May 2, 2024 • 27 mins
Welcome to the latest episode of Bed & Butter: THE Hospitality Podcast. Our host, Sean Riley, brings on Peter Twachtman, the charismatic CEO of Lark Hotels. Listen as Peter recounts his growth from being a busboy to heading one of America's rapidly expanding companies in the boutique hotel sector. Get a glimpse of Peter's people-centric leadership style and focus on core values.
Peter talks about how Lark Hotels sets itself apart from other hotel management firms by ingeniously blending design, marketing, and finance to redefine the hospitality industry. Explore Peter's innovative hotel brands, including Blind Tiger, Bluebird, and AWOL, all operating under the Lark Hotels umbrella. These brands are reshaping the customer experience in the hospitality sector. This episode is a must-listen for those intrigued by the thriving boutique hotels sector, leadership insights in hospitality, and the significance of adhering to core values on the path to success.
In the second part of our episode, we delve into a thought-provoking discussion on the value of maintaining a balanced professional and personal life. Gain insights into the unique advantage of being a small asset generalist and how this can fuel professional growth. Our guest stresses the importance of continuous learning and avoiding professional stagnation, regardless of the level of success one has achieved.
With a wealth of knowledge to offer, this episode isn't just for young professionals seeking to drive their careers but is also beneficial for anyone seeking balance and growth in their professional journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to Bed and Butter, the hospitality podcast designed exclusively for
budding students and aspiring industry leaders.
We're thrilled to embark on this exciting journey with you.
Each episode, we'll delve into the heart of hospitality industry with your host,
Sean Riley, uncovering invaluable insights, trends, and strategies to not only
(00:26):
succeed, but thrive in this dynamic field.
The podcast is produced in collaboration with Southern Maine Community College.
Listen to national leaders highlight opportunities for the active hospitality
professional, students of SMCC's Culinary Arts Program, as well as the L.
Joe Van Wye School of Hospitality.
(00:47):
This program is a labor of love, made possible with the help of the communications
and new media studies students.
Whether you're sharpening your skills or stepping into the world of hospitality
for the first time, Bed and Butter is your go-to resource.
So let's dive in and spread the knowledge one episode at a time.
(01:08):
Imagine someone who's not only bursting with creativity, but also has a sharp,
practical mind for getting things done.
Well, today's guest is that kind of person.
Peter Tuchman, CEO of Lock Hotels, leads one of the nation's fastest growing
companies in the boutique hotel space.
He began his career in the restaurant business and expanded to include work
(01:29):
in small inns and resorts.
Currently, Locke has 55 hotels in 16 states, from Maine to California.
Let's learn what boutique hotels are all about and how a teenage busboy became
a CEO while maintaining his core values.
Hey, Peter, how you doing? Great, Sean. How are you today?
Great. I'm so glad you joined us. And you know, I was talking to some people.
(01:52):
I said, And I got one more to go here before we wrap up a season.
And I saved the best till last.
I mean, I'm excited because I think one of the reasons I'm really excited is
because you're in an area that I don't know a lot about. So I think I'm here
to learn as much as our listeners.
So I'm looking forward to this. So thanks for joining us.
No, thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here. And I've always been
a huge fan of all you've done over the years. And so really, it's my pleasure.
(02:13):
Yeah, when I, you and I met back, oh, it was during COVID.
We went into one of your places in Portland and I just said,
you know, this is a guy I got to know more about.
I mean, you got a career and you're in an area that's a, it's a great area.
So we'll, we'll talk about your career a little bit. I'll ask you some questions.
We'll get the, get the audience excited and, and maybe you'll have some new
people coming to work for your team. I hope so.
(02:38):
So why don't you tell me a little bit about your career, a brief history of
your career, And then we'll really dig into where you are today and the last 10 years or so.
Okay. You know, sort of the two-minute rundown there is I grew up in a small
town in Wilmington, Vermont.
It was just my mom, my brother, and I. And my mom worked all the time,
obviously home taking care of us as well.
But we had few resources. But what we did have is access to a very robust,
(03:03):
small but robust tourist town.
Lots of small inns, lots of small restaurants, all independent,
no flag in town anywhere.
So we had to work as kids and my brother went in the back of the house.
I pretty quickly realized as a kid, I could bus tables, make twice the money, work half the hours.
So my career was up through F&B, always having to work, kind of always in the
(03:24):
front of the house, put myself through college, you know, waiting tables,
busing tables, quickly got into restaurant management, floor management,
and found that I had a bit of a knack for it.
And so it was sort of a GM in my kind of mid to late 20s.
And then from there, I saw so many good men and women on the floor,
(03:44):
but I knew I wanted to do more.
And so I actively took my F&B skills, moved into small inns so I could learn the small hotel side.
And then kind of from there, it just kind of kept going. But that was really the intro to it.
And really the lesson there is perseverance, hard work, a lot of,
you know, take a lot of lumps and just pay attention, listen to those people around you.
(04:09):
Well, it's interesting you say that you started out, you've kind of crossed
over from the restaurant business to the, our company was a restaurant company as well.
And they bought a hotel with me in it.
And so I got my restaurant business with them, but it is, I think there's a
lot of synergies between the two.
And a lot of the things we learn in the restaurant business help us in the hotel
business and vice versa.
(04:29):
Well, that's interesting that you say that, Sean, I think sometimes when I look
at people who come in into our small hotel side from F&B.
I believe it is much easier to cross over from food and beverage into hotels than hotels to F&B.
I mean, just the amount of detail and constantly changing environment on the F&B side.
If you can manage and lead well and get that detail right, you can apply that skill set over.
(04:53):
But going from sort of the fixed side of the hotel into the daily chaos of F&B
can be very challenging.
Yeah, I love the excitement of working the floor, of jumping. Yeah.
I mean, it's exciting. I mean, I don't miss going home smelling like home fries,
but it's an exciting thing. Both my kids grew up in that business too.
(05:16):
And it is. And I think it's a people-sided business.
I mean, it's- It really is. You have to learn. I mean, you have to learn interaction
and pushback from guests and staff on a regular basis.
And that's really the key to, I think the key to success in anything that we
do is the ability to really manage with, through, and around individuals.
(05:37):
And you learn a lot about yourself, ideally, when that's happening.
I still walk in a clothing store and say, behind you.
My wife does it. She works in a restaurant, and she's constantly,
like, when we're in the kitchen, she's like, behind you, behind you. I'm like, I got it, babe.
Yeah, he picks this tonight. There's no more left. That's right.
So our restaurant folks listening, I definitely know that we've been doing this for a while now. Yeah.
(06:01):
So what kind of made the transition from the restaurant more into the inns and
hotels? I mean, obviously you wanted something different.
Yeah, you know, I think I always knew a couple of things.
I always knew that I was probably not a guy to climb a traditional corporate ladder.
I bought ties and suits on a regular basis. I didn't want to shave my face.
(06:22):
And so I knew I needed some other outlet to explore my career,
explore my work, be in a place where people would take me sort of for who I was.
And the independent world just seemed to fit a little bit more.
What I liked about kind of the hotel side was just much more dynamic.
It wasn't just constant FP operations on a daily basis. And I love food and
beverage to your point as well.
(06:43):
But I really wanted to understand sort of the room side early on.
I wanted to understand the capital side, the debt side, the facility structure
side. And so I just wanted more.
And in order to do that, I needed bigger projects to sort of take on or the
opportunity to step into them and learn them in particular.
So I noticed in your career, you went to Migas, which is a great company in Maine.
(07:07):
You started and you worked your way up there. You were like 10 years,
I'd say, I think. and then kind of groomed you for the role you're in now.
So what is the difference between the Migas and Lark?
I mean, there's similarities in there.
Yeah, there's great similarities. And I had, to your point, 10 years,
almost 11 years with Migas.
You know, I think one of the similarities and really the early lessons that
(07:29):
I learned from Tim Porta is he just focused on people.
And for me, I had to sort of claw my way through a little bit in my early career.
And you would, you know, you would be in environments where people get run over
a little bit. That's not what it was like at Migas at all.
It was the sense of patience and kindness and perseverance to get the best out
(07:51):
of people, to take people for who they are.
Migas certainly focuses more on sort of main destination, a little more resort type property.
And Lark really focused on early on in design driven location.
And so those are sort of the big kind of company differences in terms of property sets.
But from a core value perspective, they're really both very similar.
(08:14):
And I wouldn't have come over and worked if I didn't feel that way anyway,
because really at the end of the day, all we have is who we are and what we've
done and the people we've touched along the way.
And if we can keep our soul through all of this craziness, then we've actually
done the right thing and taken good care of people.
Well, I love hearing it. That's near and dear to my heart too,
is the taking care of people.
(08:35):
And I think what's interesting to me is a lot of folks that we've talked to,
we associate with people we know and like that we believe in.
It's really neat to hear you say the same things that I've said along.
And it's nice to know that there's a lot of us out there.
And it's great that this podcast can recognize them.
So you mentioned Lark now. So Lark, take me through that.
(08:56):
That's a really interesting space. When I say a space, we have bigger hotels,
we have branded hotels, we have some independent.
Hotels, but you have really zeroed in on an area like boutique as one,
but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. Can you tell us about that?
Yeah, so Lark is a lot of things. Today, on the front facing,
(09:18):
we are a management company. We manage 55 assets.
We own or have ownership in half of those. We operate in 16 states. rates.
Early on, Lark started as a disruptor in market, really moving small assets
into a new rate class, really through design.
And so if a rate class was at 269 before, there was a sweet spot at 389.
(09:39):
And so it was able to kind of move those rates up.
But what it really did was to show that you can actually produce and make,
small assets, and even more viable business than they were sort of in the past.
So we're a management company. We're an asset company. We raise equity.
(10:01):
And so we've got sort of financial backing as well. So we chase capital.
We're a design company also. We design anything that falls under our Lark brand.
And we're a brand and marketing company. So Lark Hotels is a subset of assets that focuses on design.
And then within that, we've created a few other products.
One called Blind Tiger. We have four of those assets now. And the idea of those
(10:24):
is that you're kind of in your best friend's sort of house, and they're really in the know.
You can get really comfortable, great common space, sort of open pantries.
And a team on the ground, we refer to them as hosts, who really know what's
happening in the local community.
We send them out, they get to dine, they do other pieces, and so that they're dialed in.
We created a product called Bluebird coming out of COVID, really to go after
(10:46):
sort of purpose-built locations, old, think old ski lodges, hotels,
and not to have so much about the destination, but the sort of travels between.
So we were your space as you were on the road, bringing back that sort of road trip, family trip.
And this really sort of allowed movement into sort of secondary markets,
particularly coming out of COVID.
(11:07):
And then we've got a product called AWOL. And really AWOL
is about sort of design that is
particular to the location we're in so if you're in tall pines it all feels
like tall pines if you're in sand area it feels like sort of beach and sand
if you're up in the mountains design will be sort of more mountain sort of key
components is theirs they all have private outdoor or semi-private outdoor space
(11:29):
but again all of these sort of fit into our larger design and sort of service mode.
I think it's interesting that a lot of times, not in your space,
but if you need to get to a certain size to become profitable,
and that's where you really, there's a break-even point.
People start out with a 60-room hotel, then they got to be an 80,
then they got to be a 100. There are people saying, I have 120, 130.
(11:51):
You're reversing that trend.
When I went into your place and when I've gone online and searched it,
which I recommend people look
you up online to visit the beauty of your hotels, but it is different.
And if you're getting $389, $489, $589, those kind of things,
you don't need 100 rooms.
And actually, frankly, you're going to take away from what you really seem to be preaching.
(12:16):
That's right. That's right. I think what's interesting is, one,
even $389, $489, $589 are deals these days as well. We know that over the last
few years, rates have really moved.
And so some of these places can push almost silly dollars.
But I think, to your point on people go to bigger assets and bigger assets,
because many times they think it's about the top line. And sure,
(12:39):
we have to drive top line.
But to me, it's about, particularly as we grow and we build,
it's about process. It's about structure.
It's about education. It's about learning to manage the middle as much as it is about top line.
But even more so, it's about keeping good people, driving that guest experience,
return rates, lowering attrition, and having the employee feel like they are
(13:02):
truly valued and part of that location and have opportunity to grow and learn and develop in those.
Because as you know really well, good long-term teams drive good long-term results.
Yeah, that's, that's absolutely true. And I think you, you, when I visited,
I remember seeing a gal there who I think she was the general manager.
(13:23):
She's climbing up, she was changing a light bulb.
And I saw a little while later, she's going through and taking in an order.
And it was just, it was neat that they were, they were all inclusive.
It wasn't like, it's not my job.
You know, it was like, this is my home and I'm going to fix the things that
I need to fix. And that, that was, that was an interesting take on it. Yeah.
Well, I'm glad you got to see that sort of, and that's just kind of, you know, how they work.
(13:44):
And one in a small asset, you have to do more. But I think in small assets in
particular, where success comes from is being a good generalist.
One, willing to do anything. Two, learn anything.
Take it on, explore it, see if you can kind of figure it out.
And growing up, I became a bit of a generalist. And so not a lot about a little
or a little about a lot, however you want to sort of say that.
(14:05):
And then we become a little more specialized. centralized, but you get to touch
so much more than having to be in one particular lane in really big groups.
And sometimes you can get stuck in that lane and don't get the opportunity to
think or move or execute beyond that.
And so I think the opportunities in the small asset world, really,
if you're willing to learn and take those chances a little bit and some risk,
(14:28):
you can be exposed to so much more.
I don't know if I've told you, when we met and you said, yeah, this is my office today.
A couple of years ago. And I said, this is my office today. And I thought,
well, that's pretty interesting. And the explanation you gave was really neat.
So I wanted to make sure I honored you today. I went to one of our hotels and
I worked out of one of our hotels in the lobby today.
(14:49):
We'll talk to people, saw some things I should have seen that I needed to see.
We got to see people, which was really good. So I did learn from you.
But talk about that. I mean, you really, you've said your offices are on Amesbury, I think?
Yeah, we actually moved our corporate, quote unquote, corporate office to Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, but it was in Amesbury at the time when we met.
I'm actually sitting in the space when we met a couple of years ago and talked.
(15:12):
That's really sort of funny.
I've always believed that we are an operating company.
And so sure, you might have some finance or other people actually in an office,
but otherwise all of those in all of us that touch operations should see the
operations as best and often as we can.
And so many times I've been in companies where somebody who is the VP or the
(15:33):
regional manager just shows up every three or six or whatever weeks and walks
through and hits their checklist and walks out.
Well, one, we always know they're coming. Two, so the place kind of looks as it is.
I think working in, you get to hear the conversations to the side.
You get to see what guests see. You get to hear their excitement.
You get to hear the small comments. You just see more. And I just showing up
and being present, things run better.
(15:55):
They just do because you've got this expectation that we are around and ideally
catching all the good things, right?
But correcting those small things that need correction in the moment that might
slip by us or not get seen to your point because we're not there. We're not around.
Yeah. Well, so you impacted my life in that, and I have done that more often.
And we've brought in a new person on our team who's a president.
(16:18):
Actually, I listened to your podcast this morning, one that you recently did with someone else.
And you talked about the transition of a CEO, owner-CEO.
And I'm not the owner of the whole shebang here, but I'm part owner.
But that whole idea and some of the things you said relative to,
you know, learning and when it's time to say take on someone else who can maybe
(16:38):
take a little bit more of the operation.
And again, this is probably this is high level stuff. So some of our newer,
younger people might not get it or but it's great to be exposed that,
you know, even someone at my age is learning something from someone like you at your young age.
And but just talk a little bit about that. I thought that was a really interesting conversation.
Yeah, you know, it is. It is, Rishon. And one, I think to your point,
(17:00):
just the other point about learning, I love that you keep identifying what you're
learning as you're moving forward.
And I hope to continue to do that as well. We certainly need to keep our minds
open to that growth set because otherwise we're just stale and stagnant, right?
And if we're not learning, we should get out of the way.
But I believe if there's a founder, an owner, but somebody who's been more at
(17:23):
the front, and there always comes a time in a business when maybe they can't do it all.
And so I've always believed in and through my experience that that founder,
that that that creator is really good at something because they had the vision
and the capacity and the drive to create it and put together and get it to wherever it's gotten.
(17:44):
But nobody can do it all. And so at some point they need to step back and say,
what do I do best and who compliments me and the business and can take on the
pieces that I don't take on well?
And can I let go of that enough to allow that person to do what they need to do?
I think those are sort of the key pieces that have to work together.
(18:04):
I'm learning that as I go. And some of it's pretty relieving.
Ironically, when we brought on this gentleman, I've known for years,
and he fits the culture. And I think that's the number one thing.
And I'm sure that's what you've chosen.
You had to fit. They had to fit you and you had to fit them. And he does for me.
But I was struggling sleeping. I never did the prescription stuff, but melatonin.
(18:26):
And I was taking more than I probably should.
I hired him. And I haven't taken one since. And I call him my melatonin.
Yeah, that's exactly it. Rob
tells me he sleeps really well because he's like, I don't worry about it.
You know, I worry about other things, but I don't have to worry about all of it.
And that's the job, right? Our job is to take the weight.
(18:49):
And ideally, we're able to shed that weight and push it out on a regular basis
and keep people's shoulders not too heavy, but enough where they understand
what their capacity is in their role. And they can do other things.
That's right. which could benefit both parties. So tell me, I admire you as
a business person and what you've accomplished. You have 55 hotels.
You were like 20 just a few years when we met, I think.
(19:12):
Yeah, when I joined, we were 20. And so we grew fairly rapidly in about two and a half years.
A lot of lessons in there, right? Not all of it's easy, certainly some mistakes,
but we're in a much better place now.
But scaling from five to 10 is hard, 10 to 20, whatever that number might be.
But every time you double, it creates a new challenge. yeah
so that's the business side of you but tell me
(19:33):
just a little bit about personal i know one time i reached out to you said hey
i'll get back to you i'm walking with my daughter on the beach or something
and i just that was cool i said let's that's a piece you ought to share on this
for people to understand that that's important to a ceo of your level i i you
know i for me that on the personal side i believe that.
If I need something, I don't have to assume others need it, but I have to assume
(19:57):
that if I need time or I need balance or I need time with my family,
that the vast majority of everybody else, whatever they have, needs that also.
And so personally, I've been with my wife and I've been together over 20 years.
We've got a terrific daughter, Bo. She just turned 11.
Actually, she'll be delighted because she wanted me to get her name in one of
these at some point. So, Bo-Bo, I love you, babe.
(20:18):
Well, so do we, Bo. So do we. We're glad to meet you.
And I feel really lucky to have that balance, but it's, you know,
it's taken time to find it. Right.
But I, I live in Portland. I moved up here in 89 after, after high school for
college and Portland really became my home pretty quickly.
(20:39):
And so I really cherish my ability to turn my head on at work and stay wildly
focused and work diligently and hopefully in a smart way.
And then to have the capacity to get home and turn it off and give my family
and the ones I love and my friends all of my undivided attention.
(20:59):
But I practice that all the time. So whomever I'm with in any conversation that
I have in any moment, I shut off every other distraction.
I find that I work better. I work smarter that way. I'm more efficient that
way versus trying to do two, three, four times, phones ringing, whatever else.
I just shut it all off. I don't have notifications on. I don't have beats. I don't have ringers.
(21:20):
I don't want somebody or something telling me I have to put my head somewhere
else when my attention is being given to something else in the moment.
So everybody ought to pay attention. You're looking at me. We're focused.
We're paying attention.
We're giving it to the audience. So thank you for that. So you have success.
Yeah. I mean, at some level of success, but what kind of success habits have
(21:41):
you developed that have allowed you to become successful like you are? Yeah.
Ooh, that's a good question. I would say there's a few.
I'm not afraid to fail. I'm still not afraid to fail.
Early on, I had a really high risk tolerance because I had nothing to lose at all.
I still think you have to have that. I think that's important because if you're
(22:03):
not willing to take some risk, I look for places of discomfort still.
Those are harder to find. I think they're probably harder to find for you as well.
But you found that even thinking about out somebody to quote unquote,
replace you, right, to sort of pass the baton.
So I think we need to find ways to make ourselves uncomfortable,
because that's where we get really well.
(22:23):
I, I have little tolerance for stagnation or, or just comfort all day long.
I you know, I was talking to somebody not long ago, and.
They were telling me that they never had any, they don't ever really have any
challenges and they've got everything figured out.
And I said, huh, how can that be? And they said, well, you know,
(22:43):
I just, you know, this life goes really well.
And I said, well, do you take any risk? And they said, well,
not really. And I said, so I think success, I think, takes a level of risk.
It takes a level of drive.
It takes a level of letting the ego go.
So it's really, to me, that's a big one. We have to have enough ego on one side
(23:05):
to keep us pushing, but we also have to, I think, over time,
learn to let it go so that we actually learn and recognize that we can't do it alone.
And so for me, my greatest sort of piece of success has really been learning
to foster and drive and build the relationships that I have and ultimately push
people to be honest about where they are and to provide a safe, open,
(23:30):
respectful environment where they can take a risk to share what they're worried
about for lack or for no fear of reprisal and actually get to the root of what
they need. and then we get better together.
And so for me, that's a big piece of sort of the successful mark in driving
teams together, that level of vulnerability.
(23:50):
Well, I'm going to play this right after we're done. I want to hear that again.
I want that to sink into me. That really is insightful.
So you have a chance now. Our audience are probably the younger professionals,
people who want to be professionals.
They might be going to high school and want to begin early in the business.
Then they might be in college somewhere, an SMCC, Hudson or Cornell,
(24:12):
or they may be people who are working in our fields in early leadership roles.
What are you going to say to them? What can you say to them that are going to
say, here, this is what I wish someone had told me these things when I was younger?
Listen more.
Ask the why. Ask good questions. Be curious.
(24:34):
You have to do the job before you get the next job.
I would say that learn the metrics. That is instrumental to moving a business
forward. So learn the basics early on.
Don't recognize or don't think you know it all because none of us do.
It's continually learning in our business.
(24:55):
If you beat customer expectations, you'll win their loyalty.
So don't just do what is expected, exceed what is expected in our work and what
we deliver and what we give.
And, you know, I, this is one for more for leaders, but I think it resonates.
(25:16):
Your leaders will give you 100% professionalism if you nurture them personally.
And so for a young person, look to find somebody that can nurture you,
find somebody to mentor you, ask them, share with them, be open,
be honest, take risks and open yourself up.
Don't, don't protect yourself so much. It's okay to have faults.
(25:41):
You know, each time I talk to young folks, one of the things I say is,
you know, it's okay to raise your hand and ask for something more.
Because if you're not going to take a risk to raise your hand,
and it's not saying the same way as you, but that really is,
you have to raise your hand.
And if you raise your hand enough, even if you fall down, you're going to stop
being, someone's going to keep looking at you.
(26:01):
That's right. You know, you asked about early on and kind of sort of drive to
success. I volunteered for everything.
I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. And many times they're like,
you can't. And I was like, I'll figure it out. I'll try.
But that's just it. Raise your hand. Ask the question. Raise your hand.
Step into it. Be noticed.
Yeah. And I think something else you mentioned that really is important to me
(26:24):
is you got to care about people.
And you can care about someone. If you're washing dishes, you can help that
bus person's life and make it better.
Or if you're a cook, you can make the service better. And if you're a housekeeper, you can do things.
So I think, you know, it really is just, it's pretty basic business and we're
pretty basic things and we just happen to have fallen into the right places,
(26:46):
but we, but we raised our hand and we move forward and we, um,
now we want to give back and I, and I appreciate going back to our audience
today and giving you time.
I know you got stuff in 16 States and 55 hotels and amazing,
but, uh, you're giving back to our group.
So thank you so much for this time. Yeah. Thank you for having me, Sean.
Thank you for joining us for another episode of Bed and Butter,
(27:09):
the hospitality podcast produced in partnership with Southern Maine Community College.
Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you don't miss any episodes
and have a butterful day.
Welcome to Bed and Butter, the hospitality podcast designed exclusively for
budding students and aspiring industry leaders.
We're thrilled to embark on this exciting journey with you.
Each episode, we'll delve into the heart of hospitality industry with your host,
Sean Riley, uncovering invaluable insights, trends, and strategies to not only
(00:26):
succeed, but thrive in this dynamic field.
The podcast is produced in collaboration with Southern Maine Community College.
Listen to national leaders highlight opportunities for the active hospitality
professional, students of SMCC's Culinary Arts Program, as well as the L.
Joe Van Wye School of Hospitality.
(00:47):
This program is a labor of love, made possible with the help of the communications
and new media studies students.
Whether you're sharpening your skills or stepping into the world of hospitality
for the first time, Bed and Butter is your go-to resource.
So let's dive in and spread the knowledge one episode at a time.
(01:08):
Imagine someone who's not only bursting with creativity, but also has a sharp,
practical mind for getting things done.
Well, today's guest is that kind of person.
Peter Tuchman, CEO of Lock Hotels, leads one of the nation's fastest growing
companies in the boutique hotel space.
He began his career in the restaurant business and expanded to include work
(01:29):
in small inns and resorts.
Currently, Locke has 55 hotels in 16 states, from Maine to California.
Let's learn what boutique hotels are all about and how a teenage busboy became
a CEO while maintaining his core values.
Hey, Peter, how you doing? Great, Sean. How are you today?
Great. I'm so glad you joined us. And you know, I was talking to some people.
(01:52):
I said, And I got one more to go here before we wrap up a season.
And I saved the best till last.
I mean, I'm excited because I think one of the reasons I'm really excited is
because you're in an area that I don't know a lot about. So I think I'm here
to learn as much as our listeners.
So I'm looking forward to this. So thanks for joining us.
No, thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here. And I've always been
a huge fan of all you've done over the years. And so really, it's my pleasure.
(02:13):
Yeah, when I, you and I met back, oh, it was during COVID.
We went into one of your places in Portland and I just said,
you know, this is a guy I got to know more about.
I mean, you got a career and you're in an area that's a, it's a great area.
So we'll, we'll talk about your career a little bit. I'll ask you some questions.
We'll get the, get the audience excited and, and maybe you'll have some new
people coming to work for your team. I hope so.
(02:38):
So why don't you tell me a little bit about your career, a brief history of
your career, And then we'll really dig into where you are today and the last 10 years or so.
Okay. You know, sort of the two-minute rundown there is I grew up in a small
town in Wilmington, Vermont.
It was just my mom, my brother, and I. And my mom worked all the time,
obviously home taking care of us as well.
But we had few resources. But what we did have is access to a very robust,
(03:03):
small but robust tourist town.
Lots of small inns, lots of small restaurants, all independent,
no flag in town anywhere.
So we had to work as kids and my brother went in the back of the house.
I pretty quickly realized as a kid, I could bus tables, make twice the money, work half the hours.
So my career was up through F&B, always having to work, kind of always in the
(03:24):
front of the house, put myself through college, you know, waiting tables,
busing tables, quickly got into restaurant management, floor management,
and found that I had a bit of a knack for it.
And so it was sort of a GM in my kind of mid to late 20s.
And then from there, I saw so many good men and women on the floor,
(03:44):
but I knew I wanted to do more.
And so I actively took my F&B skills, moved into small inns so I could learn the small hotel side.
And then kind of from there, it just kind of kept going. But that was really the intro to it.
And really the lesson there is perseverance, hard work, a lot of,
you know, take a lot of lumps and just pay attention, listen to those people around you.
(04:09):
Well, it's interesting you say that you started out, you've kind of crossed
over from the restaurant business to the, our company was a restaurant company as well.
And they bought a hotel with me in it.
And so I got my restaurant business with them, but it is, I think there's a
lot of synergies between the two.
And a lot of the things we learn in the restaurant business help us in the hotel
business and vice versa.
(04:29):
Well, that's interesting that you say that, Sean, I think sometimes when I look
at people who come in into our small hotel side from F&B.
I believe it is much easier to cross over from food and beverage into hotels than hotels to F&B.
I mean, just the amount of detail and constantly changing environment on the F&B side.
If you can manage and lead well and get that detail right, you can apply that skill set over.
(04:53):
But going from sort of the fixed side of the hotel into the daily chaos of F&B
can be very challenging.
Yeah, I love the excitement of working the floor, of jumping. Yeah.
I mean, it's exciting. I mean, I don't miss going home smelling like home fries,
but it's an exciting thing. Both my kids grew up in that business too.
(05:16):
And it is. And I think it's a people-sided business.
I mean, it's- It really is. You have to learn. I mean, you have to learn interaction
and pushback from guests and staff on a regular basis.
And that's really the key to, I think the key to success in anything that we
do is the ability to really manage with, through, and around individuals.
(05:37):
And you learn a lot about yourself, ideally, when that's happening.
I still walk in a clothing store and say, behind you.
My wife does it. She works in a restaurant, and she's constantly,
like, when we're in the kitchen, she's like, behind you, behind you. I'm like, I got it, babe.
Yeah, he picks this tonight. There's no more left. That's right.
So our restaurant folks listening, I definitely know that we've been doing this for a while now. Yeah.
(06:01):
So what kind of made the transition from the restaurant more into the inns and
hotels? I mean, obviously you wanted something different.
Yeah, you know, I think I always knew a couple of things.
I always knew that I was probably not a guy to climb a traditional corporate ladder.
I bought ties and suits on a regular basis. I didn't want to shave my face.
(06:22):
And so I knew I needed some other outlet to explore my career,
explore my work, be in a place where people would take me sort of for who I was.
And the independent world just seemed to fit a little bit more.
What I liked about kind of the hotel side was just much more dynamic.
It wasn't just constant FP operations on a daily basis. And I love food and
beverage to your point as well.
(06:43):
But I really wanted to understand sort of the room side early on.
I wanted to understand the capital side, the debt side, the facility structure
side. And so I just wanted more.
And in order to do that, I needed bigger projects to sort of take on or the
opportunity to step into them and learn them in particular.
So I noticed in your career, you went to Migas, which is a great company in Maine.
(07:07):
You started and you worked your way up there. You were like 10 years,
I'd say, I think. and then kind of groomed you for the role you're in now.
So what is the difference between the Migas and Lark?
I mean, there's similarities in there.
Yeah, there's great similarities. And I had, to your point, 10 years,
almost 11 years with Migas.
You know, I think one of the similarities and really the early lessons that
(07:29):
I learned from Tim Porta is he just focused on people.
And for me, I had to sort of claw my way through a little bit in my early career.
And you would, you know, you would be in environments where people get run over
a little bit. That's not what it was like at Migas at all.
It was the sense of patience and kindness and perseverance to get the best out
(07:51):
of people, to take people for who they are.
Migas certainly focuses more on sort of main destination, a little more resort type property.
And Lark really focused on early on in design driven location.
And so those are sort of the big kind of company differences in terms of property sets.
But from a core value perspective, they're really both very similar.
(08:14):
And I wouldn't have come over and worked if I didn't feel that way anyway,
because really at the end of the day, all we have is who we are and what we've
done and the people we've touched along the way.
And if we can keep our soul through all of this craziness, then we've actually
done the right thing and taken good care of people.
Well, I love hearing it. That's near and dear to my heart too,
is the taking care of people.
(08:35):
And I think what's interesting to me is a lot of folks that we've talked to,
we associate with people we know and like that we believe in.
It's really neat to hear you say the same things that I've said along.
And it's nice to know that there's a lot of us out there.
And it's great that this podcast can recognize them.
So you mentioned Lark now. So Lark, take me through that.
(08:56):
That's a really interesting space. When I say a space, we have bigger hotels,
we have branded hotels, we have some independent.
Hotels, but you have really zeroed in on an area like boutique as one,
but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. Can you tell us about that?
Yeah, so Lark is a lot of things. Today, on the front facing,
(09:18):
we are a management company. We manage 55 assets.
We own or have ownership in half of those. We operate in 16 states. rates.
Early on, Lark started as a disruptor in market, really moving small assets
into a new rate class, really through design.
And so if a rate class was at 269 before, there was a sweet spot at 389.
(09:39):
And so it was able to kind of move those rates up.
But what it really did was to show that you can actually produce and make,
small assets, and even more viable business than they were sort of in the past.
So we're a management company. We're an asset company. We raise equity.
(10:01):
And so we've got sort of financial backing as well. So we chase capital.
We're a design company also. We design anything that falls under our Lark brand.
And we're a brand and marketing company. So Lark Hotels is a subset of assets that focuses on design.
And then within that, we've created a few other products.
One called Blind Tiger. We have four of those assets now. And the idea of those
(10:24):
is that you're kind of in your best friend's sort of house, and they're really in the know.
You can get really comfortable, great common space, sort of open pantries.
And a team on the ground, we refer to them as hosts, who really know what's
happening in the local community.
We send them out, they get to dine, they do other pieces, and so that they're dialed in.
We created a product called Bluebird coming out of COVID, really to go after
(10:46):
sort of purpose-built locations, old, think old ski lodges, hotels,
and not to have so much about the destination, but the sort of travels between.
So we were your space as you were on the road, bringing back that sort of road trip, family trip.
And this really sort of allowed movement into sort of secondary markets,
particularly coming out of COVID.
(11:07):
And then we've got a product called AWOL. And really AWOL
is about sort of design that is
particular to the location we're in so if you're in tall pines it all feels
like tall pines if you're in sand area it feels like sort of beach and sand
if you're up in the mountains design will be sort of more mountain sort of key
components is theirs they all have private outdoor or semi-private outdoor space
(11:29):
but again all of these sort of fit into our larger design and sort of service mode.
I think it's interesting that a lot of times, not in your space,
but if you need to get to a certain size to become profitable,
and that's where you really, there's a break-even point.
People start out with a 60-room hotel, then they got to be an 80,
then they got to be a 100. There are people saying, I have 120, 130.
(11:51):
You're reversing that trend.
When I went into your place and when I've gone online and searched it,
which I recommend people look
you up online to visit the beauty of your hotels, but it is different.
And if you're getting $389, $489, $589, those kind of things,
you don't need 100 rooms.
And actually, frankly, you're going to take away from what you really seem to be preaching.
(12:16):
That's right. That's right. I think what's interesting is, one,
even $389, $489, $589 are deals these days as well. We know that over the last
few years, rates have really moved.
And so some of these places can push almost silly dollars.
But I think, to your point on people go to bigger assets and bigger assets,
because many times they think it's about the top line. And sure,
(12:39):
we have to drive top line.
But to me, it's about, particularly as we grow and we build,
it's about process. It's about structure.
It's about education. It's about learning to manage the middle as much as it is about top line.
But even more so, it's about keeping good people, driving that guest experience,
return rates, lowering attrition, and having the employee feel like they are
(13:02):
truly valued and part of that location and have opportunity to grow and learn and develop in those.
Because as you know really well, good long-term teams drive good long-term results.
Yeah, that's, that's absolutely true. And I think you, you, when I visited,
I remember seeing a gal there who I think she was the general manager.
(13:23):
She's climbing up, she was changing a light bulb.
And I saw a little while later, she's going through and taking in an order.
And it was just, it was neat that they were, they were all inclusive.
It wasn't like, it's not my job.
You know, it was like, this is my home and I'm going to fix the things that
I need to fix. And that, that was, that was an interesting take on it. Yeah.
Well, I'm glad you got to see that sort of, and that's just kind of, you know, how they work.
(13:44):
And one in a small asset, you have to do more. But I think in small assets in
particular, where success comes from is being a good generalist.
One, willing to do anything. Two, learn anything.
Take it on, explore it, see if you can kind of figure it out.
And growing up, I became a bit of a generalist. And so not a lot about a little
or a little about a lot, however you want to sort of say that.
(14:05):
And then we become a little more specialized. centralized, but you get to touch
so much more than having to be in one particular lane in really big groups.
And sometimes you can get stuck in that lane and don't get the opportunity to
think or move or execute beyond that.
And so I think the opportunities in the small asset world, really,
if you're willing to learn and take those chances a little bit and some risk,
(14:28):
you can be exposed to so much more.
I don't know if I've told you, when we met and you said, yeah, this is my office today.
A couple of years ago. And I said, this is my office today. And I thought,
well, that's pretty interesting. And the explanation you gave was really neat.
So I wanted to make sure I honored you today. I went to one of our hotels and
I worked out of one of our hotels in the lobby today.
(14:49):
We'll talk to people, saw some things I should have seen that I needed to see.
We got to see people, which was really good. So I did learn from you.
But talk about that. I mean, you really, you've said your offices are on Amesbury, I think?
Yeah, we actually moved our corporate, quote unquote, corporate office to Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, but it was in Amesbury at the time when we met.
I'm actually sitting in the space when we met a couple of years ago and talked.
(15:12):
That's really sort of funny.
I've always believed that we are an operating company.
And so sure, you might have some finance or other people actually in an office,
but otherwise all of those in all of us that touch operations should see the
operations as best and often as we can.
And so many times I've been in companies where somebody who is the VP or the
(15:33):
regional manager just shows up every three or six or whatever weeks and walks
through and hits their checklist and walks out.
Well, one, we always know they're coming. Two, so the place kind of looks as it is.
I think working in, you get to hear the conversations to the side.
You get to see what guests see. You get to hear their excitement.
You get to hear the small comments. You just see more. And I just showing up
and being present, things run better.
(15:55):
They just do because you've got this expectation that we are around and ideally
catching all the good things, right?
But correcting those small things that need correction in the moment that might
slip by us or not get seen to your point because we're not there. We're not around.
Yeah. Well, so you impacted my life in that, and I have done that more often.
And we've brought in a new person on our team who's a president.
(16:18):
Actually, I listened to your podcast this morning, one that you recently did with someone else.
And you talked about the transition of a CEO, owner-CEO.
And I'm not the owner of the whole shebang here, but I'm part owner.
But that whole idea and some of the things you said relative to,
you know, learning and when it's time to say take on someone else who can maybe
(16:38):
take a little bit more of the operation.
And again, this is probably this is high level stuff. So some of our newer,
younger people might not get it or but it's great to be exposed that,
you know, even someone at my age is learning something from someone like you at your young age.
And but just talk a little bit about that. I thought that was a really interesting conversation.
Yeah, you know, it is. It is, Rishon. And one, I think to your point,
(17:00):
just the other point about learning, I love that you keep identifying what you're
learning as you're moving forward.
And I hope to continue to do that as well. We certainly need to keep our minds
open to that growth set because otherwise we're just stale and stagnant, right?
And if we're not learning, we should get out of the way.
But I believe if there's a founder, an owner, but somebody who's been more at
(17:23):
the front, and there always comes a time in a business when maybe they can't do it all.
And so I've always believed in and through my experience that that founder,
that that that creator is really good at something because they had the vision
and the capacity and the drive to create it and put together and get it to wherever it's gotten.
(17:44):
But nobody can do it all. And so at some point they need to step back and say,
what do I do best and who compliments me and the business and can take on the
pieces that I don't take on well?
And can I let go of that enough to allow that person to do what they need to do?
I think those are sort of the key pieces that have to work together.
(18:04):
I'm learning that as I go. And some of it's pretty relieving.
Ironically, when we brought on this gentleman, I've known for years,
and he fits the culture. And I think that's the number one thing.
And I'm sure that's what you've chosen.
You had to fit. They had to fit you and you had to fit them. And he does for me.
But I was struggling sleeping. I never did the prescription stuff, but melatonin.
(18:26):
And I was taking more than I probably should.
I hired him. And I haven't taken one since. And I call him my melatonin.
Yeah, that's exactly it. Rob
tells me he sleeps really well because he's like, I don't worry about it.
You know, I worry about other things, but I don't have to worry about all of it.
And that's the job, right? Our job is to take the weight.
(18:49):
And ideally, we're able to shed that weight and push it out on a regular basis
and keep people's shoulders not too heavy, but enough where they understand
what their capacity is in their role. And they can do other things.
That's right. which could benefit both parties. So tell me, I admire you as
a business person and what you've accomplished. You have 55 hotels.
You were like 20 just a few years when we met, I think.
(19:12):
Yeah, when I joined, we were 20. And so we grew fairly rapidly in about two and a half years.
A lot of lessons in there, right? Not all of it's easy, certainly some mistakes,
but we're in a much better place now.
But scaling from five to 10 is hard, 10 to 20, whatever that number might be.
But every time you double, it creates a new challenge. yeah
so that's the business side of you but tell me
(19:33):
just a little bit about personal i know one time i reached out to you said hey
i'll get back to you i'm walking with my daughter on the beach or something
and i just that was cool i said let's that's a piece you ought to share on this
for people to understand that that's important to a ceo of your level i i you
know i for me that on the personal side i believe that.
If I need something, I don't have to assume others need it, but I have to assume
(19:57):
that if I need time or I need balance or I need time with my family,
that the vast majority of everybody else, whatever they have, needs that also.
And so personally, I've been with my wife and I've been together over 20 years.
We've got a terrific daughter, Bo. She just turned 11.
Actually, she'll be delighted because she wanted me to get her name in one of
these at some point. So, Bo-Bo, I love you, babe.
(20:18):
Well, so do we, Bo. So do we. We're glad to meet you.
And I feel really lucky to have that balance, but it's, you know,
it's taken time to find it. Right.
But I, I live in Portland. I moved up here in 89 after, after high school for
college and Portland really became my home pretty quickly.
(20:39):
And so I really cherish my ability to turn my head on at work and stay wildly
focused and work diligently and hopefully in a smart way.
And then to have the capacity to get home and turn it off and give my family
and the ones I love and my friends all of my undivided attention.
(20:59):
But I practice that all the time. So whomever I'm with in any conversation that
I have in any moment, I shut off every other distraction.
I find that I work better. I work smarter that way. I'm more efficient that
way versus trying to do two, three, four times, phones ringing, whatever else.
I just shut it all off. I don't have notifications on. I don't have beats. I don't have ringers.
(21:20):
I don't want somebody or something telling me I have to put my head somewhere
else when my attention is being given to something else in the moment.
So everybody ought to pay attention. You're looking at me. We're focused.
We're paying attention.
We're giving it to the audience. So thank you for that. So you have success.
Yeah. I mean, at some level of success, but what kind of success habits have
(21:41):
you developed that have allowed you to become successful like you are? Yeah.
Ooh, that's a good question. I would say there's a few.
I'm not afraid to fail. I'm still not afraid to fail.
Early on, I had a really high risk tolerance because I had nothing to lose at all.
I still think you have to have that. I think that's important because if you're
(22:03):
not willing to take some risk, I look for places of discomfort still.
Those are harder to find. I think they're probably harder to find for you as well.
But you found that even thinking about out somebody to quote unquote,
replace you, right, to sort of pass the baton.
So I think we need to find ways to make ourselves uncomfortable,
because that's where we get really well.
(22:23):
I, I have little tolerance for stagnation or, or just comfort all day long.
I you know, I was talking to somebody not long ago, and.
They were telling me that they never had any, they don't ever really have any
challenges and they've got everything figured out.
And I said, huh, how can that be? And they said, well, you know,
(22:43):
I just, you know, this life goes really well.
And I said, well, do you take any risk? And they said, well,
not really. And I said, so I think success, I think, takes a level of risk.
It takes a level of drive.
It takes a level of letting the ego go.
So it's really, to me, that's a big one. We have to have enough ego on one side
(23:05):
to keep us pushing, but we also have to, I think, over time,
learn to let it go so that we actually learn and recognize that we can't do it alone.
And so for me, my greatest sort of piece of success has really been learning
to foster and drive and build the relationships that I have and ultimately push
people to be honest about where they are and to provide a safe, open,
(23:30):
respectful environment where they can take a risk to share what they're worried
about for lack or for no fear of reprisal and actually get to the root of what
they need. and then we get better together.
And so for me, that's a big piece of sort of the successful mark in driving
teams together, that level of vulnerability.
(23:50):
Well, I'm going to play this right after we're done. I want to hear that again.
I want that to sink into me. That really is insightful.
So you have a chance now. Our audience are probably the younger professionals,
people who want to be professionals.
They might be going to high school and want to begin early in the business.
Then they might be in college somewhere, an SMCC, Hudson or Cornell,
(24:12):
or they may be people who are working in our fields in early leadership roles.
What are you going to say to them? What can you say to them that are going to
say, here, this is what I wish someone had told me these things when I was younger?
Listen more.
Ask the why. Ask good questions. Be curious.
(24:34):
You have to do the job before you get the next job.
I would say that learn the metrics. That is instrumental to moving a business
forward. So learn the basics early on.
Don't recognize or don't think you know it all because none of us do.
It's continually learning in our business.
(24:55):
If you beat customer expectations, you'll win their loyalty.
So don't just do what is expected, exceed what is expected in our work and what
we deliver and what we give.
And, you know, I, this is one for more for leaders, but I think it resonates.
(25:16):
Your leaders will give you 100% professionalism if you nurture them personally.
And so for a young person, look to find somebody that can nurture you,
find somebody to mentor you, ask them, share with them, be open,
be honest, take risks and open yourself up.
Don't, don't protect yourself so much. It's okay to have faults.
(25:41):
You know, each time I talk to young folks, one of the things I say is,
you know, it's okay to raise your hand and ask for something more.
Because if you're not going to take a risk to raise your hand,
and it's not saying the same way as you, but that really is,
you have to raise your hand.
And if you raise your hand enough, even if you fall down, you're going to stop
being, someone's going to keep looking at you.
(26:01):
That's right. You know, you asked about early on and kind of sort of drive to
success. I volunteered for everything.
I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. And many times they're like,
you can't. And I was like, I'll figure it out. I'll try.
But that's just it. Raise your hand. Ask the question. Raise your hand.
Step into it. Be noticed.
Yeah. And I think something else you mentioned that really is important to me
(26:24):
is you got to care about people.
And you can care about someone. If you're washing dishes, you can help that
bus person's life and make it better.
Or if you're a cook, you can make the service better. And if you're a housekeeper, you can do things.
So I think, you know, it really is just, it's pretty basic business and we're
pretty basic things and we just happen to have fallen into the right places,
(26:46):
but we, but we raised our hand and we move forward and we, um,
now we want to give back and I, and I appreciate going back to our audience
today and giving you time.
I know you got stuff in 16 States and 55 hotels and amazing,
but, uh, you're giving back to our group.
So thank you so much for this time. Yeah. Thank you for having me, Sean.
Thank you for joining us for another episode of Bed and Butter,
(27:09):
the hospitality podcast produced in partnership with Southern Maine Community College.
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