Jeremy Fall: How does one of America’s most reputable restauranteurs go from being most commonly known as a lord of breakfast to diving into the depths of Web3 with Warner Records?
Jeremy Fall has always been one to try new things. At 16, he launched Mad City Entertainment, a Los Angeles artist management and event company, before working at the acclaimed Avalon Hollywood, then moving into digital publishing, launching Cliche Magazine, a magazine around fashion and music.
When he was 24, he opened three bars — a pop-up bar known as Genesis in Hollywood, Golden Box in the former LA Writers Room, and the former Skid-Row dive bar at the King Eddy Saloon.
At 26, he moved into his new beloved hobby as a restaurateur — opening Nighthawk: Breakfast Bar, a buzzing breakfast and cocktail establishment in Venice, California, which was famous for its alcoholic cereal milk. Later in the same year, he opened Eggslut — a walk-up burger stand in Chinatown.
He’s always been relatively averse and quite allergic to doing anything close to traditional norms. In 2016, Jeremy partnered up with Henry Costa, a former Wall Street investment banker turned chef to open a new enterprise — Jeremy’s goal was to create a restaurant that didn’t follow any food trends and would deliver what he considered was an “emotional connection to diners”, minus the hefty price tag.
Jeremy Fall: Deli opening
Later in that same year, he opened a speakeasy style deli with a secret password entry, before launching Nighthawk: AM, Easy’s and Paperboy Pizza in Santa Monica, California. By 2019, Jeremy had already opened 14 separate locales for unique eating experiences, with the additions of Mixtape, a “musical mixtape in restaurant form” that exhibited artworks from internationally-renowned legends, including Quincy Jones, Jaden Smith, Vic Mensa, Search Taken, Tokimonsta and carefully-curated playlists from Robin Thicke.
Jones sketched artwork on the wall, while Search Taken built a lamp out of recycled Yamaha Keyboards. Vic Mensa created 3D art while Brandon Boyd of Incubus and Jaden Smith shared paintings.
Jeremy has always tried to push the boundaries of experiences within his restaurants, and his love of food went beyond the physical locations. He featured in various cooking shows, most notably on Home & Family with his infamous “Original Gangster Breakfast Sandwich”, and was a guest on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, as well as episodes of the American favourite Food Network.
The merging of music and food was inevitable, according to Jeremy. Last year, he partnered with Grammy-winning artist Miguel on his first production series, Beats for Breakfast, which featured Jeremy and Miguel cooking a weekly tasty breaky recipe while Miguel cooked up new music beats. The duo turned tasty basics like avo toast and shakshuka into epic entertainment and cooking inspo.
That’s quite a ridiculous list of feats for a young guy, and in 2022, he’s trying something new again. NFTs.
Jeremy Fall: Pandemic
Just before the pandemic hit, Jeremy made the decision to allow his 14 restaurants across the country to become acquired. In the midst of the pandemic, he felt that his ability to be creative was painfully limited. That’s when he learned about Web3.
“I fell into the world of Web3 and found the NFT communities super interesting because they reminded me of food and how people were gathering around NFTs to have conversations and congregate around art in the same way people would do around food,” Jeremy told The Chainsaw in a recent interview.
“I see similarities in the way that people can have a direct relationship with those who are consuming what you create, in real time. If you send a dish out to someone when you eat it, you can have a direct conversation with those people. That’s something that’s really interested me versus an industry like fashion where you can sell a shirt but you’re not going to have an ongoing relationship with them unless you create a whole bunch of ways of staying in contact,” he said.
“I quickly realised I could add a lot of value by bringing in some of my connections into the Web space, and bring more legitimacy to projects,” Jeremy shared, referring to the myriad of scams that were plaguing (and still are plaguing) the industry at the time.
“I knew that if bigger players came into this it would eventually bring mass adoption to the space, bringing more value to this tech. That’s how the idea for Probably Nothing started. I wanted to build a brand that represents culture in an accurate way, like Supreme did with skate culture back in the early 90s.”
Probably Nothing
Probably Nothing, co-founded by Aaron Ahmadi, is a Web3 culture studio that aims to bring together a global community that feels local. Projects will include clothing, the record label (Probably A Label), art and collectibles. Jeremy aims to create a brand akin to Supreme and its contribution to skate culture, but in the Web3 space.
Probably A Label was recently launched in partnership between Warner Records and Probably Nothing, which aims to help creatives and brands learn how they can build new, innovative ideas and products around NFT IP. Projects will come to Probably A Label to access learnings, resources, advice and capital, and the label will help develop, advise, create assets, take products to market, and co-sign finance.
“Whatever it is, we’re here to help that IP come alive,” Jeremy said.
Warner Records came to Jeremy early in the year for a project called Stickmen Toys – a 5,000 PFP collection of audio-visual NFTs in partnership with Bose. Each Stickmen Toy came with its own track generated from a range of bass lines, drums, melodies, sound effects and vocal samples with a custom built algorithmic randomiser, and visual art mapped onto audio stems.
Sell-out
When the collection was an instant sell out, Jeremy recognised there was a need to assist brands in building new ways to generate new experiences for fans. Stickmen Toys has since partnered with The Chainsmokers, Armin van Buuren, Felix Jaehn and more, and its holders receive the right to future streetwear, physical collectibles, and more Warner Records NFT projects.
“We wanted to help give musicians an education around what Web3 is and not just drop music, but expand beyond that. We’ve created an open IP incubator where people can work on films, books, or whatever they’d like to experiment with. Ultimately, you know, it’s just creative and IP development but on a bigger level.”
Most recently, Jeremy merged his love for food and Web3 by sharing a ‘treasure-hunt’ of sorts at Art Basel Miami, where NFT holders of a ‘Fantasy Foods’ drop could redeem their NFT for IRL Eggs & Bacon chips.
Jeremy Fall: NFTs
What does Jeremy see for the future of NFTs? He envisions a future where major brands like Supreme or Gucci lend their IP to a select group of people who can set the sky as the limit, and build creative ventures as a brand’s ambassador or representative.
For now, he’ll continue partnering with greats to explore the opportunities with NFT utility, like the most recent Diddy and Jason Martin collaboration under Probably A Label, which saw a sold out mint in five minutes to unreleased music. We’ll keep an eye on his ventures of 2023.
