Dripping in Development featuring Evan Fay

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What is Dripping in Black?

Evan Fay (00:01.569)
Alright, so what is Dripping in Black? Dripping' in Black is black excellence by any means necessary.  Evan Fay, President, Founder. Thank you very much.

Interview

Mr. Al Pete (00:03.626)
second i mean i know we recording i know you're cutting out square

you

Mr. Al Pete (00:13.133)
Right.

What's up world. Good day, good afternoon, good evening. This is your favorite neighbor, Mr. Al Pete from the Mighty MPN Network. We appreciate you hitting play on this one more time. This is Drippin in Black podcast with the Drippin in Black production crew. We greatly, greatly, greatly appreciate you. If you haven't yet, please make sure you subscribe to the YouTube. Make sure you subscribe to the website and all the things in between. That's quote that I always say all the things in between get to it. All right. So.

Evan Fay (00:35.028)
Thank you.

Mr. Al Pete (00:45.548)
I am one of the guest hosts again, Mr. Al Pete from the MPN network. We are here with another dope guest, but before we get into that, I want to make sure that y'all go to drippingandblack.com and make sure you go there and get all the things, the podcasting. And while you're there, go to the drip shop, D-I-B-K, drip shop.com and get you some merchandise, get you some shirts, get you some mugs, all the things, and make sure that you are.

Dapfered in the black excellence of things. All right. So speaking of the black excellence of things We have a we have a brother on the on the call today We have a brother on the call and I've been doing my research and this guy is When we talk about entrepreneurship He is a great example of that So I am very honored to be interviewing him and talking with him, but he's we're gonna get more into his work So before we get into that, let me read a little bit of his work

and they will talk to the man. right. So Evan Bryce Faye is a former U.S. Air Force officer turned entrepreneur, investor and community focused developer. After serving as an officer responsible for high level operations, he's transitioned into business and became an early investor in Creamalicious Ice Cream, the first black owned ice cream brand to achieve national distribution.

And also he has Cafe Nero, a vibrant community cafe in Detroit's North End and Roar Brewing Company, Detroit's first black owned brewery. Mr. Evan.

Evan Fay (02:21.288)
Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Yeah, I'm excited to be here and chat and kind of talk about what we've got to talk about.

Mr. Al Pete (02:21.486)
How are you sir?

Mr. Al Pete (02:28.62)
Yeah, man. So first off, from one entrepreneur to another entrepreneur, I've been in meetings since like what, like 10.30 this morning. And the meetings don't stop. The work doesn't stop and everything. So from one entrepreneur to another, I understand that time is of essence. But at the same time, too, you are out here doing some great, great, great work. So we want to talk about some of those things.

Evan Fay (02:42.057)
Right.

Mr. Al Pete (02:56.866)
First off, how are you feeling today, Like, how are you mentally, spiritually, all that?

Evan Fay (03:02.196)
Yeah, so mentally, spiritually, I'm doing good. I think entrepreneurs is always a roller coaster ride. There's high, high and low lows, but as long as there's forward progression and marching towards a goal, think it's a good day. And obviously, if God wakes you up and puts the air in your lungs, you're already doing better than somebody. So I'm happy to be here and blessed to continue on this journey.

Mr. Al Pete (03:28.172)
Indeed, man, indeed, man. And we honor you and respect you and all the work that you're doing. Detroit, man, I haven't been to Detroit, but I need to get up there. Like, you have a brewery, you have a cafe, and you're all about development when it comes to community. just knowing, having a post on the growth of Detroit. And I'm sure there's a...

Evan Fay (03:39.272)
Gotta come.

Evan Fay (03:42.899)
I do.

Mr. Al Pete (03:58.168)
There's like this, the word that I have for it is possibilities. You know what saying? Like the endless possibilities of it. So for you to have that mindset of that, talk to me about that mindset when it comes to all of the adventures that you have and they will break down each one.

Evan Fay (04:15.368)
Sure, yeah. So when we were getting out of the Air Force, was actually, my wife and I, we were stationed in Alaska. And we were trying to find a location for us to be able to go to, raise our family, kind of to grow and, like you said, find some great opportunity. So we looked all over the country and Detroit was always at the top of the list. So we flew out to Detroit to visit.

2017 just fell in love with the, it checked every single box we were looking for. was culturally diverse. had arts and cultures with museums and had all the major sports teams, which you live in places like Wyoming or Alaska, you quickly find what, if there's nothing to rally around for a city, it can get pretty stale. It had a good music scene. It had international airport, access to water. It was like everything that we,

But what really kind of sold us on the city of Detroit is when we came and visited. And as long as you pass the vibe check, Detroit was super welcoming. The people would invite you to your homes. I know all my neighbors' names. There's community block parties, block clubs. It's a very cohesive community. And it was someplace that we felt really comfortable. Hey, if we're raising our family here, we're going to be part of this community. And it's been a huge blessing ever since.

Mr. Al Pete (05:44.086)
Nice, nice. So that energy pulls over to the first thing that I want to speak on about the develop Motor City. That's, you know, anything community I'm all about, like I'm all about thinking about the community and the needs of it, whether it become, whether it's the resources or just the activities that involve in it, as well as, you know, a community being safe. So development Motor City, share with us about that, like how.

Evan Fay (05:51.314)
Mm-hmm.

Mr. Al Pete (06:14.402)
How was that blossom in? How was it effective in Detroit's landscape? All that.

Evan Fay (06:20.532)
Sure, yeah, Develop Motor City kind of started out as, so when I was in the military, I would try to buy a house or a fourplex. I would buy 1Z2Z properties wherever I was stationed. I kind of looked at it like Monopoly, and if anybody's playing Monopoly, when you roll the dice, you land on a property, and no matter where you are, you're gonna buy it, right? So it started out as a place as just kind of investing, and then once I got to Detroit, I realized I didn't want to just invest. wanted to...

you know, real estate and own real estate, but be able to help the community and empower the community. And that kind of became Develop Motor City. So, and I also learned what I was doing. I didn't really have a word for it before. I just thought, I'm a real estate investor. But then it became a developer because I took some community-based classes like building community values and equitable.

that just taught about like this is how you build up spaces and include the community and create the world that you want to live in. I really...

fell in love with the concept and started investing strategically. And I bought a couple apartment buildings and fixed those up and redeveloped them. And then recently bought a seven unit retail space where we're expanding and doing veteran centric affordable housing. So just learning about how you can in a place like Detroit or there's other places around the country that have the same kind of.

grind and growth mentality. Like you can kind of build with community in mind and get support from community-based lending institutions and the state and city for support.

Mr. Al Pete (08:06.734)
Right. So down here, I'm here in Jacksonville, Florida, and I have a young lady that I work close with. name is Katie Yellow and she does placemaking. So she's very big in like this whole placemaking space. And so it sounds like the entity that you have built that will work perfectly with that. It's almost like it's kind of cross cross pollinating too with the cafe, with the brewery that you have, like making these like self energy efficient type of spots.

that people can come in and bring in the community into it. That's what it sound like it is. Tell me if I'm wrong about that.

Evan Fay (08:40.498)
Yeah, that's 100%. So that's both the brewery and the cafe, they're kind of anchors and developments that I want to do around that area. So in order to have, we want community to be able to come have places for people to do, at the cafe, people do yoga and wellness retreats or birth coaching. Like we've had everything.

Like we're very, we wanna be a community hub where people can kind of come and enjoy. And then for Roar, it's more, a little bit more after hours. We have the alcohol, beer, but same thing. We've been able to host some really good.

Like we had a Michigan Black Business Alliance and Tech Town block party or I guess summer get together where we were able to bring the community together to kind of talk about entrepreneurship and talk about the space and that's a whole thing. So yeah, like I think it is kind of like one hand washes the other. If you have a thriving business, you're able to have solid housing and then give people in the community spaces and places to be able to be proud.

of go frequent and bring things into people's own neighborhoods versus having to drive downtown or to the suburbs in order to get quality.

Mr. Al Pete (09:58.732)
Right, right. Two things I wanna mention before I forget. The first one is the imagery of Detroit. But I wanna talk about, and I want people to understand the importance of having great partnerships. I saw on the site.

that you're involved in a couple of mentorship programs, the funding partners. I you got Black Leaders Detroit. Can you talk about how important that is to align yourself with people that support the mission and the purpose that you have?

Evan Fay (10:31.175)
Yeah, honestly, think that's one of the most crucial things that you can do as an entrepreneur is kind of build your network and getting more people to kind of buy into your vision. if you like we for the brewery, we just did a small business along with Prosperous.

which is a CDFI, community-based lender who wants to see you win, right? So it's not just like a small business loan where you get an SBA loan where even, you put your house up and if you make mistakes or...

you're not able to kind pay it back. just come and try to seize your home. They are big about trying to help you win, give you resources, provide technical assistance. and a lot of entrepreneurs are thinking, hey, where's the money? Where can I get a grant? Where can I get some extra money in order to do things? I think what's even more powerful is how can you get technical assistance? How can, you know, how do you get that accountant who's going to make sure that your books are solid? How are you going to get that marketing help or that advertising

How are you going to get, like those are the things that you really do need. That's what you should just be spending your money on anyway. And institutions are more likely to provide those than just giving just blank checks to reconcile. So it's been hugely like Black Leaders Detroit. It's amazing organization where they're giving people of, know, people from the diaspora. So they're giving black folks no interest loans, like 0 % interest loans, 25,000 up to 150,000.

depending on what project you're doing for development or if it's a small business. And it's all kind of community funded and it helps, know, I'm a member, give a dollar, it's like a dollar a week or something. It's not even, know, but it's all from the community to help grow these businesses. So it's hugely important to have that infrastructure around you. And then when you create these spaces, they are the first ones to kind of champion them, to promote them.

Evan Fay (12:34.794)
utilize them. Michigan Black Business Alliance just called me this morning. They want to utilize our cafe for a get together event. So again, is good to see that the dollar, the black dollar, the Detroit dollar kind of circulating within itself.

Mr. Al Pete (12:52.46)
Very nice, very nice. One last question when it comes to the development of Detroit. So I've had...

different people, the imagery and just the conversation around Detroit has not always been like the most, the most fruitful one. I know it seemed like every time Detroit has talked to me, it's always like, it seemed like every building and each block is like just decaying. And it just seems like Detroit is like, you everybody's like, it's just a bad city, bad city and.

Evan Fay (13:17.78)
Mm-hmm.

Mr. Al Pete (13:34.476)
Like even from like just from a view of it in regards to like if I was to watch videos, if I watch pictures or see pictures, it seemed like it's very gloomy. seemed like it's just, it seemed like it's almost like no hope there. But when I'm talking to you and I've done my research to prepare for this interview, it looks totally different. It looks totally different, especially with players like you that are in the position to be able to give a different imagery of it.

Evan Fay (13:38.58)
Great.

Mr. Al Pete (14:03.458)
So let's talk about the imagery of it. How are you making the imagery of it better?

Evan Fay (14:13.265)
Yeah, so I think that's one of the things, again, I'm not originally from Detroit when I was in the military, we looking. And that's something that I feel like, know, large-scale media sometimes pushes a narrative and really wants you to kind of see something a certain way. There are so many amazing kind of activations. Michigan Central is kind of one of the big...

If you look at Michigan Central and you see the before and afters of how it did look like when I first visited Detroit, Michigan Central, it's this huge train station that was built right after...

the Great Depression. And it is an amazing building, but it was falling apart, decaying, tons of graffiti, all that other stuff. But the city really, the city and state and Ford Motor Company really believed in it and invested close to a billion dollars to bring it, bring back this amazing, it's like an amazing triumph and showing like what is going on. But with that, when someone is investing a billion dollars in one neighborhood, then everybody else, people like me or other smaller scale developers,

are going to invest around it. And then it acts as almost like a home beacon for others. So my 22-year apartment building, I bought less than five minutes away from there because, you know, if someone's going to invest a billion dollars, can invest a million dollars close to it. And then you continue, you build it, and that's a way to see wealth growth. And you can participate in that growth. So although, yes, Detroit has areas that are kind of

know, doom and gloomy, all I see is opportunity. So to be honest, like when there is, one of the things when you're driving around the city, all you see is garbage containers, people who are remodeling these homes or new homes being built. And it's one of the things that I would always say, just come and see, I mean, you'll very quickly, if you come to Detroit, you will be pleasantly surprised. I was just talking to a young brother who came for a film festival.

Evan Fay (16:13.428)
And he was like, he came to a community event and he was talking, he's like, I don't, like this is best city I've ever been in. I don't understand how people are so friendly. There's so much to do on any given weekend. aren't, you know, like it is like a.

And it's one of those, don't want to call it a best kept secret, but Detroit is quickly losing kind of the moniker of being this unsafe, not family friendly space. Because again, I'm raising my three kids here and they're thriving, they're learning. And it's been an amazing experience and time here.

Mr. Al Pete (16:49.774)
Good, good, good, good. All right, so let's get into the cool stuff. Not saying that the Detroit Motor City is cool, because it's definitely cool, but we're talking about like the Roar Brewery Company. I see that you have a shirt on representing the brewery. So let's dive into that. When I was on the site, it said it's coming summer of 2025. So I'm assuming that it's here.

Evan Fay (16:58.356)
Yeah.

Evan Fay (17:18.824)
Yes, it is. Yeah, Roar is here. We are open. I need to update the website. We are open and running. We're doing some good collaborations and partnerships. And yeah, it's been great.

Mr. Al Pete (17:20.12)
Okay.

Mr. Al Pete (17:31.17)
Listen, nothing beats a great local beer, a local beer that you can enjoy, man. definitely adds pride. I want to say this. I feel like a lot of people don't understand this, but having that local aspect to it is like, it just makes it more hyper-local. So having a beer, a brewery that specializes in that field.

this just adds more to it, man. I mean, and, you can touch so many people. You can touch the community, you can touch the entertainment side, the sport side. It's just so many angles that you can touch when it comes to a brewery. So, congratulations on opening that and starting that endeavor for sure.

Evan Fay (18:12.943)
Thank you, yeah, I I learned about...

Evan Fay (18:18.813)
station in places like Wyoming.

to Wyoming is Fort Collins where we would go two to three times a week and has a huge craft brewing culture. Alaska has a big craft brewing culture and I just fell in love with the environment and like how you can bring people together. Like you're traveling or and you need a place to just stop and chill. know, breweries are great for that and I wanted, I had the opportunity to open something in my own city and was able to purchase an existing brewery and after that it was, it's been

the races, we've had some good partnerships, even the Detroit Lions gave us a custom jersey when we launched, which we really appreciated. And yeah, it's been it's been a a solid environment. But as far as the beer is concerned, yeah, like we are looking at doing distribution here soon, where we're going to be going into other restaurants and other establishments and eventually into hopefully the stadiums and on grocery stores. So we're we're getting it all kind of teed up and ready to go.

Mr. Al Pete (19:22.624)
Yeah, expanding the brand, expand the brand. Now, real quick question, do you, like, could we put you in a place to make the, do the brewing and all that? Or you got people in, I'm not sure you have people that probably do it, but like if we had to rely on you, would we be able to get a good craft beer? You would just start from start to finish? Well, in regards to like making it, yeah, or crafting it.

Evan Fay (19:42.612)
You talking about for me personally, like me brewing? Yeah, so again, that's one of the things.

You know, and same thing where I'm.

space. head brewer has been doing it for 25 years. It is a science to make a really solid beer and I do love it. I've been the assistant brewer and I'm out here trying to keep up but to get levels right, alcohol, it is something that takes a good amount.

So really I'm more...

side on like all right what we're gonna do this honey oak stout and trying to lock in flavors and target different different fields and different styles of beer that work and then that's where I work closely with my head brewer to kind of completely solidify that vision and get it all the way down to completion so I think it's the same thing with a the cafe

Evan Fay (20:48.372)
world-class barista where I'm the one who's gonna be doing all the latte art and everything else, but I do believe in the community of the space. So I think that's something for entrepreneurs. You don't have to be an expert in something unless you plan on working there every single day and being the one actually turning the wheel. For me, it's how do I build the best team to create the space and then what can I do and where can I use my expertise to help it thrive and grow.

Mr. Al Pete (21:17.324)
Definitely. All right, so we we can't we can't

Evan Fay (21:20.83)
Not by myself, can give me a little help and I got you. I can give you some help and I got the, know, like, I was a horrible assistant brewer, I did it for a month and I kept having to take back, step out for phone calls, everything else. He's like, yeah, man, we need to hire somebody else because you keep leaving my head brewer. He's like, you know, I'm here, but you know, I also got other things that I got to do. So, yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (21:43.66)
man, you mean to me we can't depend on you to make those hearts in the lattes?

Evan Fay (21:49.629)
I mean, can do, I can make some latte art, but I don't know how it's going to taste better when my barista with a lot more experience. You know, like I'm, there's other, you know, that's the thing I think. But it's one of the the military taught me and humbled me very quickly because I was an officer, right? So I had, you know, I was in, I was a assistant or what is it? I was an operations officer. So was the number two in the squadron.

Mr. Al Pete (21:52.257)
Okay.

Evan Fay (22:19.028)
So had about 300 people working for me and it was all things, munitions, bombs, and the first part I did nuclear weapons. And you just very quickly learn, you can't know everything. You need to work with people who are subject matter experts and who have been doing it and it's their love and their passion. But you can still lead those people, right? You can still create a culture and a space and a work environment that's going to allow for the best people to do those jobs.

So that's what being an officer in the military was, and that's kind how I look at my entrepreneurial journey. Again, I'm not going to be able to get 25 years of brewing experience anytime soon, but I can still work with that brewer to create the best possible beer possible with my cultural influences and things that I think are going to do well with market research and go from there.

Mr. Al Pete (23:14.188)
Right, right. Know your role and a good leader, especially a good entrepreneur leader understands like, know, facilitate that work to other people that are the experts, man. So, yeah. All right. So, Cafe Noir You say, all right, you say you're not going to do the lattes like that. So you got that for somebody else. But talk to us about Cafe

Evan Fay (23:16.643)
Bye.

Evan Fay (23:24.628)
Yeah.

Evan Fay (23:34.708)
Hey, when we're short staffed, I'm in there.

Evan Fay (23:43.892)
Because on my eye, that's something. yeah, Cafe Noir has been an amazing opportunity. It kind of got me into the hospitality world in general.

Evan Fay (24:00.701)
it from the employee side but I never done it from the owner entrepreneur side. yeah Cafe Noir has been able to really kind of be that quintessential neighborhood cafe that people are able to come in that's consistent that's open you can take a meeting there you can set your clock by it and have really good locally sourced locally roasted cafe or coffee and we've been able to be approached by other

brands and institutions here in the city that have brought us on to do different events, to really kind of thrive and show what we can do.

Mr. Al Pete (24:41.024)
Love it. Love it. Now I was looking on the site as well and it seems not even sees but you you welcome me Local artists to come and display they work correct in the building

Evan Fay (24:44.69)
Good night.

Evan Fay (24:50.952)
Yeah, 100%. So we do, we have a curated locally program, but we, I'm a huge fan of

In my home, we have a lot of art, and I think that's what artists are. feel like arts in general is one of the most underappreciated kind of artists and teachers. I don't feel like they get enough love or enough shine. So we wanted to create a space next door to the cafe. It's also an art gallery that we own called Chloe Monroe Galleries. It's named after my daughter. It's small but mighty, and she's three now.

So yeah, we really want to help local artists get their start in. We don't want a red velvet rope kind of approach. like, hey, if you're an artist, you're an up and coming artist, can sell your pieces, get you exposure, give you a gallery opening, and then you're off to the races. So we've already seen from some of our art shows some artists that have kind of taken off. we're so proud to see them in their journey.

Mr. Al Pete (25:59.074)
Yeah, because that teaches them, I mean, entrepreneurship, but it teaches them a lot of skills, you know what saying? As far as like, I mean, all that stuff. And I think about, because I'm an artist as well, but I remember when I was first getting those opportunities, it taught me like, you know, more hospitality. It taught me, know, logistics. It taught me to outsource, you know what saying? Like other stuff, like try not to do everything because

You need that person to be there. You need to be the person to show up, especially if you're like the star of the show. So you want to make sure that you have those things. So from an artist standpoint, I appreciate you offering that to the local artists because that's one of our main hiccups that we don't have a place to be able to establish our work as well as be able to be taught the business standpoint of it. I appreciate you for doing that for that community and just

for that view as well.

Evan Fay (27:00.286)
Thank you, yeah. mean, that is one of the biggest things that we want, we're hoping to kind of establish with the cafe is that very thing. Like, hey, like how much do you price your piece for? How do you, you how does it sell if it's too much is going to sell? If it's not enough, you know, are you undervaluing your art and your vision? So like that has been a good learning opportunity for a lot of young artists, a lot of local artists and.

and we get the benefit of, and our patrons get the benefit of just seeing amazing local art on a daily basis.

Mr. Al Pete (27:34.67)
Love it, love it, love it. All right, so a couple more things and then we'll let you get back to the work that you have. So tell me about Creamalicious. So I breezed through this a little bit, but it states that you were a first starter, you know, a contributor to the...

Evan Fay (27:36.916)
Thanks.

Evan Fay (27:55.669)
Yeah, early investor. So yeah, Creamalicious has been Creamalicious ice cream founded by the amazing chef Liz Rogers. She is a, you know, an executive chef, amazing woman and force of nature. And she back in 2020, I had the opportunity to invest in Creamalicious and acted as the COO for a little bit as well, Chief Operating Officer to really understand and how to

to grow and scale a consumer packaged bid company. yeah, was my investment that helped us get into our Walmart stores. And then we went from Walmart, Target, Kroger, Meijers which is a chain of grocery stores up here. And there's other...

grocers that carried the Cremalicious as well. So I was kind of help, you know, along for that journey and able to see how to grow and scale a consumer packaged good company. And we had a lot of great successes and we're still open and can still go by. We're in Florida, so can go grab Cremalicious on the shelves. Same thing, Atlanta. One of the big things that we learned, because we did grow very quickly, we achieved natural distribution, but we grew really very quickly.

So we were never able to market very effectively. And then when we did market, we would sell out immediately and then there would be huge purchase orders. So it was like one of those things where I knew I kind of see or as my opportunity to fix the things that I kind of met with that we didn't do as well with Creamalicious. So when we do scale Roar because one day we want Roar to be the beer that you can grab, you know.

throughout the country. Like that's the goal with it. We want to start local, but we want to be able to, and then we want to then be, you know, a Michigan staple, maybe a Midwest staple, and then onto the races in the future. So maybe in, you know, five to 10 years, we're down in Florida or out in California. But.

Evan Fay (30:00.521)
we want to make sure that we do it right. That when we take on investors, when we do all the things that we have the foundation to be able to be solid. But Creamalicious, it's such an amazing, like the flavors are like banana pudding and peach cobbler, like it's some of the best ice cream.

other than going to a scoop shop that does their own custom ice cream out of the store. It's amazing. It's super premium. It is, which means high butterfat content. It's the kind of ice cream that you're like, oof, this is hitting, right? And Creamless is all about indulgence and making sure. It's like, no, we're not doing low calorie. This is really good ice cream. It's like a cheesecake in a pint.

So it's been awesome. Whenever we do give feedback, it's amazing. But it's one of those things that we wished that we had more investment, having more solid community relations. Creamalicious ever had a brick and mortar scoop shop. That's one of the things that we probably could have used and built out of. that's kind of, I learned a lot from Creamalicious to be able to start Roar. So yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (31:13.676)
Nice, nice, nice. Well, sir, congratulations on all the endeavors. Is there any other endeavors that you would like to share with us or you got into making? Because it sounded like it's just the beginning.

Evan Fay (31:27.86)
I mean, you know, there's always opportunity. think when focusing right now, kind of the apple of my eye is Roar. And that's kind of my baby that I'm really excited to promote. we're doing a partnership with Blake's Hard Cider, is the, after Henry, our orchard is the second largest cider, hard cider company in the United States. So we're doing a partnership with them this fall.

on the 18th, we're doing a flannel ball festival where we're going to be pairing their cider with our beers to do what's called a black velvet and a snake bite, which we want to call Roar bite. we're doing that kind of activation. And there's some other fun activations that we have planned as well to help promote the brand. then hopefully in the next month or so, we'll be doing starting distribution. So getting into other restaurants

Fixens, which has a good change. So Fixens is already committed to carry Roar. So they're gonna be carrying Kevin Johnson, who is an amazing individual. Very much someone I look up to because his story and how he's been able to grow is.

maybe making books and doing shows on him, just for all things that he's been able to accomplish. But so Kevin met him several times and he's super excited to have Roar at his restaurant and from here and beyond. So that's that's kind of what we're what we're doing. And so hopefully in the near future, you can see if you're at a restaurant or a bar and you see, you know, a Roar lion head with Roar, grab a pint. That would be great.

Mr. Al Pete (33:11.374)
I'd definitely be looking out for it and the producers, Shawn said hopefully I will be in Detroit in March. That is definitely the plan to be up there in March.

Evan Fay (33:22.046)
Hit me up, we'll take care of you. You'll see what Detroit's all about and be like, hey, I can't leave here or I'm going to come back at least once every couple of years because Detroit is, I mean, it can't be understated. I'm a super fan of the city and it cannot be overstated, understated, whatever stated how amazing the city is. And when people start to recognize and see that, it is this real.

Mr. Al Pete (33:50.892)
Indeed, indeed. Well, I'll definitely, when I get up there, I'll definitely reach out and I'll definitely take some time to come check out the cafe, to check out the brewery and definitely check out the city. So yeah, again, from one entrepreneur to another, from one artist to artist minded stuff, I appreciate all the work that you're doing, all the philanthropy that you're doing in the midst of just the developments of it. A lot of people...

Evan Fay (34:03.101)
Awesome.

Mr. Al Pete (34:17.774)
when it kind of entrepreneurs, I'm gonna say this and then we can kind of wrap things up. But from an entrepreneur standpoint, I know last year I learned about development. I remember, well, I was reminded how much development is important to like the process of that. And the work that you're doing is definitely like, it has to be a development aspect to it. So your philanthropy definitely pours within that. Your story is definitely dope.

And so I just want to honor you and I appreciate you even taking the time to be here.

Evan Fay (34:50.252)
Thank you, sir. I appreciate it and again, glad to be here and just wrap with you.

Mr. Al Pete (34:55.958)
Yeah, so before we let you go, we got one more thing. Well, I have one more question to ask you. have you been well, have you been covered in a publication or have you been on front of a publication like magazine or a newspaper? Have you been on front of it?

Evan Fay (35:17.012)
I mean, I've had some articles written on me, but I haven't been on front of anything. Not like that front page, yeah. I'd rather be low key, to be honest. I want to kind of be the guy behind the scenes that is just building. But talking with my team, talking with my wife, like, hey, no, the founder story is important. You got to be out there. I'm like, oof.

Mr. Al Pete (35:21.196)
Really?

Evan Fay (35:39.284)
That's when even for war, we made a mascot. I made a puppet. I'm like, that's gonna be the face. You're gonna see that on Instagram more than me. I'll pop up there every once in a blue moon with me and my kids or something. But, you know, I've not been on the front of anything yet.

Mr. Al Pete (35:45.132)
I know.

Mr. Al Pete (35:54.51)
Gotcha, gotcha. All right, so we have a little, have a gift for you, a departing gift. And here we go.

Evan Fay (36:08.468)
Oh, look at that! That's awesome. I love it.

Mr. Al Pete (36:10.03)
Hahaha

Mr. Al Pete (36:15.512)
So listen, this is our portrayal of the magazine cover, but we wanted to put you on there, honor you. We are adopting you into the Dripin' Black family, and we wanna make sure that we honor you. So this is one of our many honors, you in front of the Dripin' It Black magazine cover.

Evan Fay (36:38.15)
Thank you, sir. Honestly, I'll ask like that's I'm very humbled. That's that's amazing

Mr. Al Pete (36:41.75)
Yes, and we will be sending you a physical copy of this. So maybe you can post this up in your office that you're in or in a brewery or in a cafe or wherever that you feel like doing it. again, we want to honor you for everything that you're doing from an entrepreneurship standpoint in the community and everything. So I thank you so much. Yeah.

Evan Fay (37:02.652)
Thank you, I appreciate it. We'll put it we'll put it all the places. We'll take a look

Mr. Al Pete (37:07.202)
Definitely definitely. Okay last thing for real for let us know where people can find you at the websites Wherever you want people to follow you just so they can follow your story be able to come to your bureau It was to your businesses and all those things

Evan Fay (37:22.6)
Yeah, so follow us at Roar.det, or for Detroit. That's our IG for ROAR, and at cafenoir.det for Cafe Noir Those are the two cool places to kind of check out what both of those businesses are doing. And then I got my own personal IG. That's just for looking at my kids. So if you want to see pictures of my kids and stuff, that's fine.

Mr. Al Pete (37:46.702)
Good.

Evan Fay (37:46.932)
But for seeing what I'm actually doing business-wise, those two are the best to go. And obviously, you can hit me up on LinkedIn as well.

Mr. Al Pete (37:55.96)
Gotcha, gotcha. Well, again, we appreciate you. Hold tight while I close this show out, but thank you again, good sir. All right, my people, Dripin' In Black, another episode for y'all. Hopefully y'all enjoy it. Please make sure you follow all the things that Mr. Evan has got, he has going on. I'm so ready to get to Detroit now and see these things in person. And I honor people that are very tapped into the community and making.

things great for civilization all around. So, and last thing, please make sure that you go and follow us on YouTube. Make sure you follow us on Instagram. Definitely make sure you go to the website, drippinginblack.com and check out this actual interview as well as the other ones that we've been knocking out. This is season six and we're gonna keep it rolling and keep it moving and make sure while you on drippintheblack.com, make sure you go to DIBKDrip Shop and pick you up some merch.

and let everybody know in the world that you got it. All right. So be good to others and be good to yourselves. It's Mr. Al Pete with the Mighty MPN Network. Thanks again for watching to the top.