her catering and stuff like that. You know, because she comes under 

Rich Bennett 12:32
me, 

Brittany Russin Smith 12:33
you know, hire as a cook 

Rich Bennett 12:34
and easier to run a catering business. I think then a restaurant. 

Brittany Russin Smith 12:37
Yes. I agree. I mean, I mean people would say, oh, I don't know when you're open, but her hours are always very. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 12:43
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 12:44
They were always out there. She always had the same hours. You know, when she was open, when she wasn't some days would be busy, busier than others, but I'll still hire her to come in under me as a cook and show cook and stuff like that. Like we've done a seafood boil. So she's been a great mentor and she still is a good mentor. I still talked to her on a daily basis. Her and her husband both. 

Rich Bennett 13:07
How come I didn't know that this seafood boy. 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:09
Well, we didn't. Did we do this? We didn't do it this past summer, but we did it this summer before. 

Rich Bennett 13:14
I didn't 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:15
know 

Rich Bennett 13:16
that this is wrong. 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:17
I don't know 

Tammie Wingrove 13:18
right here. 

Rich Bennett 13:18
That was probably that's right. That's when you were ignoring me and yeah, you. Yeah, it's right never mind. That's why I didn't 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:24
that. 

Rich Bennett 13:24
know 

So you fell 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:27
into that. I fell into that. 

Rich Bennett 13:29
Now here's because this is what 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:31
me 

Rich Bennett 13:32
scares 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:32
the 

Rich Bennett 13:33
name. 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:34
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 13:35
The hive, I know because with bees and that's all I think about and when it when it's hot out, can't put beard oil in for some reason that it attracts them. I don't know what it is, but 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:48
No, 

Rich Bennett 13:49
I actually I do like the name. 

At whatever the hell you, 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:55
I tried to the high of the creative kitchen events. 

Rich Bennett 13:58
yeah, that 

Brittany Russin Smith 13:58
So I looked at it as a community. 

Rich Bennett 14:02
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 14:02
Coming coming together. You have bees work together in this like when they have their little colony and they're working together. So how can I help the other businesses that are in my using my kitchen. 

Rich Bennett 14:16
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 14:16
Like how can I help you? 

Rich Bennett 14:18
How can I help you? 

Brittany Russin Smith 14:18
world? 

Rich Bennett 14:18
How can you help the 

Brittany Russin Smith 14:19
How can I help? How can I help? So, um, 

Rich Bennett 14:22
Queen B. 

Brittany Russin Smith 14:24
The bees also came through when I was in a process of being a sericant for someone. Um, it was always believed with the through the, um, at Rad. Rad fertility clinic and Delaware is their thing is bees, like always believe. So the bees have kind of like stuck, I guess, from that moment of trying to be a serigant and helping 

Rich Bennett 14:49
another 

Brittany Russin Smith 14:50
family have a baby. Um, until when I was thinking of the high, it was like bees in the hive. Like it comes together. It's like everyone coming together unify and how can I help your business grow? 

Rich Bennett 15:01
Yeah. I looked at it. So you got B tattoos then? 

Brittany Russin Smith 15:03
I do actually. I do. I have three on my arm. I do. 

Rich Bennett 15:08
Do you really? 

Brittany Russin Smith 15:08
Yeah. I do. I really do. I do. And my tattoos tell a story too. Yep. I have three. 

Rich Bennett 15:15
The thing I share brought the video camera. 

Brittany Russin Smith 15:16
Yeah, I have three. Um, so the, the honeycomb is obviously for the hive. 

Rich Bennett 15:23
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 15:23
The bees are for me and my mom and my daughter. The flowers are these purple flowers. They're October. They're my dad, um, his birthday's in October. He passed in 2020. Um, and these little ores right here, there's a pink one and a blue one. Those would have been the babies if they would have made. 

Rich Bennett 15:42
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 15:43
Made life. So there is just a memory of a tribute to where I started and where it came from. 

Rich Bennett 15:50
Wow. 

Brittany Russin Smith 15:50
And yeah, the bees, my mom is a big part of my support system that I have. And she's always around the hive. I call her the queen bee. Like 

Rich Bennett 16:00
she believed I was saying it 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:03
And anyone 

Rich Bennett 16:04
to 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:04
who, 

Rich Bennett 16:04
me. 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:05
like anyone who's in the kitchen knows my mom and they're very like, hi, Ms. Mary, how are you, Ms. Mary? 

Tammie Wingrove 16:10
She's just calling mom. 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:11
Yeah. She calls her mom. Yeah. Her and boots. 

Rich Bennett 16:14
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:16
You 

Rich Bennett 16:17
just got that recently. Right? Or has it been a year? 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:20
It just came 

Rich Bennett 16:21
Just a year. 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:22
about a year. Yeah. We just had our one year anniversary of being open with that. And that is just. 

Rich Bennett 16:27
That's the whole upstairs, right? Or just part of the 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:30
It's part of the upstairs. It's 

Rich Bennett 16:31
upstairs. Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:32
about, um. 

Twenty six hundred square feet up there. So that used to be the old leasing office 

Rich Bennett 16:42
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:42
for, um, 

Rich Bennett 16:43
Harbor side. 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:44
harborside apartments. Yep. And that came about because we had did a micro in the hive. Micro wedding is a wedding of usually 

Rich Bennett 16:55
small, 

Brittany Russin Smith 16:55
small, small 65 or 65 or less. Some girls came to me and said, Hey, we're doing like a, um, a photoshoot. You know, we're, we're advertising their businesses and your space, we need a space. The water. Can we do it outside? And I was like, yeah, and they're sitting there. I'm trying to get ready for Christmas. And I'm listening to them pass ideas. I said, why don't you guys just do a giveaway? Like give it away to someone. There's people that want to allope. And you have, you have, you want me to make desserts, which I have no problems doing to showcase my desserts, because that's what I really like to 

Rich Bennett 17:31
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 17:31
do. I said, but that's money that's going to have to be. Cut out. Like, 

Rich Bennett 17:36
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 17:36
and then what am I going to do with all these desserts that after they're made? I said, you're putting and doing these table displays and you're doing time into the bouquets and these flour arrangements. I said, why don't we raffle it off? Why don't we see if we can find some more people? And we can do a wedding like the date set, they get the date, the food, you know, um, and some other vendors and you can showcase a little bit of everything. 

Rich Bennett 18:02
Mm-hmm. 

Brittany Russin Smith 18:02
So we did it. Um, I met my business partner, Ariel. She was the wedding planner. 

Rich Bennett 18:08
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 18:09
For this. And she was the one that was making sure everything went smoothly. And that's how the hot, the loft came about from the hive is because we did a whole wedding. The girls got changed and dressed in the hive. We had the full wedding reception in there. We lived in it to like 20 people. They got married outside. And then Ariel was like, hey, I'm looking for something from my clients because she was a wedding planner of like a place to get ready. You know, the hotels and stuff, um, it just are a lot 

Rich Bennett 18:38
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 18:39
sometimes. And you know, you have to book them from before and after and it's just not, I would like a place for my clients to be able to go and try to dress them. And I was like, you know, it's so funny that you're saying this because I kind of had that thought after doing this micro wedding of getting some more space where I could do like a get ready. 

Rich Bennett 18:54
Mm-hmm. 

Brittany Russin Smith 18:54
Mm-hmm. And using my office that was in our dry storage as like a place where a bride could sit with her girls and like kind of put some vanities in there and they could get ready up there if they really did want to have a wedding here at the hive. Um, so that's when that whole thing spun out of control and then we got the honey loft. So the honey loft was actually supposed to be a bridal suite. we have vanities up there. It was supposed to be a get ready spot for brides. To get ready, showcase their dresses, have their girls to be able, we have like a little kitchenette up there. So they can all like sit there, get ready, they don't have to rush, they can rent it for the whole day or the whole weekend, whatever they wanted to do. But it really, it even pivoted from that and it's just become a venue. And people love it for, you know, the oversight of seeing the water and stuff 

Rich Bennett 19:41
Water 

Brittany Russin Smith 19:41
like 

Rich Bennett 19:42
in 

Brittany Russin Smith 19:42
that. 

Rich Bennett 19:43
So those of you listening, in case you don't know, um the hybrids at rumsy... I'm just going to say the hybrids at rumsy, what is sh**, 

Brittany Russin Smith 19:52
we just call the hybrids. 

Rich Bennett 19:53
Yeah, it's water. Powder river. And oh my god, the sunset, watching 

Brittany Russin Smith 19:59
sun, 

Rich Bennett 19:59
the just it's a beautiful place. They have, you have the lawn area. Yep. Which is right 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:05
on, yep, 

Rich Bennett 20:06
I mean it's it's just beautiful there. I mean, people can actually get there by boot. Is 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:12
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:12
there a pier down there? 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:13
There isn't a pier but I mean they could, as long as they have bumpers, they could 

Rich Bennett 20:18
right, 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:18
bring the, 

Rich Bennett 20:19
because you got the, 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:20
just 

Rich Bennett 20:20
the, 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:20
depends. 

Rich Bennett 20:21
What the hell do you call 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:23
The 

Rich Bennett 20:23
it? 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:23
bucket. 

Rich Bennett 20:23
Yeah. The bulk is there. 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:24
The bucket. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:25
Wow. Are you 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:26
saying how many people can go into the wall? 

Rich Bennett 20:31
If you're 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:31
it, 

Rich Bennett 20:31
holding 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:32
I would say no more than 80. 

Rich Bennett 20:33
No more deaths around. And what about, 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:37
So the layouts are different, even though they 

Rich Bennett 20:39
right? 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:39
kind of run the same, I would say no more than 65 to 70 downstairs. 

Rich Bennett 20:44
So you can fit more upstairs? 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:46
Because it's so open. 

It's so open. Now if you want to do inside and outside, you could have 150 people. whatever, 

Rich Bennett 20:55
Right 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:55
because you can, you know, we've had graduate. 

Rich Bennett 20:57
or 

Brittany Russin Smith 20:57
Yep, we've had tens outside graduation parties, food trucks, you know, we just hosted the 

Rich Bennett 21:04
50th 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:05
anniversary. 

Rich Bennett 21:06
The job 10 high 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:06
school yeah. Yep. And there was probably over what 200 and some people 

Rich Bennett 21:10
know. 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:10
there. 

Rich Bennett 21:10
I don't know. 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:11
I don't 

Rich Bennett 21:11
A lot. 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:12
count. 

Rich Bennett 21:13
I was I feel bad because I didn't get, get to go around and 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:17
lot. 

Rich Bennett 21:17
talk to a 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:18
Well, you were DJing. 

Rich Bennett 21:19
Well yeah. And good thing is too. I guess maybe a lot of people didn't recognize me. So I was safe. 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:26
Yep. They kept the beers coming for you but you're good. 

Rich Bennett 21:28
No, they didn't. No, so here's really, 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:33
really, really sucks. 

Rich Bennett 21:35
Cause my, I see in her in her cousin wanted beer. I said, okay, go up to the 

Brittany Russin Smith 21:39
I think I gave them beer actually. I served. I was so blind tiger was the mobile war. Erica's great. And I was helping the bar out, because they had to set up inside and stuff. I'm pretty sure your daughter came up and I gave them beer. 

Rich Bennett 21:54
Two beers. Two beers. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. Whatever. Yeah. Because the first time they went there and said, yeah, I said, give me one of the IPA from there. 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:03
I was 

Rich Bennett 22:05
and they both had beers, but she 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:06
back 

Rich Bennett 22:06
didn't have anything for me. I said, 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:09
where's 

Rich Bennett 22:09
my beer? She was oh, Neil Lorde. 

She still kind of got me a beer? So then the second time I guess is when you came 

that's messed up. That is messed up. It was a fun time. Which is great, because 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:26
that. 

Rich Bennett 22:26
I didn't need 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:28
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 22:28
Even I could have walked her. Yeah, but still. So do they do corporate events or not too? 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:35
I mean, we will. We'll do corporate events. 

Rich Bennett 22:37
What's holding you up? 

Okay. Alright, so what's your, what's where 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:43
would you like to see the high, would you 

Rich Bennett 22:46
to take over the whole belly? 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:47
like Everyone keeps saying that. 

Rich Bennett 22:50
want 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:50
No, 

Rich Bennett 22:50
to. 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:50
I don't 

Rich Bennett 22:50
Well, there's offices on the second floor, and even the first floor, right? 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:53
Um, yes, there's a church on the first floor. 

Rich Bennett 22:56
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 22:57
I think it's therapists. 

Rich Bennett 23:00
I think so, 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:00
as 

Rich Bennett 23:00
yeah, 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:00
well. Then there's the back office, which is space that I do have, but actually it's going to get taken over by one of my other friends. It's going to take that over, make my day, and Viviana's dreams, so they do event coordination. 

Rich Bennett 23:18
So you're not going to have an office anymore? 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:19
I don't know. I still have an office upstairs in the loft. 

Rich Bennett 23:22
In the loft. Okay. Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:24
On the second floor, we have fresh start, which is a therapeutic. 

Rich Bennett 23:28
Mm-hmm. 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:29
There's a doctor, I think, up there on the second floor. And then on the third floor, we have a hairdresser, Kelly. 

Rich Bennett 23:37
Oh! She used to be in the other building, or is that somebody else? I'm thinking, oh, 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:42
And I think that someone else 

Rich Bennett 23:43
okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:43
really, Kelly's been there as long as I 

Rich Bennett 23:45
have 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:45
been. I have been in there. 

Rich Bennett 23:46
That's her anymore. 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:48
But she's not just any kind of hairdresser, she actually specializes in hair loss, 

Rich Bennett 23:52
and- Oh, I was 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:53
her. 

Rich Bennett 23:53
speaking to 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:54
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 23:54
Yeah. That's right because I want to get her on. 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:57
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 23:57
Yeah, she says she could hook me up and give me some hair. 

Brittany Russin Smith 23:59
Yeah, 

Tammie Wingrove 24:00
yeah. There you go. 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:01
Yeah. Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 24:02
Well, 

Rich Bennett 24:02
I 

Tammie Wingrove 24:03
Claire, 

Rich Bennett 24:03
was going to look when if the Christmas I would just shave it all off anyway. 

Tammie Wingrove 24:07
You'll have all the hair Claire's bringing you 

Rich Bennett 24:08
Yeah, 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:09
but you should be bleached the beard and make it look great, you know 

Rich Bennett 24:12
Well, my beard looks like shit now. 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:14
All right. Hey, your put words in my mouth. I didn't say that 

Rich Bennett 24:18
I don't 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:19
know. It's just you don't get them a little bit more whiter Santa 

Rich Bennett 24:22
Why didn't you ever see the Christmas Chronicles? 

Tammie Wingrove 24:27
That's true 

Rich Bennett 24:28
with Kurt Russell 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:29
Oh, yeah, yeah, okay. Well, then maybe we need to like yeah, so then okay. So instead of bleaching it Let's put some salt and pepper in it make it, you 

Rich Bennett 24:37
All right Although 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:38
know 

Rich Bennett 24:41
I do want that coat you work with that thing's expensive as hell. 

Tammie Wingrove 24:44
Oh, I bet yeah 

Rich Bennett 24:46
But 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:46
you need the bells to go along with it in the in the stompers 

Rich Bennett 24:49
The stompers 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:51
Yeah, like the boots that he's got. I was gonna call them something else, but we're trying to behave 

Rich Bennett 24:55
Shikers? 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:55
here Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 24:56
but you're wearing yeah Okay, did you kick me with 

Brittany Russin Smith 24:59
I did not 

Rich Bennett 25:01
She kept selling outside and she kicked me right away. I went to give her hug. Yes, she 

Brittany Russin Smith 25:05
me 

Rich Bennett 25:05
kicked 

Brittany Russin Smith 25:05
It's 

Rich Bennett 25:06
like I 

Tammie Wingrove 25:07
can't compare my tonight happen before I got here 

Rich Bennett 25:10
But 

Tammie Wingrove 25:11
it sounds like something Brady 

Brittany Russin Smith 25:12
do 

Tammie Wingrove 25:12
would 

Rich Bennett 25:13
I'm going to let you take over for a little bit because you you've known Brittany for a long while she's talked to you longer than me because she likes you 

Brittany Russin Smith 25:22
She 

Rich Bennett 25:22
just you know, I had to twist her arm to get her to come here. 

Brittany Russin Smith 25:26
Well, you know 

Tammie Wingrove 25:27
So did I Fairness since we recorded I went straight to Brad and I said hey, I'm always going to Brittany with hey We should get you on this you should talk to Rich Yeah 

Rich Bennett 25:41
If 

Tammie Wingrove 25:41
come

Rich Bennett 25:41
and if you want to share the story about why you were so hesitant, you're more than welcome to 

Brittany Russin Smith 25:48
Oh, yeah from the other podcaster that 

Rich Bennett 25:50
yeah, I'm just saying if you want

Brittany Russin Smith 25:52
Yeah, so the reason why I was so hesitant is because I Went on a podcast for another small business and purple hair don't 

Rich Bennett 26:01
care Yeah 

Brittany Russin Smith 26:02
Podcast was and it was right when the hive started and it would have been great to get out 

Rich Bennett 26:08
Good 

Brittany Russin Smith 26:09
there 

Rich Bennett 26:09
marketing. 

Brittany Russin Smith 26:09
good marketing, you know with the hive just starting letting everyone know like what's going on We are that we are in java town now Commercial kitchens are hard to find 

Rich Bennett 26:19
Yep, 

Brittany Russin Smith 26:19
like you said earlier in the podcast and Like we had this like a huge long conversation about like how it got started and what was coming up and like nothing ever happened It's like hey, what's going on. Hey, I just need some more time. And hey like where are we out with this? 

to just showcase the businesses that are there because a lot of people don't know about 

Rich Bennett 26:38
Yeah, 

Brittany Russin Smith 26:38
us Even though I'm on Facebook. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram. I'm on tick-tock You know, I'm constantly pushing, but you know There's so many limitations in these Facebook groups that you can't post on this day or you can't post on that day or even in the job of the uncommunity group is a hard one like 

Rich Bennett 26:54
oh I know, 

Brittany Russin Smith 26:55
you know, you can't post it has to be the first day of the month I'm like for restaurants that are in our area It's hard to sit there and say okay. Well, I can't post the monthly specials because it's not on a certain day of the week And there's family that plan things out like they just don't swing by the seat of their pants on where they're gonna go Which I think is kind of hard especially when you're trying to support your community. 

Rich Bennett 27:17
It's very hard Yeah, 

Brittany Russin Smith 27:18
and it so I was really hoping with her when I went with to her, you know, that it would showcase everything and That's when full circle was just coming along 410 empanada had just opened up down in have degrees their brick and mortar, you know board by Dana had just opened up her 

Rich Bennett 27:37
She's a brick and mortar

Brittany Russin Smith 27:38
boards by Dana. 

Rich Bennett 27:39
yeah, 

Brittany Russin Smith 27:40
Yeah, she's in Belir 

Rich Bennett 27:41
I'm in 

Brittany Russin Smith 27:42
She just opened up her brick and mortar right around. We were actually opening up probably like the same 

Rich Bennett 27:46
it. 

Brittany Russin Smith 27:46
time 

Rich Bennett 27:46
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 27:47
of what we were doing But just to let people know like hey we're here. 

Rich Bennett 27:52
Yeah 

Brittany Russin Smith 27:52
There's other businesses that want to start a food truck or start a catering license And they need that commissary kitchen to To operate and to function 

So, yeah, that's why I was I was kind of hesitant. I was like I don't want to waste my time or anyone else's It was really good to go 

Rich Bennett 28:13
in all right, 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:13
but Sure 

Rich Bennett 28:14
about Oh Here come 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:16
but I should have known because you've had Tamiwan with 

Rich Bennett 28:19
circle. 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:19
full 

Rich Bennett 28:20
Oh, I thought you were 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:21
No, you've had Joe Aileron. I know Joe You've had Sean and Tina Hampton. 

Rich Bennett 28:26
They've all been on 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:27
times 

Rich Bennett 28:27
several 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:27
with elite power war shing you've had Chris Coleman on here. He has four seasons nurse. 

Rich Bennett 28:32
Oh, you knew Chris

Brittany Russin Smith 28:33
yeah, that's my daughter's godfather 

Rich Bennett 28:34
So 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:35
actually. 

Rich Bennett 28:35
Sarah his wife 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:37
Yeah 

Rich Bennett 28:38
what was the original co-hoost? 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:40
Okay, 

Rich Bennett 28:40
ten years 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:41
ago. Oh, wow. 

Rich Bennett 28:42
Yeah. Yeah 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:43
I've known Chris since I was 18. So 

Rich Bennett 28:47
I'm sorry 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:47
that 

Rich Bennett 28:47
about I'm that I'm 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:49
Chris 

Rich Bennett 28:49
joking Chris is actually one of my mentors, I, it's, when I told you he's like, 'Why I'm an asshole'. 

Brittany Russin Smith 28:57
He is. 

Rich Bennett 28:58
He, which you need that sometimes. 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:01
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 29:01
But he is smart when it comes to 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:04
very 

Rich Bennett 29:05
smart. 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:05
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 29:06
Him and, uh, yeah, a lot of them. 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:09
Yeah. Yep. 

Rich Bennett 29:11
Ma'am, all right, go ahead. Go ahead, Tim, I'm gonna shut up now. 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:14
See, you just come into the circle. 

Rich Bennett 29:16
Ha, ha, full circle, I get that, 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:19
good. 

Rich Bennett 29:19
that was 

Tammie Wingrove 29:19
It's funny because since naming the business that every time I hear people, people say full circle moments, full circle this and, and it, because that's where we are with the business we want to bring things full circle, so, yeah. I'm always like, just hearing people work full circle in without 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:37
but not even trying, 

Tammie Wingrove 29:37
been 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:38
it 

Tammie Wingrove 29:38
trying, 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:38
just like 

Tammie Wingrove 29:38
yep, 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:38
flows, right. 

Tammie Wingrove 29:39
Uhm, 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:39
it just flows 

Tammie Wingrove 29:40
so much in our life comes full 

Rich Bennett 29:41
But 

Tammie Wingrove 29:41
circle. 

Brittany Russin Smith 29:42
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 29:42
since you do, since you worked out of the hive kitchen, how come I haven't seen any honey on your charcoochie boards? 

Tammie Wingrove 29:50
She doesn't raise bees, but also, that's not true. There are, there, there are definitely boards and grazes where we put honey and honeycomb on there, but Brittany, you could, can you raise some bees? Can you add that? 

Rich Bennett 30:03
I know somebody that raises them. 

Brittany Russin Smith 30:05
I know someone who raises bees too, 

Rich Bennett 30:07
Oh, 

Brittany Russin Smith 30:07
actually. 

Rich Bennett 30:07
there you go. 

Brittany Russin Smith 30:07
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 30:09
Because how many real honeycomb. And 

Brittany Russin Smith 30:13
I just realized that she raises her dad raises bees. I didn't know this either. So, um, the manor in Jopatown, the rumsey, rumsey, manor, 

Rich Bennett 30:23
rumsey mansion. 

Brittany Russin Smith 30:24
Yeah, the mansion. 

Rich Bennett 30:25
Yeah, 

Brittany Russin Smith 30:25
Yeah. So, uh, Ashley is, I met Ashley, she was a cadet. She's now a state trooper and, um, I met her family because I helped out with her wedding. And her dad raises bees. They have bees over there. And I, 

Rich Bennett 30:38
really? 

Brittany Russin Smith 30:38
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 30:38
I didn't know that. 

Tammie Wingrove 30:40
There we 

Rich Bennett 30:40
Huh? 

Tammie Wingrove 30:40
go. Honey for the hive. 

Brittany Russin Smith 30:42
Honey for the hive, I guess, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 30:44
Let's take a little break here so I can tell you about my friends over at four seasons of landscape and construction services. And when it comes to lawn maintenance and lawn renovations, they are definitely the go to people, even snow removal services. But something else that a lot of people don't think about. That's very important that they do. Stormwater maintenance, whether it's a pine clean out, remove overgrowth of wood, ornamentals, uh, you know, debris trash and even drainage services. You know, if you have a cracked foundation, they could rerun your downspouts. French drains, proper grading, there's so much it goes into stormwater maintenance and the proper drainage in your yard and a lot of people don't know how to do it. You don't want it to run into the bay. You don't want it to run towards your foundation. You need the professionals to take care of it. And the professionals are four seasons, landscape and construction services. Give them a call today, four, four, three, three, nine, zero yard. That's four, four, three, three, nine, zero yard, nine, two, seven, three, or go to their website, four seasons, landscape, Md. dot com again. That's four seasons, landscape, Md dot com. They're giving you sustainable landscapes for the future and they are the ones that get your yard looking beautiful. Actually, with the hive, because especially if anybody was a whole new event there, you 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:11
you don't 

Rich Bennett 32:12
don't 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:12
have to listen 

Rich Bennett 32:13
have to listen to, 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:13
to service. 

Rich Bennett 32:14
ability, right, 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:15
Yes, 

Rich Bennett 32:15
to get a liquor license. 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:16
So, 

Rich Bennett 32:17
which is not that hard. 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:19
You know, well, I don't. The liquor license is 

Rich Bennett 32:23
for 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:23
a 

Rich Bennett 32:24
a nonprofit. It's not hard, 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:25
For a nonprofit, it's not hard, 

Rich Bennett 32:26
right? 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:26
but if you want to have an event at my space, you can bring your own alcohol, because it's a 

Rich Bennett 32:34
It 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:34
private. 

Rich Bennett 32:34
can't sell it. 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:34
I'm not selling. Let's make that very. 

Rich Bennett 32:37
And they can't sell 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:38
clear. They cannot sell it. I am not selling it. It's a private event. They can bring 

Rich Bennett 32:43
it. 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:43
their own 

Rich Bennett 32:44
Very 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:44
for their, you know, their friends and stuff like that. But nothing is sold liquor-wise, because I do not have a liquor catering license. 

Rich Bennett 32:52
They're hard to come by. 

Brittany Russin Smith 32:53
They are and it's, it's a lot of money. It's like $2, 900 a year just for that. So, no, they can bring their own. Now, if they needed bartending services, where they want someone to serve their drinks. At their party, you can hire me to do that. I can do that because I'm not taking money for the drink at hand. I'm just providing a service to you. 

Rich Bennett 33:17
Okay, with that, because you're not selling the alcohol, do you have to be tips certified? 

Brittany Russin Smith 33:23
That one I'm not sure. 

Rich Bennett 33:25
Okay 

Brittany Russin Smith 33:26
Every county is different. Right. 

Rich Bennett 33:28
right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 33:28
So, like bottom or county, you have to have surf, safe, harbor county, you don't have to have surf, safe. So, I don't know if you have to be tips certified, because again, it's not a public event. 

Rich Bennett 33:38
Right. And you're not selling 

Brittany Russin Smith 33:40
..and I'm not telling it. I know, if you were selling it, you should probably be certified. I mean, I've worked in a bar for...years. 

Rich Bennett 33:47
it. Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 33:49
I mean, I used to work at towngirl in Pog when I was younger. 

Rich Bennett 33:52
What? 

Brittany Russin Smith 33:52
I've bartended there. Yeah, when Brad Dobrisch had it, I bartended it for him. 

Rich Bennett 33:58
it? هوthe hell is it that, and it's 

Tammie Wingrove 34:01
What is 

Rich Bennett 34:01
taking you THIS long to come on? 

Tammie Wingrove 34:02
There. Just missing each other. And so... 

Rich Bennett 34:06
Well, they, ehm, because towngirl posed my original sponsor, and 

Tammie Wingrove 34:11
they were at the recording. 

Rich Bennett 34:12
When we left the radio station, it was Larry said, "Come turn into a podcast and record. We were in the side room". 

Brittany Russin Smith 34:20
Oh, okay, yep. 

Rich Bennett 34:21
Before it became Larry's office, we were recording there. 

Brittany Russin Smith 34:26
So I started... 

Rich Bennett 34:27
I didn't do that. 

Brittany Russin Smith 34:28
Yeah, I bartended in there, um, before, so my daughter was born in 2016, so I was working for them before I got pregnant, and actually left when I was in May of 2016. I stopped bartending because I was pregnant. 

Rich Bennett 34:42
So you were down there when, and was Missy? 

Brittany Russin Smith 34:45
Yep, Missy was there, and Brad was running it. 

Rich Bennett 34:49
Okay, 

Brittany Russin Smith 34:50
there. 

Rich Bennett 34:50
I'm in 

Brittany Russin Smith 34:51
Yeah, and Larry was in there with Miss Linda. 

Rich Bennett 34:52
See how she's been just in 

Tammie Wingrove 34:56
Jopitown. 

Rich Bennett 34:57
Yeah, and like, oh my god, it's been a dull, I ain't going... 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:01
I 

Tammie Wingrove 35:01
I 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:01
never... 

Tammie Wingrove 35:01
think she really was dodging you. 

Rich Bennett 35:03
I think so too. 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:04
No, I've never... 

Tammie Wingrove 35:05
I don't know, I think 

Rich Bennett 35:06
all the time. I went over there to the hive, to introduce myself, and it's funny how she was never there, but as soon as I left this, like I could have sworn it was heard, I 

Tammie Wingrove 35:14
uh-huh, 

Rich Bennett 35:14
walked 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:15
to 

Tammie Wingrove 35:15
just to find a 

Rich Bennett 35:16
the pool and, 

Tammie Wingrove 35:16
pool, right in, 

Rich Bennett 35:17
he's gone. Okay. 

Tammie Wingrove 35:19
We can turn the lights back 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:20
We don't 

Tammie Wingrove 35:20
on, 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:20
even look 

Tammie Wingrove 35:20
guys. 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:20
the same. You have a beard. Like, in your all your pictures, you have no beard? 

Rich Bennett 35:24
Well, it's because it comes all face to Christmas. 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:26
Oh, I guess... 

Rich Bennett 35:27
I don't start growing it till June. June 1st. So no, don't make excuses. I look the same beard or 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:33
No, 

Rich Bennett 35:33
no beard. 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:34
everyone looks different without a beard. 

Rich Bennett 35:36
Oh, well, okay. Maybe. 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:39
Alright, 

Rich Bennett 35:39
so where would 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:40
to 

Rich Bennett 35:40
you like 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:40
see the hive in five 

Rich Bennett 35:41
Here's 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:42
years? 

Rich Bennett 35:42
from now. 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:44
Still running as a commentary kitchen, and taking the event space and just strictly moving it upstairs to the loft. 

Rich Bennett 35:52
What would you do with the downstairs? 

Brittany Russin Smith 35:54
So expand into the kitchen. 

Rich Bennett 35:57
I made the kitchen bigger. 

Brittany Russin Smith 36:00
So yes, in a way, but you have so many 

people, you can only have so many people in the kitchen. 

Rich Bennett 36:09
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 36:10
You need refrigeration space, you need storage space, and you need freezer space, and you need prep area. We have a lot of prep area. I expanded the whole back side of the hive. That was just for storage, and I turned that into more prep area. So I got it went through the apartment. Got them signed off with that to make more space there. The front part of the hive is a great... Event space. I mean, you 

Rich Bennett 36:41
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 36:41
saw it for that. But the floors are already inside the tile. The ceiling is non-porous. The paint is wipeable where we could really move and make our dry storage area. Because right now our 

Rich Bennett 36:53
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 36:53
storage is on the third floor. 

Rich Bennett 36:54
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 36:56
Right. Because there was no office space downstairs. 

Rich Bennett 36:59
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 36:59
But I've already put money into that, right? So let's bring it back downstairs. Let's pivot a little bit. Make the front of the hive dry storage, where we can put more refrigerators and refrigerators out there. And it kind of expands the space for people to be able to prep and have more people come in. 

Rich Bennett 37:20
Could you even do like a 

Brittany Russin Smith 37:22
mini 

Rich Bennett 37:22
store? Well, that's always been a store, but like a mini store where everybody that is. They 

Brittany Russin Smith 37:28
kind 

Rich Bennett 37:28
uses 

Brittany Russin Smith 37:28
of 

Rich Bennett 37:28
the 

Brittany Russin Smith 37:28
storage kitchen, 

Rich Bennett 37:30
has a place where they can, well, in their money, because then you would have to hire cashier and all that right? Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 37:35
Yeah, that's 

Rich Bennett 37:35
BP. 

Brittany Russin Smith 37:37
And 

Rich Bennett 37:37
I 

Brittany Russin Smith 37:37
then 

Tammie Wingrove 37:38
have plenty of time on my hands. I actually, 

Rich Bennett 37:40
yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 37:41
But then it's like pivots, what you're doing, again, that's another pivot to like, where do I want the business to go? Do I want to have it as like an open store front? 

Rich Bennett 37:52
Yeah. No. How did you find it about the hive, Tammy? 

Tammie Wingrove 37:57
Online. So when we were going through the channels of trying to figure out, how do we actually do this business? You start Googling, where are their commissary kitchens? And there are some really big ones down in Baltimore County. And we were so, so little and such a baby company that that was really overwhelming to us to try. Actually, I'm looking at one of those not only also because it's so far, I live right in Beler, so to get to the hive is 17 minutes I'm there, and if I speed, I'm there even faster. Like my husband's a cop. 

Rich Bennett 38:42
As 

Tammie Wingrove 38:44
he says 

Brittany Russin Smith 38:44
I, if 

Tammie Wingrove 38:45
you're listening, I'm so 

Brittany Russin Smith 38:47
sorry. No, he's not. 

Tammie Wingrove 38:51
it is his fault. Hey look, he has learned the hard way 

Brittany Russin Smith 38:55
No, 

Tammie Wingrove 38:55
that he says that he wants his friends to pull me over. That's a whole other thing you can have. He's not nice. 

Rich Bennett 39:04
I could be kind of scary if I get him all 'cause all the things, oh, yeah, all the things we'll be talking about with you. 

Tammie Wingrove 39:09
That's okay, I have dirt on him. 

Brittany Russin Smith 39:12
Look, 

Tammie Wingrove 39:14
he'll be nice because he knows who got him through the police academy. I should have a badge myself. I said I wanted to be on stage when he graduated. But anyway, I don't speed, well, although I have gotten quite a few of those pictures recently. I think it's him though. I'm pretty sure somebody is taking my car. It's not me. Somebody else is taking my car and using it. 

Rich Bennett 39:36
Go ahead, keep putting your footage here about, people. 

Tammie Wingrove 39:38
fun. This is fun. This is 

Rich Bennett 39:40
That's 

Tammie Wingrove 39:40
so fun. So I was looking for 

Brittany Russin Smith 39:42
somewhere that I could 

Tammie Wingrove 39:43
get to that didn't have many speed cameras nearby. 

Brittany Russin Smith 39:46
Right, we don't 

Tammie Wingrove 39:47
And 

Brittany Russin Smith 39:47
have 

Tammie Wingrove 39:48
the hive doesn't have many speed cameras nearby. 

Brittany Russin Smith 39:51
them. No. 

Tammie Wingrove 39:52
Actually, my business partner, Bethany, I think was the one who found Britney and the hive and she said, Oh, look at this place. And I had never heard of it, so I think she reached out first and we came in one day and we sat down with Britney at a table right in the hive and talked about what our vision was. And where what we how we had kind of started the business and how we've learned. And for me, it was just lots and lots of time on my hands, even before 2020, we've talked about that, where I came from, because I like cheese. 

Brittany Russin Smith 40:29
She doesn't bring us 

Tammie Wingrove 40:29
That's 

Brittany Russin Smith 40:29
any. 

Tammie Wingrove 40:30
going to be on my next name tag. Hi, I'm Tammy. I like cheese. 

Rich Bennett 40:34
No, you just got just get a shirt that says that I like cheese. 

Tammie Wingrove 40:37
I like cheese. I bet a lot of people would talk to me and we know I like to talk to people. So that's not I'm gonna get that. 

Rich Bennett 40:44
Santa might bring one you never 

Tammie Wingrove 40:46
I 

Rich Bennett 40:46
know. 

Tammie Wingrove 40:46
would really like that. That's what my Christmas list. I don't have a lot of things. 

Rich Bennett 40:49
You get one that says I like cheese. Britney gets one that says I like bees. 

Tammie Wingrove 40:53
Oh, we're cheese and 

Rich Bennett 40:55
bees. You 

Brittany Russin Smith 40:55
cheese 

Rich Bennett 40:55
could be 

Brittany Russin Smith 40:57
and bees. 

Rich Bennett 40:58
A 

Brittany Russin Smith 41:00
cheesy. Bees. Or 

Rich Bennett 41:01
tell I actually, Britney would have one that says I like bees, but not rich. 

Brittany Russin Smith 41:04
No, I didn't say you that. 

Rich Bennett 41:06
Beam. 

Tammie Wingrove 41:06
Your action. 

Rich Bennett 41:07
Notice how to do that. 

Brittany Russin Smith 41:08
Be. 

Rich Bennett 41:09
Beam. 

Brittany Russin Smith 41:10
Beam. 

Rich Bennett 41:10
Beam. Yeah. No, I don't know your reason, but I heard you're kicking a Santa because River loves you and not me. 

Tammie Wingrove 41:18
But that's how Britney and I met and from the hive, echoing back to what she said before of building a hive, we've been able to collaborate with a number of the vendors that are in the hive. We've worked with Ben, Creative Chef, who's now also with Shelby. We've worked with Megan, we've worked with you. So Meg, me a cake with Britney and her 6000 names of her businesses. 

Rich Bennett 41:44
What's that little network group? 

Tammie Wingrove 41:45
But it really is 

Rich Bennett 41:46
Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 41:46
and it's nice because we know so our specialty is charcuterie. And while we have a catering license, I, if my clients want something that I legally can do by My license, but someone in the kitchen is better at doing than I can go to them. Exactly. I know who, or when I'm working with a lot of people, you know, they're playing an event and while charcuterie is great and some people just use charcuterie as the main part for their event and we have we have some coming up where to just that, but they want something heavier, so I can recommend ban or they want deserts and I have done a baby shower with Megan and you know a number of different things with each of them and just recommending them. And that's what it's about, right small supporting small. 

Brittany Russin Smith 42:32
We really do network within the high. 

Rich Bennett 42:35
Oh, I know. I've seen your your posts where you know, you probably are banned to be from the page, but. 

Brittany Russin Smith 42:42
No. 

Rich Bennett 42:43
Something I just saw it off because you mentioned the food trucks and everything, but with you Tammy, I don't think I've ever seen one. Have you ever seen a charcuterie truck? 

Tammie Wingrove 42:57
There's when I know of I think I've in Pennsylvania that they do. We've kind of kicked around, 

Brittany Russin Smith 43:03
kicked around the 

Tammie Wingrove 43:04
different ideas. 

Rich Bennett 43:05
I would be a good 

Brittany Russin Smith 43:07
idea. 

Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 43:08
Like a more of like an overall like a hive track where everybody. 

Rich Bennett 43:12
Oh, 

Tammie Wingrove 43:13
yeah, so 

Brittany Russin Smith 43:14
and like that's kind of where Ben. Ben comes in because Ben isn't just creative chef. He 

Rich Bennett 43:21
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 43:21
is creative chef mobile and he does do like different things where he wants to you know get into like having some lunches and and doing some things and he'll come out to your event and cater at your event off of his food truck. So you can like build a menu specifically for what you're looking for. Um, 

Tammie Wingrove 43:40
Ben's a cool guy. You should have been on. 

Brittany Russin Smith 43:42
Yeah. We need to get Ben on. Yeah. Why am I the only one getting tired of your bed? You're coming you're coming out next for this. Yeah. He is definitely 

Tammie Wingrove 43:49
Ben's cool. 

Rich Bennett 43:50
I met him 

Brittany Russin Smith 43:51
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 43:52
because. Oh, yeah. I mean I would. I love talking 

Tammie Wingrove 43:56
like 

Rich Bennett 43:56
to 

Tammie Wingrove 43:56
a whole whole hive podcast. 

Brittany Russin Smith 43:59
Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 44:01
Oh, yeah. You talked to Megan about all of her balloon. 

Rich Bennett 44:03
Oh wait. Hey, hold up. Hold up. Wait, my hold up. Hold up. Does that mean Brittany would have to come on again? 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:07
Oh man. 

Rich Bennett 44:08
Because that means it's going to take three, five years. 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:10
No, no, no, no, we've done. We 

Tammie Wingrove 44:13
now that we finally roped your. 

Rich Bennett 44:14
I know it all. Honestly, I'm up for that. I think it's a great idea. 

Tammie Wingrove 44:18
Yeah. Yeah. Then you can hear kind of all kinds of stories of everybody. 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:22
Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 44:22
We've worked together and just it's fun because they're 

Rich Bennett 44:27
they're behind the scenes. 

Tammie Wingrove 44:29
Yeah, but it's 

Rich Bennett 44:30
guys. She's we center ass. Brittany really. 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:34
I mean they really don't see me much in the kitchen. Like 

Tammie Wingrove 44:36
No. 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:36
I'm not in there as much as I. 

Rich Bennett 44:37
Is it a blessing that 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:40
probably a blessing that you 

Rich Bennett 44:41
you don't see her. It's 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:41
don't see my mom in there is. 

Tammie Wingrove 44:42
Oh, I miss 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:43
mom. 

Tammie Wingrove 44:44
my 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:44
I love 

Tammie Wingrove 44:45
Her 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:45
her. 

Tammie Wingrove 44:45
mom. But I I I test fairly well with a lot of people. I'm pretty I'm a chameleon 

Rich Bennett 44:49
Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 44:50
and I can I can get along with just about everybody. 

Brittany Russin Smith 44:52
People don't understand my mom's mine and my mom's banter. You know, my mom's a short little Italian woman with like very spicy temper can be very spicy. 

Rich Bennett 45:01
Your mother. Oh, she was at the arena at night. Right? 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:04
Oh, yeah, she was very Dawson. 

Rich Bennett 45:05
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:06
Yeah, yeah. No, 

Tammie Wingrove 45:06
When things get cranking or they're like, you know, working on trying to trying to get a lot of things out the door. Mom gets mom gets sassy mom can hold her own with 

Rich Bennett 45:17
really. 

Tammie Wingrove 45:18
Brittany. Oh, 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:18
oh, yeah, 

Tammie Wingrove 45:19
mom. Mom holds around. 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:20
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 45:21
So you bring her on to. 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:22
Sure, 

Tammie Wingrove 45:24
you'll have a lot of. 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:25
Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 45:26
That 

Rich Bennett 45:27
way may she from Jersey. 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:29
No, no. She's from Baltimore. She's from here. No grew up in Baltimore County with the Kenwood High School. 

Rich Bennett 45:35
Yeah. So Italian from Baltimore. I think it's won't be that big. 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:40
No, probably not. 

Tammie Wingrove 45:42
She's she's so sweet. 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:43
I got more f bombs than she 

Tammie Wingrove 45:44
She 

Brittany Russin Smith 45:44
does. 

Tammie Wingrove 45:44
helps. She's. 

Rich Bennett 45:47
Yeah, 

Tammie Wingrove 45:47
she's probably bailed everybody out of you know when she's been in there and it's because there's so many things. There can be times when I'm in and it's just me and they're prepping and there's times when it's cranking and there's so many people that are trying to get things out the door. And mom is there. She's trying to get her stuff out, but it but it's nice. Remember the one night in the middle of the night. I guess I had liked something on your Facebook. And it was, I don't know, 330 in the morning and I liked something and Brittany and text comes in and says, hey, if you're up, you want to come to the hive. 

Brittany Russin Smith 46:20
I need help. 

Tammie Wingrove 46:21
So I said, well, CJ is off. I can. I'll be there in 30 minutes, but you know, it that's the it's nice that we have that network that we can help kind of pull each other out of when you're so far in the weeds. Right. 

Rich Bennett 46:34
Yeah. Right. 

Tammie Wingrove 46:34
I didn't have we had something I think later on that day. But we were in good shape. So it was like, well, yeah, because you know Megan has helped me out. Brittany's helped me out. So it you all just help each other. 

Rich Bennett 46:47
How many different businesses do you have working at the 

Brittany Russin Smith 46:52
There are kind of one, like a schedule sort of so the food trucks are in there to prep and then they take they'll put it in the fridge or the 

Rich Bennett 47:02
scene? 

Brittany Russin Smith 47:02
freezer and 

Rich Bennett 47:03
OK. 

Brittany Russin Smith 47:03
they pull off for the weekends. So they're in there like kind of prepping Ben and Shelby they have like some weekend stuff because Shelby has purely meal preps. Purly preps meals. She just changed everything purely preps meals where they do like very clean eating. And her and Ben have kind of like come together and as a force. 

Rich Bennett 47:25
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 47:25
And like she'll help Ben with like his events and he'll help her with the meal prepping and stuff like that. So they're more like weekends. You have lean kitchen out of Belaire. They use 

Rich Bennett 47:37
Is 

Brittany Russin Smith 47:37
my. 

Rich Bennett 47:37
that Jason? 

Brittany Russin Smith 47:38
Yes, 

Rich Bennett 47:39
OK, they're down there. 

Brittany Russin Smith 47:41
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 47:41
they. I did not realize 

Brittany Russin Smith 47:42
that. They still have to have a commentary kitchen in order to make all their food. So they're probably in there more during the day. The daytime. 

Rich Bennett 47:51
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 47:53
But everyone kind of just, like, filters in. There's enough space in there for, because we have two convection ovens, two gas ovens, a cooktop. There's plenty of room for people to be in there. Wirking. 

Rich Bennett 48:06
Wow. 

Tammie Wingrove 48:08
Especially when you're like me and you don't need, 

Brittany Russin Smith 48:10
or, like, you know, 

Tammie Wingrove 48:10
an oven or a cooktop. And we just need prep space. 

Brittany Russin Smith 48:15
Yep. So we have, the hive has their own catering license. I have my catering license. You have creative chef movable, you have full circle boards. You have the crab pretzel, the crabby 

Rich Bennett 48:24
pretzels that are there, too? 

Brittany Russin Smith 48:25
Dawn, 

Rich Bennett 48:26
yeah. Done. 

Brittany Russin Smith 48:27
He's out of there. You have Liam kitchen. You have. Rave Regina. She just started, she does Haitian 

Rich Bennett 48:35
food. 

Brittany Russin Smith 48:38
And then you have purely, purely. So there's seven providers in there right now. 

Rich Bennett 48:45
I think I'd be fine doing a big, a big roundtable. 

Brittany Russin Smith 48:50
Now we, now I think out of all of us that are in there, we haven't had a chance to really work 

Rich Bennett 48:55
with each other. 

Brittany Russin Smith 48:56
Regina's company or, or, um, lean kitchen, because their lean kitchen is a totally different. Beach. 

Rich Bennett 49:03
Well, plus he's got to be up at the. 

Brittany Russin Smith 49:05
Yeah. Well, yeah. And he's he's a whole different beast, because they're running their operation out of their foods made and then it sold out of their 

Rich Bennett 49:12
Right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 49:13
storefront. So they're a little bit different. Um, but for everyone else, it's in, like, that catering thing. Yeah. I mean, I just had John Sutton said, Hey, you got tables. Can you six tables? Like Liam, me just check to make sure we have them available. But there's been times that, you know, we were doing a, um, one of those other photoshoots and I was like, Hey, Tammy, I got this vision. Can we do this? Like, I think it would be great. And it's, it was probably like one of my favorite displays. I think that 

Tammie Wingrove 49:42
oh 

Brittany Russin Smith 49:42
you guys, 

Tammie Wingrove 49:42
yeah, it was, it was beautiful as I've really, really cool one to know. 

Brittany Russin Smith 49:45
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:47
Didn't do in the 

Brittany Russin Smith 49:50
photoshoot in 

Rich Bennett 49:53
loft. 

Brittany Russin Smith 49:53
the 

Rich Bennett 49:53
No, it was another photoshoot down in, um, A. Yeah. Oh, okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 49:54
Yep. Down in A. 

Rich Bennett 49:56
Can you do photoshoots in the loft? 

Brittany Russin Smith 49:58
Yeah, you could do photoshoots in the loft. I mean, the spaces, 

Rich Bennett 50:02
you know where the hamsters going. 

Tammie Wingrove 50:03
There we go, 

Rich Bennett 50:05
the 

Tammie Wingrove 50:06
wheels are tired and 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:07
we could even do even do your podcast in the law. 

Rich Bennett 50:10
Is it soundproof? 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:12
I mean, 

Rich Bennett 50:13
no, because you got other offices up there, right. 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:15
I sound proof is the refrigerator running in the background. 

Rich Bennett 50:17
Oh, 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:17
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 50:18
is I don't know. Cuz I thought there was windows and all there. 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:22
There's one news. But I mean, 

Rich Bennett 50:23
it won't pick up the outside noise. 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:25
I don't know, I guess we have to try it. 

Rich Bennett 50:27
Well, I guess when we do the one with everybody else 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:30
At the 

Rich Bennett 50:30
there. 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:30
round table. On site. 

Tammie Wingrove 50:33
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:34
we've done it before. I mean, I'm up. I'm up for that. 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:37
It's fairly quiet 

Rich Bennett 50:38
I mean, 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:38
in there Monday through Thursday. 

Rich Bennett 50:39
now that you talk to me, I mean, it's 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:41
I'm 

Rich Bennett 50:41
very. 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:41
never gonna let that. 

Rich Bennett 50:42
It's very quiet. When? 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:44
It's quiet in there during the day. 

Rich Bennett 50:45
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:45
Monday through Thursday, it's, you know, quiet. I got them spirits again over 

Tammie Wingrove 50:51
there this year saying 

Brittany Russin Smith 50:54
hi. 

Rich Bennett 50:55
All right. So something very important. If somebody wants to not for not for using, I'm going to phrase this. Not for an event, but if somebody wants to come in and use the kitchen, contact with you. 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:11
On Facebook, they can call me on my personal cell is the best 4 4 3 9 6 1 9 6 It's 

Rich Bennett 51:19
bed. 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:20
the 

Rich Bennett 51:20
Say that again. 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:21
4 4 3 9 6 6 1 9 9 6 

Rich Bennett 51:24
Good Lord. That was fast. 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:25
I have a high firm, but I. 

Rich Bennett 51:28
All right. Now that somebody wants to use having an event at the place, how do you get in touch with you? 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:32
website? 

Rich Bennett 51:33
What's the 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:35
I do. 

Rich Bennett 51:37
Don't tell me you forgot the website, Britney. 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:39
I did. 

Rich Bennett 51:40
Okay. 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:41
Because it's linked like with arieles. So it's, but if you go on Facebook. If you go on Facebook, our website is there for the hive and our website is there for the loft. 

Rich Bennett 51:52
You know what it actually. I have another bone to pick with you 

Brittany Russin Smith 51:55
because 

Rich Bennett 51:56
you know, you're talking about personal. And how that you know the online community 

Brittany Russin Smith 52:02
page. 

Rich Bennett 52:03
You can submit something they could take forever. And I think a business you can only do what once a 

Brittany Russin Smith 52:09
depending on which one you're like, which one? 

Rich Bennett 52:11
Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 52:12
Sometimes it's like the first or the 15th 

Rich Bennett 52:14
but I see the crabby pretzel, post a lot. Um actually, that's the only one. Tammy. That I never see you post anything the 

same. guess 

Brittany Russin Smith 52:38
Hey, 

Rich Bennett 52:39
what? Guess what? 

Tammie Wingrove 52:39
I should start posting now because Thanksgiving is coming and 

Brittany Russin Smith 52:43
Yeah, 

Tammie Wingrove 52:43
I know Ben's working on his or has his menu 

Rich Bennett 52:46
together. Mm hmm. And I don't limit you to once a week. If you're 

Tammie Wingrove 52:51
honest, 

Rich Bennett 52:51
an 

Tammie Wingrove 52:52
we're coming for 

Rich Bennett 52:52
ya. And post 1, sponsors are allowed to post as often as they want. I mean, once a day should be fine. 

Brittany Russin Smith 52:59
Oh, yeah, 

Rich Bennett 53:00
yeah. I mean, put it out there, I have to approve it. 

Brittany Russin Smith 53:04
I'll 

Tammie Wingrove 53:05
put it in. Rich like 

Brittany Russin Smith 53:07
you. 

Rich Bennett 53:08
Aren't you set up as a moderate? 

Tammie Wingrove 53:11
No, I can have that 

Rich Bennett 53:12
with 

Brittany Russin Smith 53:13
that. Oh, 

Rich Bennett 53:16
for support of the podcast, oh, yeah, 

Tammie Wingrove 53:19
I was 

Rich Bennett 53:21
going to say I don't really see you post them 

Tammie Wingrove 53:23
that it's possible. I already have that power and I just don't. 

Rich Bennett 53:28
Well, and here's it because I know, what about Instagram? 

Tammie Wingrove 53:33
I use Instagram. 

Brittany Russin Smith 53:41
I had

Tammie Wingrove 53:43
no idea that you're tagging me to be honest with you. But it makes feel any better. This is where I live in notification Yeah, 

Brittany Russin Smith 53:50
she probably has like 100 some minutes. 

I 

Tammie Wingrove 53:54
So 

Brittany Russin Smith 53:55
can't. 

Tammie Wingrove 53:55
hard. I only have, like, this, this is not so bad 

Rich Bennett 53:59
Wow. 

Tammie Wingrove 53:59
at the moment. 

Brittany Russin Smith 54:00
I'm playing at times I'm sending her stuff like hey, this is a really cool idea. Hey, this is a really cool idea. She's like, I'm just seeing this and it's like months later, 

Tammie Wingrove 54:07
know, I tried to to live in the world of social media. I know it's important for the business, but also not live on social media, so I keep my 

Rich Bennett 54:16
but 

Tammie Wingrove 54:16
notification 

Rich Bennett 54:17
you 

Tammie Wingrove 54:17
silenced and it off my mate. It's off my main page. 

Rich Bennett 54:22
It's like Britney 

Brittany Russin Smith 54:23
for you 

Rich Bennett 54:24
takes you month, the 

Tammie Wingrove 54:26
see. 

Rich Bennett 54:26
stuff 

Tammie Wingrove 54:26
Only 

Rich Bennett 54:26
from her. Yeah, it's taking me. I mean, her year to see the messages 

Brittany Russin Smith 54:32
I 

Rich Bennett 54:32
that Matter of fact, she just sit rich Bennett delete. 

Tammie Wingrove 54:37
Every now and then, if I've been quiet for a long 

Brittany Russin Smith 54:40
time, 

Tammie Wingrove 54:40
I'll get the meme that says, and then there's the one friend who's Turn around time is you know, three to seven business days or weeks and that's you 

Rich Bennett 54:49
see I'm that I'm that way. 

Because 

I looked the other day and it'll show how all users response within 24 hours and then the other day, I look usually response within two weeks. I'm like, oh shit. 

Brittany Russin Smith 55:06
Well, that's a thing like when you're on the social media pages. The more you post the more your pages seen, but I've just been 

Rich Bennett 55:16
used to be. 

Brittany Russin Smith 55:16
Yeah, but I've been and that's the other thing like it used 

Rich Bennett 55:19
There's 

Brittany Russin Smith 55:19
to be. 

Rich Bennett 55:19
got to be something that people are willing to engage with. 

Brittany Russin Smith 55:22
Right. So, I don't, I mean, I've personally more on TikTok or IG and like get stuff out there for promoting the business because 

Rich Bennett 55:32
if Facebook is about I think Facebook is about to change all that again. 

Brittany Russin Smith 55:36
Yeah, the algorithms. I don't have time to figure out the algorithm. 

Rich Bennett 55:38
Yeah, 

Tammie Wingrove 55:38
It 

Rich Bennett 55:39
well, 

Tammie Wingrove 55:39
takes off 

Rich Bennett 55:39
they're getting rid of the The Facebook separate messenger app. They're getting rid of that. The groups used to have the group chats. I think they're getting rid of that. 

Brittany Russin Smith 55:49
That's annoying. Anyways, that's fine. 

Rich Bennett 55:51
Yeah, so the 

next thing you know, they're going to be I think they're trying to drive people more to building the pages like the business 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:00
pages. 

Rich Bennett 56:01
Profiles because a lot of people are starting to get fed up with the groups. I mean, I can't tell you how many different Facebook groups I'm in. And it's especially when and I'm guilty of doing this. Sometimes you'll put the a everyone's or everybody sees your 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:18
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 56:18
post. But there are a lot of people that overuse that 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:22
Oh yeah. 

Rich Bennett 56:23
and I just leave the groups. 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:25
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 56:25
It's like I don't need to see this all the time. 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:27
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 56:28
So yeah, it's a tim. You have any more questions before I get to my last question? 

Tammie Wingrove 56:34
Do it? Get to it. 

Rich Bennett 56:35
Oh, well, no, I actually, is there anything you want to add Brittany? Now that I harass you and give you a hard time. 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:40
No, no. 

Rich Bennett 56:41
No. No, come back. Really? 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:45
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 56:47
I'm going to have to start being rude to people you know 

Tammie Wingrove 56:51
saving it up for the round table. 

Rich Bennett 56:53
All right. Make sure I brought the 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:53
right 

Rich Bennett 56:54
All right. So pick a pick a number 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:56
tree. 

Rich Bennett 56:57
between 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:58
crap. 

Tammie Wingrove 56:58
I 

Brittany Russin Smith 56:58
Crap. 

Rich Bennett 56:59
know. 

Tammie Wingrove 56:59
don't 

Rich Bennett 56:59
No, pick a number. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:00
CRAP. Okay, 

Rich Bennett 57:01
pick 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:01
that's four. You know, 

Rich Bennett 57:02
a number between one and one hundred. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:05
88. 

Tammie Wingrove 57:07
Why 88? I knew you were going to pick that number. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:09
Why 88 for 

Rich Bennett 57:09
infinity? 

Tammie Wingrove 57:11
Oh, okay. But 

Rich Bennett 57:12
what? 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:13
That's the year I was born. The 

Tammie Wingrove 57:17
aesthetic side. I was like, let me try to guess what she'll do. 88. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:20
It's either 88 or the 626 or 26, but probably be like the 

Tammie Wingrove 57:25
your backup number. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:26
Yeah. Either you can get into 62 or 26. 

Tammie Wingrove 57:30
Well, I guess you were going to pick 88. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:32
Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 57:32
Hope it's a good one. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:34
I hope so too. 

Tammie Wingrove 57:34
If it's not, we, she actually said 26. I heard 26. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:37
Yeah. Do you go to know where 26 comes from, Rich? 

Rich Bennett 57:42
Oh, yeah, I know the name to hear you were 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:44
No. 

Rich Bennett 57:44
born. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:46
What 

Rich Bennett 57:47
for? Do I want to hear it is? 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:48
So my daughter actually put the correlation to this, you know, stitch from Lilo and 

Rich Bennett 57:53
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 57:53
stitch. He's 626 and she loves stitch, but the hive's address is actually 626 towns and a drive. 

Tammie Wingrove 58:00
It is. 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:01
So that's why on my tattoo, there's a 626 so that my daughter is also represented because she loves stitch. I won't put stitch on me, but 626 is the hive also on the tattoo. 

Rich Bennett 58:14
Yeah, I just feel all this shit in here because she said, he's 8. 

Tammie Wingrove 58:18
I was born in 84. 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:20
Oh, we have this discussion at the reunion. 

Rich Bennett 58:23
Yeah, because I told you my best friend, we were told one year or yeah, at one event, eight, the subject of age came up. Yeah, he was born in, she was born 81, he was born in 82. I'm like, Jesus Christ, that's when I went in the 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:37
though. 

Rich Bennett 58:37
Marine Corps, 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:37
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 58:38
You're that old? I'm like, what the hell? 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:41
Yeah, what crown do you like to eat, Rich? Look, 

Rich Bennett 58:47
look, I've never heard and nobody can explain that to me about the Marines and Crayons. 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:53
Crayons? I guess you're just 

Rich Bennett 58:55
at 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:55
going to have 

Rich Bennett 58:55
that. 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:55
to 

Rich Bennett 58:55
It's 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:55
look 

Rich Bennett 58:55
just people are jealous. I mean, we're the elite. 

Brittany Russin Smith 58:59
I mean, my boyfriend is the Marine two, a Marine vet, 

Rich Bennett 59:02
Okay, so he knows we're the elite. 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:05
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 59:05
I mean, you know what, I'll do it with both of these. I'll ask 88, I'll let you ask 

Tammie Wingrove 59:09
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 59:09
26. 

Tammie Wingrove 59:09
that sounds good. 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:10
Oh, yay. 

Rich Bennett 59:10
So you want to go 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:11
Yay. 

Rich Bennett 59:11
first? All right, what do you want to do? It's up to you. We'll get your question. See if you want to do that now or say that for the last question. 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:17
Oh, 

Tammie Wingrove 59:18
oh, I love this question. I already know my answer for it. 

Rich Bennett 59:22
Do you want to answer the last one? No, always. 

Tammie Wingrove 59:24
Oh, well, let me see what yours 

Rich Bennett 59:26
is. 

Tammie Wingrove 59:30
Oh, I see. I think that's a good one to end with, 

Rich Bennett 59:33
Okay. 

Tammie Wingrove 59:33
because that's a, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 59:35
Okay. 

Tammie Wingrove 59:35
All right. Number 26, 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:39
Okay. 

Tammie Wingrove 59:39
if you could have any superpower, but it could only be used to help others, what would it be? 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:47
Being in multiple places at once. 

Rich Bennett 59:53
So you're like, declaring yourself? 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:54
Yeah. almost like the flash where you know, 

Tammie Wingrove 59:58
Like 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:58
like 

Rich Bennett 59:58
could 

Brittany Russin Smith 59:58
it 

Rich Bennett 59:59
be, it could 

Tammie Wingrove 59:59
it 

Rich Bennett 59:59
be, 

Tammie Wingrove 59:59
could be, it could be, All right. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:00
could 

Tammie Wingrove 1:00:00
The place 

Rich Bennett 1:00:00
be dangerous. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:01
Yeah. 

Tammie Wingrove 1:00:01
Yeah. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:02
I mean, because there's times like, you guys, I need to go away from my daughter's birthday, but then I got events at the hive and the loft, and I need to be at multiple places at once. And you know, no one like puts more effort into your business than yourself. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:16
Yeah. It would be 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:17
But 

Rich Bennett 1:00:17
nice. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:18
I hear only say, because my mom does, my mom helps like a tremendous. 

Tammie Wingrove 1:00:21
A 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:21
lot. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:21
I could do that. 

Tammie Wingrove 1:00:23
Clown yourself. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:24
I'm not close myself, but be able to be like it's on play. Oh my god, no, close myself. No, 

Tammie Wingrove 1:00:30
Be in multiple, 

Rich Bennett 1:00:31
that'd be scary. I didn't up kick her my own ass. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:33
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:33
All right. So here's the last, he said number 88, right? 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:37
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:39
Why is it you don't like rich? No. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:42
Obviously that is not. I don't, I never said I didn't like anyone. That's

Rich Bennett 1:00:48
not that. It's like, why did you ignore me for all these years? What's the skill? I think I know the answer to this. What's the skill you wish you had mastered earlier in life? 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:00:59
Organization. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:01
Oh, okay, I didn't know the answer to that. Wow. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:01:04
I'm a procrastinator, but I work really good under pressure. 

But that's the 

Tammie Wingrove 1:01:11
Power. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:01:11
ADHD superpower. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:13
ADHD is a superpower. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:01:15
I mean, Ben, Ben laughs at me. Like, for example, this weekend, I was actually on time for the that I had to cater at the hive. I was there early. I had everything mapped out. I was good. And my mom and my sister really like Ben's laughing at me. I said, Ben, he's like, I'm dying over here because usually you're the one that's behind. And like, behind the eight ball because I'm waiting to the last minute to do something or I'm just not even waiting to the last minute. But I just have something else going on where I have to focus on that and then come focus on this, where I'm pulling an all nighter just to try to get things like fresh. Fresh is my like big word is I want to keep everything as fresh as possible for the customer. You don't want anything to sit. Like, I know it can. And it's okay with like our regulations and how 

Rich Bennett 1:01:58
things 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:01:58
we do and the temperature setting and all that stuff. But I want my cupcakes to be as fresh as possible going out. I want the icing to be as fresh as possible not sitting in the refrigerator. So even like someone's like, well, you can prep your cake pops ahead of time. I don't like doing that. I like them to be as fresh as made. And sometimes it makes me run a little bit late, but... 

Rich Bennett 1:02:22
You like perfection? 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:02:23
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:26
I don't blame you. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:02:29
Yeah, and thank goodness like there's been times that I've been late, but my customers are just completely understanding and I haven't had that one customer that has gone off the rails of, I can't believe that you're late, and you know. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:41
When it comes to food you don't want to take shortcuts. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:02:44
Now. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:45
Because, I mean, that could hurt you 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:02:47
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:47
in your business and you definitely don't want that 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:02:50
now. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:50
The, uhm, would I use the DJ, that's one of the things I may have told you that in late weddings. I was always a nervous wreck. Because it had to be 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:02:59
perfect. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:00
It couldn't have any flaws or mistakes and got the stress. Every time, then when I retire from doing weddings, it's like a big relief. Well, Brittany, I want to thank you so much. Even though it's only taking you 20 years to come on for podcasts. I've only been doing 10. Tammy, always a pleasure seeing you. Even though you didn't bring me cheese, but that's okay and understand. I hate it all. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:03:32
We'll have to do it at the round table and then when we have the round table and we have everyone around 

Tammie Wingrove 1:03:36
everybody bring a little bit of 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:03:37
Everyone brings a little bit of their dish. 

Tammie Wingrove 1:03:39
sea. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:03:39
You 

Rich Bennett 1:03:39
sample. 

Brittany Russin Smith 1:03:39
get like a

Rich Bennett 1:03:40
Oh, yeah, whoa, I better not put a thing into coho screw because everybody. 

Tammie Wingrove 1:03:44
Everyone will show up. Yup. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:45
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love it if you could leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversations with rich Bennett dot com for updates, giveaways, and more. Until next time, take care. Be kind and keep the conversation's going. You know, it takes a lot to put a podcast together and my sponsors help add a lot, but I also have some supporters that actually help me when it comes to the editing software, the hosting and so forth. We've got a lot that goes into putting this together. So I want to thank them. And if you can please please visit their websites, visit their businesses, support them. However you can. Please visit the following Full full circle boards, nobody does charcuterie like full circle boards, visit them at full circle boards dot com Sincerely, Sincerely, sincerely, so your photography live in the moment. They'll capture it, visit them at sincerely so your dot com.