Celebrity chef Jeremy Fall no longer calls himself a restaurateur. After opening five restaurants before the age of 27, Fall performed a complete 180 and began focusing all his efforts on the burgeoning NFT and cryptocurrency industries. He now serves as an influencer of sorts, operating a successful business that provides education for NFT-curious web3 denizens and, of course, creates non-fungible tokens himself.
Also a genuine car nut, Fall recently joined Polaris for the company's "Mark Your Mark" campaign focused on how the unique Slingshot three-wheeler encapsulates various personalities across a range of diverse fields. Polaris recently put me in touch with Fall but when we met up for a cruise in a new Slingshot, our conversation naturally turned towards the growing acceptance of NFTs among major players in the automotive industry.
Celebrity Chef And NFT Convert Jeremy Fall
Fall made a name in the food and hospitality industry, including a whirlwind tour of Los Angeles pop-ups and restaurants the most well-known of which, Nighthawk: Breakfast Bar, introduced a novel enough combination of breakfast food and late-night cocktails to appear on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. An avid amateur chef and craft cocktail mixologist myself, I went approached our afternoon in West Hollywood curious to learn more about the hip restaurant scene. But we quickly changed pace.
"I actually sold all my restaurants in 2019," Fall told me. "It was sort of perfect lucky timing. Then I put all my time into NFTs and crypto. I now run one of the largest Web3 brands online teaching people who want to know more about how the blockchain actually works and just more about this space in general."
Now combining social media and web outreach programs under the Probably Nothing brand, Fall also introduced his own lineup of flowery NFTs called Photosynthesis (entirely sold out, of course). But before we dove headfirst into the metaverse, I needed to at least learn a little bit about his automotive background. Turns out, Fall loves driving Porsches on the track and even dailies a Macan GTS (black-on-black, of course). Blasting around WeHo, he certainly put the Slingshot to the test—but this particular Slingshot wasn't exactly Fall's style.
"This one is blue and orange, I'm a black-on-black guy," he laughed. "They're shipping me one, all-black with the automatic. I never got into stick shifts. They said the automatic transmission will actually adapt the shift points to your driving style over time."
As he wound the little 2.0-liter mill up to redline and popped the single rear wheel loose, I advocated strongly for the stick-shift version, a unique vehicle that I discovered serves as a great training tool for honing hardcore driving skills.
Transitioning To A New NFT World
Trying to keep the conversation at least somewhat relevant to my brief, I asked how Fall views NFTs within the automotive industry these days.
"Car culture and NFTs are really similar in a lot of ways," he replied. "Collectability, value, emotional connection to brands. And I think OEMs are starting to recognize how much the connection with potential customers might fit into their plans for new NFTs as they look at this sort of new thing for them and see an opportunity."
I knew a little about the phenomenon of non-fungible tokens before our chat but Fall tried his best to impress upon me how, exactly, NFTs use the blockchain to create true ownership of virtual code.
"The blockchain basically makes digital ownership possible, he explained, "Otherwise you've just got a screenshot of something someone made. But I can prove digitally that I own this unique, single piece with the blockchain and nobody can fake that or imitate that because it's on the blockchain, on the record."
"I explain it to everyone like this: Go to the Louvre, take a picture of the Mona Lisa. Great, now you've got a photo of the Mona Lisa, but do you own the Mona Lisa?"
Aspirational Ownership Meets Real Ownership
For automotive brands, Fall believes that NFTs represent a way to increase the emotional connection between car companies and their fans. The potential benefits only sound even better for those on the higher end of the spectrum.
"Take a car company like McLaren, just for example," Fall said. "Say their cars cost a few hundred thousand dollars. Or more. Most people who want a McLaren will never own one, much less drive one, but they will read about every single McLaren that comes out, watch all the reviews, go to car meets, and fantasize about a different life driving them. Maybe someday."
Given the limited production capabilities of a small firm like McLaren, plus the financial commitment of actually buying and owning a bespoke British supercar, the sheer economics of scale simply don't scale up very quickly. Maybe NFTs can help McLaren bridge the gap, though.
"McLaren and other companies are starting to realize that they can continue to build that relationship with an NFT, which allows people to feel like they own a part of McLaren or something special," Fall posited. "But an NFT still keeps that sense of exclusivity intact, which is a big part of their branding, too."
Reinforcing Uniqueness In A Commodified World
By chance, Lotus announced a new NFT project the very same morning that Fall and I drove the Slingshot around West Hollywood. I asked whether he caught that news. Of course he did. His thoughts? Fall paused to think for a microsecond.
"Lotus is a brand that has the ability of creating a deeper connection with its consumers," he mused. "It almost feels more esoteric than other car brands. They have the ability to really make a stamp on the space and reinvent themselves in a new-age way."
Maybe because Lotus plans to expand into mass production and new electric crossovers, the heads at Hethel worry about the brand becoming perceived as more mundane. Can NFTs help to reinforce the uniqueness, the exclusivity that makes a Lotus turn heads even more than, just for example, a McLaren (in my personal experience)? Fall nodded a yes.
"I think they’re doing the right thing by entering the space, it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out when they launch."
The Future Of Digital Ownership
But as much as NFTs cater to similar urges of possession as a unique, rare car might engender for a serious collector, Fall envisions an entire industry shift far beyond McLaren or Lotus (or Lamborghini or Acura) releasing clever digital artwork in semi-promotional marketing campaigns.
"NFTs are essentially authenticated digital assets that you can own," he said. "They will definitely be the deeds to our cars someday."
After all, who wants to actually carry around a pink slip? Especially in an era when our insurance, drivers license, and credit cards already live on smartphones and cars can often seem like digital appliances that just happen to also have wheels. But beyond NFTs, the discrete and trackable nature of the blockchain may similarly revolutionize the actual process of buying and selling collectible cars.
"Crypto allows for financial transactions to be practically instant and global. With that said, I can see the days where there will be an automated way to sell your car through an NFT and have the money be automatically sent to the seller’s account through crypto. That’s the future, from a technological standpoint."
Whether public perception can pivot enough to usher in that future before autonomous EVs entirely erase the concept ownership from the automotive age remains a question that perhaps only another ride in a Polaris Slingshot can answer.
Sources: instagram.com, polaris.com, facebook.com, foodnetwork.com, itsprobablynothing.xyz, photosynthesis.io, and lotuscars.com.