December 13, 2024 • 28 mins
Discover how to transform your restaurant business with the expert guidance of Ryan Gromfin, famously known as the Restaurant Boss. With a prestigious background as a chef in five-star hotels, Ryan now dedicates his career to helping independent restaurant owners enhance their operations through strategic systems and processes. We delve into the nuanced distinctions between leadership and management, dissecting how these are skills that anyone can learn. By implementing structured systems akin to assembly lines in car factories, restaurant owners can maintain consistency and quality, all while fostering an environment where their teams can innovate within defined boundaries.
As the restaurant industry navigates a rapidly changing landscape, Ryan shares his perspective on emerging trends and the pressing need to adapt traditional business models. From the decline of home cooking skills to the growing appetite for niche culinary experiences, we explore how restaurants can capitalize on these shifts. The conversation deepens into how establishments must rethink their employee dynamics and wage structures to cope with rising labor costs. Whether you're a seasoned restaurateur or just starting out, this episode is packed with insights to help you stay ahead in today's competitive market.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Heather Ewing, the CRE Rundown.
I am your host, Heather Ewing,and today I have a fantastic
guest for you.
It is Ryan Gromfin and he isthe restaurant boss.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hey everybody, how are you doing?
Thank you so much for having me, Heather.
It's really an honor and aprivilege to be here, so thank
you so much.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Definitely so.
We both love eating retail.
It's all this beautifulsynergistic arena, and why don't
you take a moment here to sharewith our guests what you do, so
they can better understand?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Absolutely so.
I have a background as a chef.
I grew up and I worked in acouple of five-star hotels
around the country one inBeverly Hills and one in Dallas
and through that experience Ikind of learned like, oh, this
is how you operate a restaurant.
And then one day I decided to.
I wanted to open up my ownplace.
So I went to go work at someindependents and I was like whoa
(00:59):
, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on.
This is not what it was like ina five-star hotel, and so I'll
spare the details for brevity.
But basically I teachindependent restaurant owners
how to build systems andprocesses and procedures so they
can scale their business.
So maybe a single unitrestaurant operator is
experiencing really high volumeand really growing and they're
(01:20):
getting stretched thin.
We can help put in place thesystems and processes and
procedures, help them developtheir team and build all of that
out so they can scale.
Or maybe they're opening up asecond or a third, or some of my
clients are opening up their24th location and so obviously
the systems and the processesget bigger.
But I like to say I helprestaurant owners scale their
(01:42):
business.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So yeah, that's perfect and it's definitely an
essential tool because, to yourpoint, there is a big difference
between one, possibly two, andthen getting into double digits
and things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So a messy system is going to equate to a painful
bottom line right, yeah, ofcourse.
Bottom line, right, yeah, ofcourse.
And I would encourage any ofyour listeners out there, even
if you're maybe not in therestaurant business.
But there's still.
What I tell people all the timeis like what I teach restaurant
owners.
I teach them because I knowrestaurants, but it's the same
systems and processes andprocedures for scaling any
business any, anything that youhave team members and employees
and sales and customers and allthat messy stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Exactly, it all goes together, yeah.
So what would you say?
Is you know of the systems, thepractices, procedures, all of
that?
Is there one particular areathat just seems to get people
more than others, or is it justacross the board, depending on
the type of restaurant?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I think there's probably two things that I see
happening the most, and thefirst is I like to say that
leadership and management, firstof all, they're two separate
things.
So let's always.
We can talk about that if wehave time, but we can talk about
the difference betweenleadership and management, but
leadership and management areseparate.
(03:03):
However, I find that peoplethink that they should naturally
be good at that, and thenthey're disappointed if they're
put into a management positionor if they've opened up their
own business and now they aremanagers, they are leaders, and
they're not good at that.
That is a learned skill.
It is not survival.
It is not survival.
(03:25):
We aren't born with instinctsas humans to be great managers
and to be great leaders.
We're born with skills of likefind food, kill, eat fire.
You know things like that.
Management is a very like.
In the last hundred years of ofevolution, we've had to learn
(03:47):
how to lead and manage people,and so people are not good at
this naturally, and that's okay.
So get curious, explore, go toseminars, read books.
Don't feel like you're lessthan because you're reading a
personal development or aprofessional or self help book,
(04:07):
Like don't label that.
That's no different thanlearning math or learning
English.
So I think the first thing is,just like this base level
knowledge of just learning howto manage people and how to lead
people.
The second thing is this idea ofsystems I don't want to
micromanage my team.
(04:29):
I want my team to be freethinkers and I want them to feel
that they have a voice.
I'm not saying in any way yourteam members don't or shouldn't
have a voice.
What I am saying is I lovemicromanaging.
What I am saying is I lovemicromanaging.
I love it and you should too.
(04:49):
It should not be a bad word.
Micromanaging became a bad wordbecause team members want to
complain about their bosses andso they say you're micromanaging
me.
The reality is, all greatprocesses are micromanaged.
You want your car.
You want the assembly line ofthe car that you drive to be
micromanage.
You want your car.
You want the assembly line ofthe car that you drive to be
micromanaged, Because if it'snot, you're going to have
rattles and you're going to havewind leaks and you're going to
(05:11):
have a loose transmission andyou're going to be leaking oil
because it's not put togetherwell.
So we all want products thatwere a product of
micromanagement, but for somereason we don't want to be
micromanagers.
So I think the second part ofthis is systems actually create
freedom.
When you have systems in yourbusiness, your team members will
(05:35):
be more free to create.
When we have systems that allowus to know what we're allowed
to operate within I call itrailroad tracks when we have
systems that say you know youhave to operate within this zone
, the railroad track then youhave freedom within those
railroad tracks, but just don'tgo left of it, Don't go right of
it, but stay in your zone.
(05:56):
And so again I think, kind ofrecapping, that the two biggest
things are one it's okay to notbe good at this.
Go learn it.
It's a learned skill, it's amuscle.
When you start running, you'renot going to run a marathon day
one, You're going to barely makeit around the clock, but six
months later you're a marathonrunner because you ran.
And so the second part of thistoo is like just get rid of that
(06:17):
word micromanaging.
Stop thinking that's a badthing.
Stop thinking that systems andprocesses and procedures are bad
thing.
Stop thinking that systems andprocesses and procedures are bad
.
There is no business in thisworld that got big thinking,
small and not systems andprocesses is small thinking.
So if you have a small businessand you want to get big, start
thinking and doing big.
If you have a small businessand you want to stay small, keep
(06:39):
thinking small.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And now that's a very valid point.
And for whatever reason theterms discipline and systems to
your point have's a very validpoint, and for whatever reason
the terms discipline and systemsto your point have such a
negative connotation, as well asmicromanaging?
And I think what happens isthat, like you say, it truly
does give freedom in thebrokerage world, right In the
early days of cold calling,canvassing, all of those
different things.
(07:02):
Sure, it's discipline, but itgave you freedom because then
you had a full pipeline, youwere enjoying the sales, You're
taking trips, You're doingthings, You're investing.
So it really is the ticket tofreedom.
So people need to shift thatmindset.
So, working with restaurants doyou also work with fast casuals
, or is it restaurants only?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, anything in sort of the food and beverage
space bars.
Is it restaurants only?
Yeah, anything in sort of thefood and beverage space Bars,
nightclubs, restaurants, foodtrucks yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, okay, perfect, no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah.
So it's usually thisinteresting thing where, like
brick and mortars, want to add afood truck.
Ok, don't do it.
And food trucks want to.
Sometimes you know they startgrowing and they want to go to
brick and mortar.
When I say don't do it, I'mjoking.
What I guess I'm trying to sayis like know what you're getting
into, because it takesdifferent skills, it takes
(08:03):
different um, operational thingsthat are.
They're just different.
So but yeah, um, we see that alot.
We see, we see that a lot.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Perfect.
And then I understand you're inAustin, texas, we're here in
Madison, wisconsin.
Do you work throughout thecountry?
Then?
Any international work?
Where is your?
I have clients all over theworld.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I say I have clients on six of the seven continents
and I think that's only becausethere are no restaurants in
Antarctica.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But yeah no.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I've worked with clients in China, which is a
challenge because my YouTubechannel, my emails none of that
gets through to China.
But I actually have.
I have some people who've movedto China and I and I've worked
with them.
But yeah, I work with clientsall over.
If you speak English, we can, Ican, I can work with you.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Excellent, I like it.
You're easy to refer then forme.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Oh, thank you, that would be awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, definitely.
How would you say especially?
We all know everyone took amajor hit through COVID several
years ago and restaurants comingback, it's you know it's hurt
some degree because of peoplenot being in the offices.
Obviously, in restaurants youhave to be in person more
frequently than offsite.
(09:19):
What would you say you'venoticed in the past two years,
and where do you see us goingwith restaurants and fast
casuals?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So COVID was as a whole.
Covid was very good for therestaurant industry, Like if we
(09:49):
look at total restaurant inoffice.
They struggled a lot.
So overall, I think therestaurant industry is healthy.
I think it will remain healthy.
I think there's a couple ofthings that we need to be
looking at.
I think there's a couple ofthings that we need to be
looking at.
(10:09):
One is the shifting of how weeat, and I don't mean what foods
, I mean we don't cook anymore,Like some of us, dinosaurs still
cook, but we're not teachingour kids how to cook.
They're watching it on TV andsome of them are picking it up
because they're foodies, butyour average everyday family is
(10:31):
not cooking as much is notteaching their children how to
cook and as we get generational,generational, generational,
we're just going to lose thatskill completely.
So we have to be focusing moreon the delivery, the ready to go
meals, the meal prep, but justbasically the getting the food
(10:52):
into the home to go pick up, allof that.
The second thing, which is alittle more abstract, is more
about how we are consuming foodand what we're looking for.
A couple of things have changedin the last 10, 15 years and
we're seeing an acceleration ofthis now.
One is this level ofexpectation from our guests.
(11:16):
I talk about Food Network andTV shows, food cooking shows,
all of that.
The level, the expectation ofyour guest is higher than it's
ever been.
Everybody watches something foodrelated, whether it be on
TikTok or YouTube or FoodNetwork or Cooking Channel or
anything.
And so when we go to arestaurant now, if we see a
(11:39):
burger and we look at it andwe're like that doesn't look
like the burger at therestaurant I saw on TV the other
day, we're disappointed Becauseour world has gotten smaller.
No matter where we live now inthe world or in the country,
even if we live in a tiny littletown, we have access to the
whole world visually.
So our expectations are higher.
(12:00):
So if you're just servingaverage food, you're in trouble.
There is no room for averageanymore.
You have to be exceptional,because that's what the world
expects.
That doesn't mean expensive,but you have to be exceptional
in what you do.
The second part of this isbecause of the internet and
everything.
We don't just go to Italianrestaurants anymore.
We don't just go to Mexicanrestaurants anymore.
(12:21):
If we want pizza, we go to theplace that has the best pizza.
We don't care if their pasta isgood, we don't care if their
chicken dishes are good.
Now, maybe they serve all that,maybe they don't.
But what are we going to do?
We're going to Google bestpizza, we're going to read
reviews and we're going to findout who has the best pizza.
If we want a burger, we're notjust going to go to a restaurant
(12:42):
that serves everything.
We're going to go to burgerrestaurants.
So we're seeing this nichingdown which I love, by the way
but we're seeing this nichingdown of concepts to where.
Stop thinking about it.
If you're looking at openingsomething up, stop just thinking
I'm going to open up a Mexicanrestaurant.
Are you going to open up afajita restaurant, a burrito
restaurant, a taco restaurant?
(13:04):
But like just opening up aMexican restaurant, just opening
up an Italian restaurant, justopening up an American
restaurant?
Look, every town needs a coupleof them.
But that's not where the growthand excitement is, and it's a
good thing.
The reason I said I love it isbecause, as labor is getting
more expensive, harder to find,less people are specializing in
(13:25):
cooking, less people want tocook, less people want to run
restaurants.
We're going to have tospecialize in our product,
shrink our menu, because we'renot going to have these masters
of all jacks of none, theseamazing chefs, anymore.
We're going to have moreteenagers and kids who are
working in restaurants and wehave to be able to teach them
(13:47):
how to do a very specific job.
That's why you're seeing likeChick-fil-A explode, because,
one, it's food that people wantin a way that people want it,
but two, chick-fil-a can grow asfast as they want because they
don't have to worry aboutfinding team members.
They could have a team memberup and running in like two hours
(14:07):
, whereas most of theserestaurants it takes weeks or
months to get someone trained.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
So we've got to start thinking about that.
Well, and if you think about ittoo, Chick-fil-A right, I think
they've really connected withpeople from a sense of community
.
Yeah, absolutely reallyconnected with people from a
sense of community.
Yeah, absolutely their stance.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
They're closed on sundays they have the the
three-lane drive-thrus even inwisconsin.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Oh my god, it's unbelievable wide yeah, no, they
just, they have one the onenear us started as a one-lane
drive-thru during covid.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
They expanded it to two.
Now they're expanding it tothree like like you said it's
gonna be like.
It's gonna be like the 405freeway in la pretty soon.
But if that's not a testamentto prove what I'm saying, then
you're not.
You, then you.
Our audience is just not payingattention because chick-fil-a
is absolutely crushing it rightnow.
Oh, look what they selldefinitely chicken sandwich, but
(15:01):
yet we open up restaurants thatserve everything under the moon
and we can't figure out whypeople aren't coming to us.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Right, right, because it's all kind of there Right
and that's also why thefootprint sizes are reducing.
Also to your point, thestaffing, the niching, all of
that, when you can control thebottom line easily and you don't
have to worry if Harry or Sallyare showing up for work, you
don't have to worry if Harry orSally are showing up for work,
it's not going to have as big ofan effect that that's a win in
(15:29):
so many ways for the differentoperators.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
But how would you?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
say mindset is also shifting right.
So we're niching.
How do you think the mindset isshifting?
And also the role between theownership and the employees.
It seems like here locally,there's a lot more that's being
invested in healthcare anddifferent things of that nature
for certain restaurant groups,others are not, and so you'll
(15:56):
see a difference in longevity ofemployees.
But what are you noticing?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, I mean, look, it's a good thing.
I mean anytime we can improvethe quality of our team members
lives and we can do things tohelp them grow and to develop a
career or build a career, versusjust like a transient job.
It's a good thing for theindustry, it's a good thing for
the company.
It's really hurting therestaurant industry because the
(16:24):
restaurant industry, therestaurant industry, is a broken
industry.
The business model that we haveall been operating under worked
when labor was cheap, whenlabor was readily available and
labor was cheap.
Restaurants worked.
All the restaurants we'retalking about, the big
restaurants, the big menus, thethis, the that.
(16:44):
When labor got really expensive,really quickly, and when labor
numbers reduced, the entirerestaurant business model broke.
And so now restaurants arestruggling.
They're trying to figure it out.
They never had to offerhealthcare because there was a
ton of people willing to work inrestaurants for cheap without
(17:04):
it.
Well, they're not willing to dothat anymore because they have
new jobs now.
The people who werehistorically applying for entry
level positions into restaurantscan now go work for Amazon
delivering packages and gethealth care and all this other
stuff and get decent pay.
And so why would they work in arestaurant.
So unfortunately, like I say,it's good for the world
(17:27):
Restaurants have to rebuild.
They have to rethink theirbusiness model so they can
either operate with less higherpaid labor or they have to be
able to operate.
They have to be able to sustainthat higher labor level
financially.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
No, it makes complete sense.
So what would you say is theusual transition time from when
you start working with people,right, like, who's that ideal
client for you and, roughly,what's a ramp up period for them
to get some of these differentsystems procedures in place?
And I know there's a lot ofvariability, but if you just had
to assign something reallyrough, Sorry, I'm laughing so
(18:09):
hard and it's not because it'snot a great question, because,
like I'm trying, instantly I'mtrying to figure out how am I
going to answer this withoutbeing a complete jerk?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I?
Speaker 1 (18:18):
just threw a curveball on that one, Ryan.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So, look, it's going to 100% come down to the
individual you.
You mentioned my insteadearlier, right?
Um, all growth happens outsideof the comfort zone.
So I do an exercise with peoplewhere I tell them to draw a
circle on a piece of paper,label it comfort zone and then
put a dot on that piece of paperwhere growth happens.
Most people are pretty good,they'll put the dot outside the
(18:42):
circle, but then when I ask themto do something that's
uncomfortable, they won't do it.
They don't understand thatgrowth happens outside the
comfort zone.
If it was comfortable then itwouldn't be growth, we would
already be doing it.
So the first thing is thatquestion is I have people who
literally can be on the phonewith me in five minutes, who can
watch one of my videos and sendme an email and say I watched
(19:04):
one of your videos.
I made that change instantly.
Three weeks later I've hadthese massive effects in my
restaurant because they did thework.
Yes, so the reality is like Icould get.
I have clients that I've workedwith for two years who don't do
any of the work.
Welcome to Heather Ewing, the CRE Rundown.
I am your host, Heather Ewing,and today I have a fantastic
guest for you.
It is Ryan Gromfin and he isthe restaurant boss.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hey everybody, how are you doing?
Thank you so much for having me, Heather.
It's really an honor and aprivilege to be here, so thank
you so much.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Definitely so.
We both love eating retail.
It's all this beautifulsynergistic arena, and why don't
you take a moment here to sharewith our guests what you do, so
they can better understand?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Absolutely so.
I have a background as a chef.
I grew up and I worked in acouple of five-star hotels
around the country one inBeverly Hills and one in Dallas
and through that experience Ikind of learned like, oh, this
is how you operate a restaurant.
And then one day I decided to.
I wanted to open up my ownplace.
So I went to go work at someindependents and I was like whoa
(00:59):
, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on.
This is not what it was like ina five-star hotel, and so I'll
spare the details for brevity.
But basically I teachindependent restaurant owners
how to build systems andprocesses and procedures so they
can scale their business.
So maybe a single unitrestaurant operator is
experiencing really high volumeand really growing and they're
(01:20):
getting stretched thin.
We can help put in place thesystems and processes and
procedures, help them developtheir team and build all of that
out so they can scale.
Or maybe they're opening up asecond or a third, or some of my
clients are opening up their24th location and so obviously
the systems and the processesget bigger.
But I like to say I helprestaurant owners scale their
(01:42):
business.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So yeah, that's perfect and it's definitely an
essential tool because, to yourpoint, there is a big difference
between one, possibly two, andthen getting into double digits
and things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So a messy system is going to equate to a painful
bottom line right, yeah, ofcourse.
Bottom line, right, yeah, ofcourse.
And I would encourage any ofyour listeners out there, even
if you're maybe not in therestaurant business.
But there's still.
What I tell people all the timeis like what I teach restaurant
owners.
I teach them because I knowrestaurants, but it's the same
systems and processes andprocedures for scaling any
business any, anything that youhave team members and employees
and sales and customers and allthat messy stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Exactly, it all goes together, yeah.
So what would you say?
Is you know of the systems, thepractices, procedures, all of
that?
Is there one particular areathat just seems to get people
more than others, or is it justacross the board, depending on
the type of restaurant?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I think there's probably two things that I see
happening the most, and thefirst is I like to say that
leadership and management, firstof all, they're two separate
things.
So let's always.
We can talk about that if wehave time, but we can talk about
the difference betweenleadership and management, but
leadership and management areseparate.
(03:03):
However, I find that peoplethink that they should naturally
be good at that, and thenthey're disappointed if they're
put into a management positionor if they've opened up their
own business and now they aremanagers, they are leaders, and
they're not good at that.
That is a learned skill.
It is not survival.
It is not survival.
(03:25):
We aren't born with instinctsas humans to be great managers
and to be great leaders.
We're born with skills of likefind food, kill, eat fire.
You know things like that.
Management is a very like.
In the last hundred years of ofevolution, we've had to learn
(03:47):
how to lead and manage people,and so people are not good at
this naturally, and that's okay.
So get curious, explore, go toseminars, read books.
Don't feel like you're lessthan because you're reading a
personal development or aprofessional or self help book,
(04:07):
Like don't label that.
That's no different thanlearning math or learning
English.
So I think the first thing is,just like this base level
knowledge of just learning howto manage people and how to lead
people.
The second thing is this idea ofsystems I don't want to
micromanage my team.
(04:29):
I want my team to be freethinkers and I want them to feel
that they have a voice.
I'm not saying in any way yourteam members don't or shouldn't
have a voice.
What I am saying is I lovemicromanaging.
What I am saying is I lovemicromanaging.
I love it and you should too.
(04:49):
It should not be a bad word.
Micromanaging became a bad wordbecause team members want to
complain about their bosses andso they say you're micromanaging
me.
The reality is, all greatprocesses are micromanaged.
You want your car.
You want the assembly line ofthe car that you drive to be
micromanage.
You want your car.
You want the assembly line ofthe car that you drive to be
micromanaged, Because if it'snot, you're going to have
rattles and you're going to havewind leaks and you're going to
(05:11):
have a loose transmission andyou're going to be leaking oil
because it's not put togetherwell.
So we all want products thatwere a product of
micromanagement, but for somereason we don't want to be
micromanagers.
So I think the second part ofthis is systems actually create
freedom.
When you have systems in yourbusiness, your team members will
(05:35):
be more free to create.
When we have systems that allowus to know what we're allowed
to operate within I call itrailroad tracks when we have
systems that say you know youhave to operate within this zone
, the railroad track then youhave freedom within those
railroad tracks, but just don'tgo left of it, Don't go right of
it, but stay in your zone.
(05:56):
And so again I think, kind ofrecapping, that the two biggest
things are one it's okay to notbe good at this.
Go learn it.
It's a learned skill, it's amuscle.
When you start running, you'renot going to run a marathon day
one, You're going to barely makeit around the clock, but six
months later you're a marathonrunner because you ran.
And so the second part of thistoo is like just get rid of that
(06:17):
word micromanaging.
Stop thinking that's a badthing.
Stop thinking that systems andprocesses and procedures are bad
thing.
Stop thinking that systems andprocesses and procedures are bad
.
There is no business in thisworld that got big thinking,
small and not systems andprocesses is small thinking.
So if you have a small businessand you want to get big, start
thinking and doing big.
If you have a small businessand you want to stay small, keep
(06:39):
thinking small.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And now that's a very valid point.
And for whatever reason theterms discipline and systems to
your point have's a very validpoint, and for whatever reason
the terms discipline and systemsto your point have such a
negative connotation, as well asmicromanaging?
And I think what happens isthat, like you say, it truly
does give freedom in thebrokerage world, right In the
early days of cold calling,canvassing, all of those
different things.
(07:02):
Sure, it's discipline, but itgave you freedom because then
you had a full pipeline, youwere enjoying the sales, You're
taking trips, You're doingthings, You're investing.
So it really is the ticket tofreedom.
So people need to shift thatmindset.
So, working with restaurants doyou also work with fast casuals
, or is it restaurants only?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, anything in sort of the food and beverage
space bars.
Is it restaurants only?
Yeah, anything in sort of thefood and beverage space Bars,
nightclubs, restaurants, foodtrucks yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, okay, perfect, no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah.
So it's usually thisinteresting thing where, like
brick and mortars, want to add afood truck.
Ok, don't do it.
And food trucks want to.
Sometimes you know they startgrowing and they want to go to
brick and mortar.
When I say don't do it, I'mjoking.
What I guess I'm trying to sayis like know what you're getting
into, because it takesdifferent skills, it takes
(08:03):
different um, operational thingsthat are.
They're just different.
So but yeah, um, we see that alot.
We see, we see that a lot.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Perfect.
And then I understand you're inAustin, texas, we're here in
Madison, wisconsin.
Do you work throughout thecountry?
Then?
Any international work?
Where is your?
I have clients all over theworld.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I say I have clients on six of the seven continents
and I think that's only becausethere are no restaurants in
Antarctica.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But yeah no.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I've worked with clients in China, which is a
challenge because my YouTubechannel, my emails none of that
gets through to China.
But I actually have.
I have some people who've movedto China and I and I've worked
with them.
But yeah, I work with clientsall over.
If you speak English, we can, Ican, I can work with you.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Excellent, I like it.
You're easy to refer then forme.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Oh, thank you, that would be awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, definitely.
How would you say especially?
We all know everyone took amajor hit through COVID several
years ago and restaurants comingback, it's you know it's hurt
some degree because of peoplenot being in the offices.
Obviously, in restaurants youhave to be in person more
frequently than offsite.
(09:19):
What would you say you'venoticed in the past two years,
and where do you see us goingwith restaurants and fast
casuals?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So COVID was as a whole.
Covid was very good for therestaurant industry, Like if we
(09:49):
look at total restaurant inoffice.
They struggled a lot.
So overall, I think therestaurant industry is healthy.
I think it will remain healthy.
I think there's a couple ofthings that we need to be
looking at.
I think there's a couple ofthings that we need to be
looking at.
(10:09):
One is the shifting of how weeat, and I don't mean what foods
, I mean we don't cook anymore,Like some of us, dinosaurs still
cook, but we're not teachingour kids how to cook.
They're watching it on TV andsome of them are picking it up
because they're foodies, butyour average everyday family is
(10:31):
not cooking as much is notteaching their children how to
cook and as we get generational,generational, generational,
we're just going to lose thatskill completely.
So we have to be focusing moreon the delivery, the ready to go
meals, the meal prep, but justbasically the getting the food
(10:52):
into the home to go pick up, allof that.
The second thing, which is alittle more abstract, is more
about how we are consuming foodand what we're looking for.
A couple of things have changedin the last 10, 15 years and
we're seeing an acceleration ofthis now.
One is this level ofexpectation from our guests.
(11:16):
I talk about Food Network andTV shows, food cooking shows,
all of that.
The level, the expectation ofyour guest is higher than it's
ever been.
Everybody watches something foodrelated, whether it be on
TikTok or YouTube or FoodNetwork or Cooking Channel or
anything.
And so when we go to arestaurant now, if we see a
(11:39):
burger and we look at it andwe're like that doesn't look
like the burger at therestaurant I saw on TV the other
day, we're disappointed Becauseour world has gotten smaller.
No matter where we live now inthe world or in the country,
even if we live in a tiny littletown, we have access to the
whole world visually.
So our expectations are higher.
(12:00):
So if you're just servingaverage food, you're in trouble.
There is no room for averageanymore.
You have to be exceptional,because that's what the world
expects.
That doesn't mean expensive,but you have to be exceptional
in what you do.
The second part of this isbecause of the internet and
everything.
We don't just go to Italianrestaurants anymore.
We don't just go to Mexicanrestaurants anymore.
(12:21):
If we want pizza, we go to theplace that has the best pizza.
We don't care if their pasta isgood, we don't care if their
chicken dishes are good.
Now, maybe they serve all that,maybe they don't.
But what are we going to do?
We're going to Google bestpizza, we're going to read
reviews and we're going to findout who has the best pizza.
If we want a burger, we're notjust going to go to a restaurant
(12:42):
that serves everything.
We're going to go to burgerrestaurants.
So we're seeing this nichingdown which I love, by the way
but we're seeing this nichingdown of concepts to where.
Stop thinking about it.
If you're looking at openingsomething up, stop just thinking
I'm going to open up a Mexicanrestaurant.
Are you going to open up afajita restaurant, a burrito
restaurant, a taco restaurant?
(13:04):
But like just opening up aMexican restaurant, just opening
up an Italian restaurant, justopening up an American
restaurant?
Look, every town needs a coupleof them.
But that's not where the growthand excitement is, and it's a
good thing.
The reason I said I love it isbecause, as labor is getting
more expensive, harder to find,less people are specializing in
(13:25):
cooking, less people want tocook, less people want to run
restaurants.
We're going to have tospecialize in our product,
shrink our menu, because we'renot going to have these masters
of all jacks of none, theseamazing chefs, anymore.
We're going to have moreteenagers and kids who are
working in restaurants and wehave to be able to teach them
(13:47):
how to do a very specific job.
That's why you're seeing likeChick-fil-A explode, because,
one, it's food that people wantin a way that people want it,
but two, chick-fil-a can grow asfast as they want because they
don't have to worry aboutfinding team members.
They could have a team memberup and running in like two hours
(14:07):
, whereas most of theserestaurants it takes weeks or
months to get someone trained.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
So we've got to start thinking about that.
Well, and if you think about ittoo, Chick-fil-A right, I think
they've really connected withpeople from a sense of community
.
Yeah, absolutely reallyconnected with people from a
sense of community.
Yeah, absolutely their stance.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
They're closed on sundays they have the the
three-lane drive-thrus even inwisconsin.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Oh my god, it's unbelievable wide yeah, no, they
just, they have one the onenear us started as a one-lane
drive-thru during covid.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
They expanded it to two.
Now they're expanding it tothree like like you said it's
gonna be like.
It's gonna be like the 405freeway in la pretty soon.
But if that's not a testamentto prove what I'm saying, then
you're not.
You, then you.
Our audience is just not payingattention because chick-fil-a
is absolutely crushing it rightnow.
Oh, look what they selldefinitely chicken sandwich, but
(15:01):
yet we open up restaurants thatserve everything under the moon
and we can't figure out whypeople aren't coming to us.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Right, right, because it's all kind of there Right
and that's also why thefootprint sizes are reducing.
Also to your point, thestaffing, the niching, all of
that, when you can control thebottom line easily and you don't
have to worry if Harry or Sallyare showing up for work, you
don't have to worry if Harry orSally are showing up for work,
it's not going to have as big ofan effect that that's a win in
(15:29):
so many ways for the differentoperators.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
But how would you?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
say mindset is also shifting right.
So we're niching.
How do you think the mindset isshifting?
And also the role between theownership and the employees.
It seems like here locally,there's a lot more that's being
invested in healthcare anddifferent things of that nature
for certain restaurant groups,others are not, and so you'll
(15:56):
see a difference in longevity ofemployees.
But what are you noticing?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, I mean, look, it's a good thing.
I mean anytime we can improvethe quality of our team members
lives and we can do things tohelp them grow and to develop a
career or build a career, versusjust like a transient job.
It's a good thing for theindustry, it's a good thing for
the company.
It's really hurting therestaurant industry because the
(16:24):
restaurant industry, therestaurant industry, is a broken
industry.
The business model that we haveall been operating under worked
when labor was cheap, whenlabor was readily available and
labor was cheap.
Restaurants worked.
All the restaurants we'retalking about, the big
restaurants, the big menus, thethis, the that.
(16:44):
When labor got really expensive,really quickly, and when labor
numbers reduced, the entirerestaurant business model broke.
And so now restaurants arestruggling.
They're trying to figure it out.
They never had to offerhealthcare because there was a
ton of people willing to work inrestaurants for cheap without
(17:04):
it.
Well, they're not willing to dothat anymore because they have
new jobs now.
The people who werehistorically applying for entry
level positions into restaurantscan now go work for Amazon
delivering packages and gethealth care and all this other
stuff and get decent pay.
And so why would they work in arestaurant.
So unfortunately, like I say,it's good for the world
(17:27):
Restaurants have to rebuild.
They have to rethink theirbusiness model so they can
either operate with less higherpaid labor or they have to be
able to operate.
They have to be able to sustainthat higher labor level
financially.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
No, it makes complete sense.
So what would you say is theusual transition time from when
you start working with people,right, like, who's that ideal
client for you and, roughly,what's a ramp up period for them
to get some of these differentsystems procedures in place?
And I know there's a lot ofvariability, but if you just had
to assign something reallyrough, Sorry, I'm laughing so
(18:09):
hard and it's not because it'snot a great question, because,
like I'm trying, instantly I'mtrying to figure out how am I
going to answer this withoutbeing a complete jerk?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I?
Speaker 1 (18:18):
just threw a curveball on that one, Ryan.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So, look, it's going to 100% come down to the
individual you.
You mentioned my insteadearlier, right?
Um, all growth happens outsideof the comfort zone.
So I do an exercise with peoplewhere I tell them to draw a
circle on a piece of paper,label it comfort zone and then
put a dot on that piece of paperwhere growth happens.
Most people are pretty good,they'll put the dot outside the
(18:42):
circle, but then when I ask themto do something that's
uncomfortable, they won't do it.
They don't understand thatgrowth happens outside the
comfort zone.
If it was comfortable then itwouldn't be growth, we would
already be doing it.
So the first thing is thatquestion is I have people who
literally can be on the phonewith me in five minutes, who can
watch one of my videos and sendme an email and say I watched
(19:04):
one of your videos.
I made that change instantly.
Three weeks later I've hadthese massive effects in my
restaurant because they did thework.
Yes, so the reality is like Icould get.
I have clients that I've workedwith for two years who don't do
any of the work.
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