March 17, 2025 • 53 mins
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The gap between chaotic success and sustainable excellence often comes down to one thing: intentional leadership.
In this episode, Brett Russell, Director of Operations at Golden Mill, shares how he transformed a high-volume food hall by focusing on frontline insights and a people-first culture.
In a fast-paced restaurant environment, balancing leadership with the right technology is crucial. Smart tech solutions help streamline operations, track performance, and empower teams. Looking for scalable solutions? Check out RTI’s restaurant technology resources for tools that support labor management, financial visibility, and more.
Brett’s journey proves that understanding your people first—before financials or efficiencies—creates game-changing results. By training in every position, conducting one-on-ones, and mapping the guest experience, he uncovered insights no spreadsheet could reveal.
What makes this conversation so valuable? Brett’s practical, immediately applicable strategies. He shares how small systems changes—like defining guest greeting responsibilities or revamping interviews to identify natural hospitality skills—created massive improvements. His insight: "I'd rather teach the technical side to someone who knows how to make people happy than try to teach engagement"—challenges conventional hiring wisdom in the best way.
The transformation wasn’t easy. Brett discusses a full management team turnover, offering insights on balancing giving people opportunities with making tough decisions. The results? Engaged employees, consistent growth, and a team that proudly calls their workplace 'the best in town.'
Whether you're improving an existing operation or elevating your team’s performance, this episode delivers concrete strategies for building a people-first culture. Try one of Brett's approaches today—you might be surprised by the impact.
Resources:
The Hospitality Leader's Roadmap
P.S. Ready to take your restaurant to the next level? Here are 3 ways I can support you:
- One-on-One Coaching - Work directly with me to tackle your biggest leadership challenges and scale your operations with confidence. Learn more at christinmarvin.com
- Multi-Unit Mastery Book - Get the complete Independent Restaurant Framework that's helped countless owners build thriving multi-location brands. Grab your copy at https://www.IRFbook.com
- Group Coaching & Leadership Workshops - Join other passionate restaurant leaders in transformative group sessions designed to elevate your entire team. Details at christinmarvin.com
Podcast Production: https://www.lconnorvoice.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Today I've got an extraordinary guest on the show,
brett Russell, who is theDirector of Operations for
Golden Mill, which is a verysuccessful, high-volume food
hall in Golden, colorado.
Brett is going to share with ustoday his process and roadmap
transitioning into an existingbusiness on how he has been able
(00:30):
to impact the culture of theorganization and just produce
some incredible results.
His process starts with peopleand he's going to give us some
very specific tools andstrategies that he's been able
to use in this instance and inaddition to his entire career of
managing restaurants andmanaging teams and growing teams
(00:51):
.
These processes and thesestrategies are really really
really simple, basic andsomething that you can
immediately take and apply.
So even if you take one littlenugget of wisdom from this show,
it can really make a big impactin your restaurant.
Or you can take 50.
There's just this.
This episode is action packedwith so many valuable resources,
(01:14):
so hope you enjoy.
Welcome to the RestaurantLeadership Podcast, the show
where restaurant leaders learntools, tactics and habits from
the world's greatest operators.
I'm your host, kristen Marvin,with Solutions by Kristen.
I've spent the last two decadesin the restaurant industry and
(01:36):
now partner with restaurantowners to develop their leaders
and scale their businessesthrough powerful one-on-one
coaching, group coaching andleadership workshops.
This show is complete withepisodes around coaching,
leadership development andinterviews with powerful
industry leaders.
(01:57):
You can now engage with me onthe show and share topics you'd
like to hear about leadershiplessons you want to learn and
any feedback you have.
Simply click the link at thetop of the show notes and I will
give you a shout out on afuture episode.
Thanks so much for listeningand I look forward to connecting
.
(02:20):
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(04:09):
Brett, let's jump in.
So let's go back a couple ofyears to when you first
transitioned into Golden Milland give listeners a little bit
of background, real quick, onwhat Golden Mill is and what you
guys do.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, so the Golden Mill.
We are a food hall, we havefive different food vendors in
our space, we have merchandiseand we've got about 12,000
square feet interior and then alarge outdoor space and we're in
Golden.
Colorado.
It's a really great location.
(04:46):
We're along Clear Creek, whereeverybody comes in tubes and
kayaks.
And then we overlook the CoorsBrewery, so it's a real
experiential place, right.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, you guys do so much with community.
It's just a packed house allthe time, gorgeous rooftop,
great, great food.
I mean you've got some of thebest of the best in Denver when
it comes to food and just akiller experience.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So, yeah, yeah it's.
We've been really lucky to havesome great operators in there
and we have 56 tap self-portbeer, wall beer, wine, spirits.
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, you got some good NA stuff in there too.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
We do.
Yeah, we've been focused onthat and we've seen that segment
grow.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, I love it.
So let's go back to yourtransition in as director of
operations.
Would you kind of paint thepicture of what Golden Mill
operations looked like at thattime?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah.
So you know, my, my, I've gotkind of a bit of a convoluted
story with Golden Mill in that Iwas part of the operational
team before when it was beingbuilt and then left for a couple
of years before we ever gotopen.
That was right in the middle ofCOVID, you know there was some
uncertainty there.
(06:06):
But I left and then came backat the beginning of 2023 in a
consulting role and initially myapproach there, my charge, was
to come in and identifyopportunities.
You know, I think that reallythe Golden Mill is a great
(06:26):
success story in that the volumeand demand from the day they
opened the doors far exceededwhat their initial expectations
were, which is, you know, it's agreat problem to have.
But I think the first year totwo years it was a lot of kind
of hold on, get through the dayand then, you know, recoup to
(06:51):
just get through the next day.
It was a little overwhelming.
Ownership had recognized thatthere was, there was, there was
opportunity there that you knowthey wanted systems built and a
focus on hospitality, and reallyit was kind of a recognition
(07:13):
that we have this amazing thing.
But if we are not intentionaland if we don't invest in in our
, in our operations.
It could go away Right Like wecould.
We could.
We could could lose thislightning in a bottle that we
found.
So you know, initially it wascoming in and observing and then
(07:36):
presenting, you know, myrecommendations.
At that point they engaged meto execute on those observations
and then that pretty quicklyand naturally led to this DOO
role, and that was June of 23.
So it was about a six, sevenmonth process to go from hey
(07:59):
I'll take a look and tell youwhat I see to hey, can you
please take all these things andmake them happen?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Right, I love it.
I don't know if I told you this, but when I was just out for
your guys' retreat, we were allthat last night sitting at the
dinner table that amazing dinnerthat you had coordinated for
everybody and there were storiesgoing around with the ownership
team I don't know if you werelistening in or if you were near
, but stories going around aboutthose first couple weeks in
(08:27):
operation and how crazy thatdemand was and how they were
like we have no idea what wewere doing.
We've never done this before.
And so they were talking abouttrying to be the bouncers and
how much of a catastrophe thatwas, and then hiring security
just to keep up with the flow ofpeople coming in.
So I love that they brought youin as the expert.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I think they thought they were turning on a garden
hose and it turned out to be afire hose, right?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Totally, totally.
That's great.
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(09:20):
audio book today audiobook today.
So what were some of thoseinitial opportunities that you
identified that needed to go?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, I mean, you know there was, I would say,
like a lot of things.
A lot of it came down to peopleright, to accountability, to
bringing in the right people, tosetting clear expectations and
then to have the systems andleadership team in there, that
that we're able to do that aswell.
You know, I won't go into theweeds with it, but like, for
(09:58):
instance, one of the firstthings I noticed is at the
Golden Mill we have two kind ofprimary front of house facing
positions.
Right, we have a host andthey're at our host stand
checking people in, explaininghow the process works.
We use RFID cards so it can bea little confusing to somebody
that hasn't been in there before.
(10:20):
So their job is to welcome themin, explain how everything
works, get them set up to enjoythe experience at the Golden
Mill.
And then we have what we callbeer wall ambassadors.
They are along our self-pourwall and their job is to show
people how to use it, recommendbeers and really, at the heart
of it, it's a way to injectwelcoming hospitality into a
(10:44):
self-serve model.
That's been a focus sincebefore I was there.
It's been a goal.
But really, how do we injecthospitality into a self-pour
beer, self-pour model andself-serve model so that it
doesn't feel transactional right.
We think that hospitality isjust as, if not more, important
(11:04):
in our model as it would be in afull service.
So we have these beer wallambassadors that are there to
welcome, show, help, recommend,and when I came in I noticed one
of the first things I noticedis that everybody was just
lumped into front of house andso we might have 10 people
scheduled but nobody wasassigned to a position or a
(11:29):
location and it was just kind ofdisorganized when they walked
in.
Expectations were difficultthere and accountability was
really difficult.
You know, my question to themanagement team at the time is
hey, I noticed that nobody is atthe host stand, while we have
people waiting to be greeted.
Whose?
(11:49):
Whose responsibility is that?
Because I see 10 names but Idon't know who.
Who is supposed to be up uphere, right?
Um, so, so just kind of somebasics.
There is, you know, assigning,assigning roles and
responsibilities, building clearexpectations on what a greed is
into the training, building atraining program.
(12:13):
You know, with your background,I'm sure you've seen amazing
training programs and you'veseen the training where it's
like, hey, this is Tim, he'sgoing to train you for the next
three days, just kind of watchwhat he does and try and do the
same thing.
Right, and we were kind of onthat barometer.
So, shifting to clear, concisetraining, structured, making
(12:38):
sure we're really laying out theexpectations and giving our
people the support and tools tomeet those expectations.
So that was a big deal.
And then in doing that.
You know it's kind of like arabbit hole.
You look into that and you go,okay, we need training, we need
tools to train with, we needsystems.
What's the best tool out there?
(12:59):
We brought in Opus so that wecan do, we, we can structure the
training there.
We've created SOPs.
We, you know we've we've builtto train the trainers program.
You know, we're actually rightnow in process this year for the
first time of of doing aessentially an application and
(13:20):
interview process for trainers.
So rather than saying, hey,this person would make a great
trainer, let's throw them inthere.
Um, we're asking our staff toto express interest in being
part of that um and interview,apply an interview for the
position and then um investingin their training as well to to
do so.
So, nice.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I'm curious to know why you're like what was
important to you about startingwith the people component?
Because you could have lookedat the P&L and started cutting
some costs and really dug intothe back end of things.
But what was it about thepeople focus that made you want
to start there?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Well, you know, I think that there's a few answers
to that question.
So high level, I would say youknow, I don't think you can ever
save your way to success, right?
So it's not to say thatefficiency and eliminating waste
and watching your bottom lineisn't important.
But I've always been a bigbeliever that if you want to
succeed you've got to reallyfocus on driving top line.
(14:25):
And you know the bottom linecomes with that on a kind of a
level of the day to dayoperations.
You know, I think anything whenyou, when you look at it, we're
a big, a big space that's bigvolume.
When you look at it, we're abig space that does big volume.
(14:49):
It does start with the people,because if people aren't bought
in and they're not motivated toreally execute that vision and
you know, when we talk aboutwanting to provide warm and
welcoming hospitality, I canonly be so many places.
The owners can only be so manyplaces, like, if our team isn't
(15:11):
bought into that vision, isn'tan extension of that vision and
mission, it just doesn't workright.
They need to understand whythat's our vision, they need to
get it and they need to feelsupported in doing it too.
Right there, there can't be a asituation, I think, where where
(15:34):
our employees, our team, feelthat they are separate than than
leadership.
We're, we're all in it togetherand they they have to be just
as bought in.
Yeah, you know, one of thethings we talked about early on
felt like a big, heavy lift islike what's really really
important to me and one way tokind of put success in this is I
(15:55):
want everybody that works atthe Golden Mill to be proud of
working at the Golden Mill towhere you know.
I think the way I phrased itearly on is I said you know,
when they walk into a differentbusiness or something anywhere,
when they're talking to somebody, I want them to say I work at
the best place in town to workat.
You know, I work at the GoldenMill and really preach that
(16:16):
versus we've all been aroundpeople where they're like oh
yeah, we're here and you know,and they launch into everything
that's wrong, right yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, totally.
So what were some of thestrategies that you used to get
the team bought in, and did youstart with leadership first or
hourly?
What did that look like?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I mean it started with leadership Right
and kind of understanding whattheir challenges are.
You know, there's when I camein both as a consultant and then
later when I transitioned intoa DO there are courses of
trepidation from currentemployees.
Right, there's people that arethere that are going.
What does this mean for me?
What's going to change?
(16:54):
Who is this person right?
So at the beginning it's a lotof observing.
I think it's understandingwhere everybody's coming from.
So it's one thing to have yourvision to say, hey, this is
where we want to be, but ittakes time to understand the
(17:22):
best way there and the way therethat brings along the team to
do that.
So, you know, it's really kindof empathizing and seeking to
understand where some of thesebreakdowns have occurred.
It's showing that you'rewilling to invest in your people
.
And then frankly, I mean it'skind of making expectations
clear at a certain point,because some people aren't
(17:44):
willing to come along.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
And and being able to make those, have those
conversations and make thosedecisions too, is important.
Right, if you're, if, if, ifyou're trying to create change,
I think there is an obligationto give everybody an opportunity
to get on board and be part ofthat change.
But if people aren't willing toget on board, then the ship
(18:08):
still needs to leave the harbor.
Right and focusing.
If the idea is that you'reafraid to ruffle any feathers, I
think you wind up never beingable to move or grow or do
anything.
So you know it's a peoplebusiness.
(18:29):
It's bringing along the peoplethat want to come along and
supporting them and reallydemonstrating that you're just,
you're invested in their successand development as well.
Right, and there's a lot ofways to do that.
Um, and then it's also it'sfrom that point on, really
investing in the people.
I'll give you another example.
(18:49):
I said in one of the interviewsfor an hourly employee right
out of the gate, and it was likeit, the interview was about 98
just telling this person kind ofhow the golden mill worked and
what it meant for them.
I don't know that one questionwas asked of this individual,
right?
So we weren't seeking to really, we weren't investing in
(19:11):
finding the right people thatfits for that.
Coincidentally, that person gothired and they wound up being a
great employee, so we got umyou can edit that out.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Um it, it.
It was one of those thingswhere it's you know, I I really
believe that you have to.
You have to invest in thatprocess, on finding the right
people and then in bringing themin and making sure that that
they understand the culture andthe mission and investing in
their training again.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, I think that's a really great point.
You're just giving me a momentof insight that I haven't really
thought about, just thinkingabout the interview process as a
moment to invest in somebody.
There's so many.
You're so right that there I'vebeen through a lot of
interviews where people havejust talked at me or I've
brought a resume to an interviewand somebody looked at it and
said what is this?
And I'm like you know, I'mtrying to tell you about me and
(20:04):
and you know what, whatexperience I could bring to the
table, and I think it's it's soimportant to have a good balance
of letting somebody know whatthe expectations are but then
also really getting to know themand making sure that they're a
great cultural fit and, like youmentioned, that they match the
mission and the vision that youhave for the organization.
That's um.
Looking at that as an initialinvestment is um is really
(20:29):
really special, and I I wouldchallenge anybody listening to
this to go back to theirinterview process and and really
ask yourself like, are weinvesting in people out of the
gate?
Because it is such an importantfirst impression about how that
employee is going to be treatedand developed in and invested
in down the road with theorganization.
So kudos to you for looking atthat.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Absolutely.
I'd even take it a step further, kristen, in like defining what
will make that personsuccessful in the role.
So, like we were, you know oneof the things that our team was
really looking at early on.
You know that I say, hey, whatdo you look for in an employee?
You know, when you're sittingdown and you're looking at
(21:11):
resume and one of the biggestthings that initially I was
being told was, hey, experience.
I want somebody that's got aton of experience.
Well, when you define what we'relooking for in a role, I mean
our beer wall ambassadors.
They're along the beer wall andthe main thing they're doing is
engaging and talking to peopleand making them feel welcome,
(21:33):
right, well, no, 20 years ofbartending experience doesn't
necessarily translate to that.
Like some one of my, one of mymost hospitable people that I
have on the beer wall is afootball coach.
Right, he's just a big,gregarious guy.
I can teach him what thedifferent beers are and how it
(21:54):
works.
Like.
That is not difficult.
What, what is?
What is a very difficultprocess.
Almost impossible is to take anintrovert that doesn't enjoy
speaking to people and say, hey,you're going to be on this wall
and I need you to talk to athousand people today, right?
So really defining what makessomebody successful in that role
(22:15):
, it doesn't mean that this20-year bartender that's really
focused on like craft cocktailsand mixology is a bad person or
a bad employee.
It's just saying that I don'tknow that that person's going to
be successful in our role orhappy and satisfied, right?
So you know, it's as muchfinding people that will be
(22:38):
happy and satisfied in the roleas it is finding people that we
believe can do it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, and I think you know, when you say you know we
want to hire somebody withexperience, I think it certainly
depends on the role thatthey're playing.
But that's also a very oldschool way of thinking.
You know, back in the early2000s there were a plethora of
people out there used to postjobs and get hundreds and
hundreds of applications ofpeople that had been in the
(23:05):
industry for a long time, andthat's just not the case these
days.
And so people, if they'rehanging on to that, it's going
to be a huge roadblock and bevery challenging for them to
find people, which is just goingto take longer to fill those
spots.
So again, like adaptability isper position, you know is is is.
I think what you're, whatyou're getting at here, is like
(23:26):
looking at the role and thenfinding the person that matches
that role, not trying to findsomebody who's already done that
job.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
A hundred percent and if, if the market is and I
would say a lot of people in themarket are looking at that.
They're looking for people,experience, right A lot of us
were taught growing up.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
You know, coming up in this industry.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
You look and how many years serving experience do
they have?
How many years experience theyhave here for people that are
passionate and are hospitableand enjoy making people happy.
It gives you a competitiveadvantage in hiring in the
(24:08):
market because your pool hasjust increased dramatically,
right, and then you just have tofocus and invest in teaching
those people the specifics ofthe job.
But that just takes me rightback to.
I would rather teach somebodythe technical specifics of a job
that already gets how to makepeople happy than try and take
somebody and teach them how toengage people right.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
So hey there, podcast friends.
I hope you're enjoying theseimpactful conversations and
leadership insights I'm bringingyou each week.
Before we dive back intotoday's episode, I want to take
a moment and reach out and ask asmall favor.
That would go a long way insupporting the show.
If you've been loving thecontent I'm providing, please
(24:51):
take a moment to leave a ratingand review.
Wherever you listen to yourpodcasts, Not only does it make
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Your reviews boost myvisibility, attract new
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So if you want to be part of myshow's growth journey, hit that
(25:13):
review button and let me knowwhat you think.
Thanks a million for beingawesome listeners.
How are you identifyinghospitality in the interview
process with somebody?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
And let me know what you think.
Thanks a million for beingawesome listeners.
How are you identifyinghospitality in the interview
process with somebody you know alot of?
It is just focusing onauthenticity and I would say
like if we're talking challengesthere, right.
One of the biggest challenge ininterviewing for hospitality, I
think, is some of us get overlyfocused on how just quick and
easy they talk to people andwhat you wind up missing is
(25:47):
people that get nervous ininterviews, right Like.
I've had some really amazingemployees that are super
engaging and really good peopleprovide amazing hospitality.
That frees up in interviews alittle bit, right.
I had a friend tell me one time,or a mentor one time, they're
like people that interviewreally well, interview a lot.
(26:08):
That's not necessarily a goodthing, right.
So kind of digging throughthere and having the patience
with people, making themcomfortable so you can see kind
of who they are, giving them asafe space to open up and be
themselves in that interview,it's a skill for sure.
And balancing that with alsokind of digging in because I'm
(26:34):
not a huge fan of just a pureconversational interview, right
Like.
I do think you need to dig alittle bit and and uh and kind
of find out what their corevalues are, um, but do so in a
way that you can kind of seeglimpses of who they are when
they're when they're comfortable.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So let's go back to your again.
When you were kind oftransitioning in was there?
Did you go in with a plan oflike I'm going to observe for 30
days, 60 days, 90 days and thenI'm going to start implementing
, or did you just kind of knowwhen that moment was?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
where you needed to stop observing and start jumping
into action.
What did that look like?
Yeah, you know it was.
I think initially we were.
We were on a 60 day plan, right?
So it was hey, I'm going toobserve for 60 days and by
observe I don't mean I'mstanding in the corner with a
notepad taking notes.
I went through a trainingprogram at each, at each
position.
You know.
I said hey, I'm a new, I'm anew quarter.
(27:30):
What?
What's the process?
Right?
Who do I train with?
What does training look like?
Put me on dish, I want to.
I want to learn how adishwasher is trained.
I want to learn how a beer wallambassador is trained.
So, definitely hands on, butnot expressing opinions, Right,
it was a lot of one on one.
(27:51):
So interviewing all themanagers, sitting down with them
, getting them comfortable,sitting down with just different
people on the hourly team,sitting down with our licensees
and finding out what the painpoints for them were.
It was a process of learningand understanding and then
putting together this proposalright, and I apologize, I don't
(28:15):
remember exactly.
I think we were a little aheadof schedule.
I don't think it took 60 fulldays to get there to the
observational piece, but weessentially led to a
presentation with a proposal andI came at it with the ownership
and said here are myrecommendations and here's what
(28:35):
I would do if I were in yourshoes.
Here's what I would do if Iwere in your shoes, if I was the
sole owner of the Golden Mill.
Here's what I would do andhere's how I would prioritize
these initiatives.
And then my approach was ifyou'd like, this can be it, I
can hand this off to you and youcan run with this, or I can
(28:57):
help you execute and implementthese.
And thankfully they said we'dlove for you to implement and
execute these.
And I think we spent there wasprobably an initial 30 to 60
days where I was focused solelyon that.
And then, from a consultantstandpoint, you get into some
(29:20):
some kind of weird areas whereI'm like, hey, this isn't really
in my scope of work, but itfeels weird to say not my, not
my problem, right, um, and thoseconflicts I think.
I think we understood on bothsides so pretty quickly.
It led to hey, let's just,let's just get you on board and
(29:42):
go Right.
And so it was, you know it was.
I feel fortunate that we've gota great ownership team.
I think we all.
You know everybody brings kindof different things to the table
, but everybody's aligned inwhat the ultimate goals and
mission are.
So it always, even wheneverybody's in a room and you
(30:07):
might disagree on the pathwaythere, you're never doubting
that everybody has the same goalright.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, yeah.
How did you, out of all thoseinitiatives that you identified,
how did you know how toprioritize those?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
You know it's part of it is one starting starting
with people, right?
So, so it's.
It's kind of like building ahouse, right, you, you, you
don't, you're not worried aboutthe pain on the walls before you
poured the foundation.
So it's like, hey, we need agreat team that's invested,
understands our mission and feelsupported, so that we can
(30:45):
utilize this team to startdriving these initiatives.
Right?
So, you, you, you focus on, onbuilding the tools that are
going to help you, um, kind ofbuild the rest of it.
Um, and then and then also, youknow it's not a perfect science
because, as we all know, inthis industry, you know it moves
(31:07):
fast and you know you're tryingto grab opportunities.
So I can't say, hey, in threeyears we're going to provide
great hospitality, right, you go, hey, we need to focus on
building this foundation, but wealso have to address these
(31:27):
immediate concerns so that we'renot losing ground in terms of
our guests and demand and topline.
So it's a little bit of abalancing act and you have to be
able to to one move fast andyou have to be able to focus on
multiple, multiple things and,honestly, part of it is really,
(31:51):
I think, being vulnerable andtransparent with your team and
going.
We're going to try a bunch ofthings and not all of them are
going to work, and we want yourfeedback and we're listening to
you.
We want to know what's workingand what isn't, but you're going
to have to, you're going tohave to know this is an
imperfect kind of process to getwhere we want to go.
(32:12):
Right.
We're not going to bat athousand on every single thing
we do, but what we will becommitted to doing is always
hearing feedback, reevaluatingand pivoting when we need to.
You know we're not going tojust say, hey, here's the plan
and, no matter what, we're goingforward Right.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Yeah, totally.
Did you share that initial planwith the entire leadership team
?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
We did.
Yeah, yeah, we did we, you knowwe went in.
We did.
(33:00):
Yeah, yeah, we did.
We, you know, we went in, wentin with ownership.
So there was there's apresentation to ownership, and
then the next process was wassitting down with the leadership
team and saying our managementteam and saying, hey, here,
here's our observation.
I learned some lessons in doingthat.
You know, I think if my adviceto somebody, if somebody was in
that same position, Iunderestimated or maybe
overestimated that managementteam's understanding of what my
role was and what, what this is.
So you know, I'm going inexpecting everybody to this
(33:23):
management team could be reallyexcited about some of these
changes and I think there was aninitial trepidation because
they're naturally they're goingoh, how does this impact me?
Right, and I think there'sthere's a bit in that situation.
I was, I was probably, if I wasto go back, I would be a little
(33:46):
more delicate with that to notmake them feel like, hey, these
opportunities are a reflectionof the job that you've done.
I think I underestimated theimpact of that, right?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
So yeah, it's tough, right, you go in, you're excited
, you see opportunities, youknow you can do the job, you
know what the end result isgoing to be and what the impact
is.
But it's really difficult toget a younger team to get on the
same page when they have notexperienced that before.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Absolutely, you know, absolutely, and yeah, you know.
I think it's natural in thatsituation for somebody to go oh,
how does this impact my role,particularly if they're aware
that they're not performing well, right?
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
So let's, let's talk a little bit about leadership.
So you, you, you knowapproached everybody.
You let them know about thevision.
You gave them opportunities tobuy in Did.
Did they buy in?
What was that experience like?
Did they buy in?
What was that experience like?
Did they push back?
Were they all on board?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
There was pushback.
Initially.
We had you know, it was a smallmanagement team at the time,
right?
So we had kind of threesalaried managers at that time
full transparency.
None of those three people arestill with the company.
At that time Full transparency.
None of those three people arestill with the company.
(35:06):
I think we got some buy-in.
We had to part ways with thegeneral manager at one point and
I think that shook the othertwo.
There was a relationship there.
All in all, in that, I feel likewe gave everybody a great
chance to get on board andultimately, I think they just it
wasn't the spot for them, right, whether it was the change was
(35:28):
was something that they weren'tinto, whether it was our vision
they weren't able to buy into.
But but we didn't get there.
Now, during that process, webrought on two more salaried
managers.
They're both.
They're both kicking ass.
I mean, they're doing great andsince then we've now expanded
to, we've got a five personmanager team.
(35:49):
That that we're now going into.
We're getting close to turningon a year of continuity with
those people.
So, yeah, we feel really goodabout where we are today and the
people we've been able to bringon and, honestly, looking back.
(36:09):
Like you know, it took a littlewhile to build, but it was
worth the investment.
And there were times, Kristen, Iknow you've been there we're
like, we're sitting there, we'reinterviewing for a position.
We're in, like, month three ofinterviewing for that position.
I've invested, you know, ahundred and something hours and
(36:31):
you start to feel like man, arewe ever going to find this
person?
You start questioning, you know, am I being too picky here?
Am I over filtering?
Are my expectations not?
Are they too big to not matchthe market?
But ultimately you always, whenyou do find that right person,
(36:53):
all that gets dispelled.
We always have to keep learningthat lesson Totally.
But, like, when you find it,you're like oh yeah, this is why
.
This is why I waited, you know,and this is why I trusted my
gut and held fast to myprinciples.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Right, yeah, I mean you know, when we were together
for your leadership retreat lastyear, you know it was all about
being a world class businessand offering world class
hospitality, and that comes witha lot of systems and a lot of
accountability, like you said,and a lot of expectations and
and and some pressure thereright To identify opportunities
(37:29):
and to keep learning and keepgrowing all the time, which can
be really fun or can seem reallydaunting and exhausting to
people Right and exhausting topeople right.
So it's Hi, everybody.
We're taking a quick break tooffer you an exciting
opportunity.
If you're a restaurant owner ormanager looking to enhance your
(37:50):
leadership skills, I invite youto join my 12-Day Leadership
Challenge.
In just 12 days, you'll receivea guided packet with actionable
strategies to transform yourleadership in less than five
minutes a day.
Join the challenge and thecommunity and grab your copy at
kristinmarvincom slash 12 days.
(38:14):
Now let's get back to the show.
It's difficult to you know.
I just commend you for, youknow, doing the work that you've
done over the last couple ofyears.
Having 100% management turnoverit's not.
That's not the goal when you goin right.
You and I worked together for along time, like I know how much
you invest in people and howyou really truly believe in what
(38:35):
you do.
And when you present a visionto somebody, there's that, that
hope and goal, that thateverybody buys in, that
everybody shares that sameexcitement too.
Right, and it's, it's difficultbecause you know I wonder how,
like how much time did you giveeach person to buy in?
Or or until you made thedecision that it just wasn't
(38:55):
going to work, or did they makethat decision for you?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Yeah, no.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
I mean a little of both Right.
So.
So, like it was, we, weessentially fully turned the
management team that was inplace about a year in right Over
the course of that, over thecourse of that year, you know,
talking about the retreat, I hada conversation with somebody
about the retreat that you didRight and and they were asking
(39:19):
like hey, do you have that go?
Was it worth it?
And one of the questions theyasked on the on the what was
worth it is, they found out theysaid so you know, two of the
four of your managers were gonea month after the retreat.
Do you feel that that was awaste of resources to to have
them go through that retreat?
And my response to them I waslike, actually I think it was an
(39:43):
amazing use of resourcesbecause it really showed me and
made me feel confident that,yeah, no matter what we invest
in these people, this just isn'tthe place for them.
Right.
It made it abundantly clear andit made it clear to the rest of
the management them.
Right.
It made it abundantly clear andit made it clear to the rest of
the management team right, thetwo that are doing so well today
(40:06):
.
I think it showed them.
It made it abundantly clearlike there's a separation here,
right, there's the people thatare like let's go, let's have a
really great business, let's bepart of something bigger than
ourselves, let's invest in ourpeople and like, let's take
pride in what we do.
And then there and then therewere people that are like I
(40:26):
don't, I'm not, I'm not here forthis, right, so it was, it was
a real aha moment.
Where you're, you know, I think, anybody that really cares
about their people, you, whereyou're, you know, I think,
anybody that really cares abouttheir people, you, you wrestle
and struggle with having to,having to, to to move somebody
along, right, to turn somebody.
(40:47):
It's if, if, if you're quickand easy with that, then, um,
you know, I think my dad told meone time he's like firing
somebody should be the hardestthing you ever do, and when it,
when it becomes easy, maybe dosomething else, right, so, so,
like that, that retreat in thatmoment, really, it really kind
(41:08):
of unraveled that struggle forus.
Where we go, okay, we, we nowknow, right, like we feel really
confident that this just isn'tthe place for, for, for these
people, and uh we're able tomake that decision confidently,
without any kind of uh, regretor or, or, you know, second
(41:28):
guessing, if, if it was theright move, so uh.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I mean it's interesting, right, because with
the retreats that we've done,it organically comes up right,
like you have the pain points.
You know we design the content,we know exactly what the agenda
is going to be for the two to.
You know four days that you'respending with that team, but you
don't know until you geteverybody in the room and then
you're delivering that content.
You don't know who's going tobe engaged, you don't know who's
(41:53):
going to be bought in, and yousee it.
You know it's different to havelike one meeting and see who's
speaking up and who's excitedand where the body language is
and what questions come upduring the conversation and then
what action is taken after that.
But to see that over a two orthree day span and then watch
that person consistently show upin a certain way is really
(42:15):
really telling.
I mean that's a very specialmoment that is really difficult
to duplicate, I think, in theday-to-day chaos controlled
chaos of the restaurant industry.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
That's a great point, right.
You can observe your team.
For a lot of times it feelslike minutes at a time in the
chaos of the day-to-day.
But putting them in a room forsix to eight hours for two or
three straight days it's.
It's a little harder to hide inthat Right Like yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
So, yeah, and especially, I mean you know it's
not like you're grilling themfor three days.
There's great meals and lots ofgreat food and fun and laughs
and activities and all that, andlots of great food and fun and
laughs and activities and allthat.
So, so focused on people.
You've talked a little bitabout the interview process.
You've talked about thetraining.
You've talked about coaching,the one-on-ones, the
observations.
You know, fast forward now twoyears.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
Paint a picture of what a day in the life of Golden
Mill looks like now.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, so you know, essentially we bolster our
management team.
We've really our kind of goalthis year is to invest in having
our higher level managers,giving them the bandwidth and
opportunity to work on thebusiness as well as in it, and
kind of utilizing thoseresources.
We have these great resources,the bandwidth and opportunity to
(43:39):
work on the business as well asin it, um, and and kind of
utilizing those resources.
We have these great resources,um, and great people that are
passionate and talented.
So giving them time and spaceto add to the business and and
build the framework of thebusiness and continue to drive
it forward, um, in a way, that'shard to do If you're the sole
person on to do, if you're thesole person on the floor the
(44:01):
entirety of your week.
But being able to trust them isgreat.
Being able to give a projectand say, hey, here's our desired
outcome, here's our objective,I'm here to support you, but you
go run with that.
That's something that we havetoday that we didn't have a year
ago.
Right, was that ability?
(44:23):
So?
And that's where it kind ofexponentializes that growth and
that drive forward with thebusiness, right?
So now, instead of me being thesole driver of it and then
having to delegate tasks, I canactually delegate projects and
objectives, right?
Nice, I mean, that's been huge.
(44:45):
We've built a lot of systems andbrought in a lot of systems as
well.
Right, we changed our payrollcompany.
We brought in Opus.
We've really utilized some ofthe tools we already had, but
expanded what we can do.
Gotab, our POS, seven Shifts isour scheduling platform.
We've brought in a lot thatallow.
(45:05):
We brought in Triple C forevents kind of doing these
things that allows people to domore with their time, spend less
time just doing tasks and moretime driving programs right, so,
really, really investing inthose tools.
And then I say, investing inthose tools, investing in
(45:26):
utilizing those tools to theirmaximum capability, is big too.
Right, I've been guilty of thisplenty of times in my career,
where you bring something in,you roll it out and you don't
have time to come back to it andyou're you're utilizing 20% of
what it does.
Yeah, no, I, you know we.
(45:47):
I'll give you an example thatjust happened the other day
where we were, you know we'retalking about like different
audits and tasks.
You know, we're trying to tryingto get a tool to, uh, to come
where, say, our managers can gothrough our bathrooms in the
morning check off, hey, this isdone, this is done, this is done
, this is done.
And my first inclination waslike, hey, I know this I auditor
(46:08):
tool and we can use this.
But then you look and you'relike wait seven shifts which we
already use and is already oneverybody's phone has the same
functionality.
So really digging into thetools you already have and
making sure you're utilizingthem to their capability, I
think is a big thing.
That's easy to lose sight ofright?
(46:29):
You?
start using it for a very narrowfunctionality and never come
back to see all this cool stuffit can do.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, 100%.
That's great Great tip foranybody looking at your tech.
Think about this cool stuff youcan do.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
That's great Great tip foranybody looking at your tech.
Think about everything you wantit to do first, and then jump
in.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
I think you had a recommendation, kristen, the
other day and I felt this.
I was like, yeah, this is,you're absolutely right.
Like not spreading yourself sothin with tech, like not you
know, I think if you have 10different logins and use blah,
blah, blah, like people just getlost in that and then you're
not, you're not using it.
(47:06):
So, really trying to to get themost out of fewer solutions,
versus, hey, I'm going toeverything that's cool and fuzzy
, I'm going to put it all inhere and then we're not,
nobody's really using it, Right.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
Totally, totally.
That's great.
Um, how has this, all the workthat you've done over the last
couple of years?
How has it translated to thehospitality in the space and
how's it?
How's it translated to thebottom line?
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Uh, so, so, hospitality, um, our, our
culture today and it's it'sfunny because you, it happens
over a period of time, right, sothe gains aren't always day to
day, you know.
You know it's like a, it's likewatching a kid grow, right, like
you don't.
You don't every day go.
(47:54):
Hey, you're a, you know, a100th of an inch taller, but
after a year and a half you'relike, when did you get this tall
?
Like, when did this happen?
Right, it feels a little likethat.
So, so, when we really lookback and talk about some of the
opportunities and that we hadtwo years ago, and you're able
to kind of visualize that versuswhere we are today, and you're
able to kind of visualize thatversus where we are today, I
(48:17):
think we have a team that isabsolutely committed to that
hospitality.
They're happy, they're engaged.
It feels good to walk in thedoor, right, like, from my
standpoint, it feels good towalk in the door.
I think our owners havementioned that.
(48:38):
I think we've done away withmost of the us versus them and
the entitlement and all thatstuff that goes with that, to
where we're all on the same team, we're all collaborating and
everybody understands, hey, wewin together and we lose
together and we're here tosupport everybody in the
building and vice versa, right,and we need that support.
So I think we've made a ton ofinroads and a ton of progress
(49:02):
with that hospitality and thatculture.
And you know, we just give youlike an idea.
We just posted a job for atraining and hospitality manager
.
Right, it's an hourly managerposition that comes in and it's
somebody that can really helpdrive and execute our training
program that we've built.
(49:22):
And I just looked today andI've got, I think, four so far
in one day.
I've got four internalcandidates that have applied for
this job Year and a half ago.
I don't think we would haveseen that at all.
Right, so that's a big win toto see that, see that engagement
and that want and desire togrow and grow into opportunities
(49:46):
with this company.
Um, so, and from a bottom linestandpoint, um, we've seen, you
know we've continued to see yearover year growth.
Hopefully this year we will aswell.
You know, I think everybody's alittle bit what's going to
happen this year with everything, but we saw good growth for a
(50:06):
few weeks in January.
We've been kind of weatherhobbled these last couple of
weeks, so we'll see.
We're fairly weather dependent,so it's tough to predict the
future when it's five degreesoutside, right, like that tells
more of a weather story than agrowth story.
But we're confident that we cancontinue to do that and the
(50:26):
bottom line has been great.
We've seen continued growththere.
And then I think one thing thatI feel really fortunate to be a
part of this company is ourowners have a very long-term
vision for our space.
A lot of that bottom line getstranslated back into investment,
(50:51):
back into the space and thepeople.
So, you know, every year we are, we have more tools, you know
we have, we have more ability tocontinue to grow that top line,
which just translates to morebottom line, right?
So you know, whenever we'retalking about capital
expenditures or we're talkingabout, you know, should we add
(51:13):
this or do this?
It basically the conversationgets centered around does this
improve the guest experience?
Does this allow us to build abigger sense of community?
Does it, you know, does thisdrive our mission?
And if it does, let's let'smake it happen, right?
So totally.
Well.
God no, you go ahead.
(51:35):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
I was just going to say I, you know your story is
extraordinary.
You know, go ahead, I'm sorry,and you were super organized
about the way that you felt likethe initiatives needed to be
(51:59):
executed, but also reallyexhibit a ton of flexibility and
adaptability and knowing whenthings need to pivot right.
And you are so good at thelong-term strategy.
And that takes a lot of timeand energy right To coach and to
continue to get people to buyin and look for the right people
(52:20):
and make sure they're alignedwith the core values and culture
is really difficult to defineand it's it's difficult to build
and and it takes time.
So I, you know.
Thank you so much as you've donewith your team.
I saw your 2024 rap sheet ofwins and it's just absolutely
(52:41):
mind-blowing and incredible, andthank you for sharing your
process today with the listenerstoo.
I think the things that you'retalking about are not
revolutionary.
It's about the basics and it'sabout the people and it's about
setting clear expectations andbeing able to hold them
accountable to those andconstantly looking for ways to
grow the team internally andexternally, and you've got a
(53:03):
great roadmap to show people howto do it.
So great job.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Yeah, well, and thank you for being a part of it,
Kristen.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
Brett, again thanks for your time and being here and
please, listeners, share thisepisode with anybody that you
think could benefit from all theamazing nuggets of wisdom that
Brett shared with us today.
We will talk to you all verysoon.
Today I've got an extraordinary guest on the show,
brett Russell, who is theDirector of Operations for
Golden Mill, which is a verysuccessful, high-volume food
hall in Golden, colorado.
Brett is going to share with ustoday his process and roadmap
transitioning into an existingbusiness on how he has been able
(00:30):
to impact the culture of theorganization and just produce
some incredible results.
His process starts with peopleand he's going to give us some
very specific tools andstrategies that he's been able
to use in this instance and inaddition to his entire career of
managing restaurants andmanaging teams and growing teams
(00:51):
.
These processes and thesestrategies are really really
really simple, basic andsomething that you can
immediately take and apply.
So even if you take one littlenugget of wisdom from this show,
it can really make a big impactin your restaurant.
Or you can take 50.
There's just this.
This episode is action packedwith so many valuable resources,
(01:14):
so hope you enjoy.
Welcome to the RestaurantLeadership Podcast, the show
where restaurant leaders learntools, tactics and habits from
the world's greatest operators.
I'm your host, kristen Marvin,with Solutions by Kristen.
I've spent the last two decadesin the restaurant industry and
(01:36):
now partner with restaurantowners to develop their leaders
and scale their businessesthrough powerful one-on-one
coaching, group coaching andleadership workshops.
This show is complete withepisodes around coaching,
leadership development andinterviews with powerful
industry leaders.
(01:57):
You can now engage with me onthe show and share topics you'd
like to hear about leadershiplessons you want to learn and
any feedback you have.
Simply click the link at thetop of the show notes and I will
give you a shout out on afuture episode.
Thanks so much for listeningand I look forward to connecting
.
(02:20):
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(04:09):
Brett, let's jump in.
So let's go back a couple ofyears to when you first
transitioned into Golden Milland give listeners a little bit
of background, real quick, onwhat Golden Mill is and what you
guys do.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, so the Golden Mill.
We are a food hall, we havefive different food vendors in
our space, we have merchandiseand we've got about 12,000
square feet interior and then alarge outdoor space and we're in
Golden.
Colorado.
It's a really great location.
(04:46):
We're along Clear Creek, whereeverybody comes in tubes and
kayaks.
And then we overlook the CoorsBrewery, so it's a real
experiential place, right.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, you guys do so much with community.
It's just a packed house allthe time, gorgeous rooftop,
great, great food.
I mean you've got some of thebest of the best in Denver when
it comes to food and just akiller experience.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So, yeah, yeah it's.
We've been really lucky to havesome great operators in there
and we have 56 tap self-portbeer, wall beer, wine, spirits.
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, you got some good NA stuff in there too.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
We do.
Yeah, we've been focused onthat and we've seen that segment
grow.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, I love it.
So let's go back to yourtransition in as director of
operations.
Would you kind of paint thepicture of what Golden Mill
operations looked like at thattime?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah.
So you know, my, my, I've gotkind of a bit of a convoluted
story with Golden Mill in that Iwas part of the operational
team before when it was beingbuilt and then left for a couple
of years before we ever gotopen.
That was right in the middle ofCOVID, you know there was some
uncertainty there.
(06:06):
But I left and then came backat the beginning of 2023 in a
consulting role and initially myapproach there, my charge, was
to come in and identifyopportunities.
You know, I think that reallythe Golden Mill is a great
(06:26):
success story in that the volumeand demand from the day they
opened the doors far exceededwhat their initial expectations
were, which is, you know, it's agreat problem to have.
But I think the first year totwo years it was a lot of kind
of hold on, get through the dayand then, you know, recoup to
(06:51):
just get through the next day.
It was a little overwhelming.
Ownership had recognized thatthere was, there was, there was
opportunity there that you knowthey wanted systems built and a
focus on hospitality, and reallyit was kind of a recognition
(07:13):
that we have this amazing thing.
But if we are not intentionaland if we don't invest in in our
, in our operations.
It could go away Right Like wecould.
We could.
We could could lose thislightning in a bottle that we
found.
So you know, initially it wascoming in and observing and then
(07:36):
presenting, you know, myrecommendations.
At that point they engaged meto execute on those observations
and then that pretty quicklyand naturally led to this DOO
role, and that was June of 23.
So it was about a six, sevenmonth process to go from hey
(07:59):
I'll take a look and tell youwhat I see to hey, can you
please take all these things andmake them happen?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Right, I love it.
I don't know if I told you this, but when I was just out for
your guys' retreat, we were allthat last night sitting at the
dinner table that amazing dinnerthat you had coordinated for
everybody and there were storiesgoing around with the ownership
team I don't know if you werelistening in or if you were near
, but stories going around aboutthose first couple weeks in
(08:27):
operation and how crazy thatdemand was and how they were
like we have no idea what wewere doing.
We've never done this before.
And so they were talking abouttrying to be the bouncers and
how much of a catastrophe thatwas, and then hiring security
just to keep up with the flow ofpeople coming in.
So I love that they brought youin as the expert.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I think they thought they were turning on a garden
hose and it turned out to be afire hose, right?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Totally, totally.
That's great.
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Hospitality Leaders Roadmap.
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lasting impact in yourrestaurant.
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(09:20):
audio book today audiobook today.
So what were some of thoseinitial opportunities that you
identified that needed to go?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, I mean, you know there was, I would say,
like a lot of things.
A lot of it came down to peopleright, to accountability, to
bringing in the right people, tosetting clear expectations and
then to have the systems andleadership team in there, that
that we're able to do that aswell.
You know, I won't go into theweeds with it, but like, for
(09:58):
instance, one of the firstthings I noticed is at the
Golden Mill we have two kind ofprimary front of house facing
positions.
Right, we have a host andthey're at our host stand
checking people in, explaininghow the process works.
We use RFID cards so it can bea little confusing to somebody
that hasn't been in there before.
(10:20):
So their job is to welcome themin, explain how everything
works, get them set up to enjoythe experience at the Golden
Mill.
And then we have what we callbeer wall ambassadors.
They are along our self-pourwall and their job is to show
people how to use it, recommendbeers and really, at the heart
of it, it's a way to injectwelcoming hospitality into a
(10:44):
self-serve model.
That's been a focus sincebefore I was there.
It's been a goal.
But really, how do we injecthospitality into a self-pour
beer, self-pour model andself-serve model so that it
doesn't feel transactional right.
We think that hospitality isjust as, if not more, important
(11:04):
in our model as it would be in afull service.
So we have these beer wallambassadors that are there to
welcome, show, help, recommend,and when I came in I noticed one
of the first things I noticedis that everybody was just
lumped into front of house andso we might have 10 people
scheduled but nobody wasassigned to a position or a
(11:29):
location and it was just kind ofdisorganized when they walked
in.
Expectations were difficultthere and accountability was
really difficult.
You know, my question to themanagement team at the time is
hey, I noticed that nobody is atthe host stand, while we have
people waiting to be greeted.
Whose?
(11:49):
Whose responsibility is that?
Because I see 10 names but Idon't know who.
Who is supposed to be up uphere, right?
Um, so, so just kind of somebasics.
There is, you know, assigning,assigning roles and
responsibilities, building clearexpectations on what a greed is
into the training, building atraining program.
(12:13):
You know, with your background,I'm sure you've seen amazing
training programs and you'veseen the training where it's
like, hey, this is Tim, he'sgoing to train you for the next
three days, just kind of watchwhat he does and try and do the
same thing.
Right, and we were kind of onthat barometer.
So, shifting to clear, concisetraining, structured, making
(12:38):
sure we're really laying out theexpectations and giving our
people the support and tools tomeet those expectations.
So that was a big deal.
And then in doing that.
You know it's kind of like arabbit hole.
You look into that and you go,okay, we need training, we need
tools to train with, we needsystems.
What's the best tool out there?
(12:59):
We brought in Opus so that wecan do, we, we can structure the
training there.
We've created SOPs.
We, you know we've we've builtto train the trainers program.
You know, we're actually rightnow in process this year for the
first time of of doing aessentially an application and
(13:20):
interview process for trainers.
So rather than saying, hey,this person would make a great
trainer, let's throw them inthere.
Um, we're asking our staff toto express interest in being
part of that um and interview,apply an interview for the
position and then um investingin their training as well to to
do so.
So, nice.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I'm curious to know why you're like what was
important to you about startingwith the people component?
Because you could have lookedat the P&L and started cutting
some costs and really dug intothe back end of things.
But what was it about thepeople focus that made you want
to start there?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Well, you know, I think that there's a few answers
to that question.
So high level, I would say youknow, I don't think you can ever
save your way to success, right?
So it's not to say thatefficiency and eliminating waste
and watching your bottom lineisn't important.
But I've always been a bigbeliever that if you want to
succeed you've got to reallyfocus on driving top line.
(14:25):
And you know the bottom linecomes with that on a kind of a
level of the day to dayoperations.
You know, I think anything whenyou, when you look at it, we're
a big, a big space that's bigvolume.
When you look at it, we're abig space that does big volume.
(14:49):
It does start with the people,because if people aren't bought
in and they're not motivated toreally execute that vision and
you know, when we talk aboutwanting to provide warm and
welcoming hospitality, I canonly be so many places.
The owners can only be so manyplaces, like, if our team isn't
(15:11):
bought into that vision, isn'tan extension of that vision and
mission, it just doesn't workright.
They need to understand whythat's our vision, they need to
get it and they need to feelsupported in doing it too.
Right there, there can't be a asituation, I think, where where
(15:34):
our employees, our team, feelthat they are separate than than
leadership.
We're, we're all in it togetherand they they have to be just
as bought in.
Yeah, you know, one of thethings we talked about early on
felt like a big, heavy lift islike what's really really
important to me and one way tokind of put success in this is I
(15:55):
want everybody that works atthe Golden Mill to be proud of
working at the Golden Mill towhere you know.
I think the way I phrased itearly on is I said you know,
when they walk into a differentbusiness or something anywhere,
when they're talking to somebody, I want them to say I work at
the best place in town to workat.
You know, I work at the GoldenMill and really preach that
(16:16):
versus we've all been aroundpeople where they're like oh
yeah, we're here and you know,and they launch into everything
that's wrong, right yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, totally.
So what were some of thestrategies that you used to get
the team bought in, and did youstart with leadership first or
hourly?
What did that look like?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I mean it started with leadership Right
and kind of understanding whattheir challenges are.
You know, there's when I camein both as a consultant and then
later when I transitioned intoa DO there are courses of
trepidation from currentemployees.
Right, there's people that arethere that are going.
What does this mean for me?
What's going to change?
(16:54):
Who is this person right?
So at the beginning it's a lotof observing.
I think it's understandingwhere everybody's coming from.
So it's one thing to have yourvision to say, hey, this is
where we want to be, but ittakes time to understand the
(17:22):
best way there and the way therethat brings along the team to
do that.
So, you know, it's really kindof empathizing and seeking to
understand where some of thesebreakdowns have occurred.
It's showing that you'rewilling to invest in your people
.
And then frankly, I mean it'skind of making expectations
clear at a certain point,because some people aren't
(17:44):
willing to come along.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
And and being able to make those, have those
conversations and make thosedecisions too, is important.
Right, if you're, if, if, ifyou're trying to create change,
I think there is an obligationto give everybody an opportunity
to get on board and be part ofthat change.
But if people aren't willing toget on board, then the ship
(18:08):
still needs to leave the harbor.
Right and focusing.
If the idea is that you'reafraid to ruffle any feathers, I
think you wind up never beingable to move or grow or do
anything.
So you know it's a peoplebusiness.
(18:29):
It's bringing along the peoplethat want to come along and
supporting them and reallydemonstrating that you're just,
you're invested in their successand development as well.
Right, and there's a lot ofways to do that.
Um, and then it's also it'sfrom that point on, really
investing in the people.
I'll give you another example.
(18:49):
I said in one of the interviewsfor an hourly employee right
out of the gate, and it was likeit, the interview was about 98
just telling this person kind ofhow the golden mill worked and
what it meant for them.
I don't know that one questionwas asked of this individual,
right?
So we weren't seeking to really, we weren't investing in
(19:11):
finding the right people thatfits for that.
Coincidentally, that person gothired and they wound up being a
great employee, so we got umyou can edit that out.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Um it, it.
It was one of those thingswhere it's you know, I I really
believe that you have to.
You have to invest in thatprocess, on finding the right
people and then in bringing themin and making sure that that
they understand the culture andthe mission and investing in
their training again.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, I think that's a really great point.
You're just giving me a momentof insight that I haven't really
thought about, just thinkingabout the interview process as a
moment to invest in somebody.
There's so many.
You're so right that there I'vebeen through a lot of
interviews where people havejust talked at me or I've
brought a resume to an interviewand somebody looked at it and
said what is this?
And I'm like you know, I'mtrying to tell you about me and
(20:04):
and you know what, whatexperience I could bring to the
table, and I think it's it's soimportant to have a good balance
of letting somebody know whatthe expectations are but then
also really getting to know themand making sure that they're a
great cultural fit and, like youmentioned, that they match the
mission and the vision that youhave for the organization.
That's um.
Looking at that as an initialinvestment is um is really
(20:29):
really special, and I I wouldchallenge anybody listening to
this to go back to theirinterview process and and really
ask yourself like, are weinvesting in people out of the
gate?
Because it is such an importantfirst impression about how that
employee is going to be treatedand developed in and invested
in down the road with theorganization.
So kudos to you for looking atthat.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Absolutely.
I'd even take it a step further, kristen, in like defining what
will make that personsuccessful in the role.
So, like we were, you know oneof the things that our team was
really looking at early on.
You know that I say, hey, whatdo you look for in an employee?
You know, when you're sittingdown and you're looking at
(21:11):
resume and one of the biggestthings that initially I was
being told was, hey, experience.
I want somebody that's got aton of experience.
Well, when you define what we'relooking for in a role, I mean
our beer wall ambassadors.
They're along the beer wall andthe main thing they're doing is
engaging and talking to peopleand making them feel welcome,
(21:33):
right, well, no, 20 years ofbartending experience doesn't
necessarily translate to that.
Like some one of my, one of mymost hospitable people that I
have on the beer wall is afootball coach.
Right, he's just a big,gregarious guy.
I can teach him what thedifferent beers are and how it
(21:54):
works.
Like.
That is not difficult.
What, what is?
What is a very difficultprocess.
Almost impossible is to take anintrovert that doesn't enjoy
speaking to people and say, hey,you're going to be on this wall
and I need you to talk to athousand people today, right?
So really defining what makessomebody successful in that role
(22:15):
, it doesn't mean that this20-year bartender that's really
focused on like craft cocktailsand mixology is a bad person or
a bad employee.
It's just saying that I don'tknow that that person's going to
be successful in our role orhappy and satisfied, right?
So you know, it's as muchfinding people that will be
(22:38):
happy and satisfied in the roleas it is finding people that we
believe can do it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, and I think you know, when you say you know we
want to hire somebody withexperience, I think it certainly
depends on the role thatthey're playing.
But that's also a very oldschool way of thinking.
You know, back in the early2000s there were a plethora of
people out there used to postjobs and get hundreds and
hundreds of applications ofpeople that had been in the
(23:05):
industry for a long time, andthat's just not the case these
days.
And so people, if they'rehanging on to that, it's going
to be a huge roadblock and bevery challenging for them to
find people, which is just goingto take longer to fill those
spots.
So again, like adaptability isper position, you know is is is.
I think what you're, whatyou're getting at here, is like
(23:26):
looking at the role and thenfinding the person that matches
that role, not trying to findsomebody who's already done that
job.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
A hundred percent and if, if the market is and I
would say a lot of people in themarket are looking at that.
They're looking for people,experience, right A lot of us
were taught growing up.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
You know, coming up in this industry.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
You look and how many years serving experience do
they have?
How many years experience theyhave here for people that are
passionate and are hospitableand enjoy making people happy.
It gives you a competitiveadvantage in hiring in the
(24:08):
market because your pool hasjust increased dramatically,
right, and then you just have tofocus and invest in teaching
those people the specifics ofthe job.
But that just takes me rightback to.
I would rather teach somebodythe technical specifics of a job
that already gets how to makepeople happy than try and take
somebody and teach them how toengage people right.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
So hey there, podcast friends.
I hope you're enjoying theseimpactful conversations and
leadership insights I'm bringingyou each week.
Before we dive back intotoday's episode, I want to take
a moment and reach out and ask asmall favor.
That would go a long way insupporting the show.
If you've been loving thecontent I'm providing, please
(24:51):
take a moment to leave a ratingand review.
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Your reviews boost myvisibility, attract new
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So if you want to be part of myshow's growth journey, hit that
(25:13):
review button and let me knowwhat you think.
Thanks a million for beingawesome listeners.
How are you identifyinghospitality in the interview
process with somebody?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
And let me know what you think.
Thanks a million for beingawesome listeners.
How are you identifyinghospitality in the interview
process with somebody you know alot of?
It is just focusing onauthenticity and I would say
like if we're talking challengesthere, right.
One of the biggest challenge ininterviewing for hospitality, I
think, is some of us get overlyfocused on how just quick and
easy they talk to people andwhat you wind up missing is
(25:47):
people that get nervous ininterviews, right Like.
I've had some really amazingemployees that are super
engaging and really good peopleprovide amazing hospitality.
That frees up in interviews alittle bit, right.
I had a friend tell me one time,or a mentor one time, they're
like people that interviewreally well, interview a lot.
(26:08):
That's not necessarily a goodthing, right.
So kind of digging throughthere and having the patience
with people, making themcomfortable so you can see kind
of who they are, giving them asafe space to open up and be
themselves in that interview,it's a skill for sure.
And balancing that with alsokind of digging in because I'm
(26:34):
not a huge fan of just a pureconversational interview, right
Like.
I do think you need to dig alittle bit and and uh and kind
of find out what their corevalues are, um, but do so in a
way that you can kind of seeglimpses of who they are when
they're when they're comfortable.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So let's go back to your again.
When you were kind oftransitioning in was there?
Did you go in with a plan oflike I'm going to observe for 30
days, 60 days, 90 days and thenI'm going to start implementing
, or did you just kind of knowwhen that moment was?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
where you needed to stop observing and start jumping
into action.
What did that look like?
Yeah, you know it was.
I think initially we were.
We were on a 60 day plan, right?
So it was hey, I'm going toobserve for 60 days and by
observe I don't mean I'mstanding in the corner with a
notepad taking notes.
I went through a trainingprogram at each, at each
position.
You know.
I said hey, I'm a new, I'm anew quarter.
(27:30):
What?
What's the process?
Right?
Who do I train with?
What does training look like?
Put me on dish, I want to.
I want to learn how adishwasher is trained.
I want to learn how a beer wallambassador is trained.
So, definitely hands on, butnot expressing opinions, Right,
it was a lot of one on one.
(27:51):
So interviewing all themanagers, sitting down with them
, getting them comfortable,sitting down with just different
people on the hourly team,sitting down with our licensees
and finding out what the painpoints for them were.
It was a process of learningand understanding and then
putting together this proposalright, and I apologize, I don't
(28:15):
remember exactly.
I think we were a little aheadof schedule.
I don't think it took 60 fulldays to get there to the
observational piece, but weessentially led to a
presentation with a proposal andI came at it with the ownership
and said here are myrecommendations and here's what
(28:35):
I would do if I were in yourshoes.
Here's what I would do if Iwere in your shoes, if I was the
sole owner of the Golden Mill.
Here's what I would do andhere's how I would prioritize
these initiatives.
And then my approach was ifyou'd like, this can be it, I
can hand this off to you and youcan run with this, or I can
(28:57):
help you execute and implementthese.
And thankfully they said we'dlove for you to implement and
execute these.
And I think we spent there wasprobably an initial 30 to 60
days where I was focused solelyon that.
And then, from a consultantstandpoint, you get into some
(29:20):
some kind of weird areas whereI'm like, hey, this isn't really
in my scope of work, but itfeels weird to say not my, not
my problem, right, um, and thoseconflicts I think.
I think we understood on bothsides so pretty quickly.
It led to hey, let's just,let's just get you on board and
(29:42):
go Right.
And so it was, you know it was.
I feel fortunate that we've gota great ownership team.
I think we all.
You know everybody brings kindof different things to the table
, but everybody's aligned inwhat the ultimate goals and
mission are.
So it always, even wheneverybody's in a room and you
(30:07):
might disagree on the pathwaythere, you're never doubting
that everybody has the same goalright.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, yeah.
How did you, out of all thoseinitiatives that you identified,
how did you know how toprioritize those?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
You know it's part of it is one starting starting
with people, right?
So, so it's.
It's kind of like building ahouse, right, you, you, you
don't, you're not worried aboutthe pain on the walls before you
poured the foundation.
So it's like, hey, we need agreat team that's invested,
understands our mission and feelsupported, so that we can
(30:45):
utilize this team to startdriving these initiatives.
Right?
So, you, you, you focus on, onbuilding the tools that are
going to help you, um, kind ofbuild the rest of it.
Um, and then and then also, youknow it's not a perfect science
because, as we all know, inthis industry, you know it moves
(31:07):
fast and you know you're tryingto grab opportunities.
So I can't say, hey, in threeyears we're going to provide
great hospitality, right, you go, hey, we need to focus on
building this foundation, but wealso have to address these
(31:27):
immediate concerns so that we'renot losing ground in terms of
our guests and demand and topline.
So it's a little bit of abalancing act and you have to be
able to to one move fast andyou have to be able to focus on
multiple, multiple things and,honestly, part of it is really,
(31:51):
I think, being vulnerable andtransparent with your team and
going.
We're going to try a bunch ofthings and not all of them are
going to work, and we want yourfeedback and we're listening to
you.
We want to know what's workingand what isn't, but you're going
to have to, you're going tohave to know this is an
imperfect kind of process to getwhere we want to go.
(32:12):
Right.
We're not going to bat athousand on every single thing
we do, but what we will becommitted to doing is always
hearing feedback, reevaluatingand pivoting when we need to.
You know we're not going tojust say, hey, here's the plan
and, no matter what, we're goingforward Right.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Yeah, totally.
Did you share that initial planwith the entire leadership team
?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
We did.
Yeah, yeah, we did we, you knowwe went in.
We did.
(33:00):
Yeah, yeah, we did.
We, you know, we went in, wentin with ownership.
So there was there's apresentation to ownership, and
then the next process was wassitting down with the leadership
team and saying our managementteam and saying, hey, here,
here's our observation.
I learned some lessons in doingthat.
You know, I think if my adviceto somebody, if somebody was in
that same position, Iunderestimated or maybe
overestimated that managementteam's understanding of what my
role was and what, what this is.
So you know, I'm going inexpecting everybody to this
(33:23):
management team could be reallyexcited about some of these
changes and I think there was aninitial trepidation because
they're naturally they're goingoh, how does this impact me?
Right, and I think there'sthere's a bit in that situation.
I was, I was probably, if I wasto go back, I would be a little
(33:46):
more delicate with that to notmake them feel like, hey, these
opportunities are a reflectionof the job that you've done.
I think I underestimated theimpact of that, right?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
So yeah, it's tough, right, you go in, you're excited
, you see opportunities, youknow you can do the job, you
know what the end result isgoing to be and what the impact
is.
But it's really difficult toget a younger team to get on the
same page when they have notexperienced that before.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Absolutely, you know, absolutely, and yeah, you know.
I think it's natural in thatsituation for somebody to go oh,
how does this impact my role,particularly if they're aware
that they're not performing well, right?
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
So let's, let's talk a little bit about leadership.
So you, you, you knowapproached everybody.
You let them know about thevision.
You gave them opportunities tobuy in Did.
Did they buy in?
What was that experience like?
Did they buy in?
What was that experience like?
Did they push back?
Were they all on board?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
There was pushback.
Initially.
We had you know, it was a smallmanagement team at the time,
right?
So we had kind of threesalaried managers at that time
full transparency.
None of those three people arestill with the company.
At that time Full transparency.
None of those three people arestill with the company.
(35:06):
I think we got some buy-in.
We had to part ways with thegeneral manager at one point and
I think that shook the othertwo.
There was a relationship there.
All in all, in that, I feel likewe gave everybody a great
chance to get on board andultimately, I think they just it
wasn't the spot for them, right, whether it was the change was
(35:28):
was something that they weren'tinto, whether it was our vision
they weren't able to buy into.
But but we didn't get there.
Now, during that process, webrought on two more salaried
managers.
They're both.
They're both kicking ass.
I mean, they're doing great andsince then we've now expanded
to, we've got a five personmanager team.
(35:49):
That that we're now going into.
We're getting close to turningon a year of continuity with
those people.
So, yeah, we feel really goodabout where we are today and the
people we've been able to bringon and, honestly, looking back.
(36:09):
Like you know, it took a littlewhile to build, but it was
worth the investment.
And there were times, Kristen, Iknow you've been there we're
like, we're sitting there, we'reinterviewing for a position.
We're in, like, month three ofinterviewing for that position.
I've invested, you know, ahundred and something hours and
(36:31):
you start to feel like man, arewe ever going to find this
person?
You start questioning, you know, am I being too picky here?
Am I over filtering?
Are my expectations not?
Are they too big to not matchthe market?
But ultimately you always, whenyou do find that right person,
(36:53):
all that gets dispelled.
We always have to keep learningthat lesson Totally.
But, like, when you find it,you're like oh yeah, this is why
.
This is why I waited, you know,and this is why I trusted my
gut and held fast to myprinciples.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Right, yeah, I mean you know, when we were together
for your leadership retreat lastyear, you know it was all about
being a world class businessand offering world class
hospitality, and that comes witha lot of systems and a lot of
accountability, like you said,and a lot of expectations and
and and some pressure thereright To identify opportunities
(37:29):
and to keep learning and keepgrowing all the time, which can
be really fun or can seem reallydaunting and exhausting to
people Right and exhausting topeople right.
So it's Hi, everybody.
We're taking a quick break tooffer you an exciting
opportunity.
If you're a restaurant owner ormanager looking to enhance your
(37:50):
leadership skills, I invite youto join my 12-Day Leadership
Challenge.
In just 12 days, you'll receivea guided packet with actionable
strategies to transform yourleadership in less than five
minutes a day.
Join the challenge and thecommunity and grab your copy at
kristinmarvincom slash 12 days.
(38:14):
Now let's get back to the show.
It's difficult to you know.
I just commend you for, youknow, doing the work that you've
done over the last couple ofyears.
Having 100% management turnoverit's not.
That's not the goal when you goin right.
You and I worked together for along time, like I know how much
you invest in people and howyou really truly believe in what
(38:35):
you do.
And when you present a visionto somebody, there's that, that
hope and goal, that thateverybody buys in, that
everybody shares that sameexcitement too.
Right, and it's, it's difficultbecause you know I wonder how,
like how much time did you giveeach person to buy in?
Or or until you made thedecision that it just wasn't
(38:55):
going to work, or did they makethat decision for you?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Yeah, no.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
I mean a little of both Right.
So.
So, like it was, we, weessentially fully turned the
management team that was inplace about a year in right Over
the course of that, over thecourse of that year, you know,
talking about the retreat, I hada conversation with somebody
about the retreat that you didRight and and they were asking
(39:19):
like hey, do you have that go?
Was it worth it?
And one of the questions theyasked on the on the what was
worth it is, they found out theysaid so you know, two of the
four of your managers were gonea month after the retreat.
Do you feel that that was awaste of resources to to have
them go through that retreat?
And my response to them I waslike, actually I think it was an
(39:43):
amazing use of resourcesbecause it really showed me and
made me feel confident that,yeah, no matter what we invest
in these people, this just isn'tthe place for them.
Right.
It made it abundantly clear andit made it clear to the rest of
the management them.
Right.
It made it abundantly clear andit made it clear to the rest of
the management team right, thetwo that are doing so well today
(40:06):
.
I think it showed them.
It made it abundantly clearlike there's a separation here,
right, there's the people thatare like let's go, let's have a
really great business, let's bepart of something bigger than
ourselves, let's invest in ourpeople and like, let's take
pride in what we do.
And then there and then therewere people that are like I
(40:26):
don't, I'm not, I'm not here forthis, right, so it was, it was
a real aha moment.
Where you're, you know, I think, anybody that really cares
about their people, you, whereyou're, you know, I think,
anybody that really cares abouttheir people, you, you wrestle
and struggle with having to,having to, to to move somebody
along, right, to turn somebody.
(40:47):
It's if, if, if you're quickand easy with that, then, um,
you know, I think my dad told meone time he's like firing
somebody should be the hardestthing you ever do, and when it,
when it becomes easy, maybe dosomething else, right, so, so,
like that, that retreat in thatmoment, really, it really kind
(41:08):
of unraveled that struggle forus.
Where we go, okay, we, we nowknow, right, like we feel really
confident that this just isn'tthe place for, for, for these
people, and uh we're able tomake that decision confidently,
without any kind of uh, regretor or, or, you know, second
(41:28):
guessing, if, if it was theright move, so uh.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I mean it's interesting, right, because with
the retreats that we've done,it organically comes up right,
like you have the pain points.
You know we design the content,we know exactly what the agenda
is going to be for the two to.
You know four days that you'respending with that team, but you
don't know until you geteverybody in the room and then
you're delivering that content.
You don't know who's going tobe engaged, you don't know who's
(41:53):
going to be bought in, and yousee it.
You know it's different to havelike one meeting and see who's
speaking up and who's excitedand where the body language is
and what questions come upduring the conversation and then
what action is taken after that.
But to see that over a two orthree day span and then watch
that person consistently show upin a certain way is really
(42:15):
really telling.
I mean that's a very specialmoment that is really difficult
to duplicate, I think, in theday-to-day chaos controlled
chaos of the restaurant industry.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
That's a great point, right.
You can observe your team.
For a lot of times it feelslike minutes at a time in the
chaos of the day-to-day.
But putting them in a room forsix to eight hours for two or
three straight days it's.
It's a little harder to hide inthat Right Like yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
So, yeah, and especially, I mean you know it's
not like you're grilling themfor three days.
There's great meals and lots ofgreat food and fun and laughs
and activities and all that, andlots of great food and fun and
laughs and activities and allthat.
So, so focused on people.
You've talked a little bitabout the interview process.
You've talked about thetraining.
You've talked about coaching,the one-on-ones, the
observations.
You know, fast forward now twoyears.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
Paint a picture of what a day in the life of Golden
Mill looks like now.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, so you know, essentially we bolster our
management team.
We've really our kind of goalthis year is to invest in having
our higher level managers,giving them the bandwidth and
opportunity to work on thebusiness as well as in it, and
kind of utilizing thoseresources.
We have these great resources,the bandwidth and opportunity to
(43:39):
work on the business as well asin it, um, and and kind of
utilizing those resources.
We have these great resources,um, and great people that are
passionate and talented.
So giving them time and spaceto add to the business and and
build the framework of thebusiness and continue to drive
it forward, um, in a way, that'shard to do If you're the sole
person on to do, if you're thesole person on the floor the
(44:01):
entirety of your week.
But being able to trust them isgreat.
Being able to give a projectand say, hey, here's our desired
outcome, here's our objective,I'm here to support you, but you
go run with that.
That's something that we havetoday that we didn't have a year
ago.
Right, was that ability?
(44:23):
So?
And that's where it kind ofexponentializes that growth and
that drive forward with thebusiness, right?
So now, instead of me being thesole driver of it and then
having to delegate tasks, I canactually delegate projects and
objectives, right?
Nice, I mean, that's been huge.
(44:45):
We've built a lot of systems andbrought in a lot of systems as
well.
Right, we changed our payrollcompany.
We brought in Opus.
We've really utilized some ofthe tools we already had, but
expanded what we can do.
Gotab, our POS, seven Shifts isour scheduling platform.
We've brought in a lot thatallow.
(45:05):
We brought in Triple C forevents kind of doing these
things that allows people to domore with their time, spend less
time just doing tasks and moretime driving programs right, so,
really, really investing inthose tools.
And then I say, investing inthose tools, investing in
(45:26):
utilizing those tools to theirmaximum capability, is big too.
Right, I've been guilty of thisplenty of times in my career,
where you bring something in,you roll it out and you don't
have time to come back to it andyou're you're utilizing 20% of
what it does.
Yeah, no, I, you know we.
(45:47):
I'll give you an example thatjust happened the other day
where we were, you know we'retalking about like different
audits and tasks.
You know, we're trying to tryingto get a tool to, uh, to come
where, say, our managers can gothrough our bathrooms in the
morning check off, hey, this isdone, this is done, this is done
, this is done.
And my first inclination waslike, hey, I know this I auditor
(46:08):
tool and we can use this.
But then you look and you'relike wait seven shifts which we
already use and is already oneverybody's phone has the same
functionality.
So really digging into thetools you already have and
making sure you're utilizingthem to their capability, I
think is a big thing.
That's easy to lose sight ofright?
(46:29):
You?
start using it for a very narrowfunctionality and never come
back to see all this cool stuffit can do.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, 100%.
That's great Great tip foranybody looking at your tech.
Think about this cool stuff youcan do.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
That's great Great tip foranybody looking at your tech.
Think about everything you wantit to do first, and then jump
in.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
I think you had a recommendation, kristen, the
other day and I felt this.
I was like, yeah, this is,you're absolutely right.
Like not spreading yourself sothin with tech, like not you
know, I think if you have 10different logins and use blah,
blah, blah, like people just getlost in that and then you're
not, you're not using it.
(47:06):
So, really trying to to get themost out of fewer solutions,
versus, hey, I'm going toeverything that's cool and fuzzy
, I'm going to put it all inhere and then we're not,
nobody's really using it, Right.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
Totally, totally.
That's great.
Um, how has this, all the workthat you've done over the last
couple of years?
How has it translated to thehospitality in the space and
how's it?
How's it translated to thebottom line?
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Uh, so, so, hospitality, um, our, our
culture today and it's it'sfunny because you, it happens
over a period of time, right, sothe gains aren't always day to
day, you know.
You know it's like a, it's likewatching a kid grow, right, like
you don't.
You don't every day go.
(47:54):
Hey, you're a, you know, a100th of an inch taller, but
after a year and a half you'relike, when did you get this tall
?
Like, when did this happen?
Right, it feels a little likethat.
So, so, when we really lookback and talk about some of the
opportunities and that we hadtwo years ago, and you're able
to kind of visualize that versuswhere we are today, and you're
able to kind of visualize thatversus where we are today, I
(48:17):
think we have a team that isabsolutely committed to that
hospitality.
They're happy, they're engaged.
It feels good to walk in thedoor, right, like, from my
standpoint, it feels good towalk in the door.
I think our owners havementioned that.
(48:38):
I think we've done away withmost of the us versus them and
the entitlement and all thatstuff that goes with that, to
where we're all on the same team, we're all collaborating and
everybody understands, hey, wewin together and we lose
together and we're here tosupport everybody in the
building and vice versa, right,and we need that support.
So I think we've made a ton ofinroads and a ton of progress
(49:02):
with that hospitality and thatculture.
And you know, we just give youlike an idea.
We just posted a job for atraining and hospitality manager
.
Right, it's an hourly managerposition that comes in and it's
somebody that can really helpdrive and execute our training
program that we've built.
(49:22):
And I just looked today andI've got, I think, four so far
in one day.
I've got four internalcandidates that have applied for
this job Year and a half ago.
I don't think we would haveseen that at all.
Right, so that's a big win toto see that, see that engagement
and that want and desire togrow and grow into opportunities
(49:46):
with this company.
Um, so, and from a bottom linestandpoint, um, we've seen, you
know we've continued to see yearover year growth.
Hopefully this year we will aswell.
You know, I think everybody's alittle bit what's going to
happen this year with everything, but we saw good growth for a
(50:06):
few weeks in January.
We've been kind of weatherhobbled these last couple of
weeks, so we'll see.
We're fairly weather dependent,so it's tough to predict the
future when it's five degreesoutside, right, like that tells
more of a weather story than agrowth story.
But we're confident that we cancontinue to do that and the
(50:26):
bottom line has been great.
We've seen continued growththere.
And then I think one thing thatI feel really fortunate to be a
part of this company is ourowners have a very long-term
vision for our space.
A lot of that bottom line getstranslated back into investment,
(50:51):
back into the space and thepeople.
So, you know, every year we are, we have more tools, you know
we have, we have more ability tocontinue to grow that top line,
which just translates to morebottom line, right?
So you know, whenever we'retalking about capital
expenditures or we're talkingabout, you know, should we add
(51:13):
this or do this?
It basically the conversationgets centered around does this
improve the guest experience?
Does this allow us to build abigger sense of community?
Does it, you know, does thisdrive our mission?
And if it does, let's let'smake it happen, right?
So totally.
Well.
God no, you go ahead.
(51:35):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
I was just going to say I, you know your story is
extraordinary.
You know, go ahead, I'm sorry,and you were super organized
about the way that you felt likethe initiatives needed to be
(51:59):
executed, but also reallyexhibit a ton of flexibility and
adaptability and knowing whenthings need to pivot right.
And you are so good at thelong-term strategy.
And that takes a lot of timeand energy right To coach and to
continue to get people to buyin and look for the right people
(52:20):
and make sure they're alignedwith the core values and culture
is really difficult to defineand it's it's difficult to build
and and it takes time.
So I, you know.
Thank you so much as you've donewith your team.
I saw your 2024 rap sheet ofwins and it's just absolutely
(52:41):
mind-blowing and incredible, andthank you for sharing your
process today with the listenerstoo.
I think the things that you'retalking about are not
revolutionary.
It's about the basics and it'sabout the people and it's about
setting clear expectations andbeing able to hold them
accountable to those andconstantly looking for ways to
grow the team internally andexternally, and you've got a
(53:03):
great roadmap to show people howto do it.
So great job.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Yeah, well, and thank you for being a part of it,
Kristen.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
Brett, again thanks for your time and being here and
please, listeners, share thisepisode with anybody that you
think could benefit from all theamazing nuggets of wisdom that
Brett shared with us today.
We will talk to you all verysoon.
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