What does it take to lead in a changing industry? In this episode of Distinguished, Dean Arun Upneja speaks with Jeff Gates, Chief Operating Officer of the Columbus Hospitality Group (CHG), about the lessons that his many years in restaurants have taught him about leadership, resilience, and the power of people. From his first job at the dish table to overseeing some of Boston’s most celebrated restaurants, Jeff shares how humility, empathy, and consistency have shaped his philosophy: hospitality is a mirror of what you give, reflecting back at you.
Listen to this podcast for an exploration of how leaders can balance technology and human touch, foster purpose-driven teams, and find meaning in everyday service. As the industry adapts to new expectations and tools such as AI, Jeff reminds us that hospitality’s greatest strength has always been, and will always be, its humanity.
🎧 Topics Include:
- Why every leader should start “from the bottom up”
- How AI and innovation can support, not replace, hospitality
- Lessons in mentorship and creating a culture of care
- The story behind CHG's newest concept, Gary’s Pizza
- And what makes great hospitality timeless
The “Distinguished” podcast is produced by Boston University School of Hospitality Administration.
Host: Arun Upneja, Dean
Producer: Mara Littman, Executive Director of Strategic Operations and Corporate Relations
Research and Content Creation: Lan Lu
Marketing: Anne Dawson
Editing: Isabella Laikin and James Leon
Music: “Airport Lounge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
A few weeks ago, I sat in a tiny 14-seat restaurant
tucked into a quiet corner of abusy city.
There was no sign outside.
The menu changed daily, and yetevery seat was full.
Guests lingered, serversremembered names.
A grandmother at the next tablewas celebrating her 80th
(00:26):
birthday.
A startup team toasted a productlaunch.
The food was beautiful, but thefeeling was unforgettable.
That's the power of restaurants.
Hello and welcome to theDistinguished Podcast.
I'm Arunupneja, Dean of BostonUniversity School of Hospitality
(00:46):
Administration.
In this series, we explore theevolving world of restaurants,
where hospitality meetsinnovation and the guest
experience is constantly beingreimagined.
Restaurants are big business,employing over 12 million people
in the US alone, and generatingnearly a trillion dollars in
(01:08):
annual sales.
But they are also personal,emotional, cultural.
They are where we go to markmilestones, reconnect, or just
feel like ourselves.
And today they are facingenormous pressures, rising
costs, staffing shortages,shifting guest expectations,
(01:29):
technology that promisesefficiency but risks removing
the human touch.
At BU, we call this crossroadsexperience innovation, the art
and science of designinghospitality that's both
operationally smart andemotionally resonant.
Not just functional, buttransformational.
(01:51):
That's the thread runningthrough every conversation in
this series.
From Michelin starred chefs andtech-savvy entrepreneurs to the
people reinventingback-of-the-house systems and
front-of-house dynamics.
We are talking to the leaders,reshaping what restaurants can
be.
So whether you are a studentpreparing for your career, a
(02:14):
seasoned operator seeking newideas, or someone who simply
loves to dine, you'll findinspiration, insight, and maybe
a few surprises.
Because when restaurantsflourish, they don't just serve
meals, they shape culture,strengthen communities, and
nourish our shared humanexperience.
(02:36):
This is the DistinguishedPodcast.
I'm glad you're here.
I'm Arun Pneya, Dean of BostonUniversity School of Hospitality
Administration, and this isDistinguished.
Today's guest is a true force inthe world of restaurants, not
just for what he's built, butfor how he leads with clarity,
(02:57):
humility, and a deep reverencefor people.
Jeff Gates has spent 40 years inhospitality, rising from
dishwasher and busboy to journalmanager, founding partner, and
now chief operating officer ofColumbus Hospitality Group, home
to some of Boston's most iconicrestaurants.
(03:18):
Along the way, he helped launchthe legendary Mistral,
co-founded Equitaine and the SOADining Group, and brought fresh
energy to every corner of theBoston's dining scene.
But titles only tell part of thestory.
What sets Jeff apart is how hethinks about culture, about
(03:39):
service, and about whatrestaurants really mean.
He brings an engineer'sprecision, an entrepreneur's
courage, and a mentor's heart.
He's as comfortable talkingabout profit margins as he is
about staff morale.
And in every conversation, heoffers insight that's equal
parts practical and profound.
(04:01):
Jeff has chaired theMassachusetts Restaurant
Association, served on nationalboards, launched a reservation
platform before most of us knewwe needed one, and still finds
time to give back to localcommunities.
He has seen this industry evolvethrough booms, crashes,
pandemics, and pivots.
(04:22):
And through it all, he hasstayed grounded in the belief
that hospitality is about morethan service.
It's about human connection.
Jeff Gates is a builder, aguide, and a pillar of Boston's
restaurant world.
And I am honored to welcome himto Distinguished.
Jeff, welcome.
SPEAKER_00 (04:41):
Thank you, Arun.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Very kind.
It's been a really enjoyable 45years in the industry, and uh,
you know, I enjoyed every everyrun of the ladder.
It's been a lot of fun to climb.
So thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (04:56):
And and and picking up on that, since you've worked
every position on the way, howimportant is it for restaurant
leaders to work their way up?
SPEAKER_00 (05:06):
Um I think it's the most probably the most important
position in the kitchen is isprobably at the dish table.
Um if you really want to knowhow your business is doing, if a
lot of dishes are coming in,you're obviously busy.
Um if a lot of the dishes areclean or all clean, uh you're
probably producing a reallygreat product.
Um if there's a lot of differentglasses coming in, whether it's
(05:28):
burgundy wine glasses or waterglasses or cocktail glasses or
martini glasses, um, you can seehow consumption is.
So, you know, that volume in thedish room can really tell you a
lot about the health of yourrestaurant.
So that gives you an idea ofwhat some people would think is
the bottom rung.
Um, I look at it as being areally instrumental part in
understanding the industry verywell.
(05:48):
And I did start in the kitchenfirst and work my way out.
I was a valet.
Um that was really interestingbecause being a valet taught me
how to um integrate with theneighbors, because many times
neighbors want to park their carin the valet zone.
So do you just throw them out?
Um that person's probably acustomer in a few days.
So not exactly.
The way you the way you handleeverybody really matters.
(06:09):
Every every conversation youhave should really be driven by
um really enjoying havingconversation, right?
SPEAKER_01 (06:17):
So so since you've worked every position and you
know that comes through with allthe lessons you've learned and
how you lead, but how importantis it for leaders in our
industry to have risen from theranks?
SPEAKER_00 (06:32):
Um I mean, it's you're you're gonna fail.
You're not going to be assuccessful if you don't know
what the job looks like whenit's done right.
So I would say that the theimportant reason to have
experience and to uh to gothrough and and see these
positions either demonstrated orto do them yourself is because
(06:54):
you really begin to know whatlooks right and uh what's done
right.
And then you can be a better,um, you can be a better manager,
and more importantly, you'd be abetter mentor.
Because not everybody starts outwith experience.
So, you know, part of makingpeople, part of making a
successful business is hiringpeople and mentoring them.
And honestly, I think when theyfeel successful at their job,
(07:17):
the the whole business is goingto be successful.
So a leader that knows what allthese roles are, knows what they
look like when they're beingdone well, and knows how to do a
lot of them, I think is is justpriceless.
SPEAKER_01 (07:27):
So where do you think where do you spend where
do you find yourself spendingmost time?
On people, on putting out fires,or creating strategy for the
group?
SPEAKER_00 (07:36):
Well, I I never have, I never find as much time
as I want to be in the face ofcustomers, right?
To be directly with customers,with our guests.
Um that's always a challenge.
And probably the number onereason is because of fires,
right?
Um there's always some problem.
Uh obviously today it's gonna beover 90 degrees, tomorrow almost
(07:58):
100.
Um, I'm expecting refrigerationand air conditioning problems
over the next 48 hours, andwe'll be dealing with that.
Um, that always happens.
Um, but uh there's staff, youknow, integrating with the
staff, speaking with staff, andthen there's the financial side.
So I try to spend about half myday uh looking at all the
(08:20):
financial indicators and the umthe maintain the maintenance
indicators of the company, andthen getting involved with the
HR and then talking to ourdirector team and getting help
from them because I don't Idon't help the director team,
they they they help me.
SPEAKER_01 (08:34):
So of all these different jobs that you have,
which one gets you most excitedabout?
SPEAKER_00 (08:40):
Oh uh face to face with guests.
Okay.
Absolutely, 100%.
Still right now we we haveopened a quick serve pizza shop
um over in the south end, andI'm over there helping open, I
work the counter, and Iabsolutely love it.
I mean, if if uh if I could dothat every day, I probably would
do that for you know, half myday, I would do that because I
(09:02):
just there's so much guestinteraction, and I love I love
making people happy.
I mean, I I feel likehospitality is like a mirror on
yourself.
Um when you look in that mirrorand you're happy, that's what
you get back.
And I just love it.
It's and it makes even when I'mhaving a challenging day myself,
either personally orprofessionally, uh, guests can
(09:23):
bring me out of that.
Um, because I look at you know,making them happy, and I feel
great, and uh, and I had asuccess, and and that's and
that's what we all want at work,right?
Is success.
SPEAKER_01 (09:33):
Now that's the heart of a true professional,
hospitality professional.
Okay, I want to pivot to tech.
Um, and this is you know, whereum reservation platforms, point
of sale systems, eventmanagement tools.
We use a whole lot of thesetools in our industry.
So, what tools are working andwhere do they fall short?
SPEAKER_00 (09:54):
Um, I think that a lot of tools are working.
And I think what the problem fora lot of people in the industry
is is they're not cheap.
Um, you know, they can be ahundred to several hundred
dollars a month.
And so it can be a little scarybecause next thing you know,
you're spending, you know,between a thousand, two
thousand, even three thousanddollars a month on these tools.
(10:15):
But the reality is that, youknow, picture, I always say
this, picture a sports game likepicture basketball with no
scoreboard.
Okay, you're you're basically anoutdoor pickup game.
You know, you can you can keepscore, basic score, but you
don't know where the fouls are.
You don't know quite wherethings are going, and it's the
crowd that gets you going,right?
(10:36):
The crowd makes you feel good.
Well, the restaurant industryfor many operators is like that.
It's like running a businesswithout a scoreboard.
So the next question is howquickly can you get the score?
Can you get it every month?
Can you get it every week?
Can you get it every day?
Um so all these tech pieces giveus information every day, which
I think is is fantastic.
(10:56):
And it's uh it's definitely thekey to running a profitable
restaurant now today.
SPEAKER_01 (11:01):
Okay, I I really like that analogy because, you
know, um in basketball, andespecially since, you know,
there was a big game last night,um you know, you need to keep
tabs on each uh player to seehow many fouls they have done.
At some point they get ejectedout.
So over the years, since you'vebeen in this for such a long
time, um, you've seen theseproducts be introduced, and so
(11:23):
they've changed the way weoperate restaurants.
And are we relying on them toomuch and not going by instinct,
or is that a good thing?
SPEAKER_00 (11:32):
Um, I mean, there's just so there's so much volume.
Boy, that's a tough one.
Um, because the reality is thatyou're asking what came first,
the chicken or the egg, really.
There is just so much volume outthere in people's lives,
information volume.
And that's the good news.
People have access to a lot ofthings they didn't have, right?
(11:52):
And I think that's important ina democracy.
It's important in a business,right?
But um the challenge also is isthat you know we have uh much
tighter margins, and thevelocity of business and the
change in the way we do things,the change in pricing, the
change in volume, all of that isso quick, we need to be able to
um we need to be able to uh uhbe more uh reflexive, more more
(12:16):
agile, excuse me.
And so I think these products dogive us that agility um that we
didn't have before.
So, you know, I feel we would belost without them.
Um and I think they've been animportant, an important piece.
Probably the most importantdevelopment since the frying
pan, I think, is a lot of theseapps.
SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
So if if uh managers rely too much on these
analytical tools and theinformation that is coming in,
how do you then train them tobalance with real-time decision
making they have to do since weare an industry that is very
fast-paced?
SPEAKER_00 (12:52):
So we divide at Columbus Hospitality Group, I
think we've done a good job ofdividing our day up into two
pieces.
So we have uh before the guestsarrive, we have what we call
really the free throw time,right?
Getting back to basketballagain.
Um it's really you on the lineand your ability, and you know,
and sinking the balls, right?
And free throws are your uhstandard operating procedures
(13:16):
every day, um, you know, whetherit's doing inventory or doing uh
looking at reservations or evenanswering the phone, all those
kinds of SOP things, unlockingthe door, checking the AC if the
ice machine's working, all thoseSOPs that all occurs before the
guests come in.
And we don't have to worry aboutbreaking eye contact from people
when we're doing these things,and we don't have to worry about
(13:38):
much about reflection, right?
You know, how do I look to thisguest?
How am I handling?
Am I really giving them whatthey want?
Or am I just giving them what Iwant to give them, right?
That's all before 530.
But once the door opens at 530,all the apps get put away except
for open table.
Open table, it's an integralpart of the of the restaurant,
right?
Uh the uh reservations.
But everything else gets putaway, and we're old school.
(13:59):
You know, we're we're eyes upfront, we're eyes up, um, we're
smiles first, uh, we listen, welisten to people because people
are unique.
Not only are their challengesunique, but even the solution to
the same challenge for one guestmight be different for another
guest.
Because we always have to makesure the guest understands we
are listening to them.
They're unique and they'reimportant.
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
So um now this is the next evolution where AI is
coming in big way, the largelanguage models and artificial
intelligence.
Um, are you excited about thisnew concepts coming in and
helping?
Do you see any red flags?
Have you already used some ofthose AI models?
SPEAKER_00 (14:39):
Yeah, I think um so we have used AI.
So when we put together an SOPfor, say, cleaning the bar, you
know, hey, how what's our SOP,what's our standard operating
procedure for getting the barclean before the staff starts
the day?
You can ask AI that, and AIcomes up with 15 steps to
cleaning a bar.
(14:59):
It literally does.
Does that mean that's it?
No, but it's an excellentconversation starter because you
look at it and you're like, ohmy God, I forgot about that.
Or that's not us.
That's not in our bar, we don'thave that piece of equipment.
But it does, you know, 80% ofthe work and really gets your
juices going.
So I think in that way, AI isgreat.
I haven't, I'm not seeing thetrouble yet.
(15:19):
I'm not.
I'm I'm an optimist too, though.
Um, I'm thinking of things likeour guest is going to be able to
someday go online and say, I'mlooking for a fantastic dinner
for two.
Um, I want a romantic night withmy SO.
We both haven't had the day offin two days in a week or
whatever.
Um, where should we go?
(15:40):
I'm looking for AI to powerfullyanswer that based on a lot of
different things.
I think it's I think in thatway, AI's ability to be a
personal assistant to give us abetter life, I think is is
something I look forward to.
Um and I just I don't know yethow it would negatively impact
the industry.
I'm not, I'm just not sure aboutit.
SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
I want to go to this, um, and and you're wearing
that t-shirt and you've openedthis new restaurant, Gary's
Pizza.
So what opportunity did you seein that space?
SPEAKER_00 (16:08):
Uh quick serve, QSR we'll call it, right?
Quick serve restaurant.
There's obviously the UnitedStates, the world is flooded
with QSR.
And so much of the product,there's we won't talk about the
product that's not good.
It's just, I'm not really thatguy.
Um, there's a lot of greatproduct out there, and it's a
function of time, right?
(16:28):
I'm hungry, I want something, Iwant it quick, and that's what
QSR is.
And some people do it very well.
They their sales grow and theirearnings grow every year, so it
must be good, right?
Um, but you know, there's alevel of service that's missing
from QSR, and a level of qualitythat is a challenge to bring in
QSR, right?
Because when you're trying to beprofitable, um, quality can bury
(16:52):
you, right?
And when you're trying to beprofitable, labor can bury you.
And hospitality is a function oflabor.
The more you push wages down,the tougher it is you're gonna
find people that are going to beable to elevate your
hospitality.
So we have a unique, you know,we see a unique problem in
QuickServe, and we're reallyinterested in bringing what we
do to it.
So we're trying to do QuickServewith elevated product, with an
(17:16):
elevated ingredients, right?
And we're also trying to do um,we're also trying to elevate the
hospitality.
We try to spend a little moreFaceTime with our guests.
We try to figure out, I knowthey're coming in for pizza, but
we're trying to really get themto understand, like for
instance, our slices, we don'treheat our slices.
Our slices are cooked 80% inback, and then we bring them
(17:36):
out, and we cook the next, thelast three minutes, we cook live
with the guests.
So I think that's important.
That's a differentiator for us.
Um, and then all of ouringredients, um, fresh oregano,
for instance, we break it rightoff the stem right there.
We're picking uh basil, pullingbasil right off the stem right
on the counter.
Um, these are the kinds ofthings that we don't know how to
(17:57):
do it any differently.
So it's very exciting to bringthat to people, and so far
they're noticing.
SPEAKER_01 (18:02):
So um Columbus Hospitality Group stands for
something with all therestaurants that you have.
So this is now very, verydifferent.
And so, how do you protect thecore values of the brand and the
core image that you have whenyou introduce something so
different?
SPEAKER_00 (18:19):
I it's funny.
It's funny.
Uh you're right, it isdifferent.
But how different can it be if,as a guest, when you walk in the
door, everybody that you walkinto, all of us, are excited
you're there and we love whatwe're doing, right?
And then you're hungry, youknow.
So I get it, you know, we'relower check.
(18:40):
The check average is like, Idon't know, it Gary's, it's$25,
you know, it's prettyinexpensive,$22 or something,
you know, all in for the averageall day.
Um but I feel like I just don'tfeel that far away from our core
mission, um, because ColumbusHospitality Group's core mission
is to serve things perfectly,happily.
(19:02):
That's what we do.
And I see the same thing atGary's, so I feel great there.
SPEAKER_01 (19:07):
Right.
And and uh some time ago you didmention that it's not something
that we want to do, it issomething what the guests want.
Now they may not always want togo to a mistral or or another
restaurant like that.
They it's there are times whenthey just want to go have a
pizza, and so why not provide itto them?
SPEAKER_00 (19:25):
Yeah, I'm right.
I you know, the funny thingabout it is I think there's
long-term success.
I think short-term success isserving something fantastic.
You know, serving what you wantto people is fantastic.
I think that's short-termsuccess.
But long-term success is servingfantastic things to people that
they want.
(19:46):
And I feel that that, you know,constantly listening to the
guest, I think the best brands,they call that evolving, right?
A brand is evolving.
That's not really generallywhat's happening.
Um, I mean, I know that uh, youknow, you look at Steve Jobs,
came up with a smaller, youknow, the iPod, for instance.
You know, he came up with thatbecause people wanted to listen
(20:06):
to more music in a smaller spotand be able to fit in their
pants pocket.
That's really what he respondedto.
He didn't uh, you know, withouta without a market, I don't
think you really have a product,right?
So I think the restaurantbusiness is the same thing.
You know, we we just we justserve, I think, really well what
people are actually looking for.
And as their minds change, wesense that and we slowly are
(20:30):
changing with them.
SPEAKER_01 (20:32):
So most diners don't realize how much thought goes
into pricing and menu design.
So how do you approach menustrategy, especially during
these inflationary times?
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
I don't think restaurant prices have ever kept
up with inflation, but I think akey reason is because operators
are very, very savvy.
Um they're very flexible, um,they have a lot of different
tools in their box to mitigatetheir, to mitigate their
expenses to change.
Um they have a lot ofefficiencies that they always
(21:06):
find somehow.
Um and it's and I think whatdrives them in the end, what
drives a really great operatorisn't profit.
What drives a really greatoperator is that feeling of
succeeding with your guest.
And I think that's differentthan a lot of other products,
right?
We make our product in the backand sell it out of the front.
If we were in the sneakerbusiness, we'd make them where
(21:27):
we make them.
Somebody else would be sellingthem.
We have a pretty big disconnectbetween our guests, between our
customer, right?
Um, but in the hospitalityindustry, there's not a big,
there's not a lot of distancebetween manufacturing and and
the and the throughput to theguest.
So we can be very nimble and wecan see, ooh, you know, the
guest did not like that.
Let's change that item.
(21:49):
That got too expensive.
Let's change that to a differentitem, or let's let's look for a
different way to make thisproduct.
Um, you know, and I think it'swhat makes the restaurant
industry so.
Exciting.
I mean, I'm an engineer bytraining.
I went to college forengineering.
And people ask, you know, whythe hospitality industry?
I have a mechanical engineeringbackground.
I love the variables.
(22:10):
I love it.
It's so exciting.
And I love it because the bigvariable, the guest, we talk to
them every day.
And they give us the feedback weneed.
And a lot of big manufacturers,they don't have that feedback.
They take a month, two months,they can do a study group,
finally figure it out.
By the time they figure out theanswer, there's a new question
that they got to try to figureout.
(22:30):
So it's very exciting.
SPEAKER_01 (22:31):
And here you're getting instant feedback every
single day with all thecustomers that are coming in.
The way you're telling it, thepricing actually in restaurants
is very good.
In 30 years, if everything isquadrupled, then um, but
restaurant prices have onlydoubled.
You know, let's just go withthat example.
Um but in the last three or fouryears, since you've said there
(22:54):
is a there's been a rapid rise,so have you noticed any
resistance to the price rise inrestaurants from consumers?
And how do you manage that?
SPEAKER_00 (23:03):
You know, I I feel the consumer, we have a very
powerful consumer in the UnitedStates.
And the reason why they're sopowerful is because they had
choice.
I think a lot of countries, um,what they really lack isn't
consumers, but they lack choice,they lacked, and they lack, uh,
and they lack sometimes in someways, uh, maybe they lack
quality, right?
(23:24):
They lack the quality that wehave here, and which is ironic
because quite a bit of thequality we have in the United
States has been brought fromanother country.
So there's there's nothingloaded in that.
I'm just saying that we're avery, very lucky country.
We're a very lucky consumer.
And um I feel that thatstrength, that power helps
control pricing.
Um, if we miss it, we're goingto slow down the dining room.
(23:45):
We're going to have slowerguests, you know, we're gonna
have a lower guest count.
And that's a terrible time,that's a terrible way to run
your business.
Well, we'll keep raising ourprices until the guests start
exiting the building.
Um but what that means is thatwe're very careful about what
we're charging.
Very careful, because what wesay is listen, if we don't
(24:08):
charge this, we're going to beclosed.
So we're not going to be able toserve a meal to anybody.
We're not going to be able topractice our craft for anyone.
And I think that's really whatdrives a successful restaurant
is not, you know, let's makemore money tomorrow.
It's how can we get the bestproduct to our guest and remain
open?
Um, again, like I said, I don'tknow many operators.
(24:30):
I started as a dishwasher.
Um, Steve De Filippo uh startedas uh making salads down in uh
Faniu Hall uh from Davio's.
I know Jamie started.
Um Jamie started a cookingschool and then uh he worked in
the kitchen as a prep guy.
Um everybody I know started inthe bottom.
And what that means to me isthey didn't do this for the
(24:51):
money.
They did this because it's whatthey love, they got they love
the energy.
And I think it helps because inthe end, when a guest goes into
a great restaurant, they lookat, they open the menu and they
say, hey, do you know what?
This is expensive.
Let's face it, chicken I can getfor you know six, seven bucks a
pound at the grocery store, andI'm paying$30 for roast chicken,
and it's not a pound.
(25:11):
You know, nobody says, hey, Ican get this for$6.
They understand the value, theyunderstand what they're getting.
And when you do have a guestthat's upset about price, it's
usually because there's a fewthings are disconnected, not
just price.
Maybe the hospitality wasn't thelevel they expected.
Maybe the physical plant isn'tmaintained in the way they
expected, and it culminates tothe by the time they get the
(25:34):
check and they're saying, hey,this place, the pricing is out
of whack.
They're overcharging for this.
Um, that's what I feel.
Um, I've been doing this for along time.
Uh occasionally people willcomment that things are
overpriced.
It happens.
I mean, I've been I mean, I'veserved millions of people.
Um, but the majority of people,I never hear anything about
price at all.
(25:54):
Never.
SPEAKER_01 (25:55):
Fantastic.
Great answer.
And for everyone listening, hementioned a few legends in the
Boston hospital, in therestaurant industry, and I hope
to get all of them on my podcastsoon.
Okay, I want to pivot to uhpeople, talent, recruitment.
Um, recruiting and retainingtalent is still a major hurdle.
(26:17):
You mentioned that before withuh with the cost of labor.
So, what's what are you seeingin the market and what's working
for you?
SPEAKER_00 (26:25):
I think something COVID did for our industry,
although it was a lot ofupheaval, I think it gave us all
a reset because we all had thosethree weeks where we're home,
right?
And then we had months where ourbusinesses were closed, and it
gave us time to be with ourfamilies, to find things in our
relationship that we had missed.
And when the lights turned backon again, we were different
(26:47):
people.
And these different people wereleaders, and how these different
people saw their businesses andsaw the people that worked for
them changed.
And it wasn't, hey, I don't wantto be uh, you know, I don't want
to be cruel to my team anymore,I don't want to overwork them or
whatever the term might be.
It wasn't that at all.
(27:07):
It's hey, do you know what?
I found this and my team needsthis, and I'm gonna make sure
they have it.
Many restaurants closed, we weretalking about this earlier, many
restaurants closed during COVID.
When they reopened, theyreopened with limited hours as
they slowly brought businessback, right?
Like the beginning of asymphony, the music started very
slow, and they found that Idon't need, we don't need all of
(27:28):
those hours.
And they've been able to hold onto better people because people
realized, hey, I love this, thisis great, and I still get to be
with my family, I still get tobe with my SO, right?
I still get to be the person Iwanted to be while I work
professionally.
Um, yeah, just a respect for whopeople are when they aren't
working for us, I think, is hasbeen very powerful and has
(27:51):
really attracted people into ourbusiness, like never before.
SPEAKER_01 (27:55):
Yeah, this this kind of thinking is transformational.
And I am very happy to hear youyou say that.
When I started in the business,it was work 12 hours, 14 hours a
day, six to seven days a week.
And I think the dominant themein the industry was I did it, I
put on those hours, now you'recoming in, you have to put in
(28:16):
those hours, you have to payyour dues as well.
But this is very, veryrefreshing for young people to
hear that leaders are notthinking that way, even though
they went through those crazyhours, but now they're not
asking that for the newgeneration to who will start
working for them.
SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
Aaron Powell Yeah, I mean, good people have good
friends, good people have goodfamily.
And when they're coming homefrom work and they're not happy,
people that care about them saythat to them.
Might not say it directly, butdrip, drip, drip, you need a
change.
And they end up leaving wherethey are and they do something
(28:54):
else.
And I think that's been tough onthe industry.
And I think that we owe it to,we owe it to our team uh to
worry as much about them, theinner guests, they call that,
right?
The inner guests, to worry asmuch about our team as we do
about our guests.
It's difficult.
It's always a work in progress,always, because I think the
guests, I think the guestsalways end up coming in and
(29:17):
taking over the party.
Um, it just happens.
It's just there's 150 of them ona Saturday night, and there's
only, you know, 20 of us.
So of course it's gonna happen.
But the reality is, is that umreally we need to enjoy, we need
to enjoy our staff, and ourstaff need to enjoy work, and
then they go home and theirfamily sees that and they buy
into it, and they support it,and they become an important,
(29:39):
integral part of it.
And I think that's the glue tokeeping people working with you.
Is that it's not just how muchyou pay them and how much
accolades they get or theirtitle.
It's is did their whole worldsupport what they're doing?
And do they feel good?
Do they feel successful?
Do they feel smart?
Do they feel challenged?
All those things, right?
(29:59):
Um, and I think that at CHG,every day, we worry about that
every day.
You know, how are we finding theright people?
Um, are they how are they doing?
Are they happy?
Um, you know, when you seesomebody at at work, when I go
in, I see somebody who'sunhappy, um, the the real
question to ask them, and inprivate, to grab them for a
(30:21):
moment and say, hey, are youokay?
You know, are you okay?
It's a really great thing to asksomebody.
And they can either answer rightoff the bat or they can say,
yeah, why?
And you could say to them, youcould say, hey, I don't know,
you just seemed, you seem likeyou weren't yourself.
Because I think we all need toknow that we're seen as good
people, right?
And we're all, you know, we allhave an elastic relationship
(30:44):
with what's great in us and ourfamilies, but sometimes life
pulls us away from that.
And it's nice to have somebodycome and say, Are you okay?
And you say, Yeah, I am, why?
Oh, you just seemed off.
Because sometimes that's all youneeded.
You're like, wow, geez, I didn'tknow I was wearing that on my,
I'm gonna put that away, youknow, that's no one's business,
right?
But other times you're like, youcan go back to that person and
say, you know what, I'm notokay.
(31:05):
I do need some help.
I have somebody sick at home.
Um, I have something, I have achallenge, I have a financial
challenge.
I mean, everybody, we've all hadbad days and bad moments.
The thing about hospitality isto remember that while you're in
your good moment running yourrestaurant, running your dining
room, being in the dining room,that person that you're facing
(31:25):
may be in the worst moment thatyou had three weeks ago.
And I think that's importantbecause people are good people,
right?
People are good people.
I know in this day and age,right now, today, it's difficult
to think that because there'ssome there's some challenging
people out there to that model.
But what I look at is people aregood people, but some of them
(31:45):
are just having a bad day.
And I said earlier, that's whythey're here, right?
So I don't know.
That's for me, that's that's itto holding good people.
You know, and another thing wedo with CHG is we we allow
managers to be in control oftheir future.
So when we bring them in, ifthey're a dining room manager or
(32:06):
an assistant to the generalmanager or general manager, they
have we have levels level one,level two, level three within
the the dining room manager,level one, level two, level
three within the um the uhassistant, the general manager,
and they're certified withinthose.
They have, they know what theyneed to do to get to the next
level.
And with the next level comes araise in compensation.
(32:28):
It comes closer to the next bigjob title change.
They don't have to leave, youdon't have to leave a CHG
restaurant.
If you're a dining room manager,you don't have to leave one of
our restaurants to get a raise.
You don't have to leave one ofour restaurants to become an
AGM.
An AGM doesn't have to leave oneof our restaurants to become a
GM because I think that happenstoo much.
Great people leave, how come?
(32:48):
Well, they left because they'reready for the next level, and
that person above them isn'tleaving.
You know, there's the ceilingand they're not leaving.
That happens everywhere.
That's terrible, though.
Every time we we train somebodyand get them all this experience
and put all this time and effortand we we enjoy them and they're
our friends, they are compelledto leave to get to the next
(33:10):
spot.
So what we've tried to do is wetry to say, hey, you don't have
to go.
We're gonna we're gonna keepcompensating and changing your
compensation as you certify inexperience, as you change your
experience level, a year, sixmonths, three months.
I have no problem with it.
We have black and white paths toeach of these levels, and they
can attain, they can obtainthem.
(33:30):
What do we get?
I'll tell you what we get.
We get, our guests get somebodywho really cares about their
career, really has a skill levelthat's that's growing every day.
How could that be bad for ourrestaurant?
And I'll tell you what ourcompetitors get.
They don't get our good people.
That's what our competitors get.
SPEAKER_01 (33:47):
Incredible.
Um so a lot of people say thatthere is a management gap in the
young people that are cominginto leadership positions now.
Um, first of all, do you thinkthat is the case?
And if it is, then what do youthink is missing from their
education to be good leaders inthe industry?
SPEAKER_00 (34:08):
I think that young people are going to be amazing.
I think all the cohorts that areyounger than us are going to be
incredible.
There has got to be someincredible value that we're
going to get as a society out ofall these young people that have
all this access to information.
I know we always look at thetough part of it.
You know, they're on video gamesand all these things, but I
(34:30):
don't know.
That stuff's always, one way oranother, been around in our
lives when we were kids too,right?
I'm sure the jukebox was a badthing, right?
You know, I I think that thereality is that if your kid's
bored, and boredom can be good,by the way, it can be good.
Um uh, but I think that thisopportunity that we're gonna
(34:52):
have from this generation comingup is gonna answer a lot of the
challenges that that we'vecreated, our generation has
created, and they'll createtheir own, just like we created
our own, right?
That's kind of what happens,right?
When the older the older folkskind of make a mess of things a
little bit, some good things ina mess of things.
I think the young people comeand and they fix it up.
I mean, think about the peoplethat are in charge right now,
(35:16):
the people who have been chargethe last two weeks, the United
States.
They grew up in the late 60s,early 70s, flower, power, love,
peace, right, no war.
Um, you know, some of therichest people in the world grew
up in that era.
And somehow they are who theyare now, uh, bad or good.
So um I think there's a greatopportunity.
I'm an optimist.
(35:36):
Um, I'm excited about the youngpeople in our industry.
SPEAKER_01 (35:39):
Fantastic.
I love that.
And I I fully echo your your umyour uh stand on this issue.
I think uh I'm looking forwardto some of them taking over and
helping, you know, remove allthe messes that our generation
has created in this world.
Um I also believe in theirinherent goodness of this next
generation, I think.
(35:59):
Um so enough of that.
Maybe that's another podcast.
Um let me pivot to something uhmore fun and interesting.
It's the Michelin guide.
We finally, Boston finally gotthe Michelin guide.
So the question is, will thathave an impact on the city from
an investment, from a gueststandpoint, from a tourism
(36:20):
perspective?
Um, how good do you think it is?
SPEAKER_00 (36:23):
I think it's great.
I mean, so they talk about umwhen somebody races on foot
running, they get the best timesfrom people when they run
against somebody else.
Right?
We bring out the best in eachother.
So when Michelin comes toBoston, what I see happening is
(36:43):
we all elevate our game.
And we elevate our game eitherdirectly, um, we recognize its
importance, we immediately allgo online and figure out, you
know, what's the criteria?
What's the yardstick?
How do we measure?
You know, do we measure up?
And I think we all would like tosay, hey, do you know what we've
already been doing a lot ofthese things?
But I think it's important toremember why we're doing it.
(37:06):
I think it's important to have ascore, right?
Like that score is important.
And I think when a competitorelevates their game, the next
person down line or beside themelevates their game and so on.
So it gets right back to that.
You're running, you're runningagainst yourself, you get one
time, suddenly you put anothercouple runners out there, and
you're running much fasterbecause they are.
(37:26):
Um so I think in the end it'sgonna be great.
I think it's gonna be great forthe most important person out
there, and that's the consumer.
I think the guest in Boston isgoing to have a better dining
experience in Boston over thenext 10 years, 20, 30 years,
because Michelin showed up.
And is it gonna how what's theincremental percentage of how
much better it's gonna be?
I don't know.
(37:47):
But what we're always about iscan we give you a better
experience tomorrow than we didtoday?
And if we do, we win.
SPEAKER_01 (37:56):
I think that is an absolute positive way of looking
at these scorecards that arecoming our way.
So thank you for that.
Okay, so um I want to um, youknow, the the podcast is
listened to by a lot of studentsand young professionals
everywhere.
Um, and they look to leaderslike you for guidance.
And and I hope everyone has beenlistening because you are an
(38:20):
incorrigible optimist, you areso positive and have the right
attitude on everything.
What is that one piece of adviceyou wish someone had given you
when you were starting out inyour career?
SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
Oh boy.
Uh it's got nothing to do withhospitality.
If you buy real estate, hold onto it.
I think that would have beennice.
But I mean, when it comes tohospitality, I got it, you know
what's funny, Stevie Filippo.
I spent quite a bit of time withhim years ago.
We were very young.
Steve had an infectious love ofpeople.
(38:58):
And I I loved being with him, Ilove working with him, and uh, I
learned everything from himabout really going into work
every day and loving what I doand loving the people I work
with.
And it started there.
The guests didn't even show upyet, and I was already happy.
Um, so I don't think that Ithink that uh I haven't not had
(39:20):
any advice.
I've had so many mentors,whether it was, you know,
obviously Steve or Jamie, um, mypartners at the Aquitaine group.
Um I had a lot of I had really agreat 20 years with those guys,
Seth and Matt.
Um, you know, my wife now.
I I don't think that I've beenat a loss.
I said it earlier.
I have, I'm a guy with a lot ofmentors, you know.
(39:41):
Everything that went wrong in mylife, I did to myself.
Who gets to say that, you know?
But um, you know, you reallygotta love what you do every day
to do this.
You gotta be a cab driver thatloves traffic.
You know, you really, you reallygotta be that guy.
You've been in the back of thatcab, right?
The guy hates traffic.
You're like, dude, get anotherjob.
Oh my God, I'm just I'm justgoing to Logan.
You know, I think that youreally gotta like it.
(40:03):
You gotta like people and yougotta like solving their
problems, you know.
And I think honestly, when youworry about solving other
people's problems, guess what?
You forget about your own, youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (40:14):
Okay, so um let's close with a few rapid-fire
questions.
Short answers, you're a thinker,but no overthinking here.
Yeah.
If you could share a meal withanyone, living or not, who would
it be?
SPEAKER_00 (40:26):
Oh God, I got I got both of them.
I got living is Keith McNally.
SPEAKER_01 (40:31):
Most overplayed food item right now.
SPEAKER_00 (40:34):
Overplayed?
SPEAKER_01 (40:35):
Yeah, right now.
SPEAKER_00 (40:36):
Uh food or I mean beverages, alcohol.
SPEAKER_01 (40:40):
Alcohol, okay.
What dish or ingredient is aboutto be the next big thing?
SPEAKER_00 (40:46):
Dish or ingredient about to be the next big thing.
Um more fruits and vegetables, Ithink.
SPEAKER_01 (40:52):
Are you thinking that that that will be a big
thing that people will startgoing?
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (40:57):
Yeah, uh I think protein is getting to protein
it's starting to it's startingto show its its age.
It's tough on the environment.
Protein's tough on theenvironment to produce.
Um it's getting very expensive.
Um and in larger quantities, itcan be difficult in people's
health.
Right.
So I I can see their, I can seeas a gradual change to probably
(41:19):
more fruits and vegetables.
SPEAKER_01 (41:22):
Your dream meal, where in the world would it
occur?
SPEAKER_00 (41:26):
Uh my dream meal is definitely at home with my wife.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (41:30):
Well said.
I hope she's listening.
Um, one word to describe whatgreat hospitality feels like.
SPEAKER_00 (41:37):
Uh a guest smiling at you.
Really incredible feeling to bepart of that.
To be part of a guest smilingand to help them find a smile.
It's an incredible, it's reallyincredible.
SPEAKER_01 (41:49):
It is always a delight to have a conversation
with you, Jeff.
And today was no exception, andI look forward to many more in
the future.
And thank you so much for comingtoday and good luck with the new
concept that you have.
SPEAKER_00 (42:02):
Thank you, Arun.
Thank you, and thank you to yourteam for making this happen
today.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (42:06):
Thank you.
If you would like to join theconversation or share your
thoughts, email me at shawdeanat bu.edu.
That is s-h-a-d-e-a-n at bu.edu.
This episode was produced byMara Littman, marketing by
Rachel Hamlin, and video plusproduction by Jason Jose of
(42:27):
Cocoon Media.
And thank you to the entire teamat Boston University School of
Hospitality Administration.
To keep up with thedistinguished podcast, be sure
to subscribe wherever you getyour podcasts.
You can also explore more aboutexperience innovation in our
programs by visiting pu.eduslash hospitality.
(42:50):
I'm Arun Rupneja, Dean of the PUSchool of Hospitality.
Thank you for listening and seeyou next time.
A few weeks ago, I sat in a tiny 14-seat restaurant
tucked into a quiet corner of abusy city.
There was no sign outside.
The menu changed daily, and yetevery seat was full.
Guests lingered, serversremembered names.
A grandmother at the next tablewas celebrating her 80th
(00:26):
birthday.
A startup team toasted a productlaunch.
The food was beautiful, but thefeeling was unforgettable.
That's the power of restaurants.
Hello and welcome to theDistinguished Podcast.
I'm Arunupneja, Dean of BostonUniversity School of Hospitality
(00:46):
Administration.
In this series, we explore theevolving world of restaurants,
where hospitality meetsinnovation and the guest
experience is constantly beingreimagined.
Restaurants are big business,employing over 12 million people
in the US alone, and generatingnearly a trillion dollars in
(01:08):
annual sales.
But they are also personal,emotional, cultural.
They are where we go to markmilestones, reconnect, or just
feel like ourselves.
And today they are facingenormous pressures, rising
costs, staffing shortages,shifting guest expectations,
(01:29):
technology that promisesefficiency but risks removing
the human touch.
At BU, we call this crossroadsexperience innovation, the art
and science of designinghospitality that's both
operationally smart andemotionally resonant.
Not just functional, buttransformational.
(01:51):
That's the thread runningthrough every conversation in
this series.
From Michelin starred chefs andtech-savvy entrepreneurs to the
people reinventingback-of-the-house systems and
front-of-house dynamics.
We are talking to the leaders,reshaping what restaurants can
be.
So whether you are a studentpreparing for your career, a
(02:14):
seasoned operator seeking newideas, or someone who simply
loves to dine, you'll findinspiration, insight, and maybe
a few surprises.
Because when restaurantsflourish, they don't just serve
meals, they shape culture,strengthen communities, and
nourish our shared humanexperience.
(02:36):
This is the DistinguishedPodcast.
I'm glad you're here.
I'm Arun Pneya, Dean of BostonUniversity School of Hospitality
Administration, and this isDistinguished.
Today's guest is a true force inthe world of restaurants, not
just for what he's built, butfor how he leads with clarity,
(02:57):
humility, and a deep reverencefor people.
Jeff Gates has spent 40 years inhospitality, rising from
dishwasher and busboy to journalmanager, founding partner, and
now chief operating officer ofColumbus Hospitality Group, home
to some of Boston's most iconicrestaurants.
(03:18):
Along the way, he helped launchthe legendary Mistral,
co-founded Equitaine and the SOADining Group, and brought fresh
energy to every corner of theBoston's dining scene.
But titles only tell part of thestory.
What sets Jeff apart is how hethinks about culture, about
(03:39):
service, and about whatrestaurants really mean.
He brings an engineer'sprecision, an entrepreneur's
courage, and a mentor's heart.
He's as comfortable talkingabout profit margins as he is
about staff morale.
And in every conversation, heoffers insight that's equal
parts practical and profound.
(04:01):
Jeff has chaired theMassachusetts Restaurant
Association, served on nationalboards, launched a reservation
platform before most of us knewwe needed one, and still finds
time to give back to localcommunities.
He has seen this industry evolvethrough booms, crashes,
pandemics, and pivots.
(04:22):
And through it all, he hasstayed grounded in the belief
that hospitality is about morethan service.
It's about human connection.
Jeff Gates is a builder, aguide, and a pillar of Boston's
restaurant world.
And I am honored to welcome himto Distinguished.
Jeff, welcome.
SPEAKER_00 (04:41):
Thank you, Arun.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Very kind.
It's been a really enjoyable 45years in the industry, and uh,
you know, I enjoyed every everyrun of the ladder.
It's been a lot of fun to climb.
So thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (04:56):
And and and picking up on that, since you've worked
every position on the way, howimportant is it for restaurant
leaders to work their way up?
SPEAKER_00 (05:06):
Um I think it's the most probably the most important
position in the kitchen is isprobably at the dish table.
Um if you really want to knowhow your business is doing, if a
lot of dishes are coming in,you're obviously busy.
Um if a lot of the dishes areclean or all clean, uh you're
probably producing a reallygreat product.
Um if there's a lot of differentglasses coming in, whether it's
(05:28):
burgundy wine glasses or waterglasses or cocktail glasses or
martini glasses, um, you can seehow consumption is.
So, you know, that volume in thedish room can really tell you a
lot about the health of yourrestaurant.
So that gives you an idea ofwhat some people would think is
the bottom rung.
Um, I look at it as being areally instrumental part in
understanding the industry verywell.
(05:48):
And I did start in the kitchenfirst and work my way out.
I was a valet.
Um that was really interestingbecause being a valet taught me
how to um integrate with theneighbors, because many times
neighbors want to park their carin the valet zone.
So do you just throw them out?
Um that person's probably acustomer in a few days.
So not exactly.
The way you the way you handleeverybody really matters.
(06:09):
Every every conversation youhave should really be driven by
um really enjoying havingconversation, right?
SPEAKER_01 (06:17):
So so since you've worked every position and you
know that comes through with allthe lessons you've learned and
how you lead, but how importantis it for leaders in our
industry to have risen from theranks?
SPEAKER_00 (06:32):
Um I mean, it's you're you're gonna fail.
You're not going to be assuccessful if you don't know
what the job looks like whenit's done right.
So I would say that the theimportant reason to have
experience and to uh to gothrough and and see these
positions either demonstrated orto do them yourself is because
(06:54):
you really begin to know whatlooks right and uh what's done
right.
And then you can be a better,um, you can be a better manager,
and more importantly, you'd be abetter mentor.
Because not everybody starts outwith experience.
So, you know, part of makingpeople, part of making a
successful business is hiringpeople and mentoring them.
And honestly, I think when theyfeel successful at their job,
(07:17):
the the whole business is goingto be successful.
So a leader that knows what allthese roles are, knows what they
look like when they're beingdone well, and knows how to do a
lot of them, I think is is justpriceless.
SPEAKER_01 (07:27):
So where do you think where do you spend where
do you find yourself spendingmost time?
On people, on putting out fires,or creating strategy for the
group?
SPEAKER_00 (07:36):
Well, I I never have, I never find as much time
as I want to be in the face ofcustomers, right?
To be directly with customers,with our guests.
Um that's always a challenge.
And probably the number onereason is because of fires,
right?
Um there's always some problem.
Uh obviously today it's gonna beover 90 degrees, tomorrow almost
(07:58):
100.
Um, I'm expecting refrigerationand air conditioning problems
over the next 48 hours, andwe'll be dealing with that.
Um, that always happens.
Um, but uh there's staff, youknow, integrating with the
staff, speaking with staff, andthen there's the financial side.
So I try to spend about half myday uh looking at all the
(08:20):
financial indicators and the umthe maintain the maintenance
indicators of the company, andthen getting involved with the
HR and then talking to ourdirector team and getting help
from them because I don't Idon't help the director team,
they they they help me.
SPEAKER_01 (08:34):
So of all these different jobs that you have,
which one gets you most excitedabout?
SPEAKER_00 (08:40):
Oh uh face to face with guests.
Okay.
Absolutely, 100%.
Still right now we we haveopened a quick serve pizza shop
um over in the south end, andI'm over there helping open, I
work the counter, and Iabsolutely love it.
I mean, if if uh if I could dothat every day, I probably would
do that for you know, half myday, I would do that because I
(09:02):
just there's so much guestinteraction, and I love I love
making people happy.
I mean, I I feel likehospitality is like a mirror on
yourself.
Um when you look in that mirrorand you're happy, that's what
you get back.
And I just love it.
It's and it makes even when I'mhaving a challenging day myself,
either personally orprofessionally, uh, guests can
(09:23):
bring me out of that.
Um, because I look at you know,making them happy, and I feel
great, and uh, and I had asuccess, and and that's and
that's what we all want at work,right?
Is success.
SPEAKER_01 (09:33):
Now that's the heart of a true professional,
hospitality professional.
Okay, I want to pivot to tech.
Um, and this is you know, whereum reservation platforms, point
of sale systems, eventmanagement tools.
We use a whole lot of thesetools in our industry.
So, what tools are working andwhere do they fall short?
SPEAKER_00 (09:54):
Um, I think that a lot of tools are working.
And I think what the problem fora lot of people in the industry
is is they're not cheap.
Um, you know, they can be ahundred to several hundred
dollars a month.
And so it can be a little scarybecause next thing you know,
you're spending, you know,between a thousand, two
thousand, even three thousanddollars a month on these tools.
(10:15):
But the reality is that, youknow, picture, I always say
this, picture a sports game likepicture basketball with no
scoreboard.
Okay, you're you're basically anoutdoor pickup game.
You know, you can you can keepscore, basic score, but you
don't know where the fouls are.
You don't know quite wherethings are going, and it's the
crowd that gets you going,right?
(10:36):
The crowd makes you feel good.
Well, the restaurant industryfor many operators is like that.
It's like running a businesswithout a scoreboard.
So the next question is howquickly can you get the score?
Can you get it every month?
Can you get it every week?
Can you get it every day?
Um so all these tech pieces giveus information every day, which
I think is is fantastic.
(10:56):
And it's uh it's definitely thekey to running a profitable
restaurant now today.
SPEAKER_01 (11:01):
Okay, I I really like that analogy because, you
know, um in basketball, andespecially since, you know,
there was a big game last night,um you know, you need to keep
tabs on each uh player to seehow many fouls they have done.
At some point they get ejectedout.
So over the years, since you'vebeen in this for such a long
time, um, you've seen theseproducts be introduced, and so
(11:23):
they've changed the way weoperate restaurants.
And are we relying on them toomuch and not going by instinct,
or is that a good thing?
SPEAKER_00 (11:32):
Um, I mean, there's just so there's so much volume.
Boy, that's a tough one.
Um, because the reality is thatyou're asking what came first,
the chicken or the egg, really.
There is just so much volume outthere in people's lives,
information volume.
And that's the good news.
People have access to a lot ofthings they didn't have, right?
(11:52):
And I think that's important ina democracy.
It's important in a business,right?
But um the challenge also is isthat you know we have uh much
tighter margins, and thevelocity of business and the
change in the way we do things,the change in pricing, the
change in volume, all of that isso quick, we need to be able to
um we need to be able to uh uhbe more uh reflexive, more more
(12:16):
agile, excuse me.
And so I think these products dogive us that agility um that we
didn't have before.
So, you know, I feel we would belost without them.
Um and I think they've been animportant, an important piece.
Probably the most importantdevelopment since the frying
pan, I think, is a lot of theseapps.
SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
So if if uh managers rely too much on these
analytical tools and theinformation that is coming in,
how do you then train them tobalance with real-time decision
making they have to do since weare an industry that is very
fast-paced?
SPEAKER_00 (12:52):
So we divide at Columbus Hospitality Group, I
think we've done a good job ofdividing our day up into two
pieces.
So we have uh before the guestsarrive, we have what we call
really the free throw time,right?
Getting back to basketballagain.
Um it's really you on the lineand your ability, and you know,
and sinking the balls, right?
And free throws are your uhstandard operating procedures
(13:16):
every day, um, you know, whetherit's doing inventory or doing uh
looking at reservations or evenanswering the phone, all those
kinds of SOP things, unlockingthe door, checking the AC if the
ice machine's working, all thoseSOPs that all occurs before the
guests come in.
And we don't have to worry aboutbreaking eye contact from people
when we're doing these things,and we don't have to worry about
(13:38):
much about reflection, right?
You know, how do I look to thisguest?
How am I handling?
Am I really giving them whatthey want?
Or am I just giving them what Iwant to give them, right?
That's all before 530.
But once the door opens at 530,all the apps get put away except
for open table.
Open table, it's an integralpart of the of the restaurant,
right?
Uh the uh reservations.
But everything else gets putaway, and we're old school.
(13:59):
You know, we're we're eyes upfront, we're eyes up, um, we're
smiles first, uh, we listen, welisten to people because people
are unique.
Not only are their challengesunique, but even the solution to
the same challenge for one guestmight be different for another
guest.
Because we always have to makesure the guest understands we
are listening to them.
They're unique and they'reimportant.
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
So um now this is the next evolution where AI is
coming in big way, the largelanguage models and artificial
intelligence.
Um, are you excited about thisnew concepts coming in and
helping?
Do you see any red flags?
Have you already used some ofthose AI models?
SPEAKER_00 (14:39):
Yeah, I think um so we have used AI.
So when we put together an SOPfor, say, cleaning the bar, you
know, hey, how what's our SOP,what's our standard operating
procedure for getting the barclean before the staff starts
the day?
You can ask AI that, and AIcomes up with 15 steps to
cleaning a bar.
(14:59):
It literally does.
Does that mean that's it?
No, but it's an excellentconversation starter because you
look at it and you're like, ohmy God, I forgot about that.
Or that's not us.
That's not in our bar, we don'thave that piece of equipment.
But it does, you know, 80% ofthe work and really gets your
juices going.
So I think in that way, AI isgreat.
I haven't, I'm not seeing thetrouble yet.
(15:19):
I'm not.
I'm I'm an optimist too, though.
Um, I'm thinking of things likeour guest is going to be able to
someday go online and say, I'mlooking for a fantastic dinner
for two.
Um, I want a romantic night withmy SO.
We both haven't had the day offin two days in a week or
whatever.
Um, where should we go?
(15:40):
I'm looking for AI to powerfullyanswer that based on a lot of
different things.
I think it's I think in thatway, AI's ability to be a
personal assistant to give us abetter life, I think is is
something I look forward to.
Um and I just I don't know yethow it would negatively impact
the industry.
I'm not, I'm just not sure aboutit.
SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
I want to go to this, um, and and you're wearing
that t-shirt and you've openedthis new restaurant, Gary's
Pizza.
So what opportunity did you seein that space?
SPEAKER_00 (16:08):
Uh quick serve, QSR we'll call it, right?
Quick serve restaurant.
There's obviously the UnitedStates, the world is flooded
with QSR.
And so much of the product,there's we won't talk about the
product that's not good.
It's just, I'm not really thatguy.
Um, there's a lot of greatproduct out there, and it's a
function of time, right?
(16:28):
I'm hungry, I want something, Iwant it quick, and that's what
QSR is.
And some people do it very well.
They their sales grow and theirearnings grow every year, so it
must be good, right?
Um, but you know, there's alevel of service that's missing
from QSR, and a level of qualitythat is a challenge to bring in
QSR, right?
Because when you're trying to beprofitable, um, quality can bury
(16:52):
you, right?
And when you're trying to beprofitable, labor can bury you.
And hospitality is a function oflabor.
The more you push wages down,the tougher it is you're gonna
find people that are going to beable to elevate your
hospitality.
So we have a unique, you know,we see a unique problem in
QuickServe, and we're reallyinterested in bringing what we
do to it.
So we're trying to do QuickServewith elevated product, with an
(17:16):
elevated ingredients, right?
And we're also trying to do um,we're also trying to elevate the
hospitality.
We try to spend a little moreFaceTime with our guests.
We try to figure out, I knowthey're coming in for pizza, but
we're trying to really get themto understand, like for
instance, our slices, we don'treheat our slices.
Our slices are cooked 80% inback, and then we bring them
(17:36):
out, and we cook the next, thelast three minutes, we cook live
with the guests.
So I think that's important.
That's a differentiator for us.
Um, and then all of ouringredients, um, fresh oregano,
for instance, we break it rightoff the stem right there.
We're picking uh basil, pullingbasil right off the stem right
on the counter.
Um, these are the kinds ofthings that we don't know how to
(17:57):
do it any differently.
So it's very exciting to bringthat to people, and so far
they're noticing.
SPEAKER_01 (18:02):
So um Columbus Hospitality Group stands for
something with all therestaurants that you have.
So this is now very, verydifferent.
And so, how do you protect thecore values of the brand and the
core image that you have whenyou introduce something so
different?
SPEAKER_00 (18:19):
I it's funny.
It's funny.
Uh you're right, it isdifferent.
But how different can it be if,as a guest, when you walk in the
door, everybody that you walkinto, all of us, are excited
you're there and we love whatwe're doing, right?
And then you're hungry, youknow.
So I get it, you know, we'relower check.
(18:40):
The check average is like, Idon't know, it Gary's, it's$25,
you know, it's prettyinexpensive,$22 or something,
you know, all in for the averageall day.
Um but I feel like I just don'tfeel that far away from our core
mission, um, because ColumbusHospitality Group's core mission
is to serve things perfectly,happily.
(19:02):
That's what we do.
And I see the same thing atGary's, so I feel great there.
SPEAKER_01 (19:07):
Right.
And and uh some time ago you didmention that it's not something
that we want to do, it issomething what the guests want.
Now they may not always want togo to a mistral or or another
restaurant like that.
They it's there are times whenthey just want to go have a
pizza, and so why not provide itto them?
SPEAKER_00 (19:25):
Yeah, I'm right.
I you know, the funny thingabout it is I think there's
long-term success.
I think short-term success isserving something fantastic.
You know, serving what you wantto people is fantastic.
I think that's short-termsuccess.
But long-term success is servingfantastic things to people that
they want.
(19:46):
And I feel that that, you know,constantly listening to the
guest, I think the best brands,they call that evolving, right?
A brand is evolving.
That's not really generallywhat's happening.
Um, I mean, I know that uh, youknow, you look at Steve Jobs,
came up with a smaller, youknow, the iPod, for instance.
You know, he came up with thatbecause people wanted to listen
(20:06):
to more music in a smaller spotand be able to fit in their
pants pocket.
That's really what he respondedto.
He didn't uh, you know, withouta without a market, I don't
think you really have a product,right?
So I think the restaurantbusiness is the same thing.
You know, we we just we justserve, I think, really well what
people are actually looking for.
And as their minds change, wesense that and we slowly are
(20:30):
changing with them.
SPEAKER_01 (20:32):
So most diners don't realize how much thought goes
into pricing and menu design.
So how do you approach menustrategy, especially during
these inflationary times?
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
I don't think restaurant prices have ever kept
up with inflation, but I think akey reason is because operators
are very, very savvy.
Um they're very flexible, um,they have a lot of different
tools in their box to mitigatetheir, to mitigate their
expenses to change.
Um they have a lot ofefficiencies that they always
(21:06):
find somehow.
Um and it's and I think whatdrives them in the end, what
drives a really great operatorisn't profit.
What drives a really greatoperator is that feeling of
succeeding with your guest.
And I think that's differentthan a lot of other products,
right?
We make our product in the backand sell it out of the front.
If we were in the sneakerbusiness, we'd make them where
(21:27):
we make them.
Somebody else would be sellingthem.
We have a pretty big disconnectbetween our guests, between our
customer, right?
Um, but in the hospitalityindustry, there's not a big,
there's not a lot of distancebetween manufacturing and and
the and the throughput to theguest.
So we can be very nimble and wecan see, ooh, you know, the
guest did not like that.
Let's change that item.
(21:49):
That got too expensive.
Let's change that to a differentitem, or let's let's look for a
different way to make thisproduct.
Um, you know, and I think it'swhat makes the restaurant
industry so.
Exciting.
I mean, I'm an engineer bytraining.
I went to college forengineering.
And people ask, you know, whythe hospitality industry?
I have a mechanical engineeringbackground.
I love the variables.
(22:10):
I love it.
It's so exciting.
And I love it because the bigvariable, the guest, we talk to
them every day.
And they give us the feedback weneed.
And a lot of big manufacturers,they don't have that feedback.
They take a month, two months,they can do a study group,
finally figure it out.
By the time they figure out theanswer, there's a new question
that they got to try to figureout.
(22:30):
So it's very exciting.
SPEAKER_01 (22:31):
And here you're getting instant feedback every
single day with all thecustomers that are coming in.
The way you're telling it, thepricing actually in restaurants
is very good.
In 30 years, if everything isquadrupled, then um, but
restaurant prices have onlydoubled.
You know, let's just go withthat example.
Um but in the last three or fouryears, since you've said there
(22:54):
is a there's been a rapid rise,so have you noticed any
resistance to the price rise inrestaurants from consumers?
And how do you manage that?
SPEAKER_00 (23:03):
You know, I I feel the consumer, we have a very
powerful consumer in the UnitedStates.
And the reason why they're sopowerful is because they had
choice.
I think a lot of countries, um,what they really lack isn't
consumers, but they lack choice,they lacked, and they lack, uh,
and they lack sometimes in someways, uh, maybe they lack
quality, right?
(23:24):
They lack the quality that wehave here, and which is ironic
because quite a bit of thequality we have in the United
States has been brought fromanother country.
So there's there's nothingloaded in that.
I'm just saying that we're avery, very lucky country.
We're a very lucky consumer.
And um I feel that thatstrength, that power helps
control pricing.
Um, if we miss it, we're goingto slow down the dining room.
(23:45):
We're going to have slowerguests, you know, we're gonna
have a lower guest count.
And that's a terrible time,that's a terrible way to run
your business.
Well, we'll keep raising ourprices until the guests start
exiting the building.
Um but what that means is thatwe're very careful about what
we're charging.
Very careful, because what wesay is listen, if we don't
(24:08):
charge this, we're going to beclosed.
So we're not going to be able toserve a meal to anybody.
We're not going to be able topractice our craft for anyone.
And I think that's really whatdrives a successful restaurant
is not, you know, let's makemore money tomorrow.
It's how can we get the bestproduct to our guest and remain
open?
Um, again, like I said, I don'tknow many operators.
(24:30):
I started as a dishwasher.
Um, Steve De Filippo uh startedas uh making salads down in uh
Faniu Hall uh from Davio's.
I know Jamie started.
Um Jamie started a cookingschool and then uh he worked in
the kitchen as a prep guy.
Um everybody I know started inthe bottom.
And what that means to me isthey didn't do this for the
(24:51):
money.
They did this because it's whatthey love, they got they love
the energy.
And I think it helps because inthe end, when a guest goes into
a great restaurant, they lookat, they open the menu and they
say, hey, do you know what?
This is expensive.
Let's face it, chicken I can getfor you know six, seven bucks a
pound at the grocery store, andI'm paying$30 for roast chicken,
and it's not a pound.
(25:11):
You know, nobody says, hey, Ican get this for$6.
They understand the value, theyunderstand what they're getting.
And when you do have a guestthat's upset about price, it's
usually because there's a fewthings are disconnected, not
just price.
Maybe the hospitality wasn't thelevel they expected.
Maybe the physical plant isn'tmaintained in the way they
expected, and it culminates tothe by the time they get the
(25:34):
check and they're saying, hey,this place, the pricing is out
of whack.
They're overcharging for this.
Um, that's what I feel.
Um, I've been doing this for along time.
Uh occasionally people willcomment that things are
overpriced.
It happens.
I mean, I've been I mean, I'veserved millions of people.
Um, but the majority of people,I never hear anything about
price at all.
(25:54):
Never.
SPEAKER_01 (25:55):
Fantastic.
Great answer.
And for everyone listening, hementioned a few legends in the
Boston hospital, in therestaurant industry, and I hope
to get all of them on my podcastsoon.
Okay, I want to pivot to uhpeople, talent, recruitment.
Um, recruiting and retainingtalent is still a major hurdle.
(26:17):
You mentioned that before withuh with the cost of labor.
So, what's what are you seeingin the market and what's working
for you?
SPEAKER_00 (26:25):
I think something COVID did for our industry,
although it was a lot ofupheaval, I think it gave us all
a reset because we all had thosethree weeks where we're home,
right?
And then we had months where ourbusinesses were closed, and it
gave us time to be with ourfamilies, to find things in our
relationship that we had missed.
And when the lights turned backon again, we were different
(26:47):
people.
And these different people wereleaders, and how these different
people saw their businesses andsaw the people that worked for
them changed.
And it wasn't, hey, I don't wantto be uh, you know, I don't want
to be cruel to my team anymore,I don't want to overwork them or
whatever the term might be.
It wasn't that at all.
(27:07):
It's hey, do you know what?
I found this and my team needsthis, and I'm gonna make sure
they have it.
Many restaurants closed, we weretalking about this earlier, many
restaurants closed during COVID.
When they reopened, theyreopened with limited hours as
they slowly brought businessback, right?
Like the beginning of asymphony, the music started very
slow, and they found that Idon't need, we don't need all of
(27:28):
those hours.
And they've been able to hold onto better people because people
realized, hey, I love this, thisis great, and I still get to be
with my family, I still get tobe with my SO, right?
I still get to be the person Iwanted to be while I work
professionally.
Um, yeah, just a respect for whopeople are when they aren't
working for us, I think, is hasbeen very powerful and has
(27:51):
really attracted people into ourbusiness, like never before.
SPEAKER_01 (27:55):
Yeah, this this kind of thinking is transformational.
And I am very happy to hear youyou say that.
When I started in the business,it was work 12 hours, 14 hours a
day, six to seven days a week.
And I think the dominant themein the industry was I did it, I
put on those hours, now you'recoming in, you have to put in
(28:16):
those hours, you have to payyour dues as well.
But this is very, veryrefreshing for young people to
hear that leaders are notthinking that way, even though
they went through those crazyhours, but now they're not
asking that for the newgeneration to who will start
working for them.
SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
Aaron Powell Yeah, I mean, good people have good
friends, good people have goodfamily.
And when they're coming homefrom work and they're not happy,
people that care about them saythat to them.
Might not say it directly, butdrip, drip, drip, you need a
change.
And they end up leaving wherethey are and they do something
(28:54):
else.
And I think that's been tough onthe industry.
And I think that we owe it to,we owe it to our team uh to
worry as much about them, theinner guests, they call that,
right?
The inner guests, to worry asmuch about our team as we do
about our guests.
It's difficult.
It's always a work in progress,always, because I think the
guests, I think the guestsalways end up coming in and
(29:17):
taking over the party.
Um, it just happens.
It's just there's 150 of them ona Saturday night, and there's
only, you know, 20 of us.
So of course it's gonna happen.
But the reality is, is that umreally we need to enjoy, we need
to enjoy our staff, and ourstaff need to enjoy work, and
then they go home and theirfamily sees that and they buy
into it, and they support it,and they become an important,
(29:39):
integral part of it.
And I think that's the glue tokeeping people working with you.
Is that it's not just how muchyou pay them and how much
accolades they get or theirtitle.
It's is did their whole worldsupport what they're doing?
And do they feel good?
Do they feel successful?
Do they feel smart?
Do they feel challenged?
All those things, right?
(29:59):
Um, and I think that at CHG,every day, we worry about that
every day.
You know, how are we finding theright people?
Um, are they how are they doing?
Are they happy?
Um, you know, when you seesomebody at at work, when I go
in, I see somebody who'sunhappy, um, the the real
question to ask them, and inprivate, to grab them for a
(30:21):
moment and say, hey, are youokay?
You know, are you okay?
It's a really great thing to asksomebody.
And they can either answer rightoff the bat or they can say,
yeah, why?
And you could say to them, youcould say, hey, I don't know,
you just seemed, you seem likeyou weren't yourself.
Because I think we all need toknow that we're seen as good
people, right?
And we're all, you know, we allhave an elastic relationship
(30:44):
with what's great in us and ourfamilies, but sometimes life
pulls us away from that.
And it's nice to have somebodycome and say, Are you okay?
And you say, Yeah, I am, why?
Oh, you just seemed off.
Because sometimes that's all youneeded.
You're like, wow, geez, I didn'tknow I was wearing that on my,
I'm gonna put that away, youknow, that's no one's business,
right?
But other times you're like, youcan go back to that person and
say, you know what, I'm notokay.
(31:05):
I do need some help.
I have somebody sick at home.
Um, I have something, I have achallenge, I have a financial
challenge.
I mean, everybody, we've all hadbad days and bad moments.
The thing about hospitality isto remember that while you're in
your good moment running yourrestaurant, running your dining
room, being in the dining room,that person that you're facing
(31:25):
may be in the worst moment thatyou had three weeks ago.
And I think that's importantbecause people are good people,
right?
People are good people.
I know in this day and age,right now, today, it's difficult
to think that because there'ssome there's some challenging
people out there to that model.
But what I look at is people aregood people, but some of them
(31:45):
are just having a bad day.
And I said earlier, that's whythey're here, right?
So I don't know.
That's for me, that's that's itto holding good people.
You know, and another thing wedo with CHG is we we allow
managers to be in control oftheir future.
So when we bring them in, ifthey're a dining room manager or
(32:06):
an assistant to the generalmanager or general manager, they
have we have levels level one,level two, level three within
the the dining room manager,level one, level two, level
three within the um the uhassistant, the general manager,
and they're certified withinthose.
They have, they know what theyneed to do to get to the next
level.
And with the next level comes araise in compensation.
(32:28):
It comes closer to the next bigjob title change.
They don't have to leave, youdon't have to leave a CHG
restaurant.
If you're a dining room manager,you don't have to leave one of
our restaurants to get a raise.
You don't have to leave one ofour restaurants to become an
AGM.
An AGM doesn't have to leave oneof our restaurants to become a
GM because I think that happenstoo much.
Great people leave, how come?
(32:48):
Well, they left because they'reready for the next level, and
that person above them isn'tleaving.
You know, there's the ceilingand they're not leaving.
That happens everywhere.
That's terrible, though.
Every time we we train somebodyand get them all this experience
and put all this time and effortand we we enjoy them and they're
our friends, they are compelledto leave to get to the next
(33:10):
spot.
So what we've tried to do is wetry to say, hey, you don't have
to go.
We're gonna we're gonna keepcompensating and changing your
compensation as you certify inexperience, as you change your
experience level, a year, sixmonths, three months.
I have no problem with it.
We have black and white paths toeach of these levels, and they
can attain, they can obtainthem.
(33:30):
What do we get?
I'll tell you what we get.
We get, our guests get somebodywho really cares about their
career, really has a skill levelthat's that's growing every day.
How could that be bad for ourrestaurant?
And I'll tell you what ourcompetitors get.
They don't get our good people.
That's what our competitors get.
SPEAKER_01 (33:47):
Incredible.
Um so a lot of people say thatthere is a management gap in the
young people that are cominginto leadership positions now.
Um, first of all, do you thinkthat is the case?
And if it is, then what do youthink is missing from their
education to be good leaders inthe industry?
SPEAKER_00 (34:08):
I think that young people are going to be amazing.
I think all the cohorts that areyounger than us are going to be
incredible.
There has got to be someincredible value that we're
going to get as a society out ofall these young people that have
all this access to information.
I know we always look at thetough part of it.
You know, they're on video gamesand all these things, but I
(34:30):
don't know.
That stuff's always, one way oranother, been around in our
lives when we were kids too,right?
I'm sure the jukebox was a badthing, right?
You know, I I think that thereality is that if your kid's
bored, and boredom can be good,by the way, it can be good.
Um uh, but I think that thisopportunity that we're gonna
(34:52):
have from this generation comingup is gonna answer a lot of the
challenges that that we'vecreated, our generation has
created, and they'll createtheir own, just like we created
our own, right?
That's kind of what happens,right?
When the older the older folkskind of make a mess of things a
little bit, some good things ina mess of things.
I think the young people comeand and they fix it up.
I mean, think about the peoplethat are in charge right now,
(35:16):
the people who have been chargethe last two weeks, the United
States.
They grew up in the late 60s,early 70s, flower, power, love,
peace, right, no war.
Um, you know, some of therichest people in the world grew
up in that era.
And somehow they are who theyare now, uh, bad or good.
So um I think there's a greatopportunity.
I'm an optimist.
(35:36):
Um, I'm excited about the youngpeople in our industry.
SPEAKER_01 (35:39):
Fantastic.
I love that.
And I I fully echo your your umyour uh stand on this issue.
I think uh I'm looking forwardto some of them taking over and
helping, you know, remove allthe messes that our generation
has created in this world.
Um I also believe in theirinherent goodness of this next
generation, I think.
(35:59):
Um so enough of that.
Maybe that's another podcast.
Um let me pivot to something uhmore fun and interesting.
It's the Michelin guide.
We finally, Boston finally gotthe Michelin guide.
So the question is, will thathave an impact on the city from
an investment, from a gueststandpoint, from a tourism
(36:20):
perspective?
Um, how good do you think it is?
SPEAKER_00 (36:23):
I think it's great.
I mean, so they talk about umwhen somebody races on foot
running, they get the best timesfrom people when they run
against somebody else.
Right?
We bring out the best in eachother.
So when Michelin comes toBoston, what I see happening is
(36:43):
we all elevate our game.
And we elevate our game eitherdirectly, um, we recognize its
importance, we immediately allgo online and figure out, you
know, what's the criteria?
What's the yardstick?
How do we measure?
You know, do we measure up?
And I think we all would like tosay, hey, do you know what we've
already been doing a lot ofthese things?
But I think it's important toremember why we're doing it.
(37:06):
I think it's important to have ascore, right?
Like that score is important.
And I think when a competitorelevates their game, the next
person down line or beside themelevates their game and so on.
So it gets right back to that.
You're running, you're runningagainst yourself, you get one
time, suddenly you put anothercouple runners out there, and
you're running much fasterbecause they are.
(37:26):
Um so I think in the end it'sgonna be great.
I think it's gonna be great forthe most important person out
there, and that's the consumer.
I think the guest in Boston isgoing to have a better dining
experience in Boston over thenext 10 years, 20, 30 years,
because Michelin showed up.
And is it gonna how what's theincremental percentage of how
much better it's gonna be?
I don't know.
(37:47):
But what we're always about iscan we give you a better
experience tomorrow than we didtoday?
And if we do, we win.
SPEAKER_01 (37:56):
I think that is an absolute positive way of looking
at these scorecards that arecoming our way.
So thank you for that.
Okay, so um I want to um, youknow, the the podcast is
listened to by a lot of studentsand young professionals
everywhere.
Um, and they look to leaderslike you for guidance.
And and I hope everyone has beenlistening because you are an
(38:20):
incorrigible optimist, you areso positive and have the right
attitude on everything.
What is that one piece of adviceyou wish someone had given you
when you were starting out inyour career?
SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
Oh boy.
Uh it's got nothing to do withhospitality.
If you buy real estate, hold onto it.
I think that would have beennice.
But I mean, when it comes tohospitality, I got it, you know
what's funny, Stevie Filippo.
I spent quite a bit of time withhim years ago.
We were very young.
Steve had an infectious love ofpeople.
(38:58):
And I I loved being with him, Ilove working with him, and uh, I
learned everything from himabout really going into work
every day and loving what I doand loving the people I work
with.
And it started there.
The guests didn't even show upyet, and I was already happy.
Um, so I don't think that Ithink that uh I haven't not had
(39:20):
any advice.
I've had so many mentors,whether it was, you know,
obviously Steve or Jamie, um, mypartners at the Aquitaine group.
Um I had a lot of I had really agreat 20 years with those guys,
Seth and Matt.
Um, you know, my wife now.
I I don't think that I've beenat a loss.
I said it earlier.
I have, I'm a guy with a lot ofmentors, you know.
(39:41):
Everything that went wrong in mylife, I did to myself.
Who gets to say that, you know?
But um, you know, you reallygotta love what you do every day
to do this.
You gotta be a cab driver thatloves traffic.
You know, you really, you reallygotta be that guy.
You've been in the back of thatcab, right?
The guy hates traffic.
You're like, dude, get anotherjob.
Oh my God, I'm just I'm justgoing to Logan.
You know, I think that youreally gotta like it.
(40:03):
You gotta like people and yougotta like solving their
problems, you know.
And I think honestly, when youworry about solving other
people's problems, guess what?
You forget about your own, youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (40:14):
Okay, so um let's close with a few rapid-fire
questions.
Short answers, you're a thinker,but no overthinking here.
Yeah.
If you could share a meal withanyone, living or not, who would
it be?
SPEAKER_00 (40:26):
Oh God, I got I got both of them.
I got living is Keith McNally.
SPEAKER_01 (40:31):
Most overplayed food item right now.
SPEAKER_00 (40:34):
Overplayed?
SPEAKER_01 (40:35):
Yeah, right now.
SPEAKER_00 (40:36):
Uh food or I mean beverages, alcohol.
SPEAKER_01 (40:40):
Alcohol, okay.
What dish or ingredient is aboutto be the next big thing?
SPEAKER_00 (40:46):
Dish or ingredient about to be the next big thing.
Um more fruits and vegetables, Ithink.
SPEAKER_01 (40:52):
Are you thinking that that that will be a big
thing that people will startgoing?
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (40:57):
Yeah, uh I think protein is getting to protein
it's starting to it's startingto show its its age.
It's tough on the environment.
Protein's tough on theenvironment to produce.
Um it's getting very expensive.
Um and in larger quantities, itcan be difficult in people's
health.
Right.
So I I can see their, I can seeas a gradual change to probably
(41:19):
more fruits and vegetables.
SPEAKER_01 (41:22):
Your dream meal, where in the world would it
occur?
SPEAKER_00 (41:26):
Uh my dream meal is definitely at home with my wife.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (41:30):
Well said.
I hope she's listening.
Um, one word to describe whatgreat hospitality feels like.
SPEAKER_00 (41:37):
Uh a guest smiling at you.
Really incredible feeling to bepart of that.
To be part of a guest smilingand to help them find a smile.
It's an incredible, it's reallyincredible.
SPEAKER_01 (41:49):
It is always a delight to have a conversation
with you, Jeff.
And today was no exception, andI look forward to many more in
the future.
And thank you so much for comingtoday and good luck with the new
concept that you have.
SPEAKER_00 (42:02):
Thank you, Arun.
Thank you, and thank you to yourteam for making this happen
today.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (42:06):
Thank you.
If you would like to join theconversation or share your
thoughts, email me at shawdeanat bu.edu.
That is s-h-a-d-e-a-n at bu.edu.
This episode was produced byMara Littman, marketing by
Rachel Hamlin, and video plusproduction by Jason Jose of
(42:27):
Cocoon Media.
And thank you to the entire teamat Boston University School of
Hospitality Administration.
To keep up with thedistinguished podcast, be sure
to subscribe wherever you getyour podcasts.
You can also explore more aboutexperience innovation in our
programs by visiting pu.eduslash hospitality.
(42:50):
I'm Arun Rupneja, Dean of the PUSchool of Hospitality.
Thank you for listening and seeyou next time.
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