September 29, 2026 • 40 mins
If Jim Mazany's career had a soundtrack, it would open with Prince. His first concert was the Purple Rain tour at Nassau Coliseum. Since then, his path has run from washing dishes on Long Island to culinary school in Hyde Park to leading brands like TGI Fridays, Logan's Roadhouse and Joe's Crab Shack, and now to the CEO role at P.F. Chang's.
In this episode of CEOs You Should Know, iHeartMedia Region President Chris Long sits down with Jim Mazany, CEO of P.F. Chang's, to talk about hospitality, culinary craft and leading an iconic brand through a turnaround.
Jim traces the influences that shaped him, from a Marine father who taught him work ethic to a mother who made hospitality the center of their home. He shares how a chef's mindset still guides the way he leads, why "the speed of trust" matters when building a leadership team and how P.F. Chang's is working to turn "I like P.F. Chang's, but I haven't been there in a while" into "I love P.F. Chang's, and I was there last night." He also takes Chris inside the brand's turnaround, from renewed focus on the in-restaurant experience and culinary innovation to double-digit sales growth, rising guest traffic and plans to expand P.F. Chang's footprint in the U.S. and around the world.
Guest: Jim Mazany, CEO, P.F. Chang's
Host: Chris Long, Region President, iHeartMedia Dallas-Fort Worth & Central Texas
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is CEOs You Should Know with iHeartMedia's region president
of Dallas-Fort Worth in Central Texas, Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I want to welcome everybody to another episode of CEOs
You Should Know Dallas. I'm Chris Long, region president for iHeartMedia,
and I'm here with my new friend, Jim Mazzani, CEO
of P.F.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Chang's.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Jim, welcome. Hey, Chris. How are you?
Speaker 5 (00:23):
I'm great. Thanks for stopping by today.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Um, in from Phoenix where it's about 3 million degrees
to Dallas where it's about.
Speaker 5 (00:31):
Two and a half million. So, uh, we're excited to
have you. Um, Jim and I are going to talk
a lot about the world of hospitality and restaurants.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Um, but before we do that, um, there's some questions
we have to ask Jim just to get a feel for, uh,
who he is as a, um, music listener and audio fan.
Speaker 5 (00:54):
Um, Since iHeartMedia is the largest.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Audio company in the United States with 860 radio stations,
160 markets.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You guys all know the drill. Music, spoken word, we've
got it all. Jim, question number one. First concert? Prince. Whoa!
That may have moved him to number one. Yes, it did. Yes,
it did. It did. I mean, we've had Johnny Cash. Prince,
Purple Rain. Where were you?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I was in New York, Nassau Coliseum. I grew up
on Long Island, and I think that was my first concert.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Anything Prince related?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I think the podcast might just be over now.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
We just finished. Yeah, we can go home. We can
just go home with Prince. That was a pretty good one.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I don't even want to say who mine was, men
at work. That's embarrassing. First music artist poster on your
wall or favorite?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
First music artist?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Styx.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Yeah, sticks.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Good one.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
And then REO Speedwagon.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Oh, you can't beat REO Speedwagon. What is it? You
can tune a piano, but you can't tune a fish?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Yeah, yes.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Yeah, whatever, Chris. Okay. Who was your artist crush?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Who was my artist crush? Oh, God. I definitely had
a Farrah Fawcett poster on the wall.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
As most guys my age probably had.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I did– I'm trying to think.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Since I mentioned Farrah Fawcett, probably Charlie's Angels was a
kind of favorite back in that day.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
This is– there's a reoccurring theme.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We've had a couple of these lately where Charlie's Angels
and we've gotten into the debate of favorite angel and.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
All of that. Favorite angel?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Jacqueline Smith.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Same. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
I'm with you. I do have to say as a–
what was I? Eight or nine-year-old seeing– Olivia Newton-John in
Greece kind of did a thing for me.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
That worked for me as well.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Every time I'm flipping channels, if the end-of-school fair scene
is on, I do have to stop and watch for
a few minutes.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
But what would be your walk-up song?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
If you were doing a big corporate event or something
like that and you had to have a walk-up song,
what would it be?
Speaker 5 (03:05):
You know, I.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Think Pitbull became kind of a favorite kind of later
for some of the music that I would come up
to for a meeting.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Have you seen him in concert?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
I have seen Pitbull in concert, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I have a very eclectic musical.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
No, that's... Okay, like I warned you, this could go
down that road. Like, Pitbull and Prince. Yeah. Most unique
concert you've been to?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I love Dave Matthews, too.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
And I've been to probably seven or eight Dave Matthews concerts.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, so I've followed Dave a lot.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
Would that be your favorite concert?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
He's my favorite concert, yeah, because I love the loyalty
that he gets from people that just... I remember sitting
in a pretty good seat, and I thought it was
great for my birthday. My wife had purchased it for me, and...
I thought it was a big shot. I'm like, all right,
number seven for me. And I reached out to the
person next to me and it was like number 45.
I'm like, okay, all right.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
I'm out of my league here. Yeah, minor leaguer here.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
I'm a minor leaguer.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
Oh, wow. I do have to throw this in. I
was at a Zac Brown band concert. Cool.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
All right.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Lights go off. All of a sudden they kind of
come back on. So there's something going on and a
dude walks out on the stage, takes his hood off.
dave girl and they cover enter sandman.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Oh wow that's what that sort of event oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I mean you know so i mean we could talk
music all day long but we won't um so.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
I love your background you started off in culinary school correct.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah i actually started off before culinary school so i
actually the restaurant industry i started when i was probably
a young guy in my teenage years it was a
uh The kind of thing where my dad was a
Marine and he instilled in us a lot of values
that we needed to work and have a great work
ethic from a very young age. So I remember being
in junior high and high school, you know, having a
(04:44):
job on weekends and always working for as long as
I can remember. And, you know, the restaurant bug kind
of got me as my very first job in the restaurant.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Business was a dishwasher.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I started washing dishes and being very, very curious about
what goes on in kitchens and, you know, just the
respect for the culinary art.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
I think was kind of something that I really started
at that point.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
And then I continued that path, and then I decided
that I really wanted to be a chef. And so
I went to culinary school in Hyde Park in New York,
a great place. And when I went, you had to
be sponsored by a chef.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
You had to be sponsored by a chef to be
able to be accepted into the programs. And I was
very fortunate growing up on Long Island that there were
some great restaurateurs that saw that I was a young–
guy that worked hard and that had that, you know,
that twinkle in the eye for the business. And whenever
they would call for picking up a shift or working,
I was always, the answer was yes.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
So.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
What was your favorite food? Like what, when you were cooking,
what was your thing?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
You know, I started off, I'm Italian. So like Italian
is really kind of my, my mom, my mom was
always like would cook. And, uh, and my mom was always, um,
if would people come, she's passed since, but what, when
people would come to our house, like she went out
of her way to kind of think about, and this
is probably where hospitality comes in for me, where whatever
(06:05):
your favorite thing was, she would make that for you.
So there could be 10 people at the house and
she's made 10 favorite dishes for people.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
That are part of the family.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And it, and she was the kind of person, my
mom would just, you, she really just kind of, it
was all about hospitality from the second you.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Walked in our home, she treated you like you were royalty.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
She made sure that, you know, you had, uh, Plenty
to eat, plenty to drink, probably most times too much.
And you always left with a doggy bag of your
favorite items. So it was fun for me later in
life because after going to culinary school and being a chef,
it was kind of fun to go back and cook
with my mom and make some of her favorite items
and kind of just.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Make my twist on it.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And she would always– she was always very positive about it.
Even though I was changing her recipes, she was always
really positive, receptive.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
Well, I'm sure she was proud.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yeah, very proud.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
So I have to ask. You've seen the show The Bear. Yes,
I have. Thoughts, feelings?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
You know, I think it's true for a period of
time in the industry. And I think it really kind
of models business. There was a time where, you know,
maybe human resource didn't exist as much. And you could
kind of do a lot of that kind of theatrical
things that you see. It's a little exaggerated today. What?
Just a little bit. But I think what I see
(07:19):
in that show and I think what I've always seen
in the business and what I look for in people
is passion.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Like, you know, the passion and the love for cooking,
the passion and love for execution and winning and delivering.
And I think that that's kind of what makes the
restaurant industry very interesting. And from a culinary point of view,
it's very, it kind of resembles a lot of sports like,
you know, so like when you think about when you
have a scoreboard and what winning and losing looks like,
you can see that in restaurants, you can see that
(07:45):
in kitchens because every day is a new challenge and
every day kind of creates these unique opportunities to exceed
expectations with the guests. And, um, That's the challenge of hospitality.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
You probably remember this when they talk about that feeling
of serving and what they want the feeling, the guests
to receive being in the restaurant, which I found really interesting.
I never really thought about it. You know, as someone
who's never, I never even worked in a restaurant. So
like just thinking you go there and get food, it's
either good or it's bad and maybe you have an
okay experience and thinking about it from the other side.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
I'm sure you think about that pretty much Every day.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Every day, yeah. I mean, I think about the emotional
connection because, I mean, food is about nourishment. Hospitality is
about creating this feeling that you want to have people
walk away with this desire that something was really unique.
And the value correlation with people and families with, like,
a special occasion or a holiday. You can't get holidays back, right?
(08:42):
You have these moments, whether it's a Mother's Day or
a Father's Day in a restaurant industry. And you have those–
when you think back of your family together at those
moments at that table– it just harkens you back to
when you were a young person and you're there with
loved ones. And I think those moments that we get
that opportunity and honor in the restaurant business to be
able to kind of be the host of that and
(09:03):
kind of curate that feeling of hospitality and that kind
of uniqueness that kind of exceeds the expectation and delivers. Now,
that's a big challenge. I mean, that's what we wake
up every day at P.F.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Chang's to think about.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
We think about How do we exceed the expectations of
the guests?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
How do we.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Create these moments that are truly memorable, that transcend time
and really kind of create that Polaroid picture in someone's head?
Where were they at what table having that experience? And
if we get the opportunity to kind of help folks
deliver that in a way and create memories, I mean, then.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
We're doing our job.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
That's amazing. A couple of things.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I have to imagine what you described as you're growing
up with your mom and the way– I mean– I
didn't have that experience as much. I mean, I had
the holidays, but you probably had that a couple times
a month. Just, hey, it's going to be Sunday in June.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Let's all get together, and I'm going to make 10
people's favorite thing. We're going to have an event.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Just around the food and the being together. I'd have
to think that with one or two restaurants, that's hard
to maintain.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
And now you're talking about 150 restaurants.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
It's hard for, like, it's hard for folks to do
it at one restaurant. Yeah. Like, I mean, just, I mean, honestly,
if you look at the, what was interesting to, like, statistics,
I mean, like, the highest, high rate of failure of restaurants.
I mean, because of folks getting into it, not necessarily
understanding the deep knowledge that you really have to have
and the nuances.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
But to go from one.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
To a couple to, you know, a bigger chain, I mean, like, it's,
it definitely, it's a challenge for sure.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
So I'm going to, I'm just going to backtrack just
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Given your culinary background, what's your go-to dish that you
make at your house?
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Family and kids around, whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well, so, you know, it's just funny because, like, I
have four sons. So, like, at this point, I've always
cooked for my kids. And we actually have a menu of, like,
a restaurant that will be, like, I guess when the
day I retire, it's named after my youngest son. And basically,
it's all of the Mizani food items that we've had
through the years on a menu that pays homage to
(11:10):
my mom. And a lot of the Italian dishes. So
I like to cook Italian. I love seafood. I now
love Asian. I've kind of been getting into like Asian
in a big way. And it's kind of reminiscent for
me because I remember going through culinary school with a
heavy focus around Asian back in the 80s and early 90s.
And so it's great to kind of come back full
circle to this opportunity in the Pan-Asian cuisine.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
So just a quick question. How long is Colette?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Culinary school is anywhere from two years from an associate's
to a four-year undergrad.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
And then I imagine you, like, do internship.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
You do internship. You're going to go out and you're
going to work with— you' re going to go out and do internships,
which I did in New York City, working for a
lot of interesting restaurants that were very similar to The Bear.
As far as some of the chefs that you would
go and spend the summer with, it would be quite
fun there.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
So we don't have video on this, but if you
could see Jim's face right now, he got a smile
on his face as he was describing, thinking about his internships.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Oh my gosh, yes.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
A lot of hazing, you would think. Peeling of garlic
and just like late nights and a lot of cleaning.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
But it was fun. It really kind of teaches you
the business from the ground up.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Oh, for sure. Did you ever go to Europe?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Not in restaurants. I've been recently.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah, not back then.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So what took you out of the kitchen– out front
into the operations.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So I, I had a call. I've always had a
thirst for knowledge or learning in the restaurant business. So
I feel like, you know, I'm always going to be
a chef at heart. I mean, like, so even today
as a CEO, I mean, I think about things from
a culinary point of view and like, what are, what
can we operationalize something? What's it like for the folks
in the kitchen to be able to execute? But I
think for me, like that bigger calling of hospitality kind
(12:55):
of said to me, like, I really wanted to run
a restaurant and be, In charge of a restaurant. And
then from there it went to be a couple more
restaurants and then a division of restaurants. And it just
kept growing and here I am today.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Well, you have a who's who of brand names that
you have led from Friday, Logan's Roadhouse.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
Let's see. What else do we have? Joe's Crab Shack.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
What else am I missing?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Jay Alexander's. That's right. So Jay's was a great one.
Stony River, which is a great steakhouse.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Yeah, I've represented a lot of restaurant brands and a
lot of great companies and worked with a lot of
really great restaurateurs through the years. I mean, I think
what's made me the executive I am or the leader
today is just the relationships and the people that I've
met along the way and how they've helped kind of
shape and mold the way that I think about the business.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
And I've been very fortunate.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I've been very fortunate to have a great team of
people that I've worked with that want to continue to
work with me. And we've had a lot of fun
winning and being successful.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
So coming out of the kitchen as a chef out
to running things, and again, it's hard to know when
you're a 16-year-old kid and all that.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
You enjoyed being in the hospitality restaurant world. Did you
see this as your future? Did you like what did
you think about?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I thought, you know, I thought I in the beginning
I thought I would do culinary school and be a
chef for a period of time. I really wanted to
go back to school to be a lawyer. So I
was actually thinking about going back to law school and
kind of going down that road. And then I came
out of the kitchen. I started doing some things within
dining room supervision and management. Then that's when the calling
really kind of hit me. I said, hey, I can
(14:37):
see this as a future career because it's. There's a
lot of hard work that happens in the kitchen, and
I'm not afraid of hard work. But I always felt
like there's more to learn, more to continue to grow.
So that's when I moved into the front. And then
when I moved into the front of the house management,
that's really where kind of my career kind of took
off because the disciplines and the skills that I had
(14:59):
learned and those qualities really were transferable. And it seemed
to move very quickly, and people would rally around and
support the perspectives that I would kind of ask for.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Do you ever think, you know, running a giant restaurant organization,
do you ever think back to any of those moments, mentors,
when you were a 16, 17-year-old kid at a one-location
restaurant that still stand true?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, I think back to the people, I think the
bigger the company gets and the bigger the job is,
the more that I appreciate and respect the individual contributors
that are in restaurants. I think there are amazing people
that work in restaurants across America, and I think that,
you know, team members that, you're kind of catching at
that period of time where, you know, they are in
(15:43):
their career, very impressionable what they're going to do and
where they're going to go. And I think, you know,
as a mentor or as a restaurant leader, a manager
of a restaurant, you get this opportunity to kind of
help shape, you know, the direction where people go. And
I think to me, if I was to reflect on
it and travel restaurants today, I mean, I enjoy meeting
our team members. I enjoy meeting our young managers and
(16:04):
realizing that, you know, one day, they'll be sitting in
my seat. So, you know, I think that that's kind
of exciting.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Oh, for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
I know that, that, you know, I think back to
when I was in school and they're like a couple
of things. I had this adjunct professor, he'd been in
the candy industry his whole life. And I was at
the university of Missouri.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
And two things he said, and they still, you.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Know, 35, whatever years later, you know, he said, you're
never as good as you think you are. You're never
as bad as you think you are. And every no
brings you that much closer to a yes. When my
dad was still alive, it drove him nuts when I
would say those are the two things I learned in
college considering he paid for it. But, I mean, they
bode well for me moving in my career. But I'm
sure you're at a point now when you look at
(16:45):
all of the places you've been and thought about all
the people you've seen and mentored. It probably is now
at a point where you're looking and you're saying, oh,
I remember being there.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Oh, I totally do.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And I think that what I reflect now upon is
the legacy of what I want to leave behind. Yeah.
The time that I spend with people, making sure that
it's memorable and kind of– the kind of person that
is remembered for the right things, right?
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yeah. And the good things you contribute, right?
Speaker 5 (17:12):
Yeah. But that goes back to the whole hospitality thing
you learned in your household, really.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Yeah. You know, and it took me probably– I probably
realized it a couple of years ago. Like why did
I ever want to do this? And I just was
reflecting on my mom and dad and like my dad
was always the work ethic. My mom was always the heart.
So it was kind of like this kind of perfect
combination of parents that helped me.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Got to get on this path.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Oh, that's awesome. So we talked about a lot of different,
you know, fascinating journey.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
P.F.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Chang's, what, nine months ago? November?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, it was November of last year. I got a
phone call from a good friend and colleague that I
had worked with in the past, and I was doing
different things at that point. I was running more on
the private equity side. I'm kind of working on transactions
and kind of learning like that next phase of my life.
And then this opportunity came up with P.F. Chang's and
(18:04):
it kind of hit me when the opportunity came up
because I had learned of P.F.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Chang's in the early 90s.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
And I just really always admired what they stood for.
I mean, it's really kind of developed by a great
chef and Phil Chang and Paul Fleming. These are two
great restaurateurs, iconic folks in our industry. And they put
this brand together. And it's the first.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
restaurant group, Pan.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Asian, that's actually made it across America. It's Chinese food
that we actually define what Chinese food or Pan Asian
food is for America in a casual, um, Polish casual
sit down restaurant. And, to not only just make it,
but to be one of the more respected ones. So
I knew when that opportunity was there, I mean, it
really kind of caught me and I said, hey, this
(18:48):
is something right in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
I'm perfect for this position.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
How long had you been in the private equity world?
Speaker 3 (18:53):
About three years.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Did you think, did you think, ah, you know, this
is time?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I loved it because I was working with new young
CEOs and folks and I was, you know, using all
of the coaching techniques of helping people and just doing
all the things I'm doing today. Just with a bunch
of different brands. But like this was one where this
was an iconic brand that was really in need of
not necessarily, not in need of a revolution or to
change it or for someone to come in and tell
(19:18):
them what was wrong with BF Chang's. It was really,
my job was really to come in and say, hey,
this is what this brand really stands for.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
And really the amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Qualities that it has and being the best BF Chang's
it could be and delivering those, moments in food that
really has our brand stand out because we don't really compete.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
With anyone across the U.S. That's true. I mean, we
kind of have a space where we.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Compete with ourselves. So when you're 30 years young, you
have this opportunity where people go back and reflect on
memories and food experiences, and you have a high bar
to live up to that expectation. So our job, you know,
we kind of, we drifted away from like that, that
relevance and I needed to kind of help bring us
back to like a sense of like, what does winning
(20:01):
look like again and paint that picture of success and
help folks kind of see what we could do to
kind of put this, you know, put the brand back
in the, in the prestige that it really needed to be.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I obviously know very little of the space, but thinking
about what you described, I would imagine your culinary background
was the absolute right fit versus just an operational background.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah. Well, I mean like I can actually spend time with,
I actually spend time with our executive chef for the
company and our top operators and can speak the language.
And I think that that's something that's unique. That's probably
a little bit of my, uh, Maybe a little bit
of my secret sauce is that I can actually subordinate
from a board meeting kind of conversation with a board
deck to having a detailed conversation around recipes and food
(20:45):
science and why we put the white pepper in the
wok for fried rice at the last moment and flare
it up so that we toast the white pepper. Those
are the kind of things that like people can, I
can kind of get into that chef kind of thing
for a second, but it's the meaningful touches and details,
the recipes that make the difference and kind of create
those memories. So.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
Well, I would imagine you can bring out the color
in the storytelling that needs to be told.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
Because I never really thought about it.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
You really do own the space in terms of your
150 locations?
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Over 200.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Over 200. Am I staying correct?
Speaker 4 (21:20):
200 in the U.S.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
And 100 international. So we're over 300 across the world.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
And unofficially, based on our earlier conversation, maybe more coming.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, we definitely are working on earning the right to grow.
I love that. We went from a turnaround story when
I first got here.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Like, I mean, I'll be real honest. I mean, like
the when I first took the position, we were 22nd
in the industry of 22 for last year's sales and profitability,
sales and guest count traffic. So we were in a
negative traffic and sales environment. So if you rank 22
of the restaurant companies out there, polished and casual, we
were like in last place last year. We went from,
(21:59):
in the first quarter, we moved to the seventh position. Wow,
22nd to seventh. And then in the second quarter, we
moved to the third position.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
And then we're in the midst right now of our
third quarter of the year. We're private, so I can
talk about this a little bit.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
We're actually going to, we're posting double-digit sales increases right now.
We're over 10 and a half percent positive and about
seven and a half percent guest count growth. So we
are moving and growing at this point, so in a
big way. So It went from turnaround to stabilization to
now it's becoming exciting because it's growth.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Oh, for sure.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
And people are winning.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
People are, you know, sales are up in restaurants and
people are excited. We're starting to look at the future
and saying, you know, we'd like to grow another 40
restaurants in the U.S. in the next five years. And
I'd like to grow probably 100 in the world in
the next five years as well.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Oh, wow. We'll jump to that in a second. First off, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
It's congratulations to the P.F. Chang's team. You know, we
have a great team of people that.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I just get the fortunate– I was very fortunate to
lead them and kind of help guide them on this journey.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
That's awesome. A friend of mine used to say, last
time I checked, winning was fun.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
So I would imagine that you're having a little bit
of fun right now.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Oh, yeah. I have to ask, 22 out of wherever
you were, 22 I think you said, that's a big jump.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
What do you attribute it to?
Speaker 3 (23:19):
You know, I attribute it to— That's quick. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
Nine months.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
It's a lot. I mean, like, I think that, you know,
it's never one thing that kind of changes anything in
a turnaround. I think it's really— I was very fortunate to, A,
identify very quickly that, you know, what we needed to
do was to be the best P.F. Changs it could be,
positive in the way that I came in from an approach.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Point of view.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I'm always a positive guy, so I'm like, I'm not
going to come in and negatively coach So positively kind
of just laying out what expectations needed to be. And
then being disciplined around making sure that we had the
right team around me. I mean, I brought in a
really strong CMO that started with me on my second day.
And this woman, Holly Smith, who has worked with me
(24:00):
probably for a dozen years or so. When you have
someone you know that you can kind of throw that
no look past to.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
They know what you're going to do.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
And they've been with you enough to where you can
move at the speed of trust.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Which I always kind of talk about a lot.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
So when someone trusts you that, and you trust them,
you can give them the latitude to.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Be able to do their job and do it well.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
So we were quiet and a little bit sleepy with
a brand point of view. Like you didn't, people would
always say, I know P.F. Chang's, I like P.F. Chang's,
I haven't been there in a while. Correct. So like,
you know, and we get that reaction a lot. And
I've just said, hey, how do we turn that reaction to,
I love P.F. Chang's and I was there last night.
So we need to give you a reason to kind of,
Not just click on us and like us on social
(24:39):
media or on our advertising, but to really give you
a reason to come in and kind of create.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Those meaningful dining experiences.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
And what the brand had lost is that we really
started to drift into really high third-party takeout delivery sales
where the brand people started to move and think about
us more for takeout and delivery. and less for coming
into the restaurants for experiential dining. So our mission from
the beginning was to preserve that off-premise business and grow
(25:10):
it at the level we were doing, which was great.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
But then get people back into the restaurants.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
We call them bistros. Get them back into our bistros
and to give them a reason to not order us
to go, but to kind of come in because there's
something that we're doing that's unique. So We became a
mission of, from a food point of view, we want
to do things that are absolutely, whether it's sizzling or
it's smoking, whether it's dry ice, whether it's whatever it
(25:39):
is that's going to create some table side theater.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Yeah, that little.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Kind of moment where you just want to pull your
camera out and take a picture of it and send
it to someone.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Here I am at P.F.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Chang's and we just launched the sushi boat this summer.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Perfect example.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
So we sold over two million dollars in sushi boats
this summer. And when we came up with a sushi boat,
we said, hey, you know, it's one thing to do
a sushi boat that's cool. I had this crazy idea.
This is where kind of the bold stuff is that
I said, hey, let's see if we can figure out
how to get dry ice to every single restaurant across
the United States, 200 restaurants. So if you think about
being in Kansas City or you think about some places
(26:12):
in the Midwest where you may not be able to
find dry ice. So our sushi boat not only comes
to the table. I wanted it to kind of float
on a boat of a cloud of ice, dry ice.
So like we take dry ice, we put a little
bit of water in the kitchen. It starts to smoke up.
We bring that through the dining room. We finish it
at the table the same way. And it's really magical
cloud of dry ice kind of goes over your table
(26:34):
as everyone's kind of having this moment as they're staring
at some great hand rolled sushi.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
So that's an example of taking culinary and a little
bit of theater and a And we were rewarded really
handsomely this summer. Our guests loved our summer in Tokyo campaign,
we called it. And we've had enormous success with it
this year.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I would imagine it's almost like the category is kind
of known for takeout in general.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
The greater category.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And it was just allowed to– P.F. Chang's was allowed
to fall in with the group. You've had to pull
it back, Ali. He said bistro.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
It's a bistro. You want to be there because you can't.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
You're not getting the dry ice bonanza if you're not
in the location.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
And I think we were trying to not play it safe.
I think what we're doing now is we're not playing
it safe. We're kind of expanding the shoulders of pan-Asian cuisine.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
We're not afraid.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Like this autumn, we're going to call it our Kyoto,
autumn in Kyoto, really, basically in Japan. So we're going
to go and explore duck. We're going to do duck
wings on our menu. We're going to do some– really
cool duck fried rice. We're going to kind of move
into a really cool Wagyu egg roll that we've created.
(27:50):
So really unique, craveable items that are not just your
traditional Chinese kind of food items. Then there's nothing wrong
with a great Mongolian beef and we're working on perfecting
that every day. And one of our top selling items
are our lettuce wraps. But we're trying to give a
little bit more variety and another reason to use us.
So like if you can think about us On a
(28:11):
Saturday night for a special occasion and coming in for
one of our premium entrees. Or you think about coming
in on a Tuesday or Wednesday just for an affordable
lunch special.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Or dinner special.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Those days of the week.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
So we have this barbell approach. So it's like everyday value.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
And then we also have this unique opportunity at like
whether it's a weekend or a celebration.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Or if you come to P.F. Chang's, we're really going
to blow it out.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Your birthday experience is going to be unique and you're
going to really remember it.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
That's outstanding. I mean, nine months. OK, be honest.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Beginning of December 2025. What you just told me about
10 minutes ago, if I had told you that beginning
of December, would you say, OK, aspirational? Like, what was
your timeline in your mind for reality?
Speaker 3 (28:59):
I think reality in these kind of situations, you're really
looking at a year to two years of a turnaround
of a company. And I don't think we're fully– we've
earned momentum where we still have to continue to earn
more guests to come into our restaurants. And it's nice
to see momentum shifting. But like no one in the
company or myself is kind of sitting back and wrestling.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
We're on our front toes kind of leaning forward.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
But we were very fortunate. We're very fortunate that things
took this well and that we moved the needle this quickly.
Very intentional, but like in December, if you would have
asked me, I would have probably said that I'm an optimist,
but that would have been a little bit too aggressive.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
A little aggressive.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Now, I did have some folks around me that were
expecting us to deliver like the next day.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Of course.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Like our, you know, ownership and folks like that.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
They would love to see like, you know, it does
take a little bit of time to build it. But
like the the good news is that the we're building
momentum out in the field and we're creating followership and
people believing in themselves again and believing in the brand.
And I think once you get that going, like that's
a force that becomes really strong for a forward stretch
(30:07):
of a lot of quarters in.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
A row of sales.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Well, I would imagine that having some success quickly gives
you a little bit more credibility. Not that you didn't
have it before, but you're still the new person in
charge and bringing in a new culture and a new
way of doing things. Talk a little bit– and like
I said, it was maybe a little bit easier from implementation.
But talk about the dual like bringing in new leadership.
(30:32):
You brought in some of your people and creating or
building off of.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
The culture that was there. What was that like? What
did you focus on?
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Yeah, I think that that's– you bring up a great
point because I think the– it's a group that had
been with this.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Brand for a very long period of time.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
OK.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Believes in what they're doing. And like, you know, you're
a new guy, you're still a new guy to the equation.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
You have to prove yourself.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I mean, it doesn't matter how strong your resume is
or how great your board strategy is in your deck
that you present. It's really about walking the talk and
spending the time with people and really matching that up
with results and being out in the field and being credible,
you know, being a credible leader that, you know, the
interesting thing about me, I'm the same guy that's in
a board meeting that's in a restaurant. You Spending time,
(31:17):
you know, just popping into a restaurant on Friday night and,
you know, met a great server, a great manager, just
great things going on, some recognition. We're big on recognition
at P.F.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Chang's, too.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Like when we catch people doing things right, we have
pins that we give them.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
That's on my lapel.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Oh, that's awesome. I keep that there because when I'll
go through the day today visiting restaurants in Dallas here,
and if I find someone doing something really good, they'll
give this pin out. That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
A big deal internally.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Oh, for sure.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
We'll make a big deal out of it.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
But I think internally managing and getting people motivated and
believing in the brand again and believing in themselves I
think was the first call to order. And then realizing
that we needed to add folks to it and work
to build a culture together. And I think that that's
been a real key takeaway to build something together. I
didn't come into this with my specific playbook around do
(32:06):
it Jim's way.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
I kind of said, hey, this is P.F.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Chang's.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
How do we do this together? And how do we
make this.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
The best BF Changs it could be?
Speaker 5 (32:12):
Yeah, it's funny you should say that. I started in
this role as region president October 1st last year. So
coming up my year. Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
And I tried to tell people it's not a me thing.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
It's a we thing. And we own the culture. And
there's things you eliminate from the past. And there are
things that are good. I mean, there always is.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I mean, I think that you can become too stuck
in institutional knowledge, but institutional knowledge has value. And so
it's how you find that balance. And it sounds like
you guys found it.
Speaker 5 (32:40):
Really quickly and are really aggressively moving forward.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I have to ask the international thing because I always
find it interesting because it's hard enough with 200-plus in
the United States.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Now you're going international.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
How do you maintain the consistency and the culture and
all of that?
Speaker 5 (32:57):
What's the secret there?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
In my past, I've been fortunate to work for big
brands like TGR Fridays, for example, where they have 500
or 600 international restaurants.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
So I've been involved with that for a while.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
And I think what's interesting is when you find partners
around the world, what they really do is they fall
in love with the brand. And they want to be
brand stewards more than you realize because they're making a
very large investment in P.F. Chang's.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
And they want P.F.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Chang's to have high standards. They want it to stand
for something. So from the onset of the training and
the vetting of those individuals, you really kind of set
up what the expectations are and those standards. And I
think What we've been fortunate to do is to pick
the right partners that not only will embody what we
stand for from a values point of view, our core values,
(33:43):
but also deliver the brand at the integrity of where
it needs to be. But you also, from a restaurateur
point of view, when you're in India or you're, we
just opened up a restaurant in London. Um, you have
to make some modifications to the cuisine locally. Sure.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
So you're going to.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Keep like 70% of the core menu items themselves. You're
going to give them a little bit of have create
ability to have some local favorites that are still Pan-Asian,
but like maybe in.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
That specific cuisine.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Um, and giving them that blend of flexibility and then
maintaining that standard, um, is what we do. I mean,
and I think, you know, you do that through systems
and processes and right selection of people. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
I would imagine going into each individual market, you know,
the old saying, there's a little bit of show me,
you know me, so that you maintain what P.F. Chang's is,
but there's also, whether you're in London or wherever, there's
a little bit of understanding.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
And we're fortunate.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
We don't have to, we don't take everyone. Not everyone
gets to play on our team.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
You know, so we have a vetting process that we
bring them in and we'll bring them to the U.S.
and we'll bring them to our best restaurants and we'll
kind of, put them through the paces, and go through
a little bit of a boot camp to kind of
learn the brand and make sure that we both kind
of create this partnership that makes sense for each other.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
No, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I have to, you know, we've talked a lot about
culture and leadership.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
And, you know, your track record speaks for itself. And
you're at a point in.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Your career where you're revitalizing a known brand. But when
you think about where you get the most joy as
a leader in the day-to-day, what is that one thing?
Speaker 5 (35:18):
Or main thing.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
The main thing I get, you know, is I like
developing leaders of the future because I, you know, I
think I've been fortunate. I always say to people like,
you know, success, you know, is this thing where people
get around the table and they like to our table today,
you can go back in the day, you know, and
I like to remind people like, you know, we're creating
that back in a day moment right now within the
(35:39):
brand we're doing. So be present in the moment, make
the most of the opportunities that are given to you.
And then like, I really like to spend time and,
What I get the most enjoyment out of is seeing
leaders develop and grow and kind of, you know, seeing
people from at one point where they may have had
some resistance to change and then become adopting it and
then really accelerating and kind of doing great work. You know,
(36:01):
because I think sales and profits will always.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Come and go.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
And I think I've been fortunate to kind of preside
over some really successful sales and profit situations. But we
also give back at P.F. Chang's too, which is like
right now we're in the middle of a campaign that
started in September. which I'm really proud of too, which
is our Starlight Children's Foundation, where we are actually working
with the Starlight Foundation, which if you don't know what
that is, it's 800 hospitals across the U.S. that we're
(36:27):
working with where they work with children that are at
that moment where they're in the hospital, they're about to
have a surgery or procedure, and they're scared. Just think
about what would happen as a parent when your child
was going in for whether it's a cancer procedure or
something along those lines. So we work with this organization.
What they do is they try to make that moment
in the hospital really, really memorable and fun for kids.
(36:50):
So they'll dress kids up in different– they'll come in
as superheroes and they'll kind of be different things. So
we're doing it like a– it's the year of the
horse for P.F. Chang. So we have this little plushie
that we're doing where we donated 20,000 of these toys
to the hospital so that as a child is in
the hospital and they're in that moment, they're going to
(37:10):
have a little P.F. Chang's horse that for the year
of the horse that we're going to give them across
the U.S. And then within our restaurants, we're also raising
money for it. So we're going to raise a half
a million dollars for this foundation in the month of September.
And we're going to do some great work with getting
to hospitals and meeting these children and these amazing doctors
that are doing the work that they're doing and the
Starlight Foundation.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
That's just doing some really good work for children in
that moment of need.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
So I like that because that's my way from a
business point of view of to giving back and having
business for the purpose that it's not just about sales
and profit. We run a business where we have humans
and people behind it. And if we can, in the
communities that we operate, be, you know, great leaders and
be able to give back and be able to do
more than just, you know, more than just serve and
(37:58):
be able to be hospitable and great, great food, to
be able to give back as people, I think is
a big part of my platform.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Look, I think it fits in the hospitality world. I mean,
it's more than just serving a meal.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
And what I've noticed is like the folks in a company,
the servers, a server is made up or server teams
are made or greeter teams are made up of their
moms and dads and their sisters and aunts and uncles.
And everyone has a personal situation where there's something that's
going on. And the ability or giving people the ability
to give back and do good in the communities, I
(38:35):
think is really important and special. And to see that
light in people's eyes when they get excited about raising
money for a charity, I think.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
Is pretty cool.
Speaker 5 (38:42):
Well, congratulations.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (38:45):
That's amazing. But I think that it's so important what
you're saying.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
You know, we work with these people, but they have
lives outside of the stores, restaurants.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
And outside of my office.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
And I really do believe those things are the things
that really exponentially grow.
Speaker 5 (39:04):
The culture and the belief.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
And the next time maybe there's something hard going on,
it's like everybody is more than happy to retrench and go, okay, yeah,
let's get after it because that's where team is built
and you've created that.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
Through your leadership and growing the culture. That's really, that's awesome.
And that's nationwide?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Nationwide, all the 200 restaurants that we have across the U.S.
Speaker 5 (39:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
And it's all for the month of September. So if
you come to a P.F. Chang's in the month of September,
you can buy, buy a $ 10 plushie that you get
to take home, and we donate one for you to
these children's hospitals. And we also give you a nice
little bounce-back gift to come back and visit P.F. Chang's
with a free appetizer as well.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Okay, so I did see a little bit on that
on LinkedIn. I was doing a little bit of homework.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
Let's talk after this. I think there's something maybe we
can do.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
Yeah, I'd love to do. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (39:51):
It would be awesome. Jim, this has been great. We
could go on a little bit longer.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
I've been kind of stewing in my own jealousy over
the whole Prince thing. As someone that occasionally goes back
and watches the Prince Super Bowl halftime performance.
Speaker 4 (40:06):
He was the best, man.
Speaker 5 (40:08):
Come on.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
So talented. What a talented individual.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
I mean, look, for the non-Gen Xers here, Jim will
recognize this. If you walked into a house party and
Prince was playing, it was actually a good party and
it was worth staying back in 1984.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
I was just going to say it was 1984.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
That's exactly what it was.
Speaker 5 (40:25):
Absolutely. Well, with that, Jim, we're going to wrap it up.
I know you've got things to do. It was great
having you. We appreciate you joining us today.
Speaker 4 (40:31):
I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
All right.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
iHeartMedia and P.F. Chang's invites you to join the Spirit
of Strength campaign. Through September 30th, get the Bao plushie
for $ 10 with any dine-in purchase.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
And P.F.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Chang's donates one to Starlight Children's Foundation. Visit your local P.F.
Chang's today.
This is CEOs You Should Know with iHeartMedia's region president
of Dallas-Fort Worth in Central Texas, Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I want to welcome everybody to another episode of CEOs
You Should Know Dallas. I'm Chris Long, region president for iHeartMedia,
and I'm here with my new friend, Jim Mazzani, CEO
of P.F.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Chang's.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Jim, welcome. Hey, Chris. How are you?
Speaker 5 (00:23):
I'm great. Thanks for stopping by today.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Um, in from Phoenix where it's about 3 million degrees
to Dallas where it's about.
Speaker 5 (00:31):
Two and a half million. So, uh, we're excited to
have you. Um, Jim and I are going to talk
a lot about the world of hospitality and restaurants.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Um, but before we do that, um, there's some questions
we have to ask Jim just to get a feel for, uh,
who he is as a, um, music listener and audio fan.
Speaker 5 (00:54):
Um, Since iHeartMedia is the largest.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Audio company in the United States with 860 radio stations,
160 markets.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You guys all know the drill. Music, spoken word, we've
got it all. Jim, question number one. First concert? Prince. Whoa!
That may have moved him to number one. Yes, it did. Yes,
it did. It did. I mean, we've had Johnny Cash. Prince,
Purple Rain. Where were you?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I was in New York, Nassau Coliseum. I grew up
on Long Island, and I think that was my first concert.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Anything Prince related?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I think the podcast might just be over now.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
We just finished. Yeah, we can go home. We can
just go home with Prince. That was a pretty good one.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I don't even want to say who mine was, men
at work. That's embarrassing. First music artist poster on your
wall or favorite?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
First music artist?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Styx.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Yeah, sticks.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Good one.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
And then REO Speedwagon.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Oh, you can't beat REO Speedwagon. What is it? You
can tune a piano, but you can't tune a fish?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Yeah, yes.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Yeah, whatever, Chris. Okay. Who was your artist crush?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Who was my artist crush? Oh, God. I definitely had
a Farrah Fawcett poster on the wall.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
As most guys my age probably had.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I did– I'm trying to think.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Since I mentioned Farrah Fawcett, probably Charlie's Angels was a
kind of favorite back in that day.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
This is– there's a reoccurring theme.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We've had a couple of these lately where Charlie's Angels
and we've gotten into the debate of favorite angel and.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
All of that. Favorite angel?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Jacqueline Smith.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Same. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
I'm with you. I do have to say as a–
what was I? Eight or nine-year-old seeing– Olivia Newton-John in
Greece kind of did a thing for me.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
That worked for me as well.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Every time I'm flipping channels, if the end-of-school fair scene
is on, I do have to stop and watch for
a few minutes.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
But what would be your walk-up song?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
If you were doing a big corporate event or something
like that and you had to have a walk-up song,
what would it be?
Speaker 5 (03:05):
You know, I.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Think Pitbull became kind of a favorite kind of later
for some of the music that I would come up
to for a meeting.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Have you seen him in concert?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
I have seen Pitbull in concert, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I have a very eclectic musical.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
No, that's... Okay, like I warned you, this could go
down that road. Like, Pitbull and Prince. Yeah. Most unique
concert you've been to?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I love Dave Matthews, too.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
And I've been to probably seven or eight Dave Matthews concerts.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, so I've followed Dave a lot.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
Would that be your favorite concert?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
He's my favorite concert, yeah, because I love the loyalty
that he gets from people that just... I remember sitting
in a pretty good seat, and I thought it was
great for my birthday. My wife had purchased it for me, and...
I thought it was a big shot. I'm like, all right,
number seven for me. And I reached out to the
person next to me and it was like number 45.
I'm like, okay, all right.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
I'm out of my league here. Yeah, minor leaguer here.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
I'm a minor leaguer.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
Oh, wow. I do have to throw this in. I
was at a Zac Brown band concert. Cool.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
All right.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Lights go off. All of a sudden they kind of
come back on. So there's something going on and a
dude walks out on the stage, takes his hood off.
dave girl and they cover enter sandman.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Oh wow that's what that sort of event oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I mean you know so i mean we could talk
music all day long but we won't um so.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
I love your background you started off in culinary school correct.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah i actually started off before culinary school so i
actually the restaurant industry i started when i was probably
a young guy in my teenage years it was a
uh The kind of thing where my dad was a
Marine and he instilled in us a lot of values
that we needed to work and have a great work
ethic from a very young age. So I remember being
in junior high and high school, you know, having a
(04:44):
job on weekends and always working for as long as
I can remember. And, you know, the restaurant bug kind
of got me as my very first job in the restaurant.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Business was a dishwasher.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I started washing dishes and being very, very curious about
what goes on in kitchens and, you know, just the
respect for the culinary art.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
I think was kind of something that I really started
at that point.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
And then I continued that path, and then I decided
that I really wanted to be a chef. And so
I went to culinary school in Hyde Park in New York,
a great place. And when I went, you had to
be sponsored by a chef.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
You had to be sponsored by a chef to be
able to be accepted into the programs. And I was
very fortunate growing up on Long Island that there were
some great restaurateurs that saw that I was a young–
guy that worked hard and that had that, you know,
that twinkle in the eye for the business. And whenever
they would call for picking up a shift or working,
I was always, the answer was yes.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
So.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
What was your favorite food? Like what, when you were cooking,
what was your thing?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
You know, I started off, I'm Italian. So like Italian
is really kind of my, my mom, my mom was
always like would cook. And, uh, and my mom was always, um,
if would people come, she's passed since, but what, when
people would come to our house, like she went out
of her way to kind of think about, and this
is probably where hospitality comes in for me, where whatever
(06:05):
your favorite thing was, she would make that for you.
So there could be 10 people at the house and
she's made 10 favorite dishes for people.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
That are part of the family.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And it, and she was the kind of person, my
mom would just, you, she really just kind of, it
was all about hospitality from the second you.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Walked in our home, she treated you like you were royalty.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
She made sure that, you know, you had, uh, Plenty
to eat, plenty to drink, probably most times too much.
And you always left with a doggy bag of your
favorite items. So it was fun for me later in
life because after going to culinary school and being a chef,
it was kind of fun to go back and cook
with my mom and make some of her favorite items
and kind of just.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Make my twist on it.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And she would always– she was always very positive about it.
Even though I was changing her recipes, she was always
really positive, receptive.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
Well, I'm sure she was proud.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yeah, very proud.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
So I have to ask. You've seen the show The Bear. Yes,
I have. Thoughts, feelings?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
You know, I think it's true for a period of
time in the industry. And I think it really kind
of models business. There was a time where, you know,
maybe human resource didn't exist as much. And you could
kind of do a lot of that kind of theatrical
things that you see. It's a little exaggerated today. What?
Just a little bit. But I think what I see
(07:19):
in that show and I think what I've always seen
in the business and what I look for in people
is passion.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Like, you know, the passion and the love for cooking,
the passion and love for execution and winning and delivering.
And I think that that's kind of what makes the
restaurant industry very interesting. And from a culinary point of view,
it's very, it kind of resembles a lot of sports like,
you know, so like when you think about when you
have a scoreboard and what winning and losing looks like,
you can see that in restaurants, you can see that
(07:45):
in kitchens because every day is a new challenge and
every day kind of creates these unique opportunities to exceed
expectations with the guests. And, um, That's the challenge of hospitality.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
You probably remember this when they talk about that feeling
of serving and what they want the feeling, the guests
to receive being in the restaurant, which I found really interesting.
I never really thought about it. You know, as someone
who's never, I never even worked in a restaurant. So
like just thinking you go there and get food, it's
either good or it's bad and maybe you have an
okay experience and thinking about it from the other side.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
I'm sure you think about that pretty much Every day.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Every day, yeah. I mean, I think about the emotional
connection because, I mean, food is about nourishment. Hospitality is
about creating this feeling that you want to have people
walk away with this desire that something was really unique.
And the value correlation with people and families with, like,
a special occasion or a holiday. You can't get holidays back, right?
(08:42):
You have these moments, whether it's a Mother's Day or
a Father's Day in a restaurant industry. And you have those–
when you think back of your family together at those
moments at that table– it just harkens you back to
when you were a young person and you're there with
loved ones. And I think those moments that we get
that opportunity and honor in the restaurant business to be
able to kind of be the host of that and
(09:03):
kind of curate that feeling of hospitality and that kind
of uniqueness that kind of exceeds the expectation and delivers. Now,
that's a big challenge. I mean, that's what we wake
up every day at P.F.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Chang's to think about.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
We think about How do we exceed the expectations of
the guests?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
How do we.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Create these moments that are truly memorable, that transcend time
and really kind of create that Polaroid picture in someone's head?
Where were they at what table having that experience? And
if we get the opportunity to kind of help folks
deliver that in a way and create memories, I mean, then.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
We're doing our job.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
That's amazing. A couple of things.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I have to imagine what you described as you're growing
up with your mom and the way– I mean– I
didn't have that experience as much. I mean, I had
the holidays, but you probably had that a couple times
a month. Just, hey, it's going to be Sunday in June.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Let's all get together, and I'm going to make 10
people's favorite thing. We're going to have an event.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Just around the food and the being together. I'd have
to think that with one or two restaurants, that's hard
to maintain.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
And now you're talking about 150 restaurants.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
It's hard for, like, it's hard for folks to do
it at one restaurant. Yeah. Like, I mean, just, I mean, honestly,
if you look at the, what was interesting to, like, statistics,
I mean, like, the highest, high rate of failure of restaurants.
I mean, because of folks getting into it, not necessarily
understanding the deep knowledge that you really have to have
and the nuances.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
But to go from one.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
To a couple to, you know, a bigger chain, I mean, like, it's,
it definitely, it's a challenge for sure.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
So I'm going to, I'm just going to backtrack just
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Given your culinary background, what's your go-to dish that you
make at your house?
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Family and kids around, whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well, so, you know, it's just funny because, like, I
have four sons. So, like, at this point, I've always
cooked for my kids. And we actually have a menu of, like,
a restaurant that will be, like, I guess when the
day I retire, it's named after my youngest son. And basically,
it's all of the Mizani food items that we've had
through the years on a menu that pays homage to
(11:10):
my mom. And a lot of the Italian dishes. So
I like to cook Italian. I love seafood. I now
love Asian. I've kind of been getting into like Asian
in a big way. And it's kind of reminiscent for
me because I remember going through culinary school with a
heavy focus around Asian back in the 80s and early 90s.
And so it's great to kind of come back full
circle to this opportunity in the Pan-Asian cuisine.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
So just a quick question. How long is Colette?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Culinary school is anywhere from two years from an associate's
to a four-year undergrad.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
And then I imagine you, like, do internship.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
You do internship. You're going to go out and you're
going to work with— you' re going to go out and do internships,
which I did in New York City, working for a
lot of interesting restaurants that were very similar to The Bear.
As far as some of the chefs that you would
go and spend the summer with, it would be quite
fun there.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
So we don't have video on this, but if you
could see Jim's face right now, he got a smile
on his face as he was describing, thinking about his internships.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Oh my gosh, yes.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
A lot of hazing, you would think. Peeling of garlic
and just like late nights and a lot of cleaning.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
But it was fun. It really kind of teaches you
the business from the ground up.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Oh, for sure. Did you ever go to Europe?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Not in restaurants. I've been recently.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah, not back then.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So what took you out of the kitchen– out front
into the operations.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So I, I had a call. I've always had a
thirst for knowledge or learning in the restaurant business. So
I feel like, you know, I'm always going to be
a chef at heart. I mean, like, so even today
as a CEO, I mean, I think about things from
a culinary point of view and like, what are, what
can we operationalize something? What's it like for the folks
in the kitchen to be able to execute? But I
think for me, like that bigger calling of hospitality kind
(12:55):
of said to me, like, I really wanted to run
a restaurant and be, In charge of a restaurant. And
then from there it went to be a couple more
restaurants and then a division of restaurants. And it just
kept growing and here I am today.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Well, you have a who's who of brand names that
you have led from Friday, Logan's Roadhouse.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
Let's see. What else do we have? Joe's Crab Shack.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
What else am I missing?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Jay Alexander's. That's right. So Jay's was a great one.
Stony River, which is a great steakhouse.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Yeah, I've represented a lot of restaurant brands and a
lot of great companies and worked with a lot of
really great restaurateurs through the years. I mean, I think
what's made me the executive I am or the leader
today is just the relationships and the people that I've
met along the way and how they've helped kind of
shape and mold the way that I think about the business.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
And I've been very fortunate.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I've been very fortunate to have a great team of
people that I've worked with that want to continue to
work with me. And we've had a lot of fun
winning and being successful.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
So coming out of the kitchen as a chef out
to running things, and again, it's hard to know when
you're a 16-year-old kid and all that.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
You enjoyed being in the hospitality restaurant world. Did you
see this as your future? Did you like what did
you think about?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I thought, you know, I thought I in the beginning
I thought I would do culinary school and be a
chef for a period of time. I really wanted to
go back to school to be a lawyer. So I
was actually thinking about going back to law school and
kind of going down that road. And then I came
out of the kitchen. I started doing some things within
dining room supervision and management. Then that's when the calling
really kind of hit me. I said, hey, I can
(14:37):
see this as a future career because it's. There's a
lot of hard work that happens in the kitchen, and
I'm not afraid of hard work. But I always felt
like there's more to learn, more to continue to grow.
So that's when I moved into the front. And then
when I moved into the front of the house management,
that's really where kind of my career kind of took
off because the disciplines and the skills that I had
(14:59):
learned and those qualities really were transferable. And it seemed
to move very quickly, and people would rally around and
support the perspectives that I would kind of ask for.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Do you ever think, you know, running a giant restaurant organization,
do you ever think back to any of those moments, mentors,
when you were a 16, 17-year-old kid at a one-location
restaurant that still stand true?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, I think back to the people, I think the
bigger the company gets and the bigger the job is,
the more that I appreciate and respect the individual contributors
that are in restaurants. I think there are amazing people
that work in restaurants across America, and I think that,
you know, team members that, you're kind of catching at
that period of time where, you know, they are in
(15:43):
their career, very impressionable what they're going to do and
where they're going to go. And I think, you know,
as a mentor or as a restaurant leader, a manager
of a restaurant, you get this opportunity to kind of
help shape, you know, the direction where people go. And
I think to me, if I was to reflect on
it and travel restaurants today, I mean, I enjoy meeting
our team members. I enjoy meeting our young managers and
(16:04):
realizing that, you know, one day, they'll be sitting in
my seat. So, you know, I think that that's kind
of exciting.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Oh, for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
I know that, that, you know, I think back to
when I was in school and they're like a couple
of things. I had this adjunct professor, he'd been in
the candy industry his whole life. And I was at
the university of Missouri.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
And two things he said, and they still, you.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Know, 35, whatever years later, you know, he said, you're
never as good as you think you are. You're never
as bad as you think you are. And every no
brings you that much closer to a yes. When my
dad was still alive, it drove him nuts when I
would say those are the two things I learned in
college considering he paid for it. But, I mean, they
bode well for me moving in my career. But I'm
sure you're at a point now when you look at
(16:45):
all of the places you've been and thought about all
the people you've seen and mentored. It probably is now
at a point where you're looking and you're saying, oh,
I remember being there.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Oh, I totally do.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And I think that what I reflect now upon is
the legacy of what I want to leave behind. Yeah.
The time that I spend with people, making sure that
it's memorable and kind of– the kind of person that
is remembered for the right things, right?
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yeah. And the good things you contribute, right?
Speaker 5 (17:12):
Yeah. But that goes back to the whole hospitality thing
you learned in your household, really.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Yeah. You know, and it took me probably– I probably
realized it a couple of years ago. Like why did
I ever want to do this? And I just was
reflecting on my mom and dad and like my dad
was always the work ethic. My mom was always the heart.
So it was kind of like this kind of perfect
combination of parents that helped me.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Got to get on this path.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Oh, that's awesome. So we talked about a lot of different,
you know, fascinating journey.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
P.F.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Chang's, what, nine months ago? November?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, it was November of last year. I got a
phone call from a good friend and colleague that I
had worked with in the past, and I was doing
different things at that point. I was running more on
the private equity side. I'm kind of working on transactions
and kind of learning like that next phase of my life.
And then this opportunity came up with P.F. Chang's and
(18:04):
it kind of hit me when the opportunity came up
because I had learned of P.F.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Chang's in the early 90s.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
And I just really always admired what they stood for.
I mean, it's really kind of developed by a great
chef and Phil Chang and Paul Fleming. These are two
great restaurateurs, iconic folks in our industry. And they put
this brand together. And it's the first.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
restaurant group, Pan.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Asian, that's actually made it across America. It's Chinese food
that we actually define what Chinese food or Pan Asian
food is for America in a casual, um, Polish casual
sit down restaurant. And, to not only just make it,
but to be one of the more respected ones. So
I knew when that opportunity was there, I mean, it
really kind of caught me and I said, hey, this
(18:48):
is something right in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
I'm perfect for this position.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
How long had you been in the private equity world?
Speaker 3 (18:53):
About three years.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Did you think, did you think, ah, you know, this
is time?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I loved it because I was working with new young
CEOs and folks and I was, you know, using all
of the coaching techniques of helping people and just doing
all the things I'm doing today. Just with a bunch
of different brands. But like this was one where this
was an iconic brand that was really in need of
not necessarily, not in need of a revolution or to
change it or for someone to come in and tell
(19:18):
them what was wrong with BF Chang's. It was really,
my job was really to come in and say, hey,
this is what this brand really stands for.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
And really the amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Qualities that it has and being the best BF Chang's
it could be and delivering those, moments in food that
really has our brand stand out because we don't really compete.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
With anyone across the U.S. That's true. I mean, we
kind of have a space where we.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Compete with ourselves. So when you're 30 years young, you
have this opportunity where people go back and reflect on
memories and food experiences, and you have a high bar
to live up to that expectation. So our job, you know,
we kind of, we drifted away from like that, that
relevance and I needed to kind of help bring us
back to like a sense of like, what does winning
(20:01):
look like again and paint that picture of success and
help folks kind of see what we could do to
kind of put this, you know, put the brand back
in the, in the prestige that it really needed to be.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I obviously know very little of the space, but thinking
about what you described, I would imagine your culinary background
was the absolute right fit versus just an operational background.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah. Well, I mean like I can actually spend time with,
I actually spend time with our executive chef for the
company and our top operators and can speak the language.
And I think that that's something that's unique. That's probably
a little bit of my, uh, Maybe a little bit
of my secret sauce is that I can actually subordinate
from a board meeting kind of conversation with a board
deck to having a detailed conversation around recipes and food
(20:45):
science and why we put the white pepper in the
wok for fried rice at the last moment and flare
it up so that we toast the white pepper. Those
are the kind of things that like people can, I
can kind of get into that chef kind of thing
for a second, but it's the meaningful touches and details,
the recipes that make the difference and kind of create
those memories. So.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
Well, I would imagine you can bring out the color
in the storytelling that needs to be told.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
Because I never really thought about it.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
You really do own the space in terms of your
150 locations?
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Over 200.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Over 200. Am I staying correct?
Speaker 4 (21:20):
200 in the U.S.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
And 100 international. So we're over 300 across the world.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
And unofficially, based on our earlier conversation, maybe more coming.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, we definitely are working on earning the right to grow.
I love that. We went from a turnaround story when
I first got here.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Like, I mean, I'll be real honest. I mean, like
the when I first took the position, we were 22nd
in the industry of 22 for last year's sales and profitability,
sales and guest count traffic. So we were in a
negative traffic and sales environment. So if you rank 22
of the restaurant companies out there, polished and casual, we
were like in last place last year. We went from,
(21:59):
in the first quarter, we moved to the seventh position. Wow,
22nd to seventh. And then in the second quarter, we
moved to the third position.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
And then we're in the midst right now of our
third quarter of the year. We're private, so I can
talk about this a little bit.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
We're actually going to, we're posting double-digit sales increases right now.
We're over 10 and a half percent positive and about
seven and a half percent guest count growth. So we
are moving and growing at this point, so in a
big way. So It went from turnaround to stabilization to
now it's becoming exciting because it's growth.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Oh, for sure.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
And people are winning.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
People are, you know, sales are up in restaurants and
people are excited. We're starting to look at the future
and saying, you know, we'd like to grow another 40
restaurants in the U.S. in the next five years. And
I'd like to grow probably 100 in the world in
the next five years as well.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Oh, wow. We'll jump to that in a second. First off, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
It's congratulations to the P.F. Chang's team. You know, we
have a great team of people that.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I just get the fortunate– I was very fortunate to
lead them and kind of help guide them on this journey.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
That's awesome. A friend of mine used to say, last
time I checked, winning was fun.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
So I would imagine that you're having a little bit
of fun right now.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Oh, yeah. I have to ask, 22 out of wherever
you were, 22 I think you said, that's a big jump.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
What do you attribute it to?
Speaker 3 (23:19):
You know, I attribute it to— That's quick. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
Nine months.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
It's a lot. I mean, like, I think that, you know,
it's never one thing that kind of changes anything in
a turnaround. I think it's really— I was very fortunate to, A,
identify very quickly that, you know, what we needed to
do was to be the best P.F. Changs it could be,
positive in the way that I came in from an approach.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Point of view.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I'm always a positive guy, so I'm like, I'm not
going to come in and negatively coach So positively kind
of just laying out what expectations needed to be. And
then being disciplined around making sure that we had the
right team around me. I mean, I brought in a
really strong CMO that started with me on my second day.
And this woman, Holly Smith, who has worked with me
(24:00):
probably for a dozen years or so. When you have
someone you know that you can kind of throw that
no look past to.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
They know what you're going to do.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
And they've been with you enough to where you can
move at the speed of trust.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Which I always kind of talk about a lot.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
So when someone trusts you that, and you trust them,
you can give them the latitude to.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Be able to do their job and do it well.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
So we were quiet and a little bit sleepy with
a brand point of view. Like you didn't, people would
always say, I know P.F. Chang's, I like P.F. Chang's,
I haven't been there in a while. Correct. So like,
you know, and we get that reaction a lot. And
I've just said, hey, how do we turn that reaction to,
I love P.F. Chang's and I was there last night.
So we need to give you a reason to kind of,
Not just click on us and like us on social
(24:39):
media or on our advertising, but to really give you
a reason to come in and kind of create.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Those meaningful dining experiences.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
And what the brand had lost is that we really
started to drift into really high third-party takeout delivery sales
where the brand people started to move and think about
us more for takeout and delivery. and less for coming
into the restaurants for experiential dining. So our mission from
the beginning was to preserve that off-premise business and grow
(25:10):
it at the level we were doing, which was great.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
But then get people back into the restaurants.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
We call them bistros. Get them back into our bistros
and to give them a reason to not order us
to go, but to kind of come in because there's
something that we're doing that's unique. So We became a
mission of, from a food point of view, we want
to do things that are absolutely, whether it's sizzling or
it's smoking, whether it's dry ice, whether it's whatever it
(25:39):
is that's going to create some table side theater.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Yeah, that little.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Kind of moment where you just want to pull your
camera out and take a picture of it and send
it to someone.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Here I am at P.F.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Chang's and we just launched the sushi boat this summer.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Perfect example.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
So we sold over two million dollars in sushi boats
this summer. And when we came up with a sushi boat,
we said, hey, you know, it's one thing to do
a sushi boat that's cool. I had this crazy idea.
This is where kind of the bold stuff is that
I said, hey, let's see if we can figure out
how to get dry ice to every single restaurant across
the United States, 200 restaurants. So if you think about
being in Kansas City or you think about some places
(26:12):
in the Midwest where you may not be able to
find dry ice. So our sushi boat not only comes
to the table. I wanted it to kind of float
on a boat of a cloud of ice, dry ice.
So like we take dry ice, we put a little
bit of water in the kitchen. It starts to smoke up.
We bring that through the dining room. We finish it
at the table the same way. And it's really magical
cloud of dry ice kind of goes over your table
(26:34):
as everyone's kind of having this moment as they're staring
at some great hand rolled sushi.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
So that's an example of taking culinary and a little
bit of theater and a And we were rewarded really
handsomely this summer. Our guests loved our summer in Tokyo campaign,
we called it. And we've had enormous success with it
this year.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I would imagine it's almost like the category is kind
of known for takeout in general.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
The greater category.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And it was just allowed to– P.F. Chang's was allowed
to fall in with the group. You've had to pull
it back, Ali. He said bistro.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
It's a bistro. You want to be there because you can't.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
You're not getting the dry ice bonanza if you're not
in the location.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
And I think we were trying to not play it safe.
I think what we're doing now is we're not playing
it safe. We're kind of expanding the shoulders of pan-Asian cuisine.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
We're not afraid.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Like this autumn, we're going to call it our Kyoto,
autumn in Kyoto, really, basically in Japan. So we're going
to go and explore duck. We're going to do duck
wings on our menu. We're going to do some– really
cool duck fried rice. We're going to kind of move
into a really cool Wagyu egg roll that we've created.
(27:50):
So really unique, craveable items that are not just your
traditional Chinese kind of food items. Then there's nothing wrong
with a great Mongolian beef and we're working on perfecting
that every day. And one of our top selling items
are our lettuce wraps. But we're trying to give a
little bit more variety and another reason to use us.
So like if you can think about us On a
(28:11):
Saturday night for a special occasion and coming in for
one of our premium entrees. Or you think about coming
in on a Tuesday or Wednesday just for an affordable
lunch special.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Or dinner special.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Those days of the week.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
So we have this barbell approach. So it's like everyday value.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
And then we also have this unique opportunity at like
whether it's a weekend or a celebration.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Or if you come to P.F. Chang's, we're really going
to blow it out.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Your birthday experience is going to be unique and you're
going to really remember it.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
That's outstanding. I mean, nine months. OK, be honest.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Beginning of December 2025. What you just told me about
10 minutes ago, if I had told you that beginning
of December, would you say, OK, aspirational? Like, what was
your timeline in your mind for reality?
Speaker 3 (28:59):
I think reality in these kind of situations, you're really
looking at a year to two years of a turnaround
of a company. And I don't think we're fully– we've
earned momentum where we still have to continue to earn
more guests to come into our restaurants. And it's nice
to see momentum shifting. But like no one in the
company or myself is kind of sitting back and wrestling.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
We're on our front toes kind of leaning forward.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
But we were very fortunate. We're very fortunate that things
took this well and that we moved the needle this quickly.
Very intentional, but like in December, if you would have
asked me, I would have probably said that I'm an optimist,
but that would have been a little bit too aggressive.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
A little aggressive.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Now, I did have some folks around me that were
expecting us to deliver like the next day.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Of course.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Like our, you know, ownership and folks like that.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
They would love to see like, you know, it does
take a little bit of time to build it. But
like the the good news is that the we're building
momentum out in the field and we're creating followership and
people believing in themselves again and believing in the brand.
And I think once you get that going, like that's
a force that becomes really strong for a forward stretch
(30:07):
of a lot of quarters in.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
A row of sales.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Well, I would imagine that having some success quickly gives
you a little bit more credibility. Not that you didn't
have it before, but you're still the new person in
charge and bringing in a new culture and a new
way of doing things. Talk a little bit– and like
I said, it was maybe a little bit easier from implementation.
But talk about the dual like bringing in new leadership.
(30:32):
You brought in some of your people and creating or
building off of.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
The culture that was there. What was that like? What
did you focus on?
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Yeah, I think that that's– you bring up a great
point because I think the– it's a group that had
been with this.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Brand for a very long period of time.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
OK.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Believes in what they're doing. And like, you know, you're
a new guy, you're still a new guy to the equation.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
You have to prove yourself.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I mean, it doesn't matter how strong your resume is
or how great your board strategy is in your deck
that you present. It's really about walking the talk and
spending the time with people and really matching that up
with results and being out in the field and being credible,
you know, being a credible leader that, you know, the
interesting thing about me, I'm the same guy that's in
a board meeting that's in a restaurant. You Spending time,
(31:17):
you know, just popping into a restaurant on Friday night and,
you know, met a great server, a great manager, just
great things going on, some recognition. We're big on recognition
at P.F.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Chang's, too.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Like when we catch people doing things right, we have
pins that we give them.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
That's on my lapel.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Oh, that's awesome. I keep that there because when I'll
go through the day today visiting restaurants in Dallas here,
and if I find someone doing something really good, they'll
give this pin out. That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
A big deal internally.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Oh, for sure.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
We'll make a big deal out of it.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
But I think internally managing and getting people motivated and
believing in the brand again and believing in themselves I
think was the first call to order. And then realizing
that we needed to add folks to it and work
to build a culture together. And I think that that's
been a real key takeaway to build something together. I
didn't come into this with my specific playbook around do
(32:06):
it Jim's way.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
I kind of said, hey, this is P.F.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Chang's.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
How do we do this together? And how do we
make this.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
The best BF Changs it could be?
Speaker 5 (32:12):
Yeah, it's funny you should say that. I started in
this role as region president October 1st last year. So
coming up my year. Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
And I tried to tell people it's not a me thing.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
It's a we thing. And we own the culture. And
there's things you eliminate from the past. And there are
things that are good. I mean, there always is.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I mean, I think that you can become too stuck
in institutional knowledge, but institutional knowledge has value. And so
it's how you find that balance. And it sounds like
you guys found it.
Speaker 5 (32:40):
Really quickly and are really aggressively moving forward.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I have to ask the international thing because I always
find it interesting because it's hard enough with 200-plus in
the United States.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Now you're going international.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
How do you maintain the consistency and the culture and
all of that?
Speaker 5 (32:57):
What's the secret there?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
In my past, I've been fortunate to work for big
brands like TGR Fridays, for example, where they have 500
or 600 international restaurants.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
So I've been involved with that for a while.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
And I think what's interesting is when you find partners
around the world, what they really do is they fall
in love with the brand. And they want to be
brand stewards more than you realize because they're making a
very large investment in P.F. Chang's.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
And they want P.F.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Chang's to have high standards. They want it to stand
for something. So from the onset of the training and
the vetting of those individuals, you really kind of set
up what the expectations are and those standards. And I
think What we've been fortunate to do is to pick
the right partners that not only will embody what we
stand for from a values point of view, our core values,
(33:43):
but also deliver the brand at the integrity of where
it needs to be. But you also, from a restaurateur
point of view, when you're in India or you're, we
just opened up a restaurant in London. Um, you have
to make some modifications to the cuisine locally. Sure.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
So you're going to.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Keep like 70% of the core menu items themselves. You're
going to give them a little bit of have create
ability to have some local favorites that are still Pan-Asian,
but like maybe in.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
That specific cuisine.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Um, and giving them that blend of flexibility and then
maintaining that standard, um, is what we do. I mean,
and I think, you know, you do that through systems
and processes and right selection of people. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
I would imagine going into each individual market, you know,
the old saying, there's a little bit of show me,
you know me, so that you maintain what P.F. Chang's is,
but there's also, whether you're in London or wherever, there's
a little bit of understanding.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
And we're fortunate.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
We don't have to, we don't take everyone. Not everyone
gets to play on our team.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
You know, so we have a vetting process that we
bring them in and we'll bring them to the U.S.
and we'll bring them to our best restaurants and we'll
kind of, put them through the paces, and go through
a little bit of a boot camp to kind of
learn the brand and make sure that we both kind
of create this partnership that makes sense for each other.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
No, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I have to, you know, we've talked a lot about
culture and leadership.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
And, you know, your track record speaks for itself. And
you're at a point in.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Your career where you're revitalizing a known brand. But when
you think about where you get the most joy as
a leader in the day-to-day, what is that one thing?
Speaker 5 (35:18):
Or main thing.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
The main thing I get, you know, is I like
developing leaders of the future because I, you know, I
think I've been fortunate. I always say to people like,
you know, success, you know, is this thing where people
get around the table and they like to our table today,
you can go back in the day, you know, and
I like to remind people like, you know, we're creating
that back in a day moment right now within the
(35:39):
brand we're doing. So be present in the moment, make
the most of the opportunities that are given to you.
And then like, I really like to spend time and,
What I get the most enjoyment out of is seeing
leaders develop and grow and kind of, you know, seeing
people from at one point where they may have had
some resistance to change and then become adopting it and
then really accelerating and kind of doing great work. You know,
(36:01):
because I think sales and profits will always.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Come and go.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
And I think I've been fortunate to kind of preside
over some really successful sales and profit situations. But we
also give back at P.F. Chang's too, which is like
right now we're in the middle of a campaign that
started in September. which I'm really proud of too, which
is our Starlight Children's Foundation, where we are actually working
with the Starlight Foundation, which if you don't know what
that is, it's 800 hospitals across the U.S. that we're
(36:27):
working with where they work with children that are at
that moment where they're in the hospital, they're about to
have a surgery or procedure, and they're scared. Just think
about what would happen as a parent when your child
was going in for whether it's a cancer procedure or
something along those lines. So we work with this organization.
What they do is they try to make that moment
in the hospital really, really memorable and fun for kids.
(36:50):
So they'll dress kids up in different– they'll come in
as superheroes and they'll kind of be different things. So
we're doing it like a– it's the year of the
horse for P.F. Chang. So we have this little plushie
that we're doing where we donated 20,000 of these toys
to the hospital so that as a child is in
the hospital and they're in that moment, they're going to
(37:10):
have a little P.F. Chang's horse that for the year
of the horse that we're going to give them across
the U.S. And then within our restaurants, we're also raising
money for it. So we're going to raise a half
a million dollars for this foundation in the month of September.
And we're going to do some great work with getting
to hospitals and meeting these children and these amazing doctors
that are doing the work that they're doing and the
Starlight Foundation.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
That's just doing some really good work for children in
that moment of need.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
So I like that because that's my way from a
business point of view of to giving back and having
business for the purpose that it's not just about sales
and profit. We run a business where we have humans
and people behind it. And if we can, in the
communities that we operate, be, you know, great leaders and
be able to give back and be able to do
more than just, you know, more than just serve and
(37:58):
be able to be hospitable and great, great food, to
be able to give back as people, I think is
a big part of my platform.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Look, I think it fits in the hospitality world. I mean,
it's more than just serving a meal.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
And what I've noticed is like the folks in a company,
the servers, a server is made up or server teams
are made or greeter teams are made up of their
moms and dads and their sisters and aunts and uncles.
And everyone has a personal situation where there's something that's
going on. And the ability or giving people the ability
to give back and do good in the communities, I
(38:35):
think is really important and special. And to see that
light in people's eyes when they get excited about raising
money for a charity, I think.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
Is pretty cool.
Speaker 5 (38:42):
Well, congratulations.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (38:45):
That's amazing. But I think that it's so important what
you're saying.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
You know, we work with these people, but they have
lives outside of the stores, restaurants.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
And outside of my office.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
And I really do believe those things are the things
that really exponentially grow.
Speaker 5 (39:04):
The culture and the belief.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
And the next time maybe there's something hard going on,
it's like everybody is more than happy to retrench and go, okay, yeah,
let's get after it because that's where team is built
and you've created that.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
Through your leadership and growing the culture. That's really, that's awesome.
And that's nationwide?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Nationwide, all the 200 restaurants that we have across the U.S.
Speaker 5 (39:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
And it's all for the month of September. So if
you come to a P.F. Chang's in the month of September,
you can buy, buy a $ 10 plushie that you get
to take home, and we donate one for you to
these children's hospitals. And we also give you a nice
little bounce-back gift to come back and visit P.F. Chang's
with a free appetizer as well.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Okay, so I did see a little bit on that
on LinkedIn. I was doing a little bit of homework.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
Let's talk after this. I think there's something maybe we
can do.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
Yeah, I'd love to do. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (39:51):
It would be awesome. Jim, this has been great. We
could go on a little bit longer.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
I've been kind of stewing in my own jealousy over
the whole Prince thing. As someone that occasionally goes back
and watches the Prince Super Bowl halftime performance.
Speaker 4 (40:06):
He was the best, man.
Speaker 5 (40:08):
Come on.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
So talented. What a talented individual.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
I mean, look, for the non-Gen Xers here, Jim will
recognize this. If you walked into a house party and
Prince was playing, it was actually a good party and
it was worth staying back in 1984.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
I was just going to say it was 1984.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
That's exactly what it was.
Speaker 5 (40:25):
Absolutely. Well, with that, Jim, we're going to wrap it up.
I know you've got things to do. It was great
having you. We appreciate you joining us today.
Speaker 4 (40:31):
I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
All right.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
iHeartMedia and P.F. Chang's invites you to join the Spirit
of Strength campaign. Through September 30th, get the Bao plushie
for $ 10 with any dine-in purchase.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
And P.F.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Chang's donates one to Starlight Children's Foundation. Visit your local P.F.
Chang's today.
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