{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Max & Benjamin Goldberg: The Brothers Who Built Nashville's Hospitality Scene \u2014 Gumball Machines, Michelin Stars, and 19 Years of Partnership","description":"Join host Sam Davidson as he sits down with Max and Benjamin Goldberg, co-founders of Strategic Hospitality and two of the newest announced members of the Nashville Entrepreneurs' Hall of Fame 15th class, to be honored at the NEXT Awards on October 19th, 2026. Over 19 years, the brothers have built one of Nashville's most celebrated hospitality companies \u2014 earning Michelin Stars and James Beard Awards for their chef partners, opening concepts that helped define entire neighborhoods, and doing it all without losing either the partnership or the perspective on why any of it matters. This conversation covers the full arc: from a 16-year-old's gumball machine business and a bar nobody crossed the street to visit, to partnerships with Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, and some of the most talented chefs in the country. Along the way, Max and Benjamin talk about what Nashville's hospitality culture actually is and why it's rare, the pivot from "selfish" opening to chef partnerships that changed everything, the bets that scared them, the ones that didn't work, and why Benjamin still believes the restaurant business is fundamentally insane. The episode also gets at something harder to quantify: why they keep doing this, what a regular customer asking for a table actually means, and why giving back has never been a separate line item for either of them. Episode Highlights: 0:23 \u2014 The first entrepreneurs they remember: father, grandfather, and each other 1:43 \u2014 "The Man in the Arena" sign: three generations, one office wall 2:28 \u2014 Max's revelation: the first real entrepreneur he ever saw in action was his older brother 3:15 \u2014 Benjamin's first business: one gumball machine in a batting cage to buy a car at 16 4:20 \u2014 18 months of convincing Max to leave New York \u2014 and what the actual argument finally was 5:18 \u2014 Bar 23 in the Gulch: Benjamin with a flashlight outside, 23 shades of white inside, and one of the world's top nightlife spots 7:02 \u2014 Max's college years: promotions company, a TV show, student body president, and Lady Gaga (who opened for them, he'll have you know) 9:28 \u2014 Their father's linen tablecloth intervention: a Sharpie list of every reason this partnership was a bad idea 11:05 \u2014 August 1, 2007: Max moves back. Their wife took the photo of them signing the contract. 11:28 \u2014 What Nashville's food and hospitality scene looked like when Benjamin opened his first bar in 2003 15:54 \u2014 Why Nashville's culture of mutual support is genuinely different from every other city they know 17:13 \u2014 Arnold's Country Kitchen as the secret weapon for recruiting world-class chefs 18:12 \u2014 Locus named 20th Best Restaurant in North America, and what Pat Martin did while the team was in Vegas 20:35 \u2014 The two chapters: the first 10 years of "selfish" openings vs. the last decade of chef equity partnerships 21:17 \u2014 Why every single chef partnership they've entered has earned a Michelin Star or James Beard Award 23:48 \u2014 Company scope today: ~12 concepts, Garth & Trisha, airport, stadiums, hotel under construction 26:32 \u2014 The first restaurant: Paradise Park Trailer Resort and why quality was non-negotiable from day one 28:18 \u2014 CMA Fan Fest, hundreds of thousands of guests, and a pricing policy they've never broken 29:48 \u2014 The Patterson House: 78 seats, no bar standing, $12 cocktails, and zero industry support \u2014 until it changed Nashville's entire cocktail culture 31:48 \u2014 "The restaurant business is so dumb." Benjamin on what hospitality actually is at its core. 32:22 \u2014 Why they keep doing it: a customer, a question, and a woman meeting her father for the first time 33:55 \u2014 Placemaking: the Gulch before there were streetlights, Wedgewood Houston before Josh Habiger named it, 12 South, and what comes next 37:20 \u2014 Burt Matthews and Jodi Moody: the mentors and partners who changed every big bet 38:08 \u2014 Is Nashville growing past the point where the next Max and Benjamin can get started? 41:17 \u2014 Why giving back isn't scheduled for "after the exit" \u2014 it's built into how they operate every day 43:12 \u2014 Max's framework: earning, learning, returning \u2014 and why they're in all three phases simultaneously 44:09 \u2014 Imposter syndrome at the table, and what they want their kids to witness 46:12 \u2014 Closing: Hall of Fame, October 2026, and what showing up actually costs Subscribe to Circle Back for more conversations with Nashville's most interesting builders. Leave a review and share this episode with someone who's building something worth caring about.   Relevant Links: Strategic Hospitality Nashville Entrepreneur Center Circle Back Podcast Nashville Post #CircleBackPodcast #StrategicHospitality #MaxGoldberg #BenjaminGoldberg #NashvilleRestaurants #MichelinStar #JamesBeard #NashvilleEntrepreneur #Hospitality #Placemaking #FamilyBusiness #HallOfFame ","author_name":"Circle Back","author_url":"https:\/\/www.ec.co\/circle-back\/","html":"