"This is it. This is The Job" | By Patrick Olp

As long as I can remember, I’ve always told people I love the combination of good food, good drink, and good people. It’s probably why going to work a couple of nights a week at Walkers feels less like work and more of a realization of what makes me the happiest.  

This month I celebrate six years in total at the restaurant. Besides giving me a decent side income, it has helped me discover ways to stay adjacent to “The Industry” in meaningful way while also allowing me to make a full-time living.  

In May, I started as a rep for a beverage distribution company, representing their liquor portfolio to local establishments. The irony of being a liquor rep after having grown up as a full-blown evangelical would-be pastor isn’t lost on me. But that to me is a little bit of the savory beauty of growth and life not necessarily going the way you would have guessed or imagined.  

I love the opportunity to explore fine beverages. Getting to be around my people in the industry on a daily basis is just the cherry on top. My job doesn’t feel like a job, not even a little bit. I go to restaurants, eat their food, make friends, have them taste through my portfolio, get our represented brands added to their shelves, rinse and repeat. As my boss says, “That’s it. That’s the job.”  

The part I haven’t included here entails the eight years I spent doing things I hated to make sure the bills were paid. Hindsight is 20/20, and now I can see that the time I’ve spent working at Walkers (which I always thought was just supplemental income) has positioned me to be able to attain my dream job. Three months in and I am pinching myself every single day, unable to believe that this is actually my reality. Until such time arrives to make me stop, I’m going to keep getting up every single morning, remind myself that it is real, and that “This is it. This is The Job”.