Matt Wampler, CEO, Co-Founder of Clear Cogs, joins CULINARY MECHANIC to share how his predictive analytics platform is transforming restaurant operations across four countries. With a background in restaurant turnarounds and multi-unit management, Matt brings hard-earned wisdom on scaling operations from two to four locations while maintaining quality and culture.
This conversation tackles the critical intersection of systems and people—revealing how data can eliminate daily operational guesswork while strong leadership creates the culture necessary for sustainable growth. Whether you're managing one location or scaling to multiple units, Matt's insights on being "dialed in" provide a roadmap for reducing chaos, developing leaders, and capturing those elusive percentage points on the bottom line.
Timestamps
[02:15] Matt's journey growing Clear Cogs from startup to serving 100+ brands
[04:30] The magic of having a "dialed in" restaurant operation
[06:20] How small inefficiencies hit hardest in low-volume stores
[09:45] Using predictive analytics to answer practical operational questions
[12:40] Leadership moment: how to handle team member breakdowns
[16:30] Culture building: when staff uphold quality standards with owners
[18:50] The balance between processes and people in restaurant management
[23:10] Scaling from two to four locations through people development
[27:40] Creating systems that keep operations "on the rails"
[31:20] How operators normalize chaos without realizing it
[35:45] Intentional leadership vs. reactive management
[38:10] The Restaurant AI podcast announcement
[41:55] Final thoughts on sustainable systems and leadership
Key Quotes
"Running a restaurant is incredibly hard... It's a thankless job a lot of days where you just walk in the door and wait to get sucker punched in the gut. Our goal is to help restaurants have more days go right." - Matthew Wampler
"It's not the Friday night that you get wrong that really hits the bottom line. It's the Tuesday, Wednesday, it's these little decisions where if you have any little inefficiency in a low volume store, it really hits you." - Matthew Wampler
"Processes are those bumpers you put on the bowling alley. Processes keep you hemmed in from side to side, and the ability to go down the bowling alley is amazing when you can't get off the rails." - Simon Zatyrka
"Most people are unaware that they're living in insanity. As restaurant operators, we start to have a little chaos and then a little bit more. And then one day you wake up and you manage insanity, but you don't even notice that you're managing insanity." - Matthew Wampler
Key Takeaways
- Predictive analytics solve the industry's persistent forecasting challenges by providing simple, actionable insights: "Tod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're listening toHeritage Radio Network.
I.
From kitchen chaos to well-oiled machines.
Get ready for newfangledtechnology and old school Know-how
(00:21):
stories and a good bit of fun.
I'm Simon, and this iscalled Area Mechanic
You're listening toHeritage Radio Network.
I.
simon (00:40):
With me today.
Is Matthew Wampler from Clear Cogs,uh, returning to culinary mechanic.
Matt, welcome
Matt (00:49):
Simon.
Always a pleasure.
Good to see you
simon (00:52):
and good to be seen, but good to see you too.
Um, when last we saw our heroes, uh, youhad been rolling along with clear cogs
and I was just hoping that we could.
And I get a little bit of anupdate about where things are.
'cause I think that the platform thatyou have created is pretty, pretty
(01:13):
fascinating and, and just, I want ourlisteners to understand more about it.
So take it away, man.
Matt (01:20):
Yeah, man.
I mean at this point we're a 3-year-oldcompany and you know, you kind of look
back and you start out as two guys in agarage just trying to figure things out.
You know, there's a year of that.
There's a year of just grinding itout, trying to sell and figure out
exactly what the product's gonna be.
And you know, 2024 wasa great year for us and.
(01:40):
All of a sudden you wake up andwe're in four countries, a hundred
brands ranging from, you know,regional chains to multi-billion
dollar publicly traded companies.
Uh, it's, it's been a, a rollercoaster.
We just closed our, our seed fundinground, so we got a, you know, uh, uh,
we now have a couple million dollarsof, you know, capital to really go
(02:02):
take this thing to the next level.
So I, it is 2025 is an exciting time.
simon (02:08):
That's amazing.
So give us the, I don't know,5,000 foot view of what?
Of how you're helping restaurants.
Matt (02:18):
Yeah, I mean, running a restaurant is incredibly hard as my
buddy Jason Berkowitz loves to say.
It's a thankless job a lot of days whereyou just walk in the door and wait to
get, you know, sucker punched in the gut.
Uh, you know, we're apredictive analytics company.
Our goal is to help restaurantshave more days go, right?
Um, so the way it works is look.
(02:41):
We tell you, here's the right amountof food to prep the right number of
people to be in the store and you knowwhat to order so that you know you're
not playing catch up and reacting.
simon (02:55):
Amen.
To not playing catch up.
Matt (02:58):
You know, it's funny, I was just, just having this
conversation and you know.
I remember turning around my firstrestaurant, like it was a total nightmare.
You know, I, I walk in the frontdoor, all you can smell is the grease
trap hitting you, the HVA Cs out.
There's like four employees.
Like we had ice buckets on topof the cold table compressors to
(03:20):
keep the, the from overheating.
It was, it was one of those, youknow, classic restaurant turnaround
experiences and like slowly, I, Igot the hang of it and, you know.
Once you get dialed in, there'sthis magic feeling in a restaurant.
And like, whenever I think of dialedin, it always takes me back there.
I remember, um, homecoming 2012, we justgot crushed like Maryland was playing.
(03:44):
Uh, I think it was NC State.
And for whatever reason I. Everybodywas in town, like line out the door
for eight hours, you know, two coldtables fully stacked, just nonstop.
But like on that day, like we weredialed in, we got everything right.
You know, how can we use technologyto help our people be more dialed
(04:07):
in and get more of these days?
Right?
Ugh.
simon (04:12):
I mean, uh, I, that really makes me think about, like, I, I met
this chef a couple years back and shewas in Indianapolis and her restaurant
was like two miles from the Indy 500.
Yeah.
And during that time, she wouldrun 24 hour prep and, and she
(04:33):
would have like refrigeratedtrucks outside the back door and.
And I and I, I remember looking at her andI said, Lydia, like, how do you do that?
And she's like, we planned for six months.
She goes, and that part kindof sucks, but when we get close
to it, everybody gets excited.
(04:54):
Everybody's in.
Sometimes we have to get, like, wehave to get like Jimmy and Terry to
bring their brother-in-law in for acouple of days and they're excited
and then it's just go, go, go.
But we've done all this planningand we've got all this information
from previous years and we use it.
And she goes, the first year was awful.
(05:16):
The.
The second, third, fourth,those are fun, but now she
says, we know what we're doing.
So the, the dialed in thing like hits me.
I'm like, that's it.
Matt (05:25):
Well, and so like, so my, my first door was on a college campus.
We were basically open 24 hours a day.
Like, you know, you'd close at like 3:00AM and you know, clean the place out.
You're out at five, prepstarts at 6:00 AM Right.
And you know, it was funny,that was the first store, so
that was what I was used to.
High volume lots going on.
And by the way, those greatdays, the Indy 500, those are the
(05:46):
wonderful moments, those feelings.
That's great.
But my second store opened up really lowvolume and you find it's so much harder.
At low volume.
Right?
And it's, it's not the Fridaynight that you get wrong that
really hits the bottom line.
It's, you know, the Tuesday,Wednesday, it's these little
(06:08):
decisions where if you have any littleinefficiency in a low volume store.
It really hits you.
So like, you know, one of the things thatwas a motivation for Clear Cox was, you
know, we had these decisions, you know,they're really set decisions every day.
It's two hours prior to close.
You know, can I shut theovens off and start cleaning?
Or do I need to bakeanother cycle of bread?
(06:30):
You know, because at the end ofthe day, if you don't have enough
bread, you can't serve customers andwhatever bread you have left over,
you basically are thrown away, right?
So like that hits you on the bottom line.
You know, our guys were literally lookingout the door, you know, is it nice out?
You know, is there traffic?
And they make a guess.
And none of the technology wehad had an answer to this, right?
(06:53):
You could go look athistoric sales, but like.
That still doesn't answer the question,do I need to bake another cycle of bread?
And so fundamentally we thought, look.
Let's go use the datathey have in their POS.
Let's go look at every Tuesday, let's lookat, you know, that last two hours, how
weather affects it, what's on the menu.
Go really deep on the data side also, thatwe can provide a really simple answer.
(07:18):
To an operator in their language.
You know, today it's Tuesday, twohours prior to close 18 sticks of
bread, and that's fundamentallystill what the company does.
Take all of your data, synthesize itdown to those key decision points each
day so that you're just turning downthe inefficiencies and you know, it adds
percentage points to the bottom line.
simon (07:39):
Absolutely.
You know, I, I love the granularity ofthat because I, I think about the days,
I mean, God, I'm old, so I think aboutcooking and working in rest, you know,
restaurants, whether they be small onesor big ones or being in, in hotels and
it's like you're, you're literally likelicking your finger walk, walking out
and like putting it out to the wind.
(08:01):
You know, and going, okay,what's about to happen?
You know, or just, and you have no, like,there's just no way to to think about it.
Matt (08:11):
And by the way, hats off to restaurants.
They do a good job at it.
I know we all like to complain whensomebody runs out of this or that, but
like for the most part, you know, the menand women that are running restaurants.
Are actually doing a greatjob at guessing, but you know,
that's stressful and inefficient.
And if we can make their lives alittle simpler and you know, a little
(08:32):
more profitable, like, let's do it.
simon (08:34):
Yeah.
I mean, uh, I'm helping a, arestaurant company right now, and by
the way, this guy, as of December.
23rd, I think had two restaurants.
And here we are on, well,we're in early April.
By the time this airs, it'll bea little bit later than that.
But, uh, early April, and thisguy's now got four operating units.
(08:58):
He doubled the size of hiscompany in the last four months.
Matt (09:01):
That's so hard, right?
Like, dude, how do I gettwo new general managers?
How do I get, you know, it's, yeah.
simon (09:09):
Well, uh, a, a small plug for culinary mechanic here.
I, he, he and I are pretty good friendsand he, his right hand man called
me one day and said, I need you tocome in and do that thing you do.
And I was like, what, whatthing is it that I do?
And he is like, I need you to come inand like, talk to the young managers,
the young people that have never beenmanagers and help them understand
(09:31):
what they're about to, to go through.
And so we did that for a monthprior to his newest opening and.
I mean, they're literally now aweek into their fourth restaurant.
And one of the newest managerscame to me and he is like, I had
two problems over the weekend.
I said, yeah, tell me about 'em.
And he starts telling me about thisyoung lady who was, who just started
(09:51):
crying in the middle of service.
'cause it was, the pressure was on.
Yeah.
And so they got through the rush andhe got, well he got her off the line.
He took over and this islike the, the manager.
So he's actually the cashierof a quick serve joint.
Right.
Watching, but he stepped in and hefinished the orders, let her kind
of go get some water, pulled heroff to the side and he said, you
(10:12):
know, kind of talked her through thewhole thing and said, where are you?
What's going on?
And she's like, oh, it's just, it's hard.
He says, we're on day threeof a brand new restaurant.
Everybody's struggling.
It's okay.
And you know, kind of likemade sure she was all right.
And then he says, Igotta ask though, like.
(10:33):
Do you want to be here?
Oh yes, I want to be here.
He says, then we'll help you.
Everybody here will help you.
And Simon,
Matt (10:39):
like by the way, like that's the moment, right?
That's the moment where you either lose anemployee that could be great, or like you
create that great, you know, staff member.
Team member, right?
That, that's amazing.
I love it.
People forget, and so it's
simon (10:54):
the
Matt (10:55):
people
simon (10:55):
business.
Totally.
People all day long.
And so the best part is he goes,so are you gonna go home now?
She says, no, I'm, you know,she kind of brightened up and
she said, no, I'm, I'm in it.
And I said, okay.
So like, what happened from there?
And he is like, she dug in andlike by the end of the shift
she, she had like, she had it.
(11:17):
And I said, cool.
Now make sure that tomorrow she gets ahigh five just for showing up and a high
five every time she's doing things right.
And by the way.
Congratulations.
And I gave him a high five and Iwas like, that's exactly what we've
been talking about for the last.
He's like, I didn't everknow how to do that before.
(11:37):
Thank you so whatever.
But that's, it's like wedon't get that training.
Like as, as people, generally we, wearen't taught to be leaders, so it's
fun for me, but it's like those arethe things that run those restaurants,
those are the things that help turnwhat you described around, right?
As how we get the people moving
Matt (11:56):
in the chaos of the day, running a restaurant, there are all these
little things you're doing like.
That's the one that really matters, thosefew moments because it's six months from
now when there's a new employee that'sin that same situation and you've created
the culture where she is going to rememberthat moment and pull that employee
(12:18):
aside and be like, Hey, it's okay.
How can I help?
That's, that's huge.
But Simon, I had a question for you.
So yes.
Going from two to four.
I mean, I, I remember it vividly.
You know, one, you just eat, sleepand breathe at your restaurant.
You know, two, you can split yourselfin two, spend half your time here and
half your time there and, you know,play whack-a-mole with problems.
(12:40):
But four, you can't.
And I always, I actuallystruggled with that transition.
How do you, from a, you know,owner, area manager perspective,
how do you get over that hurdle?
simon (12:55):
I think the biggest thing for this guy and, and I think
in general is you gotta surroundyourself with people who care, who
love it, who are living it, right?
Like his second location is his banger.
It's across the street from verymuch like what you said on a campus.
He's across the street from SeattleUniversity, which is, you know, it, it is.
(13:16):
It is perfect.
These are young kids who actually tend tocome from a little bit of money like this.
This isn't your likeaverage community college.
It's a little bit, a little bit wealthier.
And so the kids come in and they,they keep him rocking from eight in
the morning for breakfast all theway through to 11 o'clock at night.
And at 11 o'clock is whenlunch really starts to go.
(13:38):
And man, I was in there yesterday andI was like, oh, I gotta get outta here.
This is scary.
Like this is like a flood of people.
I.
His manager is just thissteely-eyed little lady.
Uh, if she's four foot 11, I'm shocked.
Like maybe with her big sneakers on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(13:58):
And she's just, she's, you know,she's kind of hovering behind
people and like checking on 'emand making sure everything's okay.
You hear her like walk intothe prep kitchen going, no,
no, I need that other salsa.
Now, right?
It's, it's tacos.
So it's, it's Mexican food andit's, she's like, I need that now.
And then she walks back up on theline and goes, you go over there
(14:20):
and, and just, she's just driving it.
And so, but go have one those,
Matt (14:24):
you can have one of those, right?
Or you can have two of those.
But like, if I gotta go from two tofour, I need two more people like that.
And they don't just magically grow on
simon (14:32):
trees.
So I asked him, when I started workingwith him, I asked the owner, I said, Hey,
can, can I be like, let me help you finda new manager and, and bring them in.
He's like, you wanna bringsomebody in from outside?
I said, yeah, you need like asolid manager for this new place.
And he said, no.
And I was like, oh, okay.
(14:53):
Tell me more about no, likeyou need, he's like, no.
If you come to work with me,then I want you to help me grow
my managers from the ground up.
He says, I have people who love it here.
I have a couple of peoplewho I think can do the work.
They just don't know what the work is, andthey just don't know how to approach it.
(15:14):
And one of 'em is that guywho kept the young lady from
leaving, and his name is Miguel.
And Miguel is a stud.
Matt (15:24):
Shout out to Miguel.
He's, he's killing, uh,
simon (15:27):
yes.
Every moment of every day, he is on it.
I like, I've been so impressedwith him, but he's never been
taught how to think like a coach.
Like a leader.
Like a manager.
Right.
And so I. I've been kind of trying togive him as much of that and really
help him through the little things.
And I love the fact that he comesto me and tells me what he did
(15:48):
and says, did I do that right?
I'm like, you slated.
Right?
But he's this, this owner is committedto his people and his culture because.
He was at a, the, the best story ever ofthis guy is they were catering a wedding
for some good, good friends, right?
People that I used to work with,people that he used to work with.
(16:10):
And the, the little lady, theymake tortilla, when they go
onsite for catering, they make alltortillas to order right there.
Wow.
Every single one.
And he was like trying to stock the buffetwith tacos and he turns with a tray and
he goes, okay, gimme those tortillas.
And she looks up at him and shegoes, Nope, they're not ready yet.
(16:32):
And I thought to myself, when you havetrained your people so well that you
won't let the owner deviate from thestructure and quality and integrity of
product, you have done it correctly.
And that's when he looked at, at.
All of his people and said, I love you.
Thank you.
Yes.
(16:52):
Well wait.
Turned around to the buffetand said, hang on a minute.
Tortillas are, are not quiteready, but we're making 'em fresh.
And obviously they're outdoorsat a wedding and they can see
that they're cooking right there.
It was all good.
But that is the culture.
Right?
And so the, and though the shortish answerto your question of how do you go from two
(17:13):
to four is people and expectations and.
Being clear about whatit is you want, right?
And what, what it is youwant from those people.
And yeah, it's hard to findone and it's hard to find two.
And how do you get four?
His answer is, people, people, people.
That first manager, here's anotherpiece that blew me away, that for
(17:37):
that manager, that little tinylady, she was having a one-on-one
with him yesterday with the owner.
And she says, I'm gonna cover my,I'm gonna cover my Tuesday, Wednesday
shifts and put a, put somebody intocashier and I'm gonna go to the ghost
kitchen, which is location number threebecause I wanna make sure that the food
(17:58):
quality is good because I'm, we puta new guy in there and I wanna make
sure that that's really going well.
'cause there's not actuallya manager on site for that.
'cause it's such a small thing.
She just, so I'm gonna go spendtwo days and really make sure that
everything is the way we want it.
And that is, uh, once again, it's,it's the culture of this is, and
(18:19):
he said, he looks at me and hesays, I didn't tell her to do that.
I didn't even ask her to do that.
That's what she felt is, was, is needed.
Matt (18:28):
I had this long debate with Josh from me about this exact thing.
He's a process guy, right?
Which I'm envious of.
I am not Type A. He'stype A process, right?
He had processes for everything andyou can manage the process, which is
very logical and works really well.
I always came about it moreon the people side, right?
Like you get the right people, youget 'em aligned, you set 'em free.
(18:53):
Yeah.
You give 'em encouragement,they'll figure out the problems.
Like you put processes in placewhen you can't get the right
people to make the right decisions.
I don't know about you, but I did notget into the restaurant business to spend
all my time in a cramp little office.
(19:14):
I love being in thekitchen, out on the floor.
And if you're nodding your head rightnow, I want to introduce you to an
amazing company called Starfish.
Look, I've gotten to know their CEOJordan recently and what they're
building really impresses me.
They're using AI to read your Pand L and they're going to email
(19:34):
you actionable insights every week.
So you can lower yourcosts and increase revenue.
Best part is you don't have tospend time digging through your
P and L's pouring over reportsin that cramped little office.
Starfish is going to do that foryou so you can get back to the
part of the business that you love.
(19:55):
If you're interested, go totheir website, use starfish.
com that's U S E starfish.
com and tell them Simon sent you.
simon (20:05):
Okay.
I'm right in the middle.
Yeah, no, I, I I, there,there's a healthy in between.
So check this out.
I was born, I, I am the child.
Well, first of all, I'm thechild of hippies, right?
But I am the child of.
Uh, somebody who did social workfor years, some very like, so
empathy is strong in my blood.
(20:26):
Okay.
But the other side isDad was a research guy.
Oh.
So he, he's the guy that you wentto when you were a graduate student
in environmental sciences at theUniversity of Massachusetts, and you
have a thesis that you want to prove.
You, you, he says, oh, youwant to get this result.
(20:47):
This is the process that you go through.
You do this, you measure that,you study this, you measure that.
Do, do, do.
This is, this is the equipmentthat you need to do that.
This is the, these are the number oftests, these are the number of processes.
So.
I'm the process guy, right?
As growing up.
But as I got farther into my career, Irealized no matter how good my process
(21:11):
is, if I don't have people buying in,if I don't have people who believe
doesn't matter, I I am just a one person.
Yeah.
And so what come to believe isthat processes are those bumpers
you put on the bowling alley.
Right.
Processes keep you hemmedon from side to side.
(21:32):
Right.
And it, the ability to go downthe, the bowling alley is.
Amazing when you can't get off the rails.
'cause the processes keep you there.
Matt (21:44):
Right?
Yeah.
And they help you with growing and beingsystemized, going from two to four, right?
Like you need to starthaving processes in place.
Uh, you know, I, I kinda got akick out of it, you know, I came
from the franchised background.
Right, right.
So.
The processes were in place.
They gave me the playbook for success.
This is what you do every day.
(22:04):
This is how often you scrub themop guards and when you clean the
grease trap, and so on and so forth.
So I didn't have to think about theprocesses, but I. The fact that they
were there is why I was successfuland why you're able to run, you
know, 3000 units, you know, all withsame high standards and service.
You know, I, I often forget that, youknow, as an independent owner operator,
(22:27):
right, you have to kind of writeyour own processes, and if you don't
have 'em going from, you know, two tofour would be very, very difficult.
simon (22:36):
Yeah.
And so some of what I do withthis guy is I'm like, so what's
the way that we're going to go?
Go?
Like, what is the way?
Right?
Yeah.
And, and, and the, the great thing ishis, his brand is named after his father.
It's Carmelo's tacos.
Right.
So it's the Carmelo's way.
(22:56):
It's great, you know, it's really easy.
It's like, what is thecarmelo's way for this?
And he's like, oh, we do this.
And I'm like, where is it written down to?
Tell me that?
He's like, oh, I don't know.
And so at that point, I open up mycomputer and I start typing and we, we
create like a, a quick little form on it.
And then he now has, uh,really advanced himself.
(23:19):
He hired a part-time personwho used to manage for him.
And that person is doingall of his HR stuff.
So all the onboarding stuff just all goesto him, all the training goes to him.
It's great, you know.
But again, by the way, you've mentioned,
Matt (23:33):
you've mentioned tacos enough that I think I'm gonna be
getting a taco this afternoon.
simon (23:37):
Yeah, man.
Yeah, man.
Uh.
This guy, like his stuff is so good.
Matt (23:42):
So you work with all these companies, right?
You got carmelo's, like howare they doing forecasting?
How do they know how much salsa to have?
How do they know how much chickento marinade today for tomorrow?
Like what, what, and maybe notjust one company, but in general,
what do you see out there?
simon (24:01):
I see people just, I see some people using their data.
Some people are using theirdata on a very elemental level.
Good order guides.
They put in the on hand the order column.
They, they analyze it day over day.
If they're smart, they keep lastweek's order guide just behind this
week's order guide and they can goback and look at a week's history.
(24:25):
That's the elementalold school data usage.
Yeah.
Right.
Uh, these guys, they are so busythat it kind of doesn't matter.
Just order more.
Yeah.
Like they now have four andthat fourth location is.
In a neighborhood and they took, theyhad some building issues, so they
(24:47):
took almost four months longer thanexpected because it was the building
that kept them from, from finishing.
Yeah.
So their sign, their neon signhas been lit for four months.
The day they opened, peoplestarted just walk in.
Right.
It's, it's not like, oh, wedidn't know you were here.
No, people have been waiting.
(25:08):
So this is gonna be a monster.
It's in, it's in a neighborhood,it's in the center of a neighborhood
sandwiched between two, like are theysubways, train stations, I guess.
And the local communitycolleges down there.
But on the north side ofthem is like the bar, the bar
district of, of Seattle, right.
(25:30):
It's called Capitol Hill.
And it's, it is the party place.
So.
I can't even imagine what's gonna happen.
I, I am just like, oh, prep more.
Just prep more.
Because that's what they do.
They, they just like, when, when indoubt they just keep going with more.
Matt (25:44):
I got a great delayed store opening story for you, but let, let's
finish this conversation real quick.
So, so you've got theold school way, right?
Like I, I'm filling out forms.
I, I, I can go look through 'em.
I can see what I've beenordering in the past.
Very analog, you know, uh, uh, looking atthe numbers, how else are people doing it?
simon (26:06):
You know, that's the bulk of it.
Other people are justlike, I think I need this.
And so I do that.
I don't see a lot of people yetdoing anywhere near what you've got.
I. Because they, some, some peopledon't know that it exists and
some people are like, uh, we're inanalog, especially small restaurants.
(26:26):
We're in an analog group.
We live in an analog world.
And so even the smallest pieces,like some of the POS systems
that still exist, blow me away.
Like toast is this quantumleap spot on is a quantum leap.
The amount of information that youcan get, and I'm good with data and
(26:49):
I'm good with reports and I stillstruggle to be able to like I.
Know all the, the ways thatI can use that information.
Matt (26:58):
Yeah.
Well, I mean, hey, as an industry, westruggle just to get recipes digitized,
you know, and get yields Correct.
You know, let alone shout out to mes.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Hey, you know what?
There's another quantum leap.
You know, it's, it's, it's funny, I mean,you just go back 10 years, you know,
chow, like, you know, people had likefive tablets, you know, uh, they, they,
(27:21):
they couldn't even get it through one POS.
Um, there's been a lot of advancementthere, but I will say this more than
just getting prep and production, right?
Taking something off someone's plate,you know, having to keep all your
order forms and go through 'em.
Nobody gets into this industry'cause that's what they want to do.
simon (27:44):
No, no, no, no.
In fact, what I tell people is, here,here's the, here's like two, three
little ways to make that go easier.
Here's two, three little ways to make thatgo faster, because I wanna have all that
information and have all that go well andthen get back to the part I like, which
is shooting the shit on the line whilewe're busting out a couple hundred covers
(28:07):
or, or getting an hour or two to like.
Play with that like shipment of, I don'tknow, heirloom carrots that came in.
You know, like what, what isthe new or work on the next
set of specials or whatever.
Like the food and the peopleare the things that make me
excited about the business.
I learned to be good at that otherstuff so that I had the opportunity
(28:32):
to, 'cause I tell people, I'm like,if you don't manage the business,
you don't get to have the fun.
Like, you don't get to do that.
It just doesn't work.
Right.
Um, yeah, it's, we just, we usedto have a sign taking things off.
Your plate is great.
Matt (28:45):
We used to have a sign in Jimmy John's that said, uh, if you
do the things you need to do now,then maybe you'll be able to do
the things you want to do tomorrow.
simon (28:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, similarly it's, it's do thethings you have to do so the, so you
can get to the things you get to do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
You know, um, I'm also, I've alsobeen trying to make that own shift
with, with some people, it's likethey say, oh, I have to go to work.
It's not, you get to go to work.
(29:16):
You get the opportunity to go towork and provide for your family.
'cause not everybody can, let's be honest.
Not everybody's able to right now, right?
Just 'cause of 'cause of life and things.
So you get to go do all those thingsand you get to make people smile
'cause your food is so good and youget to create experiences for people.
(29:38):
That's, that for me is like, that's aprivilege and not everybody gets it.
So, you know, I, I like to be gratefulfor those little tiny, itty bitty things
that are not always little itty bitty.
Matt (29:50):
It's all about perspective.
simon (29:51):
Yeah, man.
Yeah, man.
All right.
Tell me about, tell me about, therewas a story you were gonna tell
me and I want to hear that one.
Matt (30:00):
The late opening.
Oh, delayed store openings.
I'm sorry.
You, you brought up thedelays door opening.
All right.
So.
I, I had started out in theindustry like 21, right?
So my first one was a turnaround.
I think I'm like 23.
When I signed my likesecond lease, first store.
I am like, giddy about this.
I got the bank loan.
We find the, the, the spot, you know,architecture plans, the whole nine yards.
(30:24):
So I'm in the DC suburbs andthe permitting takes forever.
So you gotta hire a permit expediterand all that kind of stuff.
It takes nine monthsto get this store open.
We come through for the finalwalkthrough, and by the way, throughout
the entire process, I am pestering thepermitting people, the, the county,
(30:44):
you name it, trying to get this through'cause it just keeps getting delayed.
We go through the final walkthrough atthe county and the guy looks at me, he
says, you know, you're floating sink.
Isn't quite in compliance.
So while they could, I guess, you know,if you were handicapped you could,
you know, swing your legs underneath.
You couldn't actually swing the back.
So technically it's outta compliance.
(31:06):
I need you to move your entire wallbathroom wall into the kitchen one inch.
I. And I'm like, well, like, no.
Like there's, there's no waywe can do that, that, you know,
we're supposed to open next week.
We're already paying rent, right?
Like, I got interest due for the bank.
Like this will literally bankrupt meif they actually make us do this thing.
(31:27):
I. And so, you know, we fight withthe guys the whole nine yards and
they leave, and my contractor'slike, W what do you want to do?
Like, uh, there's not much we can do.
And I'm like, we gotta go down tothe county, talk with these people.
He's like, okay, let'sgo down to the county.
And I, I called my wife and I'mlike, honey, here's the deal.
(31:47):
You know, county's doingall this stuff like.
I am going to the county office and eitherI'm going to end up in prison because
I'm gonna throw a hissy fit or likethey're gonna get this fixed, but one
of these two things is going to happen.
And we went in and I kid you not like,you know, an hour of talking to people.
You finally got to the point wherethey basically said, no, go fix it.
(32:10):
And I threw it, you know, it's like.
No, we're not.
They're like, they're callingsecurity to escort me out.
And finally the, the head guy's like,what in the hell is going on out here?
And I'm like, you know,we'll call him Bob.
Bob, you know, I've emailed you 10 times.
Like I go out of business if youguys aren't, are gonna make me
move this wall, blah, blah, blah.
(32:31):
And.
Finally, he's like, all right, we'llsend out a new person tomorrow.
And they, they approved thething, and so we finally got open.
But it's like, it was this closeto like just bankrupting me and
being, you know, a nightmare.
And this, this is what's going onbehind the scenes at every restaurant
that's opening across the country.
(32:51):
Like it's, it's, there's a whole thingthere of, you know, how do you, uh, get
the right architect and contractors somuch goes into opening a restaurant.
simon (32:59):
Well, they were ready to go with, with that, with number four.
They were ready to go in like.
October, November, and somebody, someinspection came in and found out that the
f there was something wrong with the floordrains, and it was something the owner had
done that like the building hadn't done.
And so they stopped everythingand tore up the floors.
(33:22):
Oh.
And I was like, say what now?
I'm like.
And he wasn't.
He like, my guy was not panicking.
And I was like, are you sure?
And he goes, sometimes it's just gottabe, but they're not charging me rent.
They're not, you know, like whileall these things are are doing it.
And I said, okay, that's cool.
And then we get, so a good relationship
Matt (33:43):
with your landlord goes a long way.
simon (33:45):
Totally.
And so now we're in likeearly mid-February and I was
like, when are we talking?
He's like, oh, March 1st.
I'm like, okay, uh, maybe he even saidlike, February 20 something and, and
then we get closer and he is like,nah, we had some issues with this.
He says, I've now come to peace withthe fact that we're gonna open, I.
(34:08):
When we're, when we open, likehe's like, we're gonna get there.
When we get there.
He goes, but when we get there,because we've had all this
time, we're gonna be ready.
Yeah.
And so like we started getting like,he really, like, he had time, he
had a really good planned out liketraining in his other restaurants.
He got people like.
(34:29):
Almost three weeks oftraining he paid for.
I was gonna say, that was the
Matt (34:33):
one that was killing me, is like, I've got a whole staff we've
hired that we're paying right now.
Yep.
You know, in another restaurant,like every week hits you not
only with the rent, but theinterest and the extra labor.
It's, it's a whole
simon (34:45):
thing.
Yeah.
No, totally.
But it was so like, I'm super impressed.
Like I was in there yesterday,it was day seven, and.
The, the tacos that I ate forlunch, I was like, how are you?
Like, this is good.
This is as good as your other restaurants.
He's like, she works inrestaurant number one.
He works in restaurant number two, buthe's like, these are all people that, that
(35:08):
are, that are splitting their time rightnow and may continue to split their time.
You know, it's like we, we added somepeople, but we added some people to those,
to the original restaurants and because.
Restaurant number.
This is interesting.
Restaurant number four is sixblocks from restaurant number one.
Oh, I love that.
But they're different neighborhoods.
Matt (35:28):
Yeah.
simon (35:29):
One sits at the top of the hill, one sits in the middle
of the hill, and so like they'reable, they're totally willing.
I'll just, I'll just swap a couple shifts.
So they were able to backfillin the old restaurants.
Right, and then make it sothat they can just have some,
some pros in their new one.
So it wasn't all new people.
(35:50):
So that was amazing.
That is nice.
That's really nice.
So recently you and I were talkingand you were telling me about
something really cool and the factthat you're actually gonna, you're
putting together your own podcast.
My podcast.
I wanna hear about this sucker.
Matt (36:05):
We just started recording.
It's the, the Restaurant AI podcast.
Uh, it's, uh, yeah, it shouldbe coming out next month.
I, it should probably be coming out aboutthe time that this episode comes out.
Uh, awesome.
No, I'm, I'm really excited.
Well, let's coordinate
simon (36:19):
that then.
Matt (36:19):
Yeah, exactly.
Let's coordinate that.
Like let's be on it.
I'm really excited about it.
So the thing that has been the most fun inthis chapter of my life is I have gotten
to make great relationships with someincredibly smart and interesting people.
(36:41):
And I find myself, you know, on aweekly basis just being mind blown
by some of the people that I talkto and the information they share.
And it was like.
These are the conversationsthat I want to be a part of and
I think people want to hear.
I almost feel like selfish thatonly I am getting this information.
(37:04):
So I we're gonna bring on the bestAI machine learning tech people that
aren't necessarily from the industry.
Right, right.
We're going to bring on the capitalallocators that are investing in the
future of restaurant technology, andwe're gonna bring on the brands that are
actually bringing these technologies in.
(37:25):
It's not gonna be infomercials forcompanies, it's just gonna be real
conversations led by my honest andgenuine curiosity on what is, what
is the state of technology today.
Where is it going in restaurants?
How is this gonna play out so that we cankind of get a sense of what do the next
(37:46):
year, five years, 10 years look like?
simon (37:50):
That's awesome.
I, I'm, I for 1:00 AM like, sign me up.
Follow.
I love it.
I got my first
Matt (37:58):
listener.
simon (37:59):
Yes.
I will be listener number one.
Um, I, you know, I think that as muchas I. Call myself an analog guy, right?
Like old school methodshave always worked for me.
I love the technology side of things.
I gonna there.
Push things through to, to make otherthings easier, as you said earlier,
(38:22):
to take things off people's plates.
But the way that the machines, like, theway the things that you can do with AI
just continue to astound me, so I'm in.
Matt (38:33):
Yeah, I was, I was gonna say, it's a little hard to call you analog as
we're sitting on your podcast, you know,recording digitally with your logo that's,
you know, flashing in the background.
And I, I think we, we met in adigital, uh, uh, one of Sean's
like, uh, groups, I believe.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it's, uh, uh, yeah,you're, you're definitely
a, a little tech forward.
simon (38:55):
I'm the
Matt (38:55):
tech
simon (38:56):
forward analog guy.
Matt (38:57):
I don't know.
Yeah.
Hey.
I think those are, by the way,the most interesting experiences.
Taking somebody that isnot natural to a world.
And putting 'em in there and watchingthem learn how you adapt to it.
Because the institutionalknowledge that you have
accumulated over the years is gold.
That person the pulling him aside,was it Marcus pulling that girl aside?
(39:21):
Just, you know, Hey, how are you?
You're doing great.
Like.
That stuff can't be lost.
But also that mentalityon bringing technology in.
You know, 'cause techdoesn't just fix everything.
You gotta find the rightthings for the right operation.
Like, yeah, you got, yougot a good package there.
simon (39:39):
Ah, I'm trying, man.
The the funny thing for me islike, I enjoy, personally enjoy the
technology and, and, and what itcan do and, and all those things.
I, I just am so steeped in the old waythat like, I try to find the middle.
Right.
You know, I, I, it's interesting, Italk, I talk with a lot of folks about.
(40:00):
Like the craft of the craft of cooking,the craft of leading, the craft of
management, managing and this, thiswhole venture like podcasting and, you
know, being a virtual consultant, 'causeI'm on, you know, I'm on Zoom talking
to people around, around the countryabout how their restaurants go and.
(40:24):
It's like, man, this all in itself,all by itself is its own craft.
And I tell people like, if you, if youwanna learn how to, how to use your
knife, you pick up a 50 pound bag,onions, put it on the counter, you open
the damn thing up and you start to slice.
Right.
Well.
I'm way early.
I'm like the first fivepounds in my 50 pound bag.
When it comes to like the digitalstuff, like learn learning to
(40:47):
make automated emails happen.
You know, like, oh God, I don'treally know what I'm doing.
Press that button.
Oh shit, that doesn't work.
Oh, that's the one.
Okay, got it.
Matt (40:56):
You know, so join the club.
Yeah.
It's the crap, by the way.
I love that word craft.
I think that does really capture it.
You know, it's part art.
It's.
Part skillset, it's part personality,you know, and it, you improve
upon it, you hone it over time.
It really is a craft.
simon (41:14):
Yeah.
Um, uh, one of the concepts thatI, I, I spent a lot of 2024 sort
of meditating, thinking on wastwo words, intention and craft.
And so it's like the intentionof craft, but on the other side,
there's the craft of intention, like.
(41:36):
Think about it.
Ooh, got a little headythere for a second.
Just for a second.
For me, the craft of intention isfiguring out how you spend your time.
What is important, right?
Like that is the craft ofintention, and it has to be
molded because otherwise we float.
(41:56):
Right.
And, and I think a lot of, alot of that for me heads towards
the, the things that I'm reallypassionate about with my restaurants,
and that is leadership, right?
Because here's the thing,nobody drifts to greatness.
Never.
It just doesn't happen.
You have to lead them to greatness.
They have to go, theyhave to have a direction.
(42:18):
There has to be some intention, right?
So, um, that'll be a,a hat for me someday.
That'll say nobody drifts to greatness.
That's a good line, right?
You have to lead them there or, oryou have to be led, or there has to
be, you need some form of roadmapand the, the roadmap is intention.
So.
(42:38):
There.
That's our deep thought for,for a culinary mechanic.
Matt (42:43):
Yeah.
Well, in restaurants, everything's urgent.
Everything's immediate.
Everything's a panic.
Yeah.
I, I, I wish I had more of yourcrafted intentionality because I
feel like I just crafted the skillsetto handle reacting to like chaos.
Right.
I, I was really good at thatand I got really good at it
(43:03):
'cause I spent a lot of time
simon (43:04):
doing it.
You just brought up a story for me.
So once upon a time, I was in a resortin Santa Barbara, California, um, kind
of place where it was all cottages.
It was like 20 cottages.
Some of 'em were duplexes.
There's like 30 something rooms, you know.
And at that point I considered myself.
Like I, I'm the guy who couldscramble out of any rush.
(43:27):
I could get through, I couldget out, and we'd be like, yeah.
And I was working for a sous chef,and she was a ballbuster man.
She was tough.
She'd worked in some James Beardkitchens, you know, James Beard
winning kitchens and, and had reallylike, went to the Clin Institute
of America, like a refined badass.
(43:50):
And she one day looks at meand she goes, you know what?
You're right, you can scrambleoutta anything she says, but.
Wouldn't you rather not have to scramble?
Wouldn't you rather have like theorganization in your brain and in
your movement that you are so coldand calculated that it looks easy?
(44:14):
She says, wouldn't you rather have that?
And I was like, man, Inever thought of that.
You know, I was like 26 years old andI was like, I've just always focused
on the fact that I could do anything.
And she's like.
But I don't have to scramble.
I'm just, I'm here and I'm hereand I, I do, I have a process
and a way, and it really changedhow I started to look at things.
(44:38):
It's like, if you don't get yourselfinto the shit, you don't have to dig out.
And so she taught me to be like.
Really like, really intentionalabout like starting my day, having
a really good list, not an EH list.
Having things like prioritize, like dothis, do that, do this when you're on
(45:00):
the line and it's getting busy, likehave a way, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And it was just, oh my gosh, likemy cooking skills just went woo.
Still the roof.
In probably six months with her.
Matt (45:12):
Let me say this, for every one of those, James Beard, you know, chefs
that's, you know, classically trainedand is intentional with the process,
there are a heck of a lot more peoplelike me that probably weren't great
at school, that are A DHD that are.
Distractible and spend a wholelot of time just reacting.
(45:34):
And they're probablypretty good in the chaos.
And shameless plug, let's get thosepeople clear cogs so that you, you're not
having to have them react anymore becausethey're never going to save themselves.
You know, they kinda like reacting.
They're never going to be theorganized ones that, uh, uh, are
reviewing the numbers accurately.
simon (45:52):
Yeah, I, I, I, I'm, and again, I'm right in the middle 'cause like squirrel.
Whoa.
There I go.
I'm gone.
Shiny object syndrome boop.
Out the, out the door.
However, like when I remember to beintentional, I. Man, things get easier.
And so find like, I, if I can tellanybody, like find a tool, like clear
(46:14):
cogs, take something off your plate.
Ha find the time to like be alittle bit more intentional and
then allow the squirrel to happen.
Matt (46:22):
And, and I'll say it, it's a little bit like boiling, uh, frogs, right?
Where, you know, the, you bringthe temperature up slowly, they
won't just jump out, right?
Right.
Like we.
As restaurant operators start to have alittle chaos and then a little bit more.
And then one day you wake up andyou manage insanity, but like
you don't even notice that you'remanaging insanity until you know
(46:45):
Bill has to fill in for your shift.
And he is like, this is insanity.
Or Simon, you show up and it'slike, guys, you live in insanity.
Let's put some structure around here.
And I think most people are unawarethat they're living in insanity.
Totally.
simon (46:58):
I know I wasn't for years.
I didn't really, I'm like,this is how it is, you know?
Um, I mean, I learned, learned someleadership lessons that same way.
Matt (47:07):
My, my goal every morning, like first start, I was like,
you know, 22 at this time, like.
Was to get a bagel.
Like if it was a great day andI got all my prep done before
opening, I could have a bagel.
And the amount of work that I didbetween 6:00 AM and 10, 15, 4 hours of
work, like I prepped the entire store,constant movement, like everything
(47:30):
was just a fine oiled machine.
I took off like, youknow, building out stores.
I had to do general managers,and then I had to fill in.
It.
I wasn't even close togetting opened on time.
Right.
Because I just slowly and surelylike built this, you know,
incredibly work heavy prep.
But I never actually sat down and thought,Hey, is there a better way to do this?
(47:53):
Like, maybe I should bring somebody in.
Maybe I should do somemore the night before.
No, I just, you know, foundmyself, I got better at managing
the insanity every morning.
simon (48:04):
Yeah.
I think that's a greatway to describe it, right?
It's like it just builds and buildsand builds until you're in a corner
and you can't get out, and that'swhere Well, and that's where burnout
starts to happen for people, right?
They can't get out of the cornerthat they've painted themselves into
Matt (48:18):
burnout in restaurants.
No,
simon (48:21):
I, I have a, I have a, a buddy who works at a Topgolf
and he describes burnout as SOP.
He's like, that's just normal.
I'm like, no, dude.
It's not.
It might be a norm, but it's not normal.
You know it.
Or it shouldn't be normal.
It shouldn't be normal.
How's that?
Matt (48:42):
We always felt like you a burnout.
So if I bring in a new employee and theyleave in the first like three to four
weeks, like that's probably a good thing.
But like your person that'sthere for a year or two, like
we want them to stay, right?
Because like, not everyone's afit for the industry, but how
you get past that second, thirdyear and make this a livable.
(49:06):
Lifestyle career, you know,that's what really matters.
simon (49:11):
Yeah.
Sustainable action.
What can you do every daythat doesn't kill you?
Exactly.
Doesn't kill you.
Well, on that note, I gotta say, wecovered some ground, Mr. Matthew Wampler.
Matt (49:23):
Yes, we do.
simon (49:25):
Awesome.
Um, thanks for coming to play in thesandbox and telling us about what's
going on with, with you and clear cogs.
The restaurant AI podcast, sign me up.
I am in, I cannot wait.
Um, and like I say, I think weneed to coordinate like this
episode with the launch of that.
So, 'cause that'll be pretty dope.
(49:46):
Um, 'cause uh, I think as you andI said before we started recording,
community is, is what it's about.
Um, and I love the fact that you are apart of the culinary mechanic community.
Um.
So I'll make sure in the show notes thateverybody can find you and clear cogs.
And once again, thanksfor coming and playing.
(50:06):
And to all you out there, please go toApple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube and
or YouTube and drop a follow, a subscribea like, even a review would be amazing.
Um, and I'll catch you on the flip side.
Matt (50:21):
You're the best, Simon.
Thank you.
simon (50:23):
Thanks buddy.
You're listening toHeritage Radio Network.
I.
From kitchen chaos to well-oiled machines.
Get ready for newfangledtechnology and old school Know-how
(00:21):
stories and a good bit of fun.
I'm Simon, and this iscalled Area Mechanic
You're listening toHeritage Radio Network.
I.
simon (00:40):
With me today.
Is Matthew Wampler from Clear Cogs,uh, returning to culinary mechanic.
Matt, welcome
Matt (00:49):
Simon.
Always a pleasure.
Good to see you
simon (00:52):
and good to be seen, but good to see you too.
Um, when last we saw our heroes, uh, youhad been rolling along with clear cogs
and I was just hoping that we could.
And I get a little bit of anupdate about where things are.
'cause I think that the platform thatyou have created is pretty, pretty
(01:13):
fascinating and, and just, I want ourlisteners to understand more about it.
So take it away, man.
Matt (01:20):
Yeah, man.
I mean at this point we're a 3-year-oldcompany and you know, you kind of look
back and you start out as two guys in agarage just trying to figure things out.
You know, there's a year of that.
There's a year of just grinding itout, trying to sell and figure out
exactly what the product's gonna be.
And you know, 2024 wasa great year for us and.
(01:40):
All of a sudden you wake up andwe're in four countries, a hundred
brands ranging from, you know,regional chains to multi-billion
dollar publicly traded companies.
Uh, it's, it's been a, a rollercoaster.
We just closed our, our seed fundinground, so we got a, you know, uh, uh,
we now have a couple million dollarsof, you know, capital to really go
(02:02):
take this thing to the next level.
So I, it is 2025 is an exciting time.
simon (02:08):
That's amazing.
So give us the, I don't know,5,000 foot view of what?
Of how you're helping restaurants.
Matt (02:18):
Yeah, I mean, running a restaurant is incredibly hard as my
buddy Jason Berkowitz loves to say.
It's a thankless job a lot of days whereyou just walk in the door and wait to
get, you know, sucker punched in the gut.
Uh, you know, we're apredictive analytics company.
Our goal is to help restaurantshave more days go, right?
Um, so the way it works is look.
(02:41):
We tell you, here's the right amountof food to prep the right number of
people to be in the store and you knowwhat to order so that you know you're
not playing catch up and reacting.
simon (02:55):
Amen.
To not playing catch up.
Matt (02:58):
You know, it's funny, I was just, just having this
conversation and you know.
I remember turning around my firstrestaurant, like it was a total nightmare.
You know, I, I walk in the frontdoor, all you can smell is the grease
trap hitting you, the HVA Cs out.
There's like four employees.
Like we had ice buckets on topof the cold table compressors to
(03:20):
keep the, the from overheating.
It was, it was one of those, youknow, classic restaurant turnaround
experiences and like slowly, I, Igot the hang of it and, you know.
Once you get dialed in, there'sthis magic feeling in a restaurant.
And like, whenever I think of dialedin, it always takes me back there.
I remember, um, homecoming 2012, we justgot crushed like Maryland was playing.
(03:44):
Uh, I think it was NC State.
And for whatever reason I. Everybodywas in town, like line out the door
for eight hours, you know, two coldtables fully stacked, just nonstop.
But like on that day, like we weredialed in, we got everything right.
You know, how can we use technologyto help our people be more dialed
(04:07):
in and get more of these days?
Right?
Ugh.
simon (04:12):
I mean, uh, I, that really makes me think about, like, I, I met
this chef a couple years back and shewas in Indianapolis and her restaurant
was like two miles from the Indy 500.
Yeah.
And during that time, she wouldrun 24 hour prep and, and she
(04:33):
would have like refrigeratedtrucks outside the back door and.
And I and I, I remember looking at her andI said, Lydia, like, how do you do that?
And she's like, we planned for six months.
She goes, and that part kindof sucks, but when we get close
to it, everybody gets excited.
(04:54):
Everybody's in.
Sometimes we have to get, like, wehave to get like Jimmy and Terry to
bring their brother-in-law in for acouple of days and they're excited
and then it's just go, go, go.
But we've done all this planningand we've got all this information
from previous years and we use it.
And she goes, the first year was awful.
(05:16):
The.
The second, third, fourth,those are fun, but now she
says, we know what we're doing.
So the, the dialed in thing like hits me.
I'm like, that's it.
Matt (05:25):
Well, and so like, so my, my first door was on a college campus.
We were basically open 24 hours a day.
Like, you know, you'd close at like 3:00AM and you know, clean the place out.
You're out at five, prepstarts at 6:00 AM Right.
And you know, it was funny,that was the first store, so
that was what I was used to.
High volume lots going on.
And by the way, those greatdays, the Indy 500, those are the
(05:46):
wonderful moments, those feelings.
That's great.
But my second store opened up really lowvolume and you find it's so much harder.
At low volume.
Right?
And it's, it's not the Fridaynight that you get wrong that
really hits the bottom line.
It's, you know, the Tuesday,Wednesday, it's these little
(06:08):
decisions where if you have any littleinefficiency in a low volume store.
It really hits you.
So like, you know, one of the things thatwas a motivation for Clear Cox was, you
know, we had these decisions, you know,they're really set decisions every day.
It's two hours prior to close.
You know, can I shut theovens off and start cleaning?
Or do I need to bakeanother cycle of bread?
(06:30):
You know, because at the end ofthe day, if you don't have enough
bread, you can't serve customers andwhatever bread you have left over,
you basically are thrown away, right?
So like that hits you on the bottom line.
You know, our guys were literally lookingout the door, you know, is it nice out?
You know, is there traffic?
And they make a guess.
And none of the technology wehad had an answer to this, right?
(06:53):
You could go look athistoric sales, but like.
That still doesn't answer the question,do I need to bake another cycle of bread?
And so fundamentally we thought, look.
Let's go use the datathey have in their POS.
Let's go look at every Tuesday, let's lookat, you know, that last two hours, how
weather affects it, what's on the menu.
Go really deep on the data side also, thatwe can provide a really simple answer.
(07:18):
To an operator in their language.
You know, today it's Tuesday, twohours prior to close 18 sticks of
bread, and that's fundamentallystill what the company does.
Take all of your data, synthesize itdown to those key decision points each
day so that you're just turning downthe inefficiencies and you know, it adds
percentage points to the bottom line.
simon (07:39):
Absolutely.
You know, I, I love the granularity ofthat because I, I think about the days,
I mean, God, I'm old, so I think aboutcooking and working in rest, you know,
restaurants, whether they be small onesor big ones or being in, in hotels and
it's like you're, you're literally likelicking your finger walk, walking out
and like putting it out to the wind.
(08:01):
You know, and going, okay,what's about to happen?
You know, or just, and you have no, like,there's just no way to to think about it.
Matt (08:11):
And by the way, hats off to restaurants.
They do a good job at it.
I know we all like to complain whensomebody runs out of this or that, but
like for the most part, you know, the menand women that are running restaurants.
Are actually doing a greatjob at guessing, but you know,
that's stressful and inefficient.
And if we can make their lives alittle simpler and you know, a little
(08:32):
more profitable, like, let's do it.
simon (08:34):
Yeah.
I mean, uh, I'm helping a, arestaurant company right now, and by
the way, this guy, as of December.
23rd, I think had two restaurants.
And here we are on, well,we're in early April.
By the time this airs, it'll bea little bit later than that.
But, uh, early April, and thisguy's now got four operating units.
(08:58):
He doubled the size of hiscompany in the last four months.
Matt (09:01):
That's so hard, right?
Like, dude, how do I gettwo new general managers?
How do I get, you know, it's, yeah.
simon (09:09):
Well, uh, a, a small plug for culinary mechanic here.
I, he, he and I are pretty good friendsand he, his right hand man called
me one day and said, I need you tocome in and do that thing you do.
And I was like, what, whatthing is it that I do?
And he is like, I need you to come inand like, talk to the young managers,
the young people that have never beenmanagers and help them understand
(09:31):
what they're about to, to go through.
And so we did that for a monthprior to his newest opening and.
I mean, they're literally now aweek into their fourth restaurant.
And one of the newest managerscame to me and he is like, I had
two problems over the weekend.
I said, yeah, tell me about 'em.
And he starts telling me about thisyoung lady who was, who just started
(09:51):
crying in the middle of service.
'cause it was, the pressure was on.
Yeah.
And so they got through the rush andhe got, well he got her off the line.
He took over and this islike the, the manager.
So he's actually the cashierof a quick serve joint.
Right.
Watching, but he stepped in and hefinished the orders, let her kind
of go get some water, pulled heroff to the side and he said, you
(10:12):
know, kind of talked her through thewhole thing and said, where are you?
What's going on?
And she's like, oh, it's just, it's hard.
He says, we're on day threeof a brand new restaurant.
Everybody's struggling.
It's okay.
And you know, kind of likemade sure she was all right.
And then he says, Igotta ask though, like.
(10:33):
Do you want to be here?
Oh yes, I want to be here.
He says, then we'll help you.
Everybody here will help you.
And Simon,
Matt (10:39):
like by the way, like that's the moment, right?
That's the moment where you either lose anemployee that could be great, or like you
create that great, you know, staff member.
Team member, right?
That, that's amazing.
I love it.
People forget, and so it's
simon (10:54):
the
Matt (10:55):
people
simon (10:55):
business.
Totally.
People all day long.
And so the best part is he goes,so are you gonna go home now?
She says, no, I'm, you know,she kind of brightened up and
she said, no, I'm, I'm in it.
And I said, okay.
So like, what happened from there?
And he is like, she dug in andlike by the end of the shift
she, she had like, she had it.
(11:17):
And I said, cool.
Now make sure that tomorrow she gets ahigh five just for showing up and a high
five every time she's doing things right.
And by the way.
Congratulations.
And I gave him a high five and Iwas like, that's exactly what we've
been talking about for the last.
He's like, I didn't everknow how to do that before.
(11:37):
Thank you so whatever.
But that's, it's like wedon't get that training.
Like as, as people, generally we, wearen't taught to be leaders, so it's
fun for me, but it's like those arethe things that run those restaurants,
those are the things that help turnwhat you described around, right?
As how we get the people moving
Matt (11:56):
in the chaos of the day, running a restaurant, there are all these
little things you're doing like.
That's the one that really matters, thosefew moments because it's six months from
now when there's a new employee that'sin that same situation and you've created
the culture where she is going to rememberthat moment and pull that employee
(12:18):
aside and be like, Hey, it's okay.
How can I help?
That's, that's huge.
But Simon, I had a question for you.
So yes.
Going from two to four.
I mean, I, I remember it vividly.
You know, one, you just eat, sleepand breathe at your restaurant.
You know, two, you can split yourselfin two, spend half your time here and
half your time there and, you know,play whack-a-mole with problems.
(12:40):
But four, you can't.
And I always, I actuallystruggled with that transition.
How do you, from a, you know,owner, area manager perspective,
how do you get over that hurdle?
simon (12:55):
I think the biggest thing for this guy and, and I think
in general is you gotta surroundyourself with people who care, who
love it, who are living it, right?
Like his second location is his banger.
It's across the street from verymuch like what you said on a campus.
He's across the street from SeattleUniversity, which is, you know, it, it is.
(13:16):
It is perfect.
These are young kids who actually tend tocome from a little bit of money like this.
This isn't your likeaverage community college.
It's a little bit, a little bit wealthier.
And so the kids come in and they,they keep him rocking from eight in
the morning for breakfast all theway through to 11 o'clock at night.
And at 11 o'clock is whenlunch really starts to go.
(13:38):
And man, I was in there yesterday andI was like, oh, I gotta get outta here.
This is scary.
Like this is like a flood of people.
I.
His manager is just thissteely-eyed little lady.
Uh, if she's four foot 11, I'm shocked.
Like maybe with her big sneakers on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(13:58):
And she's just, she's, you know,she's kind of hovering behind
people and like checking on 'emand making sure everything's okay.
You hear her like walk intothe prep kitchen going, no,
no, I need that other salsa.
Now, right?
It's, it's tacos.
So it's, it's Mexican food andit's, she's like, I need that now.
And then she walks back up on theline and goes, you go over there
(14:20):
and, and just, she's just driving it.
And so, but go have one those,
Matt (14:24):
you can have one of those, right?
Or you can have two of those.
But like, if I gotta go from two tofour, I need two more people like that.
And they don't just magically grow on
simon (14:32):
trees.
So I asked him, when I started workingwith him, I asked the owner, I said, Hey,
can, can I be like, let me help you finda new manager and, and bring them in.
He's like, you wanna bringsomebody in from outside?
I said, yeah, you need like asolid manager for this new place.
And he said, no.
And I was like, oh, okay.
(14:53):
Tell me more about no, likeyou need, he's like, no.
If you come to work with me,then I want you to help me grow
my managers from the ground up.
He says, I have people who love it here.
I have a couple of peoplewho I think can do the work.
They just don't know what the work is, andthey just don't know how to approach it.
(15:14):
And one of 'em is that guywho kept the young lady from
leaving, and his name is Miguel.
And Miguel is a stud.
Matt (15:24):
Shout out to Miguel.
He's, he's killing, uh,
simon (15:27):
yes.
Every moment of every day, he is on it.
I like, I've been so impressedwith him, but he's never been
taught how to think like a coach.
Like a leader.
Like a manager.
Right.
And so I. I've been kind of trying togive him as much of that and really
help him through the little things.
And I love the fact that he comesto me and tells me what he did
(15:48):
and says, did I do that right?
I'm like, you slated.
Right?
But he's this, this owner is committedto his people and his culture because.
He was at a, the, the best story ever ofthis guy is they were catering a wedding
for some good, good friends, right?
People that I used to work with,people that he used to work with.
(16:10):
And the, the little lady, theymake tortilla, when they go
onsite for catering, they make alltortillas to order right there.
Wow.
Every single one.
And he was like trying to stock the buffetwith tacos and he turns with a tray and
he goes, okay, gimme those tortillas.
And she looks up at him and shegoes, Nope, they're not ready yet.
(16:32):
And I thought to myself, when you havetrained your people so well that you
won't let the owner deviate from thestructure and quality and integrity of
product, you have done it correctly.
And that's when he looked at, at.
All of his people and said, I love you.
Thank you.
Yes.
(16:52):
Well wait.
Turned around to the buffetand said, hang on a minute.
Tortillas are, are not quiteready, but we're making 'em fresh.
And obviously they're outdoorsat a wedding and they can see
that they're cooking right there.
It was all good.
But that is the culture.
Right?
And so the, and though the shortish answerto your question of how do you go from two
(17:13):
to four is people and expectations and.
Being clear about whatit is you want, right?
And what, what it is youwant from those people.
And yeah, it's hard to findone and it's hard to find two.
And how do you get four?
His answer is, people, people, people.
That first manager, here's anotherpiece that blew me away, that for
(17:37):
that manager, that little tinylady, she was having a one-on-one
with him yesterday with the owner.
And she says, I'm gonna cover my,I'm gonna cover my Tuesday, Wednesday
shifts and put a, put somebody intocashier and I'm gonna go to the ghost
kitchen, which is location number threebecause I wanna make sure that the food
(17:58):
quality is good because I'm, we puta new guy in there and I wanna make
sure that that's really going well.
'cause there's not actuallya manager on site for that.
'cause it's such a small thing.
She just, so I'm gonna go spendtwo days and really make sure that
everything is the way we want it.
And that is, uh, once again, it's,it's the culture of this is, and
(18:19):
he said, he looks at me and hesays, I didn't tell her to do that.
I didn't even ask her to do that.
That's what she felt is, was, is needed.
Matt (18:28):
I had this long debate with Josh from me about this exact thing.
He's a process guy, right?
Which I'm envious of.
I am not Type A. He'stype A process, right?
He had processes for everything andyou can manage the process, which is
very logical and works really well.
I always came about it moreon the people side, right?
Like you get the right people, youget 'em aligned, you set 'em free.
(18:53):
Yeah.
You give 'em encouragement,they'll figure out the problems.
Like you put processes in placewhen you can't get the right
people to make the right decisions.
I don't know about you, but I did notget into the restaurant business to spend
all my time in a cramp little office.
(19:14):
I love being in thekitchen, out on the floor.
And if you're nodding your head rightnow, I want to introduce you to an
amazing company called Starfish.
Look, I've gotten to know their CEOJordan recently and what they're
building really impresses me.
They're using AI to read your Pand L and they're going to email
(19:34):
you actionable insights every week.
So you can lower yourcosts and increase revenue.
Best part is you don't have tospend time digging through your
P and L's pouring over reportsin that cramped little office.
Starfish is going to do that foryou so you can get back to the
part of the business that you love.
(19:55):
If you're interested, go totheir website, use starfish.
com that's U S E starfish.
com and tell them Simon sent you.
simon (20:05):
Okay.
I'm right in the middle.
Yeah, no, I, I I, there,there's a healthy in between.
So check this out.
I was born, I, I am the child.
Well, first of all, I'm thechild of hippies, right?
But I am the child of.
Uh, somebody who did social workfor years, some very like, so
empathy is strong in my blood.
(20:26):
Okay.
But the other side isDad was a research guy.
Oh.
So he, he's the guy that you wentto when you were a graduate student
in environmental sciences at theUniversity of Massachusetts, and you
have a thesis that you want to prove.
You, you, he says, oh, youwant to get this result.
(20:47):
This is the process that you go through.
You do this, you measure that,you study this, you measure that.
Do, do, do.
This is, this is the equipmentthat you need to do that.
This is the, these are the number oftests, these are the number of processes.
So.
I'm the process guy, right?
As growing up.
But as I got farther into my career, Irealized no matter how good my process
(21:11):
is, if I don't have people buying in,if I don't have people who believe
doesn't matter, I I am just a one person.
Yeah.
And so what come to believe isthat processes are those bumpers
you put on the bowling alley.
Right.
Processes keep you hemmedon from side to side.
(21:32):
Right.
And it, the ability to go downthe, the bowling alley is.
Amazing when you can't get off the rails.
'cause the processes keep you there.
Matt (21:44):
Right?
Yeah.
And they help you with growing and beingsystemized, going from two to four, right?
Like you need to starthaving processes in place.
Uh, you know, I, I kinda got akick out of it, you know, I came
from the franchised background.
Right, right.
So.
The processes were in place.
They gave me the playbook for success.
This is what you do every day.
(22:04):
This is how often you scrub themop guards and when you clean the
grease trap, and so on and so forth.
So I didn't have to think about theprocesses, but I. The fact that they
were there is why I was successfuland why you're able to run, you
know, 3000 units, you know, all withsame high standards and service.
You know, I, I often forget that, youknow, as an independent owner operator,
(22:27):
right, you have to kind of writeyour own processes, and if you don't
have 'em going from, you know, two tofour would be very, very difficult.
simon (22:36):
Yeah.
And so some of what I do withthis guy is I'm like, so what's
the way that we're going to go?
Go?
Like, what is the way?
Right?
Yeah.
And, and, and the, the great thing ishis, his brand is named after his father.
It's Carmelo's tacos.
Right.
So it's the Carmelo's way.
(22:56):
It's great, you know, it's really easy.
It's like, what is thecarmelo's way for this?
And he's like, oh, we do this.
And I'm like, where is it written down to?
Tell me that?
He's like, oh, I don't know.
And so at that point, I open up mycomputer and I start typing and we, we
create like a, a quick little form on it.
And then he now has, uh,really advanced himself.
(23:19):
He hired a part-time personwho used to manage for him.
And that person is doingall of his HR stuff.
So all the onboarding stuff just all goesto him, all the training goes to him.
It's great, you know.
But again, by the way, you've mentioned,
Matt (23:33):
you've mentioned tacos enough that I think I'm gonna be
getting a taco this afternoon.
simon (23:37):
Yeah, man.
Yeah, man.
Uh.
This guy, like his stuff is so good.
Matt (23:42):
So you work with all these companies, right?
You got carmelo's, like howare they doing forecasting?
How do they know how much salsa to have?
How do they know how much chickento marinade today for tomorrow?
Like what, what, and maybe notjust one company, but in general,
what do you see out there?
simon (24:01):
I see people just, I see some people using their data.
Some people are using theirdata on a very elemental level.
Good order guides.
They put in the on hand the order column.
They, they analyze it day over day.
If they're smart, they keep lastweek's order guide just behind this
week's order guide and they can goback and look at a week's history.
(24:25):
That's the elementalold school data usage.
Yeah.
Right.
Uh, these guys, they are so busythat it kind of doesn't matter.
Just order more.
Yeah.
Like they now have four andthat fourth location is.
In a neighborhood and they took, theyhad some building issues, so they
(24:47):
took almost four months longer thanexpected because it was the building
that kept them from, from finishing.
Yeah.
So their sign, their neon signhas been lit for four months.
The day they opened, peoplestarted just walk in.
Right.
It's, it's not like, oh, wedidn't know you were here.
No, people have been waiting.
(25:08):
So this is gonna be a monster.
It's in, it's in a neighborhood,it's in the center of a neighborhood
sandwiched between two, like are theysubways, train stations, I guess.
And the local communitycolleges down there.
But on the north side ofthem is like the bar, the bar
district of, of Seattle, right.
(25:30):
It's called Capitol Hill.
And it's, it is the party place.
So.
I can't even imagine what's gonna happen.
I, I am just like, oh, prep more.
Just prep more.
Because that's what they do.
They, they just like, when, when indoubt they just keep going with more.
Matt (25:44):
I got a great delayed store opening story for you, but let, let's
finish this conversation real quick.
So, so you've got theold school way, right?
Like I, I'm filling out forms.
I, I, I can go look through 'em.
I can see what I've beenordering in the past.
Very analog, you know, uh, uh, looking atthe numbers, how else are people doing it?
simon (26:06):
You know, that's the bulk of it.
Other people are justlike, I think I need this.
And so I do that.
I don't see a lot of people yetdoing anywhere near what you've got.
I. Because they, some, some peopledon't know that it exists and
some people are like, uh, we're inanalog, especially small restaurants.
(26:26):
We're in an analog group.
We live in an analog world.
And so even the smallest pieces,like some of the POS systems
that still exist, blow me away.
Like toast is this quantumleap spot on is a quantum leap.
The amount of information that youcan get, and I'm good with data and
(26:49):
I'm good with reports and I stillstruggle to be able to like I.
Know all the, the ways thatI can use that information.
Matt (26:58):
Yeah.
Well, I mean, hey, as an industry, westruggle just to get recipes digitized,
you know, and get yields Correct.
You know, let alone shout out to mes.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Hey, you know what?
There's another quantum leap.
You know, it's, it's, it's funny, I mean,you just go back 10 years, you know,
chow, like, you know, people had likefive tablets, you know, uh, they, they,
(27:21):
they couldn't even get it through one POS.
Um, there's been a lot of advancementthere, but I will say this more than
just getting prep and production, right?
Taking something off someone's plate,you know, having to keep all your
order forms and go through 'em.
Nobody gets into this industry'cause that's what they want to do.
simon (27:44):
No, no, no, no.
In fact, what I tell people is, here,here's the, here's like two, three
little ways to make that go easier.
Here's two, three little ways to make thatgo faster, because I wanna have all that
information and have all that go well andthen get back to the part I like, which
is shooting the shit on the line whilewe're busting out a couple hundred covers
(28:07):
or, or getting an hour or two to like.
Play with that like shipment of, I don'tknow, heirloom carrots that came in.
You know, like what, what isthe new or work on the next
set of specials or whatever.
Like the food and the peopleare the things that make me
excited about the business.
I learned to be good at that otherstuff so that I had the opportunity
(28:32):
to, 'cause I tell people, I'm like,if you don't manage the business,
you don't get to have the fun.
Like, you don't get to do that.
It just doesn't work.
Right.
Um, yeah, it's, we just, we usedto have a sign taking things off.
Your plate is great.
Matt (28:45):
We used to have a sign in Jimmy John's that said, uh, if you
do the things you need to do now,then maybe you'll be able to do
the things you want to do tomorrow.
simon (28:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, similarly it's, it's do thethings you have to do so the, so you
can get to the things you get to do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
You know, um, I'm also, I've alsobeen trying to make that own shift
with, with some people, it's likethey say, oh, I have to go to work.
It's not, you get to go to work.
(29:16):
You get the opportunity to go towork and provide for your family.
'cause not everybody can, let's be honest.
Not everybody's able to right now, right?
Just 'cause of 'cause of life and things.
So you get to go do all those thingsand you get to make people smile
'cause your food is so good and youget to create experiences for people.
(29:38):
That's, that for me is like, that's aprivilege and not everybody gets it.
So, you know, I, I like to be gratefulfor those little tiny, itty bitty things
that are not always little itty bitty.
Matt (29:50):
It's all about perspective.
simon (29:51):
Yeah, man.
Yeah, man.
All right.
Tell me about, tell me about, therewas a story you were gonna tell
me and I want to hear that one.
Matt (30:00):
The late opening.
Oh, delayed store openings.
I'm sorry.
You, you brought up thedelays door opening.
All right.
So.
I, I had started out in theindustry like 21, right?
So my first one was a turnaround.
I think I'm like 23.
When I signed my likesecond lease, first store.
I am like, giddy about this.
I got the bank loan.
We find the, the, the spot, you know,architecture plans, the whole nine yards.
(30:24):
So I'm in the DC suburbs andthe permitting takes forever.
So you gotta hire a permit expediterand all that kind of stuff.
It takes nine monthsto get this store open.
We come through for the finalwalkthrough, and by the way, throughout
the entire process, I am pestering thepermitting people, the, the county,
(30:44):
you name it, trying to get this through'cause it just keeps getting delayed.
We go through the final walkthrough atthe county and the guy looks at me, he
says, you know, you're floating sink.
Isn't quite in compliance.
So while they could, I guess, you know,if you were handicapped you could,
you know, swing your legs underneath.
You couldn't actually swing the back.
So technically it's outta compliance.
(31:06):
I need you to move your entire wallbathroom wall into the kitchen one inch.
I. And I'm like, well, like, no.
Like there's, there's no waywe can do that, that, you know,
we're supposed to open next week.
We're already paying rent, right?
Like, I got interest due for the bank.
Like this will literally bankrupt meif they actually make us do this thing.
(31:27):
I. And so, you know, we fight withthe guys the whole nine yards and
they leave, and my contractor'slike, W what do you want to do?
Like, uh, there's not much we can do.
And I'm like, we gotta go down tothe county, talk with these people.
He's like, okay, let'sgo down to the county.
And I, I called my wife and I'mlike, honey, here's the deal.
(31:47):
You know, county's doingall this stuff like.
I am going to the county office and eitherI'm going to end up in prison because
I'm gonna throw a hissy fit or likethey're gonna get this fixed, but one
of these two things is going to happen.
And we went in and I kid you not like,you know, an hour of talking to people.
You finally got to the point wherethey basically said, no, go fix it.
(32:10):
And I threw it, you know, it's like.
No, we're not.
They're like, they're callingsecurity to escort me out.
And finally the, the head guy's like,what in the hell is going on out here?
And I'm like, you know,we'll call him Bob.
Bob, you know, I've emailed you 10 times.
Like I go out of business if youguys aren't, are gonna make me
move this wall, blah, blah, blah.
(32:31):
And.
Finally, he's like, all right, we'llsend out a new person tomorrow.
And they, they approved thething, and so we finally got open.
But it's like, it was this closeto like just bankrupting me and
being, you know, a nightmare.
And this, this is what's going onbehind the scenes at every restaurant
that's opening across the country.
(32:51):
Like it's, it's, there's a whole thingthere of, you know, how do you, uh, get
the right architect and contractors somuch goes into opening a restaurant.
simon (32:59):
Well, they were ready to go with, with that, with number four.
They were ready to go in like.
October, November, and somebody, someinspection came in and found out that the
f there was something wrong with the floordrains, and it was something the owner had
done that like the building hadn't done.
And so they stopped everythingand tore up the floors.
(33:22):
Oh.
And I was like, say what now?
I'm like.
And he wasn't.
He like, my guy was not panicking.
And I was like, are you sure?
And he goes, sometimes it's just gottabe, but they're not charging me rent.
They're not, you know, like whileall these things are are doing it.
And I said, okay, that's cool.
And then we get, so a good relationship
Matt (33:43):
with your landlord goes a long way.
simon (33:45):
Totally.
And so now we're in likeearly mid-February and I was
like, when are we talking?
He's like, oh, March 1st.
I'm like, okay, uh, maybe he even saidlike, February 20 something and, and
then we get closer and he is like,nah, we had some issues with this.
He says, I've now come to peace withthe fact that we're gonna open, I.
(34:08):
When we're, when we open, likehe's like, we're gonna get there.
When we get there.
He goes, but when we get there,because we've had all this
time, we're gonna be ready.
Yeah.
And so like we started getting like,he really, like, he had time, he
had a really good planned out liketraining in his other restaurants.
He got people like.
(34:29):
Almost three weeks oftraining he paid for.
I was gonna say, that was the
Matt (34:33):
one that was killing me, is like, I've got a whole staff we've
hired that we're paying right now.
Yep.
You know, in another restaurant,like every week hits you not
only with the rent, but theinterest and the extra labor.
It's, it's a whole
simon (34:45):
thing.
Yeah.
No, totally.
But it was so like, I'm super impressed.
Like I was in there yesterday,it was day seven, and.
The, the tacos that I ate forlunch, I was like, how are you?
Like, this is good.
This is as good as your other restaurants.
He's like, she works inrestaurant number one.
He works in restaurant number two, buthe's like, these are all people that, that
(35:08):
are, that are splitting their time rightnow and may continue to split their time.
You know, it's like we, we added somepeople, but we added some people to those,
to the original restaurants and because.
Restaurant number.
This is interesting.
Restaurant number four is sixblocks from restaurant number one.
Oh, I love that.
But they're different neighborhoods.
Matt (35:28):
Yeah.
simon (35:29):
One sits at the top of the hill, one sits in the middle
of the hill, and so like they'reable, they're totally willing.
I'll just, I'll just swap a couple shifts.
So they were able to backfillin the old restaurants.
Right, and then make it sothat they can just have some,
some pros in their new one.
So it wasn't all new people.
(35:50):
So that was amazing.
That is nice.
That's really nice.
So recently you and I were talkingand you were telling me about
something really cool and the factthat you're actually gonna, you're
putting together your own podcast.
My podcast.
I wanna hear about this sucker.
Matt (36:05):
We just started recording.
It's the, the Restaurant AI podcast.
Uh, it's, uh, yeah, it shouldbe coming out next month.
I, it should probably be coming out aboutthe time that this episode comes out.
Uh, awesome.
No, I'm, I'm really excited.
Well, let's coordinate
simon (36:19):
that then.
Matt (36:19):
Yeah, exactly.
Let's coordinate that.
Like let's be on it.
I'm really excited about it.
So the thing that has been the most fun inthis chapter of my life is I have gotten
to make great relationships with someincredibly smart and interesting people.
(36:41):
And I find myself, you know, on aweekly basis just being mind blown
by some of the people that I talkto and the information they share.
And it was like.
These are the conversationsthat I want to be a part of and
I think people want to hear.
I almost feel like selfish thatonly I am getting this information.
(37:04):
So I we're gonna bring on the bestAI machine learning tech people that
aren't necessarily from the industry.
Right, right.
We're going to bring on the capitalallocators that are investing in the
future of restaurant technology, andwe're gonna bring on the brands that are
actually bringing these technologies in.
(37:25):
It's not gonna be infomercials forcompanies, it's just gonna be real
conversations led by my honest andgenuine curiosity on what is, what
is the state of technology today.
Where is it going in restaurants?
How is this gonna play out so that we cankind of get a sense of what do the next
(37:46):
year, five years, 10 years look like?
simon (37:50):
That's awesome.
I, I'm, I for 1:00 AM like, sign me up.
Follow.
I love it.
I got my first
Matt (37:58):
listener.
simon (37:59):
Yes.
I will be listener number one.
Um, I, you know, I think that as muchas I. Call myself an analog guy, right?
Like old school methodshave always worked for me.
I love the technology side of things.
I gonna there.
Push things through to, to make otherthings easier, as you said earlier,
(38:22):
to take things off people's plates.
But the way that the machines, like, theway the things that you can do with AI
just continue to astound me, so I'm in.
Matt (38:33):
Yeah, I was, I was gonna say, it's a little hard to call you analog as
we're sitting on your podcast, you know,recording digitally with your logo that's,
you know, flashing in the background.
And I, I think we, we met in adigital, uh, uh, one of Sean's
like, uh, groups, I believe.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it's, uh, uh, yeah,you're, you're definitely
a, a little tech forward.
simon (38:55):
I'm the
Matt (38:55):
tech
simon (38:56):
forward analog guy.
Matt (38:57):
I don't know.
Yeah.
Hey.
I think those are, by the way,the most interesting experiences.
Taking somebody that isnot natural to a world.
And putting 'em in there and watchingthem learn how you adapt to it.
Because the institutionalknowledge that you have
accumulated over the years is gold.
That person the pulling him aside,was it Marcus pulling that girl aside?
(39:21):
Just, you know, Hey, how are you?
You're doing great.
Like.
That stuff can't be lost.
But also that mentalityon bringing technology in.
You know, 'cause techdoesn't just fix everything.
You gotta find the rightthings for the right operation.
Like, yeah, you got, yougot a good package there.
simon (39:39):
Ah, I'm trying, man.
The the funny thing for me islike, I enjoy, personally enjoy the
technology and, and, and what itcan do and, and all those things.
I, I just am so steeped in the old waythat like, I try to find the middle.
Right.
You know, I, I, it's interesting, Italk, I talk with a lot of folks about.
(40:00):
Like the craft of the craft of cooking,the craft of leading, the craft of
management, managing and this, thiswhole venture like podcasting and, you
know, being a virtual consultant, 'causeI'm on, you know, I'm on Zoom talking
to people around, around the countryabout how their restaurants go and.
(40:24):
It's like, man, this all in itself,all by itself is its own craft.
And I tell people like, if you, if youwanna learn how to, how to use your
knife, you pick up a 50 pound bag,onions, put it on the counter, you open
the damn thing up and you start to slice.
Right.
Well.
I'm way early.
I'm like the first fivepounds in my 50 pound bag.
When it comes to like the digitalstuff, like learn learning to
(40:47):
make automated emails happen.
You know, like, oh God, I don'treally know what I'm doing.
Press that button.
Oh shit, that doesn't work.
Oh, that's the one.
Okay, got it.
Matt (40:56):
You know, so join the club.
Yeah.
It's the crap, by the way.
I love that word craft.
I think that does really capture it.
You know, it's part art.
It's.
Part skillset, it's part personality,you know, and it, you improve
upon it, you hone it over time.
It really is a craft.
simon (41:14):
Yeah.
Um, uh, one of the concepts thatI, I, I spent a lot of 2024 sort
of meditating, thinking on wastwo words, intention and craft.
And so it's like the intentionof craft, but on the other side,
there's the craft of intention, like.
(41:36):
Think about it.
Ooh, got a little headythere for a second.
Just for a second.
For me, the craft of intention isfiguring out how you spend your time.
What is important, right?
Like that is the craft ofintention, and it has to be
molded because otherwise we float.
(41:56):
Right.
And, and I think a lot of, alot of that for me heads towards
the, the things that I'm reallypassionate about with my restaurants,
and that is leadership, right?
Because here's the thing,nobody drifts to greatness.
Never.
It just doesn't happen.
You have to lead them to greatness.
They have to go, theyhave to have a direction.
(42:18):
There has to be some intention, right?
So, um, that'll be a,a hat for me someday.
That'll say nobody drifts to greatness.
That's a good line, right?
You have to lead them there or, oryou have to be led, or there has to
be, you need some form of roadmapand the, the roadmap is intention.
So.
(42:38):
There.
That's our deep thought for,for a culinary mechanic.
Matt (42:43):
Yeah.
Well, in restaurants, everything's urgent.
Everything's immediate.
Everything's a panic.
Yeah.
I, I, I wish I had more of yourcrafted intentionality because I
feel like I just crafted the skillsetto handle reacting to like chaos.
Right.
I, I was really good at thatand I got really good at it
(43:03):
'cause I spent a lot of time
simon (43:04):
doing it.
You just brought up a story for me.
So once upon a time, I was in a resortin Santa Barbara, California, um, kind
of place where it was all cottages.
It was like 20 cottages.
Some of 'em were duplexes.
There's like 30 something rooms, you know.
And at that point I considered myself.
Like I, I'm the guy who couldscramble out of any rush.
(43:27):
I could get through, I couldget out, and we'd be like, yeah.
And I was working for a sous chef,and she was a ballbuster man.
She was tough.
She'd worked in some James Beardkitchens, you know, James Beard
winning kitchens and, and had reallylike, went to the Clin Institute
of America, like a refined badass.
(43:50):
And she one day looks at meand she goes, you know what?
You're right, you can scrambleoutta anything she says, but.
Wouldn't you rather not have to scramble?
Wouldn't you rather have like theorganization in your brain and in
your movement that you are so coldand calculated that it looks easy?
(44:14):
She says, wouldn't you rather have that?
And I was like, man, Inever thought of that.
You know, I was like 26 years old andI was like, I've just always focused
on the fact that I could do anything.
And she's like.
But I don't have to scramble.
I'm just, I'm here and I'm hereand I, I do, I have a process
and a way, and it really changedhow I started to look at things.
(44:38):
It's like, if you don't get yourselfinto the shit, you don't have to dig out.
And so she taught me to be like.
Really like, really intentionalabout like starting my day, having
a really good list, not an EH list.
Having things like prioritize, like dothis, do that, do this when you're on
(45:00):
the line and it's getting busy, likehave a way, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And it was just, oh my gosh, likemy cooking skills just went woo.
Still the roof.
In probably six months with her.
Matt (45:12):
Let me say this, for every one of those, James Beard, you know, chefs
that's, you know, classically trainedand is intentional with the process,
there are a heck of a lot more peoplelike me that probably weren't great
at school, that are A DHD that are.
Distractible and spend a wholelot of time just reacting.
(45:34):
And they're probablypretty good in the chaos.
And shameless plug, let's get thosepeople clear cogs so that you, you're not
having to have them react anymore becausethey're never going to save themselves.
You know, they kinda like reacting.
They're never going to be theorganized ones that, uh, uh, are
reviewing the numbers accurately.
simon (45:52):
Yeah, I, I, I, I'm, and again, I'm right in the middle 'cause like squirrel.
Whoa.
There I go.
I'm gone.
Shiny object syndrome boop.
Out the, out the door.
However, like when I remember to beintentional, I. Man, things get easier.
And so find like, I, if I can tellanybody, like find a tool, like clear
(46:14):
cogs, take something off your plate.
Ha find the time to like be alittle bit more intentional and
then allow the squirrel to happen.
Matt (46:22):
And, and I'll say it, it's a little bit like boiling, uh, frogs, right?
Where, you know, the, you bringthe temperature up slowly, they
won't just jump out, right?
Right.
Like we.
As restaurant operators start to have alittle chaos and then a little bit more.
And then one day you wake up andyou manage insanity, but like
you don't even notice that you'remanaging insanity until you know
(46:45):
Bill has to fill in for your shift.
And he is like, this is insanity.
Or Simon, you show up and it'slike, guys, you live in insanity.
Let's put some structure around here.
And I think most people are unawarethat they're living in insanity.
Totally.
simon (46:58):
I know I wasn't for years.
I didn't really, I'm like,this is how it is, you know?
Um, I mean, I learned, learned someleadership lessons that same way.
Matt (47:07):
My, my goal every morning, like first start, I was like,
you know, 22 at this time, like.
Was to get a bagel.
Like if it was a great day andI got all my prep done before
opening, I could have a bagel.
And the amount of work that I didbetween 6:00 AM and 10, 15, 4 hours of
work, like I prepped the entire store,constant movement, like everything
(47:30):
was just a fine oiled machine.
I took off like, youknow, building out stores.
I had to do general managers,and then I had to fill in.
It.
I wasn't even close togetting opened on time.
Right.
Because I just slowly and surelylike built this, you know,
incredibly work heavy prep.
But I never actually sat down and thought,Hey, is there a better way to do this?
(47:53):
Like, maybe I should bring somebody in.
Maybe I should do somemore the night before.
No, I just, you know, foundmyself, I got better at managing
the insanity every morning.
simon (48:04):
Yeah.
I think that's a greatway to describe it, right?
It's like it just builds and buildsand builds until you're in a corner
and you can't get out, and that'swhere Well, and that's where burnout
starts to happen for people, right?
They can't get out of the cornerthat they've painted themselves into
Matt (48:18):
burnout in restaurants.
No,
simon (48:21):
I, I have a, I have a, a buddy who works at a Topgolf
and he describes burnout as SOP.
He's like, that's just normal.
I'm like, no, dude.
It's not.
It might be a norm, but it's not normal.
You know it.
Or it shouldn't be normal.
It shouldn't be normal.
How's that?
Matt (48:42):
We always felt like you a burnout.
So if I bring in a new employee and theyleave in the first like three to four
weeks, like that's probably a good thing.
But like your person that'sthere for a year or two, like
we want them to stay, right?
Because like, not everyone's afit for the industry, but how
you get past that second, thirdyear and make this a livable.
(49:06):
Lifestyle career, you know,that's what really matters.
simon (49:11):
Yeah.
Sustainable action.
What can you do every daythat doesn't kill you?
Exactly.
Doesn't kill you.
Well, on that note, I gotta say, wecovered some ground, Mr. Matthew Wampler.
Matt (49:23):
Yes, we do.
simon (49:25):
Awesome.
Um, thanks for coming to play in thesandbox and telling us about what's
going on with, with you and clear cogs.
The restaurant AI podcast, sign me up.
I am in, I cannot wait.
Um, and like I say, I think weneed to coordinate like this
episode with the launch of that.
So, 'cause that'll be pretty dope.
(49:46):
Um, 'cause uh, I think as you andI said before we started recording,
community is, is what it's about.
Um, and I love the fact that you are apart of the culinary mechanic community.
Um.
So I'll make sure in the show notes thateverybody can find you and clear cogs.
And once again, thanksfor coming and playing.
(50:06):
And to all you out there, please go toApple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube and
or YouTube and drop a follow, a subscribea like, even a review would be amazing.
Um, and I'll catch you on the flip side.
Matt (50:21):
You're the best, Simon.
Thank you.
simon (50:23):
Thanks buddy.
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