- And good evening, you've got Gene Dickison, you've got More Than Money.

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Number one, we bring you some what we think are very interesting American stories that you can learn lessons from what your neighbors are going through, perhaps in business, perhaps in life, perhaps trying to balance both.

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We have one of those for you this evening, and of course, we answer your questions about any financial topic.

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But we like to help the community as often as we possibly can.

Not many months ago, our organization helped Holiday Hope Chest, and we have a new event that just occurred.

And Megan, you're with us.

Can you give us just a little sense of what happened with our "Invest In You" event?

- Hi, Gene.

Yes, definitely.

So yeah, we recently came up with this organization, Invest In You.

It's headlined by Melissa Young, she's one of our advisors at our office, and it's mainly focused on involving the women of the Lehigh Valley.

We are doing events every financial quarter of the year to kind of combine bringing women together for some camaraderie, some new friend-making, and some fun.

There's usually food involved.

And then, also kind of framing that event around giving back to an organization.

So as you said, our December event was for Holiday Hope Chest, and the one we just had at the beginning of February was to benefit the residents of Gracedale Nursing Home.

So we had a nice Valentine-themed event.

We made Valentines, did some coloring pictures, got together, had some wine and chocolate, and then, sent those valentines off to the residents of Gracedale to make their Valentine's Day a little bit brighter.

So it was a wonderful event.

We've had an amazing turnout for both events.

And it's just really great to see women come together for a reason that they wouldn't normally do.

But they meet some really cool friends and we get to hang out, and just have a good time together.

- And Megs, I've got to guess that the residents of Gracedale, bless them all, they're all in our prayers.

what a smile that put on their face to have hand-created Valentine's cards, somebody thinking of them, somebody caring about them.

It had to feel wonderful.

- I surely hope so.

That was definitely the goal.

- Thank you so much.

- Yeah, of course.

- Now, Megan mentioned something very important.

When we do events, hmm... Food.

Hmm.

Food is the great, what, congregator.

It's the great glue that sticks us together.

Food of, as you can tell... Big fan of food myself.

And our guest this evening, big fan of food, as well, but came to it from an interesting direction.

I think you'll agree as we spend the next few minutes with a gentleman who is actively involved on the food side of life.

Mr. Ed Hanna of Union & Finch.

Ed, welcome.

- Thank you for having us.

- Union & Finch.

Interesting name.

I get the union part.

You're on Union Street.

Finch?

- Yeah, Finch came to us, we were trying to find something that rolled off our tongues.

- And it does.

- It does, for sure.

Finch came from back in the '20s when there was no Dieruff or Allen High School.

There was just the Allentown School District, and they were looking for a mascot, and they picked the canary.

And the canary is the finch.

So it just wouldn't have worked as well.

If we said Union & Canary, we felt Union & Finch, and then we had something kind of like a logo that would fit well with the business.

But really, the name itself symbolizes coming together.

I mean, with the Renaissance and the revitalization of downtown Allentown and everything that's going on in the last ten-plus years, we really wanted to put something out there in terms of a business and not only the name that meant something in terms of folks coming together as family, friends, and having a good evening or lunch, or whatever it might be.

- So obviously you're very active, but you've got partners.

Tell us about those.

- Yeah.

My wife is obviously as active as I am, if not more, Shahnaz.

She and I opened up the business along with my brother, Spiro, back in 2016, in August 2016.

So this summer will be year number six.

- Six years.

- Yeah, it's quite a milestone.

They tell you if you get through three years, that's impressive.

But I think to get, after this pandemic, to five years is certainly a feat.

- Well, certainly you and your wife had an extensive background in the restaurant field before you opened up this venture.

I mean, as I understand you were both living in New York.

You come to the valley, you might as well do something you're really knowing... not so much.

- No, not at all.

Actually, the only experience that we had was frequenting bars and restaurants in New York City, living there.

That was it.

Yeah.

You know, we grew up in large families, and hospitality was certainly something that was in our blood, albeit it's not exactly a one-to-one translation into running a restaurant or a bar, for that matter.

But it's something that we kind of wanted to do.

And in 2010, while we were living in New York, I'm originally from the Valley.

I grew up in Whitehall, born in Allentown, but in 2010, I was poking around and seeing what real estate might be available, and just so happened to be the building that we're in currently was up for sale.

So that's kind of what started the journey.

- So neither of you had a background in restaurant.

Spiro, he had a background?

- No.

- OK, so let's start with a phrase that's been heard for millennia.

"Ignorance is bliss."

Was it?

- I would certainly say so in many ways.

I mean, look, I think none of us were naive to the point that we thought that we could walk into this and it'd be overnight success by any stretch.

I mean, I said, this to someone recently, I've said it to multiple people that, you know, two-and-a-half years into this business, I remember sitting in my living room, across the room from my brother and saying, "Oh, if this don't turn soon, we're in trouble."

And that was two-and-a-half years into it.

And lo and behold, literally in year, three things started to look up and we haven't looked back since.

- The type of...atmosphere that you've created, it's really a neighborhood feel.

- It is, yeah, that was the goal.

So again, having lived in New York, you know, the places that we certainly, my wife and I appreciated the most were those types of places, you know, being the neighborhoods in New York City, frequenting restaurants that are cozy, comfortable, open area, all that, all those... That was a goal, really.

We wanted to do something that felt inviting as soon as you walked into it.

I think the three things that I recognize when I walk into a restaurant is, what do I see, what I smell?

What do I hear?

And you know, music is obviously integral as well, being in the music industry prior to this, the smell.

What kind of evokes the senses that make you feel happy, welcome, warm, and all that stuff.

So... - Fantastic.

You mentioned being in the music industry prior.

So we have three aspiring restaurateurs.

Give us your background.

What were you in prior?

- Yeah, I lived in New York for, gosh, from '95 to 2011, grew up in the area, but professionally and, you know, kind of grew up in New York, so to speak in many ways professionally.

But I worked for the majority of my stay in New York, I worked for a company called Warner Music Group, so I oversaw a group that built and managed e-commerce and marketing websites for artists like Tom Petty, Bruno Mars, Pink Floyd, David Bowie.

So certainly a neat little job, it was more of on the technology and marketing side, but great job, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Shahnaz was a paralegal... - Before you get too far along, you mentioned Tom Petty.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Did you get to meet him?

- I did not.

I did not.

You know, I wasn't that close to the artist scene, I was on the phone with his manager quite a bit, talking about his website.

But I did see him in concert when he was at the PPL Center, which was a fantastic concert.

I mean, he was a great artist.

- Great artist.

So my apologies, you were starting to talk about your wife?

- Yeah, yeah.

Shahnaz was a paralegal in New York, and my brother's in IT for Lockheed-Martin, so...

Nothing related to restaurant.

- Perfect backlash for foodie.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Now your wife is Jordanian.

- She is.

- And of course, the Syrian community in the Lehigh Valley is strong.

And its roots grow deep.

- Yeah.

- And a lot of food, to be honest.

- Absolutely.

- So you've got an interesting cultural piece that you're bringing to the table, if not, the professional background that would logically lead somebody to say, "Hey, I'd back these guys, because they know stuff."

Was there someone early on that maybe mentored you, or maybe that you went to as a guide or a resource?

- I mean, yeah, I would say certainly, while in New York, I got close to a chef that worked for a decent hospitality company in Lower Manhattan.

He'd let me into his kitchen and show me some of the ropes, so to speak, and I've never worked in the kitchen.

He literally walked me down to the kitchen in a, you know, 150-seat restaurant and just talk me through and spend time with me.

So that was very helpful.

Yeah, yeah.

Similarly, here in the Valley, we had a consultant that helped a lot of the restaurant start up for city center in downtown Allentown.

He helped me quite a bit as well, us, I should say.

So that was very helpful.

You know, I think the two of them and just leaning on people that had experience obviously was very helpful.

- So there's a lot to be done, as most people are aware, in running a six-day-a-week operation.

It's seven.

You're closed one.

But it's a seven-day-a-week operation.

How do the three of you kind of split up the responsibilities?

- Well, my wife and I are there the majority of the time, we're the majority owners.

My brother is like the CFO, so that does a very significant task.

So he helps with a lot of the finances and keeps us in check with regards to that.

He also pops in every other week and help us out, obviously give us a break.

My wife and I are literally there at opposite times/ So as I'm coming, she's going, or vice versa.

My wife spends quite a bit of time in the kitchen now just because, you know, with the labor shortage and some of the challenges that we have, she's spending a lot more time there.

And as I am too on the weekends, but certainly nowhere near as much, she's kind of, you know, put on the brunt of the work in when we have to chip in and help in the kitchen.

I try to be on the floor as much as I can, just talking to customers, being with customers, making sure that you know, everything's going as well as can be, you know, that's the key to this type of industry, really, is being present.

You hear a lot from customers they want to see the owners, they want to see management, they want to feel that they're welcome, that you know, they're special, to be honest.

And that's huge for us, and making sure that that's the case.

- Yeah, there was a phrase coined many years ago on a TV show, something about "where everybody knows your name".

- There you go.

- And that seems to fit rather well with Union & Finch.

- It does.

Yeah, we're on a corner right on the cusp of the West End of Allentown.

And it's a beautiful masonry building, we built an outdoor space that's been a really significant advantage for us in the last two years, or so, or year, I should say it's been.

But yeah, I think what you just said is accurate.

We actually made a T-shirt that said, "Union Village, where everybody knows your name," which was, you know, it really was a goal.

We wanted people as soon as they walked in that door to feel that they were at their second home.

- Now, second home, not just for them, but for you, you and your wife, balancing... - Three kids at home.

- That's the part that I wanted to come to tonight, you're reading my mind.

Three kids at home.

How is this work-life balance?

How's it working, huh?

- It's a challenge.

I mean, I think we're trying to find that balance.

As I said earlier, it's certainly a challenge.

We hope that we had been further along and finding that balance five years in, or six years almost now.

But with the pandemic, the last two years, obviously we were hands-on before, we're even more hands-on now.

That's certainly a challenge.

I mean, I think we'll get there sooner than later.

- Tell our audience about your kids, names and ages.

-Yeah, yeah.

Two daughters and a son.

My oldest, her name is Dahlia, which is a flower, obviously, but that's also a very Middle Eastern name.

And my son, my middle child, his name is Tammet.

And the youngest is Nadine.

They all go to Whitehall, so they're a blessing.

Really, they're kind of the ones that we, when days are long or days are tough, you know, they're there.

Which is always sweet.

- And there's always the chance that at some point in the future, one or more will be working side-by-side.

- Yeah, it's interesting because when we first opened the restaurant, I was still doing the corporate thing for a while and Shahnaz was really running with it.

It was her thing, you know, and I would head over to the restaurant on Friday night and just kind of relieve her, so that she could go home and be there on the weekends.

But there was a point where the kids were at school, and she'd pick them up and bring them to the restaurant until I got off and I'd pick them up from the restaurant.

So, you know, they'd be in the restaurant for a couple hours, at least five days of the week, until I got to the restaurant.

And one of the things that we decided, once I kind of went full time into the restaurant, that we didn't want them there at a young age as much, really, we wanted to kind of separate them from that business until either they wanted to be, or we felt they were ready.

You know, the combination of those two, it was important that they didn't feel like they were burdened with the restaurant as much as we are.

- I was four when my dad made me start bussing tables now... - No... - There you go, right!

It's funny, my son was doing that first stretch, just helping out because he'd be sitting at the restaurant and he'd be like, "What can I do to help?"

And he'd go up to the server and, you know, customer'd give him a couple of bucks.

he's happy, you know?

- It's a beautiful thing.

- Yeah, yeah, for sure.

- The opportunity to bring your family into the business, right now it's, you know, husband, wife, brother, maybe at some point children.

But that opportunity, really different than your corporate life?

- It is.

It certainly is.

I mean, I think stability-wise, obviously, you know, corporate life is probably a little more advantageous, considering what's happened in the last two years.

But you know, with the restaurant itself, you know, you've got a lot of ups and downs, especially as you're growing and you're starting any business, for that matter.

It's a challenge, for sure.

Yeah, I think that was eye-opening.

There are days that you certainly miss that stability and knowing that you could go in at 8, come home at 5-6, whatever it might be, you're done for the most part, although you're attached by emails.

But it's not that, you know, like you said, it's six days a week, but Monday we're doing stuff, and your mind is constantly working.

Really, I mean, you're occupied.

There's a gentleman that's a restaurateur in New York that I admire and look up to.

He said, "When you own a business, it's 24-7, 365."

It never stops.

It really doesn't, you know, especially with this day and age, with the phones and the Internet and all that stuff, it just never stops.

- So it's still a business.

I understand that the product may be the atmosphere, the product is certainly the food.

We haven't even talked about it, but the product is the experience, when somebody comes in and they have that wonderful experience and they leave.

You have effectively handed off your product, but it's still a business.

You still have to be profitable.

It's tough to figure all those pieces out.

What do you think's been the biggest challenge in creating that experience that your customers walk out with a big smile?

- I think consistency, in terms of just making sure that it's, you know, it starts at the top, obviously, as to what you want with the experience, and then, it trickles down to the staff.

I think that certainly is a challenge.

Just making sure that they can kind of portray and relay a lot of the vibe and the experience that we want when we're not there or downstairs in the office, whatever it might be.

And whether it's like, "Thank you" when you leave.

The common courtesy stuff that I think a lot of times get lost, you know, all that stuff, making sure that they're attentive to, watching people's body language.

Eye contact is key in this type of industry, they're trying to get your attention, making sure that we're really attentive to their needs for the most part.

Yeah, the word "common" is a little... - Yeah.

- Sadly, these days.

It's off-putting because it's not common at all.

- It isn't.

It isn't.

No, you're right, and that's the frustrating thing at times, when you know, whether it be in the field that we're in or outside of it, really, it's just a challenge at times.

- I'll shift gears just a little bit on you.

We'll go to something that might be a little more lighthearted.

- Yeah.

- Ed Hanna, there's folks who tuned in tonight to hear you give a weather report, and when's it going to snow again?

And they found out, you're not that Ed Hanna.

But you have a connection.

- We do, we do, so... Ed Hanna, the meteorologist.

his grandmother was my Sunday school teacher.

And I said this earlier, one of the things I remember is being in Sunday School.

She would play, a little favoritism to me because I had the same name as her grandson.

She told me, "My grandson's name is Ed Hanna."

And lo and behold, you know, how many years later, I see Ed Hanna on TV, "I wonder if that's the same Ed Hanna," and I came to find out it is.

- That is a fantastic thing.

Growing up in the Valley with, again, the Syrian community, has added so much to the Valley for ever.

I've been working in the Valley for more than 40 years, from the moment I stepped into the Valley.

They were prominent and still to this day.

Does that have the feel of the extended family that it seems to have?

- It does.

I think it's grown so big.

Sometimes it's hard to get a grasp of it.

You know, my father immigrated here in the '50s.

It was, you know, a couple of hundred, whatever it might have been.

Probably a little low on that number, but it wasn't significant.

You know, he came over traditional story on a boat, into Hoboken, New Jersey, went to Wilkes-Barre before he made his way to Allentown.

It was such a small community, even when I was growing up, you know, a lot of the folks in the student community knew each other and visited each other.

Now it's just very difficult to kind of maintain or stay on top of that.

But yeah, I think with regards to the culture, it's still very prominent in our household and a lot of other households, which is what we want.

- Excellent.

What did your dad do when he came over?

- My dad was a factory worker.

You know, he worked in garment industry.

He worked at Western Electric most of his career.

He tried his hand in being an entrepreneur in the '70s, as a barber, got his license.

But I think in that time, not many people were cutting hair in the '70s, so... - Oh!

- Yeah, right, so he went back to Western Electric, which then became, you know, AT&T, or Bell...

I can't remember the sequence of events.

But my dad, you know, he worked extremely hard not only for us, but for his extended family.

He was someone that brought over a lot of family members, friends, relatives, whatever it might be, and did their affidavits of support to help them come and start their lives here.

So it was big to him.

Helping was very important to my dad, and my mom, as well, just making sure that they not only were helping us, but obviously extended family and bringing them over, and giving them a better life.

- Some part of that has to be in your psyche, of hospitality.

- It is.

Yeah, I think it is in respect to, obviously, what we talked about earlier and how we make people feel when they walk into the doors, but also as well as the community.

We try to play a significant role in the city of Allentown and beyond, I went to Whitehall, we get involved there, as well.

But yeah, I don't think as many kids were, you know, growing up in the immigrant family, sir, my parents were not rich by any stretch.

But, you know, we were very fortunate that they looked out for us.

A lot of these folks in the inner cities don't have the advantages that I had, and helping giving back is really big for us.

- You heard us start the show with our advisors and our team giving back to the community, Holiday Hope Chest, and now the Gracedale...

There's that spirit that comes from that, there's that... For lack of a better word, joy that comes from that, that the giving back part isn't... "God, I have to," isn't it wonderful we can?

- Yeah, that's huge.

To your point, it just makes you feel better.

It makes you feel better.

In December, we ran a promotion that we were going to give back $10 from every gift card that was purchased that's $25 or more to the homeless students in the Allentown school, which was almost 1,000 homeless... - Oh my word!

- Yeah, so that's significant.

1,000?!

I would never have guessed.

Yeah, you know, two years ago when we came to find that out, we did an event as well at that point.

And it's important, and we just dropped off a bunch of school supplies to the new middle school in Allentown as well, giving back if we can, is certainly a big part of who we are and we want to be, - That's who you are.

- Yeah, absolutely.

There are folks who are watching tonight, that's Union & Finch, really like it, it's really cool.

It's got six years in.

We hope it has 60 more to go, at least.

If you had a young aspiring restaurateur in front of you, what 1-2 pieces of advice would you give them?

- Patience, really, I mean, it's such an easy thing to say, but like I said earlier, two-and-a-half years into this wasn't looking good, and you know, things do not happen overnight.

And if they do, it's few and far between.

I mean, patience and working hard naturally.

I mean, I think staying persistent and consistent was huge in terms of our success.

Naturally, having a good product is helpful, as well.

And I think this day and age, technology is a big part of a lot of businesses out there.

So I mean, but the big thing for us was persistence and patience, really.

I think that was huge for us, and just pushing through the challenging times and the growth times.

Six years in, what's the next six years look like?

- Well, I mean, I think certainly building on this business, obviously, we added the outdoor space a year ago.

That's a big part of what we are right now.

I think trying to do some private events out there is something that we'd like to do because we don't have the space inside.

Whether there's another restaurant or not, I don't know.

I mean, that's the next logical step for folks that are in this industry... - You're going to scale.

- Yeah, yeah.

But we also know how hands-on we are and how important it is to give that experience.

And doing it in more than one location is difficult.

So we'd have to change our mindset and kind of how we run this business.

Not saying that's out of question, but we've also, like I said, got three kids at home and being there for them is important.

So we'll see.

There's some, you know, some chatter about maybe doing something, but nothing significant, really.

- Chatter?

- Yeah, that's all.

- But it's how it starts.

- That's how it starts, yeah.

- Well, you're experience both as a born-and-raised Allentonian, Whitehall student.

And your wife's very different.

Predominantly, I understand, she was raised in Manhattan with her family?

- She was in Yonkers, literally right above the Bronx, right above Van Cortland Park in the Bronx, in a small house of nine children.

- Wow!

So you bring those two together, and all of a sudden, you've got this opportunity to build something both as a family and as a business owner you can have real pride in.

- Yeah.

You know, there are day...

Even to now, you know, we do brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, and I look around and I see a packed house, and I have to pinch myself and remind myself that this took a herculean effort to kind of get to this point.

And it's something that we all should be proud of, not only us as owners, but also employees that are with us now, our prior staff that maybe have gone to other adventures.

But yeah, certainly proud of it.

I mean, not a day I think that goes by where we look around and think, "Wow, we did this."

And you know, the odds are stacked against a lot of restaurants, even with experience, yeah.

So I mean, have done it with no experience is... Yeah, we're happy, we're proud.

- Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thanks for sharing some of what you've learned along the way.

We'll check back with you in 10-12 years.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

- Oh, fantastic!

If you are interested in business, if you're interested in food, if you're interested in family-life balance, I think you picked up a lot of ideas that hopefully will advance you along the path a little bit further.

Hopefully, you've picked up something that will cause you, or maybe your family to say, "That's something we can do, as well."

If you have questions and you want to get some advice, or if you want to be in touch with Ed and his wife, Reach out to us, Gene@AskMTM.com.

We're happy to answer those questions directly and forward those to Ed, if that's appropriate.

And of course, we're always here to answer your questions going forward, so just as we started the show, we end the show.

We're here to serve you.

We have an entire team that will answer all of your questions directly back to you and, on occasion, on a future show, you may actually see one of your questions being discussed, explored, and hopefully answered in a way that helps you.

Thank you for spending part of your evening with us.

We hope you've picked up a lot of great ideas.

We hope that you'll return right back here next week here on More Than Money.

Goodnight.