Indiana Success Happy Hour

Blake Fogelsong of Clancy’s Hospitality shares how his family built an Indiana restaurant legacy and why successful restaurants must constantly evolve to survive and grow. On this episode of Indiana Success Happy Hour, Brian Quinlan and Brad Niccum sit down with Blake Fogelsong, third-generation owner and Director of Operations at Clancy’s Hospitality. Blake takes us through a family restaurant story that started with his grandfather opening Clancy’s Hamburgers and grew across three generations into a collection of distinctly different Indiana concepts. We get into the story behind The Pretender, a Japanese listening-bar-inspired restaurant in downtown Noblesville built around analog music, vinyl, vintage design, great food, and cocktails. Blake explains why they wanted to create an experience unlike anything else in the Indianapolis area—and why the right concept sometimes takes years to find the right location. We also dig into Grindstone Public House, Grindstone on the Monon, The Fountain Room, Michelangelo’s, and the return of the original Clancy’s brand. Beyond the food, Blake gets into the business realities of running restaurants today: higher labor and food costs, shrinking margins, evolving customer expectations, keeping concepts fresh, and knowing when a restaurant needs to change. Plus, we talk tequila, The Bear, Blake’s original plans to head to Hollywood, and what you should order when you visit The Pretender. It’s a conversation about family business, hospitality, calculated reinvention, and building restaurant experiences people actually want to come back to.

Indiana real estate is changing fast. New appraisal rules, higher mortgage rates, low housing inventory, and home prices could reshape the Indiana housing market. This week on Indiana Success Happy Hour, Brian Quinlan and Brad Niccum sit down for a wide-ranging conversation about what buyers, sellers, Realtors, and mortgage professionals could be facing next. Brad breaks down upcoming changes to conventional appraisals, including additional data requirements and why the process could become more detailed, time-consuming, and expensive. Brian and Brad also dig into mortgage rates, Indiana housing inventory, affordability, and why waiting for the “perfect” market may not play out the way buyers expect. Then things take a turn—as they usually do. Brad recaps his Vegas trip, including the wildly different sides of the Strip, Vegas prices, and riding in a Zoox autonomous vehicle. The guys also get into Buc-ee’s coming to Greenwood, Indiana, how technology is changing everyday life, what’s happening in education, and whether AI is about to make our lives dramatically better…or get a little weird. It’s real estate, business, technology, Indiana growth, and two guys following the conversation wherever it goes.

Brian Quinlan and Brad Niccum start with a look at what’s happening in housing and mortgages, including the 10-year Treasury, interest rates, Indiana real estate inventory, the nationwide housing shortage and one of the biggest challenges facing buyers today: affordability. There may still be millions fewer homes than America needs, but that doesn’t mean buyers can afford the homes that are available. Add higher home prices, mortgage rates, $1,000 car payments and increasingly long auto loans, and the math gets difficult quickly. Then things go off the rails—in the best way. Brian and Brad move from housing economics into the everyday things that make absolutely no sense: unnecessarily complicated car wash modes, Tesla and Range Rover problems, endless paperwork when buying a house, painfully slow car dealerships, getting older, people who refuse to return shopping carts, and the special brand of chaos that only seems to happen at airports. It’s part housing market discussion, part personal finance reality check and part airing of grievances. Welcome to another Indiana Success Happy Hour.

Indiana craft spirits, whiskey, bourbon, and distilling take center stage as Brooks Bemis of Haberdasher Artisan Distillery in Franklin, Indiana, shows us what makes his spirits different. Brooks joins Brian Quinlan and Brad Niccum to taste through some of Haberdasher’s most interesting creations—from rye and wheated bourbon to locally sourced brandy, barrel-aged gin, and one of the wildest ideas of the episode: a spirit made by distilling an IPA from an Indiana brewery. But there’s a bigger story behind what’s in the glass. Brooks had no formal distilling background when he started. He taught himself the craft, built Haberdasher as a side business while working a full-time job, and eventually made the jump to running the distillery full time. Now, Haberdasher is preparing for a major expansion in downtown Franklin that will increase production and add food, beer, wine, and more space for customers. We also dive into the science behind fermentation, small-barrel aging, pot stills, how different grains and barrels affect flavor—and whether something as crazy as playing Metallica or Mozart during fermentation could actually change the finished spirit. It’s part tasting, part science experiment, and part Indiana success story with a guy who turned his obsession with spirits into a growing business.

ndianapolis video production, content marketing, photography, and brand storytelling take center stage as Joe Toth of Toth Media joins Indiana Success Happy Hour. Joe built Toth Media into a family-owned video production and photography company serving organizations locally, regionally, and nationally. He joins Brian Quinlan and Brad Niccum to talk about how he got started, what businesses actually need from professional video, and how the content-production world continues to change. Joe's path started with music and percussion before a high school radio and TV class opened the door to visual storytelling. That journey eventually took him through Ball State and Indiana University, where sound production and sound design became specialties—and ultimately helped lay the foundation for Toth Media. The guys get into commercial video production, product photography, brand content, product launches, working alongside marketing and PR teams, and the difference between having an in-house content team and bringing in an outside production company. They also touch on AI voice tools versus professional voice talent and where Joe believes the human element still matters. And because this is Indiana Success Happy Hour, the conversation doesn't stay on business forever. Joe happens to be a serious tequila enthusiast and collector, which sends Brad and Joe down the agave rabbit hole. They talk about what separates traditionally made tequila from the mass-market stuff, the connection between the people, land and production process, and some memorable bottles—including an old-school Cabo Wabo that brings Brad's tequila journey full circle. Throw in Indiana University stories, Little 500 memories, Brian's PA announcing career, a few questionable college stories, and some exceptional bottles, and you've got a Happy Hour.