Transcript - Breaking New Ground in Kern County: Shaping Careers and Community with Chris Kelley President of Hard Rock Casino Tejon Episode 161

Chris Kelley [00:00:00]:

The tribe has been a very critical part of the design of Hard Rock Tejon from the earliest of days. And so what it looks like and what it feels like, they have been directly involved in. And so from the moment that you walk through the doors, you really see and feel that. But they're also team members. You know, Hard Rock Tejon tribal members are a part of that workforce today and will be every day going forward.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:00:27]:

Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, vice president of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast. And we are starting the conversation about the Future of Work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us, you, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole. This is the Future of Work.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:01:13]:

Hi. Welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Today I am joined by Chris Kelley, president of Hard Rock Casino Tejon. Chris brings over 20 years experience in gaming and hospitality industry, having led leadership roles at major resorts and casinos across the country. Now he's leading the charge on what will be the largest private hospitality project in Kern County's history. This development isn't just about building a casino.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:01:45]:

It's about creating thousands of jobs, introducing a whole new industry to the region, and deepening community partnerships with the Tejon tribe. Chris, thank you so much for being here with us today.

 

Chris Kelley [00:01:56]:

Thank you so much for having me.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:01:58]:

Excellent. We're just going to jump right in, if you don't mind.

 

Chris Kelley [00:02:02]:

Absolutely.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:02:03]:

This is one of my favorite questions always that I ask every guest. And your career journey has started with finance operations, and then it's led to executive leadership. What is it about Hard Rock Casino that drew you in? And how does this project feel different from the others that you've led?

 

Chris Kelley [00:02:23]:

Well, it's really a very unique project, and it's a great question, because when you think about Hard Rock, you think about the power of this global brand, and it's one that's very well known around the world. But what I love about this particular project here is it's now married with this inspiring story about the Tejon tribe that has been here since the first time that the sun came up. And it's really part of the origin story of the Central Valley itself. And so now bringing these two entities together is something that is really very, very unique, and it's a very inspiring story of resilience and persistence now combined with this global superpower. And that is something that will have generational impacts, not just for the Tejon tribe, but for Kern County itself.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:03:13]:

Thank you. And along the same line, I mean, you've led projects both on the east coast and the West Coast. And how has that mix of experience shaping you and how you lead this particular project?

 

Chris Kelley [00:03:28]:

Yeah, you know, I'm. I'm from the Northeast originally. I grew up in. In New England. And then, you know, as you. As you go out into the world and you. You work in these different markets, and now I've worked at properties on the east coast and the west coast in the middle, and I've had the privilege of. Of these different experiences.

 

Chris Kelley [00:03:45]:

And you find that, you know, in different areas, people like some different foods, maybe, or they support some different teams, maybe there's some different music that. That they like in different areas. But there are so many more things that we share than are those differences that we have. And when you work in hospitality, the thing that really crystallizes that, for me is so important about this project is really the importance of how you make people feel and the value of guest experience as a differentiator for the workforce that they do and the work that we do in this market. People remember feeling valued, they remember feeling heard. And so those ingredients are really critical when you think about a project like this. And those are really difference makers for Hard Rock and what we call amplified guest service. And so those are things we think we do very, very well.

 

Chris Kelley [00:04:43]:

And so certainly things that we'll be bringing to this market and to this project.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:04:48]:

Speaking of amplification, when I think of your project, I think of the amplification of job creation and the scale by which a project like this creates jobs, both not only in the local community, but across the region. And so what I'm curious about is if you can kind of give us a sense of that scale and also what are the particular career paths or opportunities that the region can look forward to in a project like this in the county?

 

Chris Kelley [00:05:20]:

Yeah, one of. One of my favorite statistics about this project, and really just speaking to the phase one of this project, but this is the largest private hospitality investment in Kern County history, and Kern County is about the size, just slightly smaller than New Hampshire. So Kern County is a. Is a huge amount of land. It's a huge area. And so this is really a very, very big deal for this part of the world. And when you think about the number of jobs, you know, we're talking about, you know, 5,000 jobs or so that are attached to this. At the macro level, that's construction, that's trade, suppliers, vendors, and attached industries.

 

Chris Kelley [00:06:01]:

But when we turn our lens now to the. To the building itself, you know what, we're opening on November 13, just a matter of weeks from now. That's over 1,000 permanent jobs in an area that really hasn't had a hospitality economy, certainly not to this degree in this part of Kern County. It's extremely exciting. To your point, these are jobs that exist at all different levels. Hospitality has really evolved as an industry where we have very mature roles in finance, in marketing, at the highest level, in legal, and across professional spectrums at the same time that we have frontline level roles where folks can break in that have never worked in a hospitality role before. And so it's unique as an industry where you can come in at almost any level and then build a career path from there. So many of our leaders today started in frontline roles many yesterdays ago and then were able to grow their careers from there, myself included.

 

Chris Kelley [00:07:04]:

And so it really does stand alone, I think, as an industry that allows for that growth, really fosters that growth, and looks for individuals when they're out there in the community. We look for individuals that have the ability, the desire to grow in that capacity.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:07:19]:

Thank you. You mentioned something really important. You mentioned that hospitality is relatively new. It's a relatively new industry to the area, to that region, and it's mostly spearheaded by agriculture and energy. So as a leader coming into that space, introducing a new industry in the area, how has that influenced or how has your approach been as. Again, like, as a leader in this space, how are you approaching that newness for the county?

 

Chris Kelley [00:07:53]:

Well, one of the great things about the industry, and we often talk about this, is it's a business built on relationship building. And so when you come into a market that hasn't perhaps had as robust a hospitality economy as some others that we might have been to in the past, that you really start with, well, how can we build relationships? How can we build bridges to places that we haven't been before? One of the really remarkable things about coming into Kern County, and a lot of the credit goes to the Tejon tribe that it built just extraordinarily positive relationships before we ever came here, but just how business friendly Kern County really is. And so it was extremely welcoming and the ability to go out and build partnerships and relationships very, very quickly was really fostered and amplified, to use that word again, very rapidly, through the community college network, through the different chambers and those conduits that were in place to do exactly that, to allow businesses to come in and, and to grow quickly in an environment, whether that existing platform was there or it wasn't. But I think you also recognize the responsibility as a new leader coming in to really make sure that the foundation is built and built in a way that not just Hard Rock Casino to home can grow, but hopefully future hospitality businesses can grow around it as well. Because ultimately that's in the best interest of this business to see not just this business grow, but, but all of those support businesses around it at the same time. That's the goal here.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:09:31]:

I can only imagine just the level of detail that it takes to put on this project, to see this project come to fruition. And you're right. In a leadership role, especially with this project, it has shaped you in so many different ways. It's just different. Right? I mean, you come from, you have an amazing experience across the country, the west coast, the east coast. And I, and I have to believe that this particular project has really shaped you in a, in a different capacity, just given the local community. That said, I've always loved and appreciated how Hard Rock has valued culture, music, heritage. What I'm curious about is how that speaks spirit has kind of reflected into this particular project.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:10:23]:

And the partnerships that you mentioned earlier with the community and the Tejon tribe, how is that resonating within the project?

 

Chris Kelley [00:10:33]:

Yeah, I think that “partner” word that you hit on is a really important one, when you think about how Hard Rock operates, and in particular, you know, when you think about the relationship with the tribe, because the tribe is then, you know, a very critical part of the design of Hard Rock Tejon from the earliest of days. And so what it looks like and what it feels like - they have been directly involved in, and so from the moment you walk through the doors, you really see and feel that, but they’re also team members. You know, of those team members I was talking about. Hard Rock Tejon tribal members are a part of that workforce today and will be every day going forward...

 

Chris Kelley [00:11:39]:

But those design elements, there are so many that our community will see when they walk through the doors, one of my favorites, there is a six-story guitar that will be one of the focal points of the property that you will not miss, obviously, when you drive by it. There’s another monument guitar, that is closer to the front entrance, the primary entrance of the property, and it has this basket weave design element that. That is very emblematic of the rich history of the Tejon tribe itself that is absolutely extraordinary to see. And so you cannot, literally cannot come through the front entrance of the property without immediately understanding just the depth of that relationship and how that translates into the property itself. And so I think it was done really beautifully, and it does set this property apart from every other Hard Rock. At the same time, you can't mistake that. You know, that Hard Rock quintessence when you come through the doors here and. And the ability to marry those things together is very challenging, but was done just beautifully, and I can't wait to introduce it to our guests.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:12:26]:

Yeah, likewise. I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to see it. And, you know, this is unique project, and it's uniqueness, along with kind of keeping with the Hard Rock essence. And Hard Rock is a global brand, and some may argue that it's nearly a universal recogn. Universally recognized.

 

Chris Kelley [00:12:47]:

Yeah, right.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:12:49]:

How do you balance the strength of that international brand while making sure that the project feels authentically rooted in Kern County, I mean, you mentioned it a little bit, but is there anything more that. That you can dive deep on?

 

Chris Kelley [00:13:04]:

Yeah, you know, one of the really…you know, it’s such a cool brand and the story of the brand and its origins, you know dating back to that first cafe in London, over fifty years ago, but the memorabilia side of the brand is one of the interesting ways that you see it manifest in these different places that it goes, and you know, it’s one of the ways I think you see unique locations express themselves in a way that’s very authentic, so you know, our location, when you think about the rich musical history, Bakersfield Sound and you know some of the extraordinary talent that we’ve had around this area and our ability to express that through the memorabilia that we show here at the property at Hard Rock Casino, Tejon.

 

Chris Kelley [00:13:55]:

I think that's one of those ways that whether you want, you know, there's over 300, you know, hard Rock locations and cafes and hotels and different casino resort properties, but each one ties in those elements that are very special and unique to that particular place in that particular time, those artists that. That have roots in those locations. And I think that's. That's one of those ways that, you know, that this is something that's special to Kern County. You could only find it here. And I think that that really does drive that sense of genuineness and authenticity that you really feel when you're in one of those locations. And we'll certainly feel it here.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:14:35]:

Excellent, thank you, I’m going to just shift gears a little and get into workforce development and regional growth. This project serves as a model for it, for taking something, taking a large brand and making it feel local and authentically local and what I’m curious about are what are the lessons that you’ve learned in this process and how might other industries take this approach? Like if there are other industries that are currently not represented in a specific region and they’re looking to make a large foot print, based on your experience with this one, what lessons might you want to share?

 

Chris Kelley [00:14:54]:

Well, you know, I think we tend to go in with the most grassroots of approaches and other industries, and there are many ways to drive success, certainly, but many industries will go into an area looking for, perhaps they want a certain percentage of degrees in a certain area or whatever it might be. But we tend to be much more grassroots in our nature. And so we look for, again, those. Those relationships that allow us to really amplify our message and relationships that we can build, to partner, to. To tell the story of the opportunities that we have, and I'll use the example of dealers.

 

Chris Kelley [00:15:59]:

You know, we. A dealer is. Is someone that we will offer an opportunity to, that has literally never dealt a game in their lives, maybe have never shuffled a deck of cards ever, maybe doesn't know how the games are played. And you can literally go through an interview process. And with the right attitude, there's a math test that's attached to it. But the math is not terribly difficult. You could go through it with a high school level of math training behind you, and you could come out of that with an opportunity to enroll in what we call dealer school. We will train you and we will pay you while you're going through that training.

 

Chris Kelley [00:16:39]:

And then you will have an opportunity to begin a career that actually has a fairly robust income attached to it in a matter of weeks. And there are very few career path opportunities that will take you from literally never having done it at all, from interview to training, paid training, and in a matter of 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, you can learn nearly all the games offered on the floor to a level of income that is significant, that I think is very unique in any industry. And so the ability to offer paths like that, to be able to tell that story through the most grassroots of levels where we don't expect you to come to us, we will come to you with that story and really meet you in your neighborhoods, in your community centers. I think that is something that is very powerful. And when folks hear that message and understand that message, the response to that, I think, can be really transformative, not just for the individual, but for the communities themselves. You know, when we think about the town of Mettler, which is where this project is, the poverty rate is in excess of 20%. Our admin offices are in the town of Arvin. The poverty rate is in excess of 30%.

 

Chris Kelley [00:17:59]:

And so we're talking about twice and three times the national averages. Now, these are great towns. These are on the comeback towns. But think about what a thousand jobs with income levels like that, with training programs like that, think about what that means. And so these are really significant impacts in a very positive direction. And that's the type of opportunity that we can create.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:18:22]:

And so we're talking about twice and three times the national averages. Now, these are great towns. These are on the comeback towns. But think about what a thousand jobs with income levels like that, with training programs like that, think about what that means. And so these are really significant impacts in a very positive direction. And that's the type of opportunity that we can create.

 

Chris Kelley [00:18:57]:

Yeah, it's a great question. And I would say it's been one of the most important relationships we've had attached to this project. First, extraordinary community college network here in Kern County. Very, very strong. We worked with the community college right out of the gate and Bakersfield College, and Kern County Community College was very helpful to us as a platform first for just holding meetings, telling our story, bringing people together. So just as a platform for meeting and channels for organizing people, which is actually a very big part of how that messaging process occurs. But secondarily, when you think about programs themselves, the culinary programs are extremely important in hospitality and I would say speed to market programs. Often there are programs that might take perhaps it's a semester or longer.

 

Chris Kelley [00:19:53]:

When we're thinking about longer certifications, I think programs that allowed for skills that could be developed rapidly. When we were talking about dealers a little while ago, if I can learn a game in four weeks, that gives me access to the floor and earning potential to learn blackjack as an example, if I can learn my required knife skills as a cook and things like that in a matter of weeks, that gives me access to earning potential while I'm learning additional skills beyond that, that gives me the ability to perhaps take care of my family, while I'm continuing to kind of move up the income potential ladder. You know, things like that. I think we have found to be very helpful. Helpful to the families, helpful to the individuals, but helpful to us as well, because we often will bring an individual in at a certain level and then look to grow them, which helps them. It helps us at the same time. So those culinary programs, I think, were areas of focus and continue to be for us as well.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:20:52]:

Thank you. We're kind of in the middle of this AI storm, right? AI is not new. We know that. It's been around for decades. It's just evolved, and we can't ignore it anymore. Is AI influencing any occupations within hospitality? Maybe not necessarily to this project, but your experience with hospitality, are there any changes that you're seeing? If so, I would imagine there are. But if so, what are those significant changes? Because it's important to us for our programming to continue evolve and shift with either reimagining some occupations that we should be focusing on or understanding what the new ones are coming up.

 

Chris Kelley [00:21:35]:

Yeah, it's one of those. I think we're all asking that question, and we're all, I think, kind of learning at the time. Same. Same time, you know, we're. We're heavily invested in how does it make the guest experience better, how does it make the guest journey better? And so, you know, we're looking at it from an analytical standpoint, which is, you know, how can we take something that we looked at, you know, we looked at guests one way because it was very hard for us to divide the data into 100 different ways because we just couldn't do it. And so we could only look at guests, you know, two ways. And really trying to sort of really look at you as an individual as opposed to kind of segments that, you know, put you into broad groups that may be applied and maybe didn't. So analytically, we try to break groups into much finer levels of detail so we can really tailor offers to you that are really special and unique to you.

 

Chris Kelley [00:22:29]:

So analytically, that's something that we were very focused on. When you think about things like call centers and, you know, how do we get hotels, offers and. And when you're in stay, how do we make sure you have an opportunity to tell us how we're doing? You know, things like that, we're obviously very focused on it there too. But I would say we haven't really arrived yet at, you know, all the ways in which we can make your life better as a guest. We're very much on the learning curve of how we get there. And I don't think that's hospitality. I think that's many of you know, whether it's.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:22:58]:

I agree.

 

Chris Kelley [00:22:58]:

I mean, you name it. I think we're all very much in that place, place and, and learning together. But, but the focus for us is really how do we make that guest journey easier for you? How do we make your life better when you come to one of our properties?

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:23:13]:

Thank you. I'd love to circle back with you on that at some, at some point, because everyone who I speak to relates to AI and occupations. There's a lot of heavy conversations and the data shows that, of course, AI is augmenting our existing occupations, but I hear very little about replacing, you know, when I'm speaking to, when I'm speaking to industry, just like I am with you. But the noise, there's lots of noise around. It's replacing, it's replacing. Yet our employers are saying, well, not yet. Like it's, it's augmenting, but it's not quite yet replaced. And not everyone has the, the finger on the pulse as relates to, like, what is emerging.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:23:54]:

What are emerging occupations within a very traditional sector like culinary and hospitality. Right. Where it's very engaging, it's very human engaging. So I'd love to kind of circle back with you on that to see how that's evolved, you know, a few years from now, because it's.

 

Chris Kelley [00:24:12]:

Oh, absolutely.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:24:13]:

Yeah, it's really great. Well, this, this has been a beautiful conversation. The Future of Work podcast is designed to really kind of explore what is happening now and kind of where we're leading to. And so, keeping with that Future of Work in mind, what is a key takeaway from our conversation that you would like our listeners to walk away with?

 

Chris Kelley [00:24:35]:

Well, I really hope it's. Hospitality is a bit more of a 360 degree industry than you might have thought of it as in the past. You know, it really is one of those professions that allows for so many different areas. You know, it's not just to the front of the house that we often think of, but we really do have professions at the highest of levels. We deal with financings, extraordinarily complex. We deal with marketing, competing with some of the most challenging and competitive sectors on the planet. But at the same time, we have the joy of celebrating milestones with guests at their most joyous moments. And so it really is what I think of as a 360 degree industry.

 

Chris Kelley [00:25:21]:

And I hope we were able to shed a little bit of light on that through our conversation today. And the fact that it's also a growing industry in Kern county certainly is one that brings some excitement and energy around it as well.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:25:35]:

Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much. And before we say our goodbyes, I wanted to ask if our listener would like to learn more about the project and or get in touch with you in some capacity. What's the best way to do it? And we'll make sure to enter it in the Show Notes.

 

Chris Kelley [00:25:51]:

Well, go to workhappy.com if any of those jobs sounded interesting to you, and then Hard Rock Casino to Tejon. You'll find us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:26:02]:

Excellent. Thank you so much, Chris. It's been a pleasure and I look forward to continuing this conversation.

 

Chris Kelley [00:26:07]:

Thank you so much. Talk to you again soon.

 

Salvatrice Cummo [00:26:10]:

Thank you for listening to the Future of Work podcast. Make sure you're subscribed on your favorite listening platform so you can easily get new episodes every Tuesday. You can reach out to us by clicking on the website link below in the Show Notes to collaborate, partner or just chat about all things Future of Work. We'd love to connect with you. All of us here at the Future of Work and Pasadena City College wish you safety and wellness.