August 14, 2025 • 51 mins
Adam Hayes, CFO & Co-Owner of Larkin’s Restaurant Group, shares his journey from fry cook to executive chef to financial leader — and how he’s building a people-first hospitality brand that thrives.
In this episode, we talk about:
- His transition from chef to CFO
- Building a leadership bench across multiple locations
- Scaling culture without compromise
- Why “Be NICE” guides every decision
- How to hire and retain the right people
- The unexpected leadership boost of a kitchen pushup challenge
🎧 Watch & Listen:
- Full Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9_cvNzHkBzs
- “Be NICE” Teaser: https://youtube.com/shorts/BANepIgLIrg?feature=share
- Pushup Challenge Teaser: https://youtube.com/shorts/cW7t9TRVL_w
🔗 Resources & Links:
- Learn more: https://www.jasonebrooks.com/podcast
- Join the Leadership Circle: https://www.aimdrivescale.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the Leadership Table.
Today's guest is Adam Hayes, ahospitality leader whose journey
spans from executive chef toco-owner and CFO of Larkin's
Restaurant Group.
That group includes localfavorites like Larkin's
Limoncello and Grill Marks, eachknown not just for their flavor
(00:25):
but their focus on people.
What makes Adam's story sospecial isn't just the culinary
path.
It's the commitment to culture,clarity and coaching, whether
it's hiring with intention ordeveloping future leaders.
Adam brings a mindset thatevery operator can learn from,
and in today's episode, we'rediving into that journey,
(00:47):
starting right at the kitchenline, with Adam's story.
In his own words, let's getinto it, ok.
So, adam, I've been lookingforward to this conversation.
There is a lot to unpack from,from your days behind the line
to your role now leading peopleand numbers.
(01:09):
I want to first start with yourjourney, though You've gone
from fry cook to executive chef,to co-owner and now CFO.
Was there a defining momentthat pushed you to trade in your
chef's coat for a seat at thefinancial and ownership table?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, I think there was.
I think there was a moment intime where you know you have as
a chef and every chef isdifferent, right but for me in
particular, my journey, you knowI was cooking a really high
level.
It took a lot to do that, youknow, and you hear this a lot.
It's a lot of time and a lot offocus, a lot of energy.
(01:53):
And I happened to be up inCashers, north Carolina, at
Canyon Kitchen and I was cookingup there and I was just
surrounded by some really greatchefs and we were just working
together, hand in hand, creatingthese really great menus.
But I realized I was kind of, Iwas kind of bipolar.
You know, up there it's aseasonal restaurant, right.
So Memorial day to Labor day isreally when you're busy up
there.
You got some shoulder seasonbefore that and after that, but
(02:16):
then pretty much the winter, youknow there's nothing going on
up there in the winter.
So you don't really you don'treally work, you don't really
chef.
So you know, kind of by thatsecond, third year, I started
realizing I was real almost likebipolar.
I was a husband and father.
You know, in the wintertime andsummertime I was just gone.
I was, you know, seven days aweek working.
I was going up, you know, I wasgetting up at seven, up there
(02:37):
by eight, eight, 30, you know,not getting home till midnight
or one and just going, going,going, going all the time with
that and it just was notsustainable for me at that time
and I started really questioningwhat I was doing, why I was
doing it, how much I still lovedit.
And I think that's really thething you gotta love.
You gotta love being a chef.
You gotta love cooking.
I still love it.
I just don't love it seven daysa week, you know, 365 right now
(03:00):
.
Um, you know, I I startedcoming to grips with that and
started saying what else in thisbusiness can I do?
What has this being a cheftaught me?
What kind of skills has itgiven me that will apply into
other other facets of thebusiness?
And, you know, then it startedleading me towards.
Well, I'm an open mountainrestaurant, right.
So we lived up in Brevard, northCarolina, and that was my plan.
(03:20):
I was going to open arestaurant there and my family
and I were going to run it.
We're going to do this wholething.
So you're talking about middleof.
That would have been middle of18 to like beginning of 19 was
trying to make all this work.
Uh, luckily we didn't make itwork, because 2020 would have
crushed us and, uh, we'd havejust been, you know, flat out
(03:42):
then.
So you know, I just ended uptaking a job here in Greenville
as a culinary director because Ineeded a job.
So I was like, all right, well,be back in the kitchen, but
this will be over multiplekitchens and I'll be able to do
some stuff there.
So I really kind of focused ingetting in here.
And once I got here, it wasn'tlong after that a gentleman had
(04:02):
been with the company for a longtime went and opened his own
place and the owners looked atme and my partner, christina, to
be, uh, executive vicepresidents and at some I had no
idea what that meant.
I was like, yeah, sure,whatever, we'll figure it out.
You know that's how life is andI did.
I started digging into justcommon sense stuff.
For me was digging into p andl's finally like what's this for
, what's that, that for?
(04:23):
Why are we paying this?
How much is that?
Why is that so much?
You know, really startedchopping at the P&L and expenses
going out of the businesses andreally started to really dial
them in.
And then, you know, I think insome ways don't hear me wrong,
but in some ways the 2020 COVIDpandemic on restaurants was kind
(04:45):
of a positive thing, and thepositive thing that came out of
that is we're really able toshed off things we just didn't
need to be paying for.
And did they come back afterthat?
Not really.
Like you know, larkin's andGrill, marks and Lemon Child
have been known in the communityto donate something to
everything, right To everything.
(05:05):
You email us, we'll send you agift card.
You're doing a silent auctionfor whatever something in a
whole nother county and we'regoing to send you a gift card.
And I was just like that don'tmake any sense for us.
I don't.
You know, I get there's a causeand that's something great, but
unless it's really close tosomeone on our team, I don't
know why we're doing it.
You know it doesn't make anysense.
It's just a random personemailing us for something.
(05:26):
So we just took the approach.
If it doesn't help somebody onour team or directly affect
someone on our team, then thenwe're not going to do it.
And, um, we make thosedecisions day by day.
Um, so if a you know, if I gota manager or even a server who's
kids, you know, softball teamor is trying to raise money for
(05:47):
a trip and they want a hundreddollar gift card, we'll do that
in a heartbeat because they'reon our team, you know they're,
they're with us and that's goingto directly benefit them.
So you know, and then it keptgoing.
So, to answer your question, Ikind of going down a rabbit hole
.
You got to be careful with me.
But to to sum that up, I meanonce we became executive vice
presidents, I mean we'reessentially in a role where
(06:07):
we're already partnered at thattime and we're both working
closely together kind of anownership mindset, as I've
always been my whole life andjust really we're attacking
everything we could attack tomake the businesses stronger and
more profitable and reallybenefit everything.
So it's kind of when that allhappened and I just realized you
(06:27):
know there's something aboutbeing in that position with the
knowledge base I've gained as achef and my ability to be able
to really communicate with allsectors of life, and that all
came from my experience inkitchens.
I mean, I bounced around somekitchens and in all different
types of cities and alldifferent parts of the world and
(06:48):
everything still applies.
I mean, you just got to be ableto be someone that can lead
others, that they look up to andthat you can inspire them.
And eventually, you know youdon't see it right now, but I
got a ton of energy.
When I'm in a kitchen it's justa lot of fun for me, you know,
just so much fun for me.
And here recently we've beenshort staffed at Larkins, you
(07:12):
know, so we've been, we've kindof gone through our staffing was
there.
So I've been spending time inthe kitchen just helping out
where I can, filling holes, youknow, working on the menus,
developing the plate ups, likeworking harder there in terms of
what my skills can apply.
And it's funny, we got this kidhe's, I don't know, he's
busting my chops about somethingand I was going right back at
him with it and I was like dude,I've been doing this like my
whole life.
Like what are you talking about, you know?
And he said something else andthen he made some comment about.
(07:34):
You know, I couldn't even do 40pushups.
I said right now I said righthere in the kitchen floor.
So I went and got my Jason, oneof our operations managers.
I brought him back.
I said you count them off.
We're doing it right here andevery I mean you know what
happens there.
Jason, which is comical, islike that is such a morale
(07:56):
booster off the silliest stuff.
I mean I'm probably oneverybody's Snapchat right now.
That works in our restaurant.
Everybody has their cameras out.
You can't do anything withoutsomebody videotaping.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Not these days, though.
There is always a witness.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I can just feel them around me.
They're all like what's goingon in there?
Oh my gosh, chef Adam's backthere, what's he doing?
And then I mean, we just wenthead to head.
I did 50.
He did 33.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
And I just not going to happen.
It's just not going to happen,not even with pushups, not with
serving plates, not with thebest bills, not with recipe
specs and not with pushups.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Absolutely, oh man so first, you know those are those
leadership things we talkedabout.
Right, like you know, call itwhat you will, it could be silly
, whatever.
But you know there was a momentthere where there was like it
was a little bit of a call out,like you're not gonna call me
out, but there's also, like youknow, like he was pumped up
after I mean, we, you know, wekind of shook it off and I say
(08:59):
you know, they're realnon-confrontational in a kitchen
nowadays, so they have a hardtime like motivating each other
if that makes sense, like it's,um, you know, like in my day I
won't use all the proper wordsthat we use with each other, but
it was always like if I was ona station and you were on a
station and I was killing it andall my orders were going up and
(09:19):
I'm waiting on you, I'm, I'mbusting your chops.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Call it out.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
How much longer.
You know, oh my God, do youneed to go find somebody else to
work that station with you?
Like that kind of stuff.
You don't have any of that inthe kitchen now.
They don't do any of that.
So, um, there was somethingabout that, I think, in in
growing up in the business andcooking that was really
inspirational, that would reallymotivate you because you were,
it was like peer to peer.
It wasn't like I needed a chefto get on me, it was that peer
(09:49):
to peer that really pushed,pushed you to be better and more
efficient, um, to be able tokeep up to all that stuff.
And I look back on those days.
I mean I was at Mimosa grill inCharlotte in like 2001, 2002,
somewhere around there, and youknow the convention center was
right next door.
And you know the conventioncenter was right next door and
you know I had an Iraniangeneral manager, nasser Razmir,
(10:10):
and that dude, that dude bonuson how much money, he did not
care, he just brought it at usand 450 seat restaurant and they
would see he would seat thewhole restaurant at once and you
had to put the food out.
There was no like option.
There was no complaining aboutit.
There was no sitting in thecorner crying about it.
It was like you got to get methe food, like go, go, go, and
that's when we would reallybanter with each other.
(10:31):
So I mean those were like theold days, I say, but I mean I
couldn't imagine what they werebefore.
That I mean it's just like youknow, it's not like an old man
right when I was your age, butyou know, even before that was,
you know, it's just differentlevels of stuff and that's
something that I've beenlearning to adapt to and find
different ways, I guess, tomotivate, to challenge, to
(10:53):
inspire, like those are all thebig things that you keep
learning about, and sometimesit's the silliest things like a
push-up contest in the middle ofthe kitchen.
I mean it's the silliest thing.
Things like a push-up contestin the middle of the kitchen, I
mean it's the silliest thing.
And they were all hyped upabout it.
Everybody's talking about it,everybody's buzzing, everybody's
happy, everybody's going intothe evening.
It's a Friday, saturday night,I can't remember which one, but
they're all going in and outsuper excited and laughing and
(11:15):
having a good time, and so itwill morale boost.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
You dropped so many gems, so many.
I'm gonna go back to to theactual start, though, and
listeners, you may need torewind this because, first of
all, western north carolina hasa lot of gems.
If you've never been to cashersor brevard, absolutely go there
(11:42):
, even during peak season, when,whenever it is busy but it is
gorgeous out there there aresome amazing restaurants, some
incredible chefs, the views,everything about western nc.
It is just top notch.
Even after those storms didsome damage to western NC, it's
(12:02):
still amazing out there.
Now, your shift from chef into aleadership role to a ownership
role.
It takes a lot to be able tobreak that mold, because even
whenever I was a sous chef indowntown Fayetteville at the
(12:23):
Hilltop House, buying my firstpair of Wusthof knives, some
Birkenstock chef shoes andplucking herbs from the garden
that was right outside the doorsof the bar area and helping to
create specials, there is thisthing, there's this pride that
is there about creatingsomething that people fall in
(12:46):
love with, and that anxiety ofis it good enough and can I
teach this to the other chefs?
Yes, I am on my station incharge of my features once I got
to that point, but stillteaching others what that build
is and teaching these servershow to sell it.
There is that specialconnection with you and the food
(13:09):
.
And then to shift from thatinto ownership yes, you still
get hands on some, but you'rekind of leaving behind some of
what was built.
So I was going to ask some ofthe biggest leadership lessons
learned from stepping into thatrole from a active chef, in
which you still are, but intothat ownership and more numbers
(13:33):
role.
Some people are like no, I'mbored out of my brains.
But you talked about how youwere able to take multiple
things learned throughleadership in different kitchens
and then help to apply thattoday, even in environments that
are very different from whatyou came from.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, it's even more challenging, you know, to you
know, as far as multi-unit,there's a skill in that alone.
Multi-unit leadershipmanagement is a skill in itself
that I've never really had, Iguess, in terms of I've never
really been responsible for morethan you know one location.
Until you know I was at aresort in Daresville, georgia,
called Barnsley Gardens Resortand I was there and you know you
(14:19):
had a catering operation.
You had, you know, threerestaurants.
You had, you know, all thisstuff and it was like that was
about the gist of my multi-unitmanagement experience and that
lasted for me for like 10 months.
I just didn't, you know, wasn'tthe best place for me in the
world, and you know.
So we ended up that's when weended up moving back to Brevard
and got that, you know, startedworking up in cashier.
So you know, going into a rolelike that, you had to.
(14:42):
You know you had to be present,you had to be a leader with you
know, five corporations it'sreally six in my brain because
we got a catering operation too.
We have a corporate office thathad people working there.
So you know, you had to leadthose groups and had to lead
each restaurant and catering isa juggernaut.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I mean, that's its own other planet.
Most people think, oh well, Ijust sell it bulk now.
No, that's, you have to be veryspecific as to what you offer
when it comes down to catering.
Sorry, not to cut you off.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, no, no, I mean, that's the.
I always say you got to be sprythere, right, you got to be
able to bounce around and dolike, figure it out fast, and
sometimes in a situation whereyou know you don't know the
territory at all, so you know.
Great example we had a cateringsold up in Brevard about a
month ago.
You know, and I know theterritory like I know the
terrain.
So it's like, okay, well, youknow, I'm not, I wasn't directly
(15:34):
involved, but I became involvedbecause they needed my
experience and knowledge in thearea.
But then we started digginginto it more, christina and I,
and our experience combined inthat department is pretty strong
.
So we started really banteringabout the plan that was set
forth by the team.
I said, well, this plan is notgonna work.
I hate to bust your bubble, butthis pretty strong.
So we started really banteringabout the plan that was set
forth by the team.
I said, well, this plan is notgoing to work.
I hate to bust your bubble, butthis ain't working.
So we quickly had to make anaudible.
(15:54):
You know, within a week's run,make an audible, found an Airbnb
.
You know, put the team up,three, three team members up in
the Airbnb and then had to get arefrigerator truck because we
didn't have enough refrigerationat the venue to hold all the
food cold.
It was a weekend long event,right, it was Friday, saturday,
sunday, multiple meals per day,you know.
(16:14):
So the kids are up there,isolated, basically.
So Christina and I drove up onthe first day.
We made sure we set everythingup, we made sure everything
worked, we made sure everythingwas there, like that was the
thing we needed to to do.
We couldn't just send themwithout the experience level.
I think they were superappreciative.
And then we took them to afriend of mine's restaurant up
there and and picked them outand gored them out and they were
(16:35):
super stoked about that.
But, um, but they did a greatjob all weekend.
We're set for success.
I mean, I think that sometimeshalf the battle is teaching some
of that stuff.
I mean I learned it throughtime.
Christina's learned it time,but these kids are learning it
right now, at this time, and Ithink that's the hard part for
me.
I keep going back to that.
It's like what I learned andhow I learned it.
(16:56):
I keep questioning that how didI learn it?
You know who actually taught methat?
Or how did I?
How did I get here?
And I think that I have to goback in time and say, okay, well
, I've got, I say, kids.
I got people in their, in theirmoment right now, learning, and
so how do I better teach them?
And so a lot of times I willspend time with them, whether
(17:17):
they like it or not,philosophically, or this is why
I made this decision, this iswhy you do it this way, this is
why it makes sense, and reallytrying to develop that mentality
on it.
And you know, sometimes itworks, sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes people look at melike I'm an idiot.
You know, like, oh, you're sostupid.
And then sometimes you knowlike I'm cooking on the line
with a guy the other day and I'mlike, hey, man, how long have
(17:45):
you been cooking?
He's like 30 years.
I said me too, that's crazy.
And we're sitting there.
He was like you guys have beencooking for 30 years.
Yeah, man, he's like God, noway.
I was like, yeah, you mightwant to listen to us.
We might actually teach yousomething along the way.
We've seen a thing or two.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
We've seen a few brunches with this conversation.
I want to personally invite youto take it a step further
inside the leadership circle.
It's my small group coachingexperience, designed
specifically for operators andowners who want to scale smarter
, lead stronger and build teamsthat truly care.
We meet regularly to workthrough real challenges, sharpen
(18:30):
leadership systems and create aculture that actually sticks.
If that sounds like somethingyou've been looking for, head to
jasonebrookscom or just clickthe link in the show notes.
Now back to the episode, see.
But this is the thing here Everyquestion that you're posing to
them, everything you're teachingthem, is the foundation of
(18:54):
culture.
It is the actual foundation ofculture.
Some people, they don't knowhow to put their thumb on.
What culture is?
You just defined it by takingyou and Christina's experience
and thinking through that region, that territory.
What are those?
(19:14):
What are those logistics thatneed to be done for this to go
well?
Now, how do we take our team,put them in the right situation,
the right environment, and howdo we teach them about these
things?
And now, how do I also makethat connect within the
restaurant, for whether it'ssomeone that's been cooking for
30 years or for three years,that is the power of culture,
(19:37):
and I do believe you postedrecently about gratitude for
your team and the power ofculture and the power of culture
.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
What is something that you've learned about hiring
for heart and not just skill.
I mean, I've learned that one acouple times ever.
Honestly, you know we talk alot about when you're talking to
someone, what kind of like.
What are you getting out ofthat person?
Right, like, what are youlooking for?
Is this the right fit for whatwe're looking for?
(20:14):
But it's also, if I'm talkingto you and we were hitting it
off and ask a few questions andI'm like this guy's great, like
he needs to work for it, wherecould he, where could he fit
into what we're doing?
We then start doing that kind ofstuff.
It's almost like well, I'minterviewing you for a bartender
.
Well, I don't think you havequite the experience From my
(20:35):
conversation.
Maybe you're super personablethat goes a long way in a bar
all day long, right, but youdon't have the technical skills.
But maybe there's a differentposition that works for you.
Or maybe, like, after talkingto you, you're like you could be
some like almost like liaisonbetween the customer and the
restaurant, like all therestaurants, because you're so
(20:56):
personable, and maybe you know Ican develop something out of
that.
And then my brain starts goingdown a road and it's really
starts becoming more about who'sthis person in front of me,
what are their skills, what arethey doing?
How do they contribute?
What I really like about them?
And that's funny because whenwe just did the whole
StrengthsFinder again right, sothat was a big deal for us.
(21:17):
We were hiring people, point O,they weren't working out.
We're hiring them on gut, we'rehiring them on feel, we're
hiring them on all the thingsyou would do skill, experience,
all that stuff.
And so I was like we got to dosomething different.
This was all at Larkins and wekind of went through a couple of
managers at times and no, we'redoing the Strength Finder all
over again, like we're justdoing it.
And I did mine just for fun.
And you know I'm an arranger,you know that's my strongest
(21:39):
skill, so I'm able to take thethings that we have, the people
we have, the resources we have,and I'm able to put that in a
way that makes sense and that'smy skill.
And luckily, our, our executiveteam all has different skills in
that realm and started andstarted as a strengths and it
keeps us a real balanced team.
I mean there's really four ofus there's, there's Scott we
(22:00):
call him the wolf and then we'vegot Jason and I call him the
captain.
And then there's Christina andmyself and um you, um, you know
we sit around and we got.
You know, we've got a woo guy.
You know, jason's a realpositive woo guy.
He keeps people motivated,keeps engaged, very engaged,
with the people.
So he's he's the captain, buthe's our people and products guy
.
So he's really focused onpeople, training, staffing,
(22:22):
hiring, developing processes.
And then, on the product side,it's about standardization make
sure all of our liquors match upto our standards, all of our
wines match up to our standards,beer, food.
You know, if there's a foodcrisis, a price spike, we need
to make an adjustment.
That's, that's hisresponsibility, that's his focus
.
Um, you know, the wolf is, youknow, just like in Pulp Fiction
(22:43):
man.
He's.
He's the guy you call whenthere's a problem, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Wait, did you say pulp fiction?
Oh, I love it I love it.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
He's the wolf.
He shows up and fixes it, allright.
So that's when you call thewolf, but he is literally our
operations director.
I mean, he really keeps all thenuts and bolts moving, he fixes
problems, he's you know, he'sour toast expert on the POS.
He's in and out of that thing.
I mean it just really you gotto have people on your team that
specialize in things and youknow I've got the fancy CFO
(23:18):
title.
But you know, whatever thatmeans, I just make sure that
we're putting some money in thebank and that we can afford to
pay for all the things andfuture expansion, future growth,
investment back into thebusiness, investment to our
people, monitoring a lot of thatstuff is really what my title
ends up being at the end of theday.
But the four of us really cometogether.
So I think I went sideways.
(23:38):
On your question.
What was your?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
original question no, no, no.
It was about the power of thepower of culture and how you
hire for heart and not justskill.
But you went through your fourpillars, your four pillars of
the four people that are on yourteam that help to create that
culture.
And it's good that you're ableto put a picture, a concept, a
(24:07):
model of where they fill in tohelp build those things that
help you to hire for heart andnot just skill.
And the StrengthsFinders 2.0,because of the turnover going
through management, and theyhelp you to keep those things in
check.
(24:27):
Now, most people have thatchallenge with just one location
.
You have multiple locations.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So we did it at all of them.
After doing it there andgetting some people hired, we
got a great team hired.
Then we did it at all therestaurants and then the wolf
got even crazier, the Wolf goteven crazier and he started
putting all that into AIgenerators and started piecing,
you know, managers togetherbased on their strengths and how
they would fuse together, andwe had pretty much everybody in
the right sense.
Some moves we could have made,but they were happy where they
(24:59):
were.
So we don't muck it all up, butyou know it's just really being
able to take another approach,another look at it.
No-transcript.
We're in a simpler time, asimpler thing.
So, you know, I startedspending a lot of time thinking
(25:21):
about this.
I felt like it was veryimportant to have something that
was short, that was simple,that really resonated with
hospitality, really resonatedwith a direction that we're
going at this moment in time.
It could change, but right nowit's like a direction in time
and it reminded me of this thingmy wife put in my reminders a
long time ago, which is everyday.
It pops up and just says benice.
So we just went with be nice.
(25:42):
And you know that's what wetell people Just be nice, be
nice to each other.
That's what we tell people Justbe nice, be nice to each other.
And we broke down.
The N is nurturing, the I isintuitive, the C is
compassionate and the E isexperiences, and experiences are
both internal and external.
Yeah, so that's our peoplecoming in, but it's also our
people who work with us, and Ithink what I'm constantly
coaching the management team onis that nurturing and compassion
(26:06):
can be taken advantage of realquick.
There's a two-way street there,so you got to be careful being
too nurturing or toocompassionate with everything
that's going on in the world.
You know employees, I meanthey'll take advantage where
they can.
It's just in nature, it's justhow it works.
So you got to be careful withthat when you're like doing
(26:27):
these things and make sure theyunderstand.
Like you know, for us asmanager and leaders, you know
we're nurturing people, we'reteaching them, we're developing
them, we're giving them theresources, tools they need.
I mean we can be compassionateat certain times about certain
things.
People go through things intheir life all the time.
That's where compassion kicksin, but don't take it, don't let
people take advantage of that.
(26:48):
And that's where compassionkicks in, but don't let people
take advantage of that.
And that's where we really areright now is just keep saying it
.
So if you do something nice,I'm going to be like nice, and
if you're doing something that'snot nice, I'm going to tell you
to be nice.
Yeah, be nice.
And that really redirectseverybody's focus.
So we have that everywhere andwe'll probably even take it to
another level with just themanagement team and have another
(27:09):
one which is just care, andthen we'll break that one down.
It was a couple it's still inthe design phase, but there's
some in there in that care piece, which is accountability really
is in the A.
And then you just got to berelentless.
I mean, that's the R.
You got to be relentless in ourbusiness.
You can't stop.
You just can't stop.
(27:33):
You know you just can't stop.
You just got to keep grinding,keep going, keep pushing and
keep pushing people forward andthat's what they want.
Ultimately, now we can go.
Culture is different foreverybody too.
Like I'm learning, like you'rein a day and age now in the
world where everybody has theirthing and you don't know what
that thing is unless you findout what the thing is.
Like I was having this wholelike I'm trying to figure it out
(27:58):
.
This was probably four yearsago, maybe five years ago.
I'm trying to figure out, likewhy are we having these issues?
Like what is this?
Why is that?
And then I was having aconversation with one of our
associates and she said that shejust doesn't polish glassware.
Like she just won't do it, I'mnot doing it.
And I'm like, oh okay, that'sweird.
Uh, you're a bartender.
Um, part of it, I mean, it'spart of the job.
(28:18):
Why won't you do it?
She's like I just don't likedoing, I'm just not gonna do it.
I always make somebody else doit, and I think that's when it
hit me.
I was what is that thing?
You know that Jason's not goingto do.
What are you not going to do,jason?
I mean, what is that thing?
I got to find out what thatthing is and I got to either
develop that into you or I gotto figure out a way to work with
that or like whatever it is,but it is a different thing for
every every individual personand that's a lot to keep up with
(28:41):
.
I can barely can remember whatpeople's favorite candy bars are
.
Sometimes, you know like Iforget my own parents' birthdays
some days.
I mean like I'm the worst atthat remembering stuff.
You know I'm a go go, govisionary, creative guy.
You know like I just kind ofkind of live out in the cloud
sometimes.
But I think figuring thosethings out and just
understanding them and being inand finding some compassion in
(29:03):
there, um, that can really.
That can really help them feellike they're at the place they
want to be.
And sometimes, you know, peoplejump jobs for whatever reasons.
We just want to be an employerchoice.
We want to make sure you'recoming into a warm environment
where everyone's nurturing,they're happy and they're taking
care of you and that you'reable to come earn a living in an
(29:24):
environment that you want to bein and take care of our guests
that are coming in to helpsupport the whole thing.
That's how it becomessustainable.
Without that, without havingthat service mindset first and
having that really hospitalityforward mindset.
The people coming in to spendthe money will quit coming in
and spend money and the wholething will not be sustainable.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
I will tell you what my listeners are probably turned
on top of their head right nowbecause they have probably never
heard a CFO be as people andculture focused as you are.
So although you have that title, there is a lot of layers or
personalities under Chef Adam'shat there, so people should be
(30:08):
cautious.
Now we can tell you're not justcrunching numbers, you are
teaching people how to lead.
But let's get technical, though.
What's one metric?
Restaurant managers probablyoverlook that they should not be
overlooking when it comes downto running a successful business
(30:31):
as a restaurant manager.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
That's a tough one.
I mean, you're looking for afinancial metric, you're saying.
I mean right now you know, theytend to know they're two biggest
, it's labor and cost of goods.
They tend to know those themost.
I think the one that they failto really dial in, which is one
that I was really good at and Ishouldn't have been as a chef, I
shouldn't have been really goodat it it was linen.
(30:56):
I mean, if you're using anynapkins, bar towels, bar rags,
aprons, any of that stuff, thatline can really creep on you.
I mean it can be two percent orit could get up to five percent
, and really the ones that arereally good at that, um, really
can dial in and drop a point,even a point and a half in some
(31:18):
cases, if you really are focusedon it, if you really say like,
look, the lending companiesaren't perfect.
I joke with them all the time.
I take pictures texted to the,the district manager, all the
time when I'm in larkins, likeyou know, there I could get
perfectly pressed linens butit's like three times the cost
of a regular linen right.
So one of them I want thempacked right and that seems to
(31:38):
where they're messing up.
They're like folding it thewrong way and then refolding it
the other way, right off theironer and and then it's got
like these double seams and itjust looks stupid.
I always send them the picture.
I'm like dude, help me out here,like you know, and they may
issue me a credit here or there,but a lot of times it's I say
linen, but usually it is alsothe credit chasing and really
getting credit for a product.
That is not right, that's wrong, that came in bad.
(32:01):
You know, that's a game initself and you really got to be
focused on that kind of stuff toreally be able to figure that,
figure that stuff out and findthose, find those deals.
But I've been spending most ofmy time here lately.
Really like to.
The first part of this isreally going in and having
conversations with every manager.
That's on duty.
(32:21):
If I just walk in, I'm gonnastart having a conversation
about something, something I seeor something that I think could
help them, or something thatwas relevant to what was
happening at the moment.
It could have been somethingthat was in their nightly report
from the night before.
You know, hey, this was aproblem, this happened.
And then I can say, hey, tellme about what happened and
explain what happened exactly,and then have an opportunity to
really talk through that andfind and teach some other ways
(32:44):
to handle that situation.
That's ultimately, where we'regoing to have the best
opportunity to make the mostmoney and reduce our expenses.
It's upfront, it's giving themthe knowledge base.
The P&L will look at it and itcan be daunting.
I mean you can look at it andbe oh my God, I don't even know
what I'm looking at here.
What is all this stuff?
And I remember looking at someP&Ls first early on in my career
.
And I remember looking at someP&Ls early on in my career and I
(33:05):
said what is this?
And I was lucky to have ageneral manager walk me through
it.
I mean he sat with me,scheduled the time sat with me,
went line by line, explained tome how it worked, and I just did
that this year on our budgets,with our budgets.
Normally I would write a budgetand this is what we need to hit
this year.
I let the GMs just do theirbest shot.
I said here's a blank one,figure it out, let me know if
you need any help.
(33:26):
And of course they called theWolf and the captain and they
asked them 20 million questions.
It was more a project for themthan it was for the GMs.
But when they came, they camewith their budgets and I said,
all right, let's pull it up,let's look at it.
And I had a big giant screen.
Pull them up.
I got theirs on one side, I gotBlank one on the other side,
and then I've got, like theyears past QuickBooks open and
(33:48):
I'm just like, all right, we'regoing to bounce around, let's
just see what it looks like.
And then we would just have aconversation I remember this
with Richard Kessler.
He owns Kessler Hotels and I hadopened the Grand Bohemian in
Asheville and he was with whowas that?
Scott Schreiber was with him ata time as president, and then
we just opened hotel.
I think we opened in april, somay first of june.
He comes back for a visit andat that point we were I mean, we
(34:12):
were killing it as a team.
Restaurant was vibrant, it waspacked, it was full, it was a
lot of volume, a lot of stuffgoing on.
I remember him, they wanted tomeet with me, so it was, you
know, the president of thecompany, the owner of the
company of me, and I waspuckered up man.
I was like, oh God, what isthis about?
You know, like did I dosomething wrong?
You know kind of stuff goesthrough your mind at that time.
We just sit at a table in therestaurant and he pulls out a
(34:34):
menu and he's looking at it.
He went menu item by menu itemhe said he said you know how's
this calamari sell?
I?
He said you know how's thiscalamari sell?
I said it sells like number oneseller every night and the
number one seller hands down.
He said what's your food coston it?
I said about 30, 28, 30,somewhere around there.
And he says think you can getanother dollar for it.
(34:54):
I said oh, yeah.
So he marked it off and markedit up a dollar.
I mean we did this exercisedown the whole menu and I was
able to tell him all the foodcosts.
I knew all the costs of goods.
I mean it was like a test onhow well I was doing.
But can you get another dollar?
I said, yeah, I think you canget another $3 actually.
And so he marked it off, markit up $3.
So we kind of did that exercise.
(35:16):
But again, that's something Ilearned I took away is like a
really cool experience for me.
And so I did this I've donethis a couple of times with some
other people in the restaurantsand I've done it with the
budget and I was like hey, doyou?
Yeah, really you need, you knowyou need 10% of this line item.
Can you get it to eight?
Can you cut two points here?
This will be this number.
This is what has trended thelast three years.
You know like this is what hasactually been.
(35:38):
So let's you know.
Let's put it here.
Let's put some more there.
Know, you need more money totake care of your staff.
Don't be tight there.
You want to spend money takingcare of your people.
So that budget line.
I always tell them either youspend it or I'll spend it
somewhere else.
But you're not getting it.
It's not going to help yourbonus.
Exactly, you spend it or I'lltake it.
(36:00):
You see, it's one of the two.
All right, use it or lose itperiod.
Yes, Consider this my money I'mgiving you to go spend to take
care of your people and ourpeople, and if you don't, then
I'm just going to take it back.
It's not going to make you moremoney, I promise.
That's not how this is going towork.
And so they've been really goodabout doing that.
(36:30):
It's just a matter of againteaching them when to do it,
when it makes those impacts,when it has the most impact and
you know this is a funny onethat just kind of came to mind
as I was talking about that.
My 2025 goal is to not use theword busy, like I'm just not
going to use it.
You know my life is already, inmost people's case, busy, but
in my world, it's just how mylife is.
There's a lot going on.
I've got a lot ofresponsibilities.
I'm raising two children stillmy daughter's 20, my son's 14.
(36:51):
I'm trying to live that lifewith them too.
I've got a wife trying to takecare of that travel, see things,
do things and I've got fivecorporations to run and a big
catering outfit to stay on topof.
So my life, in most people'scases, is considered busy and my
life is considered normal forme.
So it's identifying.
When you talk about things at arestaurant level with
(37:14):
management and they say you know, today was busy, okay, well,
that doesn't tell me anythingbecause your definition of busy
at Grillmarks on Main Street,which is the highest revenue
generating grill marksrestaurant we have, versus busy
in columbia, which is second tothem, but not quite the limit,
(37:34):
about half of that.
So when you start looking atthat you're like, well, there's
two different words, there's twodifferent meanings for that
word right here alone in thisreport that I'm reading today.
Busy has to be a number or ithas to be a headcount.
It has to be something that youcan quantify and you can't just
use it as a reason for thingsand so like, oh, today was busy,
(37:56):
well, that doesn't tell meanything.
If I go back two years from nowI'm trying to figure out why we
did $10, know $10,000 on aSaturday and I got a manager
says it was busy.
Well, well, nowadays $15,000 is$18,000, is kind of the norm,
that's a normal day.
You know, $25,000 a day wouldbe considered an astronomical
day.
But three years from now wehope the $25,000 becomes the
(38:19):
norm and so you keep you kind ofkeep climbing that ladder on
what is busy to you and justquit using the word busy.
Like, was it busy tonight?
No, no, it wasn't.
Actually it was.
Uh, you know, we did about$5,000 for dinner.
That was not good.
We need more than that.
That's, that's extra slow in my, in my, definition.
(38:39):
So, uh, it's just something Ithink that helps when you're
talking about what we do.
You've heard it, you've been inthe business, you know what I'm
talking about.
Like, if you say you know itwas busy, well, what's that mean
?
You and I two different busy?
I mean busy for me was what 450people sat all in one time in
downtown Charlotte and I'mcooking 50 bass at one time, you
(39:00):
know, 50 salmon at one time,and all the sides and all the
all the stuff.
Now that's busy.
And uh, that's what busy feelslike to me.
If I had to just use onesingular word, but I just
quantified it by saying 50 seabass, 50 salmon, all the sides
that go with it, that's a numberthat you can relate to, and I
can relate to trying to cook 50pieces of fish at one time,
(39:21):
perfectly.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Well, I got to say my wife took a look at your menu
and the sea bass, she has beenbiting at the chomps.
To go at that table, to sit atthat table, to be invited by the
(39:53):
owner, by the executives, andto have a seat and to be at that
table, that's a hugeaccomplishment in any chef's
eyes at any point of theircareer, in any chef's eyes at
any point of their career.
And there are a few questions,because this is the leadership
table that gets us to that pointof sharing your experience with
(40:15):
your first times sitting atthose tables.
These two questions that I'mgonna ask you next are some of
our staples that we ask to everysingle guest.
So if you could sit at aleadership table with three
other leaders, whether alive orfrom history, who would you
(40:38):
choose and why?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Oh man, you should prepare me for these Three other
leaders.
Three, you need three of them,right?
Three they could be alive.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
They could be from history, they could be from way
back in the day.
Just three leaders that youcould have a seat at and have a
conversation at a table, at atable.
Who would you choose, and why?
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I think the first one that comes to mind would
definitely be john maxwell,because I listen to his minute
with maxwell podcast prettyoften and there's a lot of good
stuff that comes out of that andI cooked for him actually once
at candy kitchen, wow, and I waslike like starstruck to go out
and talk to him.
You know, um, he's a, he's a,he's a great guy, um.
(41:30):
Another one that comes to mindis Nito Cubain, which is the um.
He's the president of highpoint university and his book,
extraordinary transformation.
I'm only like two chapters inright now, but there was a,
there was a chapter.
Two was um aim forextraordinary act with urgency
and that I read that chapter atthe exact moment I needed to
(41:51):
read it.
So it'd be pretty cool to talkto him more about that book and
about that process, because Ifeel like we're kind of in that
process, where we're, you know,we're in this extraordinary
transformation phase as arestaurant Me personally, but
also as a restaurant group withnew ownership and new leadership
and new direction and new focus.
And I think you know I need toget through that book, but I
(42:12):
tend to pick up other booksalong the way, so that's part of
the problem.
And then I don't know.
I mean, I think there's a lotto be said.
I was trying to think I thinkleadership through battle is
something that is veryinteresting to me.
(42:34):
I just think that there'ssomewhere.
At one point I was going to bein the Air Force, I wanted to be
in the military something, Ithink somebody in that realm, I
just don't know who I couldsingle that out to be.
You know like you know like ageneral probably come out of the
mind.
General pack probably jump offthe plate at you.
You know I'd be curious on someof that.
I mean, I've always beenfascinated with Ronald Reagan
(42:55):
and just some of the stuff thathe was doing.
I think military leaders arereally, you know, really sharp
cookies and really poised andreally calm under pressure.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
So anyone in that realm would be fantastic to
speak to.
Ok, last final question at theleadership table, we believe in
conversations that inspire, leadand elevate.
What's one conversation and Iknow you've had many, I know
you've had many, but what's oneconversation in your career that
(43:30):
profoundly shaped how you leadtoday?
Again, I know there's manyconversations you've had to help
shift sands of how you do whatyou do, but what's one that you
can remember that stands out themost?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
That I had about my leadership.
You mean, is that what you'resaying?
Speaker 1 (43:53):
That you had with a leader.
It was a manager, a owner, adirector, an executive, someone
with a chef, someone within yoursphere with a chef, someone
within your sphere that there'sone conversation they had with
you that shaped how you leadothers today.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Wow, that's a good one right there Trying to think,
you know, my time at theBohemian, when I was there, like
that was really one of thestrongest teams I probably ever
worked with in terms of allaround.
Like every department was astrong leader, and it really is
because we had a strong leaderat the top.
John Luckett was our generalmanager and I spent, I mean,
countless hours in his officetalking to him about different
(44:35):
things.
You know I'd be, you know I'm achef, so there'd be a lot of
energy coming off of me.
It'd be like you know, likeeverybody's stupid, you know
like everybody's stupid, youknow, or like something like
that.
I just be frustrated withsomething you know and that's
like, but you could always vomitthat in his office.
He was fine, he knew how totake it.
You know he wasn't taking, heknew what I was doing, but he
(44:56):
was always good with advice.
I mean, it was usually simple,short, sweet and you know, one
in particular was, you know,like I was.
I was.
So that was my first executivechef job.
By the way, I was a sous chefor chef de cuisine for 10 years
before that.
I was the chef's right hand andI was always, you know, doing
the load right.
I was doing all the work.
And so when I had my firstexecutive chef job, like I was
like super focused.
(45:16):
I didn't want to fail.
So I was going in at like sixin the morning make sure that
we're all set for breakfast, andthen I was prepping all the
food from the line, I wassetting the line up and then,
you know, I'd go into lunch, Iwork lunch and I work dinner and
I was leaving at like nine orten o'clock at night and going
home, you know, and I thinkafter doing that for about three
weeks, I was like so frustratedbecause the cooks were coming
in at night and they're justlike walking around making
(45:38):
espresso shots for themselves,getting coffee.
You know I'm like getting.
So I've been here all morningworking my butt off.
You know, I'm like so mad aboutit.
I go in there, I'm like ventingabout it, and he just broke it
down and he's like you're doingall the work for them.
You know that's why you're sofrustrated.
You're doing everything forthem.
So they're coming in and myperception I went from, you know
, all about me, all aboutwanting to get it right, very
(46:10):
focused on that part of it and Iwasn't utilizing my team in a
way that they could work,basically do this work for me,
so through coaching, mentoringand developing them.
So it really switched the way Iwas looking at that whole thing
at that moment in time and Ireally think it's what just
catapulted everything.
I mean from there it was, likeyou know, I had production lists
(46:32):
, I had production schedules, Ihad assigned to people, I was
delegating out the jobs, theprep that needed to be done per
station, per person, kept itbalanced, kept it within a
timeframe that I could expectthem to get it done, and that
really, I think that was reallythe moment that it really
changed the way I was looking atmy leadership role.
(46:53):
I've never really been at the,at the top position.
I was always the worker guyright and I only knew to do what
chef told me.
Or make it special on the fly,and you know, hey, we got this
fish, why don't you make itspecial?
And I put something togethertogether in about 30 minutes.
You know, just get it done,bang it out.
But that was really thetransforming moment.
I feel like, if I go back intime and I look, I had a lot of
other great inspirationalleaders.
(47:13):
I mean Dennis Quaintus atQuaintus Weaver Hotels.
I mean he is like a ball ofenergy.
He had Lucky University andjust taught you a lot about it.
Took all the leadership stuffin the world, all the great
leadership books, and kind ofput it together into one big
training thing.
So it's when you join as amanager, you went through lucky,
you, lucky, lucky universityand you learned all this stuff.
(47:34):
But, like for me, there was alot of it already in there.
So having the knowledge that,oh, this is how, oh well, that
makes sense, I connected thedots really quickly.
So really that also reallyguided me into the next role and
that was before I went to theBohemians.
So I think that transformationprocess in that timeframe you
got to think was like a sevenyear transformation, yeah, which
(47:56):
seems like a lot of time, butit really isn't.
It's like seven years.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
I was able to really catapult through my chef career,
just through those, reallythrough those two people.
I love that.
I love that.
Chef Adam, you've been quiteamazing.
Speaker 2 (48:21):
But before we close out, though, where can listeners
connect with you or learn moreabout the Larkin's family of
restaurants?
Well, we've got all thewebsites.
So Larkin'sbl, uh, limoncello,gbl, uh, grill marks official.
Those were all of our mainrestaurant web pages.
I'm pretty easy to find.
I'm, I'm at chef a hayes on theinstagram and the facebook.
Uh, so I don't post a lot, but,uh, when I do, it's something
(48:41):
decent, it's something ofquality.
Well, it's me horsing aroundwith my children.
The most recent one wasFather's Day on the lake.
They snapped a picture of me.
I had my sunglasses on, andthen I had my readers underneath
my sunglasses.
So they snapped a picture of me.
So I turned it black and whiteand made it my profile picture
and said, yeah, still gettingwork done, but I'm on a bus,
(49:02):
love it Still working, stillStill getting work done, but I'm
on abus, love it, still working,
still answering emails, doingwhat's needed, that kind of
stuff.
But that's probably the bestplace.
Or come to Greenville and havea staycation.
Stay, have a vacation.
If you're in Greenville, have astaycation and come downtown
and hit all of our restaurants.
We're all in walking distancefrom each other and love to have
(49:23):
you in, love to see you in therestaurants.
I mean, that's what we do.
We're just serving people.
20 years we're celebrating thisyear at Larkin's Congratulations
which is super rare forrestaurants in general and we're
having a big 20-yearanniversary party on July 31st
and we have tickets available onthat through Open Table.
(49:44):
So it's going to be somethrowbacks from 2005, some
throwback 2005 dishes andbasically we have some time slot
seatings where you can do, youknow, basically like a
four-course with auction tastingmenu, and then we go down to
our event venue, which is justdown the street called the L,
and we're going to have a bigdessert display and we're going
to have a randomonium playingmusic and a big bar set up down
(50:06):
there.
So it'll be a little party downthere and then you can do
dinner and the party, or you canjust do the party or you can
just do dinner Like you've gotplenty of options.
You know that's how we roll,but just you can see that
through Open Table we do all ourreservations for Larkin's the
Roping Table, so find us there.
It'll give you moredescriptions, more details than
I'm probably giving you now, butall I can tell you is it's
(50:27):
going to be a good time andwe're going to be celebrating 20
years.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
Well, look, I'm going to put all of those and all of
that information into the shownotes, but I can guarantee my
wife and I will be down there inorder to partake in that event.
So thank you so much, and thankyou for pulling up a seat and
sharing your journey with us,your insight into leadership,
(50:53):
training, culture.
I mean, it is just so amazing,so heartwarming, not to say
coming from a CFO, just becausewe have this mental picture of
data driven leadership, but youshow that your culture is a lot
more than numbers, and that'sexactly the kind of conversation
(51:16):
we aim for here at theleadership table To our
listeners.
If this episode resonated withyou, please subscribe, leave a
review and share it with afellow leader.
You can find more leadershiptools at Jason E Brooks dot com.
Until next time, keep leadingwith impact and remember manage,
(51:38):
lead, coach, repeat.
Thank you, adam, have anawesome day.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
You too, jason.
Thank you, adam.
Have an awesome day.
You too, jason, thank you.
Welcome to the Leadership Table.
Today's guest is Adam Hayes, ahospitality leader whose journey
spans from executive chef toco-owner and CFO of Larkin's
Restaurant Group.
That group includes localfavorites like Larkin's
Limoncello and Grill Marks, eachknown not just for their flavor
(00:25):
but their focus on people.
What makes Adam's story sospecial isn't just the culinary
path.
It's the commitment to culture,clarity and coaching, whether
it's hiring with intention ordeveloping future leaders.
Adam brings a mindset thatevery operator can learn from,
and in today's episode, we'rediving into that journey,
(00:47):
starting right at the kitchenline, with Adam's story.
In his own words, let's getinto it, ok.
So, adam, I've been lookingforward to this conversation.
There is a lot to unpack from,from your days behind the line
to your role now leading peopleand numbers.
(01:09):
I want to first start with yourjourney, though You've gone
from fry cook to executive chef,to co-owner and now CFO.
Was there a defining momentthat pushed you to trade in your
chef's coat for a seat at thefinancial and ownership table?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, I think there was.
I think there was a moment intime where you know you have as
a chef and every chef isdifferent, right but for me in
particular, my journey, you knowI was cooking a really high
level.
It took a lot to do that, youknow, and you hear this a lot.
It's a lot of time and a lot offocus, a lot of energy.
(01:53):
And I happened to be up inCashers, north Carolina, at
Canyon Kitchen and I was cookingup there and I was just
surrounded by some really greatchefs and we were just working
together, hand in hand, creatingthese really great menus.
But I realized I was kind of, Iwas kind of bipolar.
You know, up there it's aseasonal restaurant, right.
So Memorial day to Labor day isreally when you're busy up
there.
You got some shoulder seasonbefore that and after that, but
(02:16):
then pretty much the winter, youknow there's nothing going on
up there in the winter.
So you don't really you don'treally work, you don't really
chef.
So you know, kind of by thatsecond, third year, I started
realizing I was real almost likebipolar.
I was a husband and father.
You know, in the wintertime andsummertime I was just gone.
I was, you know, seven days aweek working.
I was going up, you know, I wasgetting up at seven, up there
(02:37):
by eight, eight, 30, you know,not getting home till midnight
or one and just going, going,going, going all the time with
that and it just was notsustainable for me at that time
and I started really questioningwhat I was doing, why I was
doing it, how much I still lovedit.
And I think that's really thething you gotta love.
You gotta love being a chef.
You gotta love cooking.
I still love it.
I just don't love it seven daysa week, you know, 365 right now
(03:00):
.
Um, you know, I I startedcoming to grips with that and
started saying what else in thisbusiness can I do?
What has this being a cheftaught me?
What kind of skills has itgiven me that will apply into
other other facets of thebusiness?
And, you know, then it startedleading me towards.
Well, I'm an open mountainrestaurant, right.
So we lived up in Brevard, northCarolina, and that was my plan.
(03:20):
I was going to open arestaurant there and my family
and I were going to run it.
We're going to do this wholething.
So you're talking about middleof.
That would have been middle of18 to like beginning of 19 was
trying to make all this work.
Uh, luckily we didn't make itwork, because 2020 would have
crushed us and, uh, we'd havejust been, you know, flat out
(03:42):
then.
So you know, I just ended uptaking a job here in Greenville
as a culinary director because Ineeded a job.
So I was like, all right, well,be back in the kitchen, but
this will be over multiplekitchens and I'll be able to do
some stuff there.
So I really kind of focused ingetting in here.
And once I got here, it wasn'tlong after that a gentleman had
(04:02):
been with the company for a longtime went and opened his own
place and the owners looked atme and my partner, christina, to
be, uh, executive vicepresidents and at some I had no
idea what that meant.
I was like, yeah, sure,whatever, we'll figure it out.
You know that's how life is andI did.
I started digging into justcommon sense stuff.
For me was digging into p andl's finally like what's this for
, what's that, that for?
(04:23):
Why are we paying this?
How much is that?
Why is that so much?
You know, really startedchopping at the P&L and expenses
going out of the businesses andreally started to really dial
them in.
And then, you know, I think insome ways don't hear me wrong,
but in some ways the 2020 COVIDpandemic on restaurants was kind
(04:45):
of a positive thing, and thepositive thing that came out of
that is we're really able toshed off things we just didn't
need to be paying for.
And did they come back afterthat?
Not really.
Like you know, larkin's andGrill, marks and Lemon Child
have been known in the communityto donate something to
everything, right To everything.
(05:05):
You email us, we'll send you agift card.
You're doing a silent auctionfor whatever something in a
whole nother county and we'regoing to send you a gift card.
And I was just like that don'tmake any sense for us.
I don't.
You know, I get there's a causeand that's something great, but
unless it's really close tosomeone on our team, I don't
know why we're doing it.
You know it doesn't make anysense.
It's just a random personemailing us for something.
(05:26):
So we just took the approach.
If it doesn't help somebody onour team or directly affect
someone on our team, then thenwe're not going to do it.
And, um, we make thosedecisions day by day.
Um, so if a you know, if I gota manager or even a server who's
kids, you know, softball teamor is trying to raise money for
(05:47):
a trip and they want a hundreddollar gift card, we'll do that
in a heartbeat because they'reon our team, you know they're,
they're with us and that's goingto directly benefit them.
So you know, and then it keptgoing.
So, to answer your question, Ikind of going down a rabbit hole
.
You got to be careful with me.
But to to sum that up, I meanonce we became executive vice
presidents, I mean we'reessentially in a role where
(06:07):
we're already partnered at thattime and we're both working
closely together kind of anownership mindset, as I've
always been my whole life andjust really we're attacking
everything we could attack tomake the businesses stronger and
more profitable and reallybenefit everything.
So it's kind of when that allhappened and I just realized you
(06:27):
know there's something aboutbeing in that position with the
knowledge base I've gained as achef and my ability to be able
to really communicate with allsectors of life, and that all
came from my experience inkitchens.
I mean, I bounced around somekitchens and in all different
types of cities and alldifferent parts of the world and
(06:48):
everything still applies.
I mean, you just got to be ableto be someone that can lead
others, that they look up to andthat you can inspire them.
And eventually, you know youdon't see it right now, but I
got a ton of energy.
When I'm in a kitchen it's justa lot of fun for me, you know,
just so much fun for me.
And here recently we've beenshort staffed at Larkins, you
(07:12):
know, so we've been, we've kindof gone through our staffing was
there.
So I've been spending time inthe kitchen just helping out
where I can, filling holes, youknow, working on the menus,
developing the plate ups, likeworking harder there in terms of
what my skills can apply.
And it's funny, we got this kidhe's, I don't know, he's
busting my chops about somethingand I was going right back at
him with it and I was like dude,I've been doing this like my
whole life.
Like what are you talking about, you know?
And he said something else andthen he made some comment about.
(07:34):
You know, I couldn't even do 40pushups.
I said right now I said righthere in the kitchen floor.
So I went and got my Jason, oneof our operations managers.
I brought him back.
I said you count them off.
We're doing it right here andevery I mean you know what
happens there.
Jason, which is comical, islike that is such a morale
(07:56):
booster off the silliest stuff.
I mean I'm probably oneverybody's Snapchat right now.
That works in our restaurant.
Everybody has their cameras out.
You can't do anything withoutsomebody videotaping.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Not these days, though.
There is always a witness.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I can just feel them around me.
They're all like what's goingon in there?
Oh my gosh, chef Adam's backthere, what's he doing?
And then I mean, we just wenthead to head.
I did 50.
He did 33.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
And I just not going to happen.
It's just not going to happen,not even with pushups, not with
serving plates, not with thebest bills, not with recipe
specs and not with pushups.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Absolutely, oh man so first, you know those are those
leadership things we talkedabout.
Right, like you know, call itwhat you will, it could be silly
, whatever.
But you know there was a momentthere where there was like it
was a little bit of a call out,like you're not gonna call me
out, but there's also, like youknow, like he was pumped up
after I mean, we, you know, wekind of shook it off and I say
(08:59):
you know, they're realnon-confrontational in a kitchen
nowadays, so they have a hardtime like motivating each other
if that makes sense, like it's,um, you know, like in my day I
won't use all the proper wordsthat we use with each other, but
it was always like if I was ona station and you were on a
station and I was killing it andall my orders were going up and
(09:19):
I'm waiting on you, I'm, I'mbusting your chops.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Call it out.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
How much longer.
You know, oh my God, do youneed to go find somebody else to
work that station with you?
Like that kind of stuff.
You don't have any of that inthe kitchen now.
They don't do any of that.
So, um, there was somethingabout that, I think, in in
growing up in the business andcooking that was really
inspirational, that would reallymotivate you because you were,
it was like peer to peer.
It wasn't like I needed a chefto get on me, it was that peer
(09:49):
to peer that really pushed,pushed you to be better and more
efficient, um, to be able tokeep up to all that stuff.
And I look back on those days.
I mean I was at Mimosa grill inCharlotte in like 2001, 2002,
somewhere around there, and youknow the convention center was
right next door.
And you know the conventioncenter was right next door and
you know I had an Iraniangeneral manager, nasser Razmir,
(10:10):
and that dude, that dude bonuson how much money, he did not
care, he just brought it at usand 450 seat restaurant and they
would see he would seat thewhole restaurant at once and you
had to put the food out.
There was no like option.
There was no complaining aboutit.
There was no sitting in thecorner crying about it.
It was like you got to get methe food, like go, go, go, and
that's when we would reallybanter with each other.
(10:31):
So I mean those were like theold days, I say, but I mean I
couldn't imagine what they werebefore.
That I mean it's just like youknow, it's not like an old man
right when I was your age, butyou know, even before that was,
you know, it's just differentlevels of stuff and that's
something that I've beenlearning to adapt to and find
different ways, I guess, tomotivate, to challenge, to
(10:53):
inspire, like those are all thebig things that you keep
learning about, and sometimesit's the silliest things like a
push-up contest in the middle ofthe kitchen.
I mean it's the silliest thing.
Things like a push-up contestin the middle of the kitchen, I
mean it's the silliest thing.
And they were all hyped upabout it.
Everybody's talking about it,everybody's buzzing, everybody's
happy, everybody's going intothe evening.
It's a Friday, saturday night,I can't remember which one, but
they're all going in and outsuper excited and laughing and
(11:15):
having a good time, and so itwill morale boost.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
You dropped so many gems, so many.
I'm gonna go back to to theactual start, though, and
listeners, you may need torewind this because, first of
all, western north carolina hasa lot of gems.
If you've never been to cashersor brevard, absolutely go there
(11:42):
, even during peak season, when,whenever it is busy but it is
gorgeous out there there aresome amazing restaurants, some
incredible chefs, the views,everything about western nc.
It is just top notch.
Even after those storms didsome damage to western NC, it's
(12:02):
still amazing out there.
Now, your shift from chef into aleadership role to a ownership
role.
It takes a lot to be able tobreak that mold, because even
whenever I was a sous chef indowntown Fayetteville at the
(12:23):
Hilltop House, buying my firstpair of Wusthof knives, some
Birkenstock chef shoes andplucking herbs from the garden
that was right outside the doorsof the bar area and helping to
create specials, there is thisthing, there's this pride that
is there about creatingsomething that people fall in
(12:46):
love with, and that anxiety ofis it good enough and can I
teach this to the other chefs?
Yes, I am on my station incharge of my features once I got
to that point, but stillteaching others what that build
is and teaching these servershow to sell it.
There is that specialconnection with you and the food
(13:09):
.
And then to shift from thatinto ownership yes, you still
get hands on some, but you'rekind of leaving behind some of
what was built.
So I was going to ask some ofthe biggest leadership lessons
learned from stepping into thatrole from a active chef, in
which you still are, but intothat ownership and more numbers
(13:33):
role.
Some people are like no, I'mbored out of my brains.
But you talked about how youwere able to take multiple
things learned throughleadership in different kitchens
and then help to apply thattoday, even in environments that
are very different from whatyou came from.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, it's even more challenging, you know, to you
know, as far as multi-unit,there's a skill in that alone.
Multi-unit leadershipmanagement is a skill in itself
that I've never really had, Iguess, in terms of I've never
really been responsible for morethan you know one location.
Until you know I was at aresort in Daresville, georgia,
called Barnsley Gardens Resortand I was there and you know you
(14:19):
had a catering operation.
You had, you know, threerestaurants.
You had, you know, all thisstuff and it was like that was
about the gist of my multi-unitmanagement experience and that
lasted for me for like 10 months.
I just didn't, you know, wasn'tthe best place for me in the
world, and you know.
So we ended up that's when weended up moving back to Brevard
and got that, you know, startedworking up in cashier.
So you know, going into a rolelike that, you had to.
(14:42):
You know you had to be present,you had to be a leader with you
know, five corporations it'sreally six in my brain because
we got a catering operation too.
We have a corporate office thathad people working there.
So you know, you had to leadthose groups and had to lead
each restaurant and catering isa juggernaut.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I mean, that's its own other planet.
Most people think, oh well, Ijust sell it bulk now.
No, that's, you have to be veryspecific as to what you offer
when it comes down to catering.
Sorry, not to cut you off.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, no, no, I mean, that's the.
I always say you got to be sprythere, right, you got to be
able to bounce around and dolike, figure it out fast, and
sometimes in a situation whereyou know you don't know the
territory at all, so you know.
Great example we had a cateringsold up in Brevard about a
month ago.
You know, and I know theterritory like I know the
terrain.
So it's like, okay, well, youknow, I'm not, I wasn't directly
(15:34):
involved, but I became involvedbecause they needed my
experience and knowledge in thearea.
But then we started digginginto it more, christina and I,
and our experience combined inthat department is pretty strong
.
So we started really banteringabout the plan that was set
forth by the team.
I said, well, this plan is notgonna work.
I hate to bust your bubble, butthis pretty strong.
So we started really banteringabout the plan that was set
forth by the team.
I said, well, this plan is notgoing to work.
I hate to bust your bubble, butthis ain't working.
So we quickly had to make anaudible.
(15:54):
You know, within a week's run,make an audible, found an Airbnb
.
You know, put the team up,three, three team members up in
the Airbnb and then had to get arefrigerator truck because we
didn't have enough refrigerationat the venue to hold all the
food cold.
It was a weekend long event,right, it was Friday, saturday,
sunday, multiple meals per day,you know.
(16:14):
So the kids are up there,isolated, basically.
So Christina and I drove up onthe first day.
We made sure we set everythingup, we made sure everything
worked, we made sure everythingwas there, like that was the
thing we needed to to do.
We couldn't just send themwithout the experience level.
I think they were superappreciative.
And then we took them to afriend of mine's restaurant up
there and and picked them outand gored them out and they were
(16:35):
super stoked about that.
But, um, but they did a greatjob all weekend.
We're set for success.
I mean, I think that sometimeshalf the battle is teaching some
of that stuff.
I mean I learned it throughtime.
Christina's learned it time,but these kids are learning it
right now, at this time, and Ithink that's the hard part for
me.
I keep going back to that.
It's like what I learned andhow I learned it.
(16:56):
I keep questioning that how didI learn it?
You know who actually taught methat?
Or how did I?
How did I get here?
And I think that I have to goback in time and say, okay, well
, I've got, I say, kids.
I got people in their, in theirmoment right now, learning, and
so how do I better teach them?
And so a lot of times I willspend time with them, whether
(17:17):
they like it or not,philosophically, or this is why
I made this decision, this iswhy you do it this way, this is
why it makes sense, and reallytrying to develop that mentality
on it.
And you know, sometimes itworks, sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes people look at melike I'm an idiot.
You know, like, oh, you're sostupid.
And then sometimes you knowlike I'm cooking on the line
with a guy the other day and I'mlike, hey, man, how long have
(17:45):
you been cooking?
He's like 30 years.
I said me too, that's crazy.
And we're sitting there.
He was like you guys have beencooking for 30 years.
Yeah, man, he's like God, noway.
I was like, yeah, you mightwant to listen to us.
We might actually teach yousomething along the way.
We've seen a thing or two.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
We've seen a few brunches with this conversation.
I want to personally invite youto take it a step further
inside the leadership circle.
It's my small group coachingexperience, designed
specifically for operators andowners who want to scale smarter
, lead stronger and build teamsthat truly care.
We meet regularly to workthrough real challenges, sharpen
(18:30):
leadership systems and create aculture that actually sticks.
If that sounds like somethingyou've been looking for, head to
jasonebrookscom or just clickthe link in the show notes.
Now back to the episode, see.
But this is the thing here Everyquestion that you're posing to
them, everything you're teachingthem, is the foundation of
(18:54):
culture.
It is the actual foundation ofculture.
Some people, they don't knowhow to put their thumb on.
What culture is?
You just defined it by takingyou and Christina's experience
and thinking through that region, that territory.
What are those?
(19:14):
What are those logistics thatneed to be done for this to go
well?
Now, how do we take our team,put them in the right situation,
the right environment, and howdo we teach them about these
things?
And now, how do I also makethat connect within the
restaurant, for whether it'ssomeone that's been cooking for
30 years or for three years,that is the power of culture,
(19:37):
and I do believe you postedrecently about gratitude for
your team and the power ofculture and the power of culture
.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
What is something that you've learned about hiring
for heart and not just skill.
I mean, I've learned that one acouple times ever.
Honestly, you know we talk alot about when you're talking to
someone, what kind of like.
What are you getting out ofthat person?
Right, like, what are youlooking for?
Is this the right fit for whatwe're looking for?
(20:14):
But it's also, if I'm talkingto you and we were hitting it
off and ask a few questions andI'm like this guy's great, like
he needs to work for it, wherecould he, where could he fit
into what we're doing?
We then start doing that kind ofstuff.
It's almost like well, I'minterviewing you for a bartender
.
Well, I don't think you havequite the experience From my
(20:35):
conversation.
Maybe you're super personablethat goes a long way in a bar
all day long, right, but youdon't have the technical skills.
But maybe there's a differentposition that works for you.
Or maybe, like, after talkingto you, you're like you could be
some like almost like liaisonbetween the customer and the
restaurant, like all therestaurants, because you're so
(20:56):
personable, and maybe you know Ican develop something out of
that.
And then my brain starts goingdown a road and it's really
starts becoming more about who'sthis person in front of me,
what are their skills, what arethey doing?
How do they contribute?
What I really like about them?
And that's funny because whenwe just did the whole
StrengthsFinder again right, sothat was a big deal for us.
(21:17):
We were hiring people, point O,they weren't working out.
We're hiring them on gut, we'rehiring them on feel, we're
hiring them on all the thingsyou would do skill, experience,
all that stuff.
And so I was like we got to dosomething different.
This was all at Larkins and wekind of went through a couple of
managers at times and no, we'redoing the Strength Finder all
over again, like we're justdoing it.
And I did mine just for fun.
And you know I'm an arranger,you know that's my strongest
(21:39):
skill, so I'm able to take thethings that we have, the people
we have, the resources we have,and I'm able to put that in a
way that makes sense and that'smy skill.
And luckily, our, our executiveteam all has different skills in
that realm and started andstarted as a strengths and it
keeps us a real balanced team.
I mean there's really four ofus there's, there's Scott we
(22:00):
call him the wolf and then we'vegot Jason and I call him the
captain.
And then there's Christina andmyself and um you, um, you know
we sit around and we got.
You know, we've got a woo guy.
You know, jason's a realpositive woo guy.
He keeps people motivated,keeps engaged, very engaged,
with the people.
So he's he's the captain, buthe's our people and products guy
.
So he's really focused onpeople, training, staffing,
(22:22):
hiring, developing processes.
And then, on the product side,it's about standardization make
sure all of our liquors match upto our standards, all of our
wines match up to our standards,beer, food.
You know, if there's a foodcrisis, a price spike, we need
to make an adjustment.
That's, that's hisresponsibility, that's his focus
.
Um, you know, the wolf is, youknow, just like in Pulp Fiction
(22:43):
man.
He's.
He's the guy you call whenthere's a problem, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Wait, did you say pulp fiction?
Oh, I love it I love it.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
He's the wolf.
He shows up and fixes it, allright.
So that's when you call thewolf, but he is literally our
operations director.
I mean, he really keeps all thenuts and bolts moving, he fixes
problems, he's you know, he'sour toast expert on the POS.
He's in and out of that thing.
I mean it just really you gotto have people on your team that
specialize in things and youknow I've got the fancy CFO
(23:18):
title.
But you know, whatever thatmeans, I just make sure that
we're putting some money in thebank and that we can afford to
pay for all the things andfuture expansion, future growth,
investment back into thebusiness, investment to our
people, monitoring a lot of thatstuff is really what my title
ends up being at the end of theday.
But the four of us really cometogether.
So I think I went sideways.
(23:38):
On your question.
What was your?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
original question no, no, no.
It was about the power of thepower of culture and how you
hire for heart and not justskill.
But you went through your fourpillars, your four pillars of
the four people that are on yourteam that help to create that
culture.
And it's good that you're ableto put a picture, a concept, a
(24:07):
model of where they fill in tohelp build those things that
help you to hire for heart andnot just skill.
And the StrengthsFinders 2.0,because of the turnover going
through management, and theyhelp you to keep those things in
check.
(24:27):
Now, most people have thatchallenge with just one location
.
You have multiple locations.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So we did it at all of them.
After doing it there andgetting some people hired, we
got a great team hired.
Then we did it at all therestaurants and then the wolf
got even crazier, the Wolf goteven crazier and he started
putting all that into AIgenerators and started piecing,
you know, managers togetherbased on their strengths and how
they would fuse together, andwe had pretty much everybody in
the right sense.
Some moves we could have made,but they were happy where they
(24:59):
were.
So we don't muck it all up, butyou know it's just really being
able to take another approach,another look at it.
No-transcript.
We're in a simpler time, asimpler thing.
So, you know, I startedspending a lot of time thinking
(25:21):
about this.
I felt like it was veryimportant to have something that
was short, that was simple,that really resonated with
hospitality, really resonatedwith a direction that we're
going at this moment in time.
It could change, but right nowit's like a direction in time
and it reminded me of this thingmy wife put in my reminders a
long time ago, which is everyday.
It pops up and just says benice.
So we just went with be nice.
(25:42):
And you know that's what wetell people Just be nice, be
nice to each other.
That's what we tell people Justbe nice, be nice to each other.
And we broke down.
The N is nurturing, the I isintuitive, the C is
compassionate and the E isexperiences, and experiences are
both internal and external.
Yeah, so that's our peoplecoming in, but it's also our
people who work with us, and Ithink what I'm constantly
coaching the management team onis that nurturing and compassion
(26:06):
can be taken advantage of realquick.
There's a two-way street there,so you got to be careful being
too nurturing or toocompassionate with everything
that's going on in the world.
You know employees, I meanthey'll take advantage where
they can.
It's just in nature, it's justhow it works.
So you got to be careful withthat when you're like doing
(26:27):
these things and make sure theyunderstand.
Like you know, for us asmanager and leaders, you know
we're nurturing people, we'reteaching them, we're developing
them, we're giving them theresources, tools they need.
I mean we can be compassionateat certain times about certain
things.
People go through things intheir life all the time.
That's where compassion kicksin, but don't take it, don't let
people take advantage of that.
(26:48):
And that's where compassionkicks in, but don't let people
take advantage of that.
And that's where we really areright now is just keep saying it
.
So if you do something nice,I'm going to be like nice, and
if you're doing something that'snot nice, I'm going to tell you
to be nice.
Yeah, be nice.
And that really redirectseverybody's focus.
So we have that everywhere andwe'll probably even take it to
another level with just themanagement team and have another
(27:09):
one which is just care, andthen we'll break that one down.
It was a couple it's still inthe design phase, but there's
some in there in that care piece, which is accountability really
is in the A.
And then you just got to berelentless.
I mean, that's the R.
You got to be relentless in ourbusiness.
You can't stop.
You just can't stop.
(27:33):
You know you just can't stop.
You just got to keep grinding,keep going, keep pushing and
keep pushing people forward andthat's what they want.
Ultimately, now we can go.
Culture is different foreverybody too.
Like I'm learning, like you'rein a day and age now in the
world where everybody has theirthing and you don't know what
that thing is unless you findout what the thing is.
Like I was having this wholelike I'm trying to figure it out
(27:58):
.
This was probably four yearsago, maybe five years ago.
I'm trying to figure out, likewhy are we having these issues?
Like what is this?
Why is that?
And then I was having aconversation with one of our
associates and she said that shejust doesn't polish glassware.
Like she just won't do it, I'mnot doing it.
And I'm like, oh okay, that'sweird.
Uh, you're a bartender.
Um, part of it, I mean, it'spart of the job.
(28:18):
Why won't you do it?
She's like I just don't likedoing, I'm just not gonna do it.
I always make somebody else doit, and I think that's when it
hit me.
I was what is that thing?
You know that Jason's not goingto do.
What are you not going to do,jason?
I mean, what is that thing?
I got to find out what thatthing is and I got to either
develop that into you or I gotto figure out a way to work with
that or like whatever it is,but it is a different thing for
every every individual personand that's a lot to keep up with
(28:41):
.
I can barely can remember whatpeople's favorite candy bars are
.
Sometimes, you know like Iforget my own parents' birthdays
some days.
I mean like I'm the worst atthat remembering stuff.
You know I'm a go go, govisionary, creative guy.
You know like I just kind ofkind of live out in the cloud
sometimes.
But I think figuring thosethings out and just
understanding them and being inand finding some compassion in
(29:03):
there, um, that can really.
That can really help them feellike they're at the place they
want to be.
And sometimes, you know, peoplejump jobs for whatever reasons.
We just want to be an employerchoice.
We want to make sure you'recoming into a warm environment
where everyone's nurturing,they're happy and they're taking
care of you and that you'reable to come earn a living in an
(29:24):
environment that you want to bein and take care of our guests
that are coming in to helpsupport the whole thing.
That's how it becomessustainable.
Without that, without havingthat service mindset first and
having that really hospitalityforward mindset.
The people coming in to spendthe money will quit coming in
and spend money and the wholething will not be sustainable.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
I will tell you what my listeners are probably turned
on top of their head right nowbecause they have probably never
heard a CFO be as people andculture focused as you are.
So although you have that title, there is a lot of layers or
personalities under Chef Adam'shat there, so people should be
(30:08):
cautious.
Now we can tell you're not justcrunching numbers, you are
teaching people how to lead.
But let's get technical, though.
What's one metric?
Restaurant managers probablyoverlook that they should not be
overlooking when it comes downto running a successful business
(30:31):
as a restaurant manager.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
That's a tough one.
I mean, you're looking for afinancial metric, you're saying.
I mean right now you know, theytend to know they're two biggest
, it's labor and cost of goods.
They tend to know those themost.
I think the one that they failto really dial in, which is one
that I was really good at and Ishouldn't have been as a chef, I
shouldn't have been really goodat it it was linen.
(30:56):
I mean, if you're using anynapkins, bar towels, bar rags,
aprons, any of that stuff, thatline can really creep on you.
I mean it can be two percent orit could get up to five percent
, and really the ones that arereally good at that, um, really
can dial in and drop a point,even a point and a half in some
(31:18):
cases, if you really are focusedon it, if you really say like,
look, the lending companiesaren't perfect.
I joke with them all the time.
I take pictures texted to the,the district manager, all the
time when I'm in larkins, likeyou know, there I could get
perfectly pressed linens butit's like three times the cost
of a regular linen right.
So one of them I want thempacked right and that seems to
(31:38):
where they're messing up.
They're like folding it thewrong way and then refolding it
the other way, right off theironer and and then it's got
like these double seams and itjust looks stupid.
I always send them the picture.
I'm like dude, help me out here,like you know, and they may
issue me a credit here or there,but a lot of times it's I say
linen, but usually it is alsothe credit chasing and really
getting credit for a product.
That is not right, that's wrong, that came in bad.
(32:01):
You know, that's a game initself and you really got to be
focused on that kind of stuff toreally be able to figure that,
figure that stuff out and findthose, find those deals.
But I've been spending most ofmy time here lately.
Really like to.
The first part of this isreally going in and having
conversations with every manager.
That's on duty.
(32:21):
If I just walk in, I'm gonnastart having a conversation
about something, something I seeor something that I think could
help them, or something thatwas relevant to what was
happening at the moment.
It could have been somethingthat was in their nightly report
from the night before.
You know, hey, this was aproblem, this happened.
And then I can say, hey, tellme about what happened and
explain what happened exactly,and then have an opportunity to
really talk through that andfind and teach some other ways
(32:44):
to handle that situation.
That's ultimately, where we'regoing to have the best
opportunity to make the mostmoney and reduce our expenses.
It's upfront, it's giving themthe knowledge base.
The P&L will look at it and itcan be daunting.
I mean you can look at it andbe oh my God, I don't even know
what I'm looking at here.
What is all this stuff?
And I remember looking at someP&Ls first early on in my career
.
And I remember looking at someP&Ls early on in my career and I
(33:05):
said what is this?
And I was lucky to have ageneral manager walk me through
it.
I mean he sat with me,scheduled the time sat with me,
went line by line, explained tome how it worked, and I just did
that this year on our budgets,with our budgets.
Normally I would write a budgetand this is what we need to hit
this year.
I let the GMs just do theirbest shot.
I said here's a blank one,figure it out, let me know if
you need any help.
(33:26):
And of course they called theWolf and the captain and they
asked them 20 million questions.
It was more a project for themthan it was for the GMs.
But when they came, they camewith their budgets and I said,
all right, let's pull it up,let's look at it.
And I had a big giant screen.
Pull them up.
I got theirs on one side, I gotBlank one on the other side,
and then I've got, like theyears past QuickBooks open and
(33:48):
I'm just like, all right, we'regoing to bounce around, let's
just see what it looks like.
And then we would just have aconversation I remember this
with Richard Kessler.
He owns Kessler Hotels and I hadopened the Grand Bohemian in
Asheville and he was with whowas that?
Scott Schreiber was with him ata time as president, and then
we just opened hotel.
I think we opened in april, somay first of june.
He comes back for a visit andat that point we were I mean, we
(34:12):
were killing it as a team.
Restaurant was vibrant, it waspacked, it was full, it was a
lot of volume, a lot of stuffgoing on.
I remember him, they wanted tomeet with me, so it was, you
know, the president of thecompany, the owner of the
company of me, and I waspuckered up man.
I was like, oh God, what isthis about?
You know, like did I dosomething wrong?
You know kind of stuff goesthrough your mind at that time.
We just sit at a table in therestaurant and he pulls out a
(34:34):
menu and he's looking at it.
He went menu item by menu itemhe said he said you know how's
this calamari sell?
I?
He said you know how's thiscalamari sell?
I said it sells like number oneseller every night and the
number one seller hands down.
He said what's your food coston it?
I said about 30, 28, 30,somewhere around there.
And he says think you can getanother dollar for it.
(34:54):
I said oh, yeah.
So he marked it off and markedit up a dollar.
I mean we did this exercisedown the whole menu and I was
able to tell him all the foodcosts.
I knew all the costs of goods.
I mean it was like a test onhow well I was doing.
But can you get another dollar?
I said, yeah, I think you canget another $3 actually.
And so he marked it off, markit up $3.
So we kind of did that exercise.
(35:16):
But again, that's something Ilearned I took away is like a
really cool experience for me.
And so I did this I've donethis a couple of times with some
other people in the restaurantsand I've done it with the
budget and I was like hey, doyou?
Yeah, really you need, you knowyou need 10% of this line item.
Can you get it to eight?
Can you cut two points here?
This will be this number.
This is what has trended thelast three years.
You know like this is what hasactually been.
(35:38):
So let's you know.
Let's put it here.
Let's put some more there.
Know, you need more money totake care of your staff.
Don't be tight there.
You want to spend money takingcare of your people.
So that budget line.
I always tell them either youspend it or I'll spend it
somewhere else.
But you're not getting it.
It's not going to help yourbonus.
Exactly, you spend it or I'lltake it.
(36:00):
You see, it's one of the two.
All right, use it or lose itperiod.
Yes, Consider this my money I'mgiving you to go spend to take
care of your people and ourpeople, and if you don't, then
I'm just going to take it back.
It's not going to make you moremoney, I promise.
That's not how this is going towork.
And so they've been really goodabout doing that.
(36:30):
It's just a matter of againteaching them when to do it,
when it makes those impacts,when it has the most impact and
you know this is a funny onethat just kind of came to mind
as I was talking about that.
My 2025 goal is to not use theword busy, like I'm just not
going to use it.
You know my life is already, inmost people's case, busy, but
in my world, it's just how mylife is.
There's a lot going on.
I've got a lot ofresponsibilities.
I'm raising two children stillmy daughter's 20, my son's 14.
(36:51):
I'm trying to live that lifewith them too.
I've got a wife trying to takecare of that travel, see things,
do things and I've got fivecorporations to run and a big
catering outfit to stay on topof.
So my life, in most people'scases, is considered busy and my
life is considered normal forme.
So it's identifying.
When you talk about things at arestaurant level with
(37:14):
management and they say you know, today was busy, okay, well,
that doesn't tell me anythingbecause your definition of busy
at Grillmarks on Main Street,which is the highest revenue
generating grill marksrestaurant we have, versus busy
in columbia, which is second tothem, but not quite the limit,
(37:34):
about half of that.
So when you start looking atthat you're like, well, there's
two different words, there's twodifferent meanings for that
word right here alone in thisreport that I'm reading today.
Busy has to be a number or ithas to be a headcount.
It has to be something that youcan quantify and you can't just
use it as a reason for thingsand so like, oh, today was busy,
(37:56):
well, that doesn't tell meanything.
If I go back two years from nowI'm trying to figure out why we
did $10, know $10,000 on aSaturday and I got a manager
says it was busy.
Well, well, nowadays $15,000 is$18,000, is kind of the norm,
that's a normal day.
You know, $25,000 a day wouldbe considered an astronomical
day.
But three years from now wehope the $25,000 becomes the
(38:19):
norm and so you keep you kind ofkeep climbing that ladder on
what is busy to you and justquit using the word busy.
Like, was it busy tonight?
No, no, it wasn't.
Actually it was.
Uh, you know, we did about$5,000 for dinner.
That was not good.
We need more than that.
That's, that's extra slow in my, in my, definition.
(38:39):
So, uh, it's just something Ithink that helps when you're
talking about what we do.
You've heard it, you've been inthe business, you know what I'm
talking about.
Like, if you say you know itwas busy, well, what's that mean
?
You and I two different busy?
I mean busy for me was what 450people sat all in one time in
downtown Charlotte and I'mcooking 50 bass at one time, you
(39:00):
know, 50 salmon at one time,and all the sides and all the
all the stuff.
Now that's busy.
And uh, that's what busy feelslike to me.
If I had to just use onesingular word, but I just
quantified it by saying 50 seabass, 50 salmon, all the sides
that go with it, that's a numberthat you can relate to, and I
can relate to trying to cook 50pieces of fish at one time,
(39:21):
perfectly.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Well, I got to say my wife took a look at your menu
and the sea bass, she has beenbiting at the chomps.
To go at that table, to sit atthat table, to be invited by the
(39:53):
owner, by the executives, andto have a seat and to be at that
table, that's a hugeaccomplishment in any chef's
eyes at any point of theircareer, in any chef's eyes at
any point of their career.
And there are a few questions,because this is the leadership
table that gets us to that pointof sharing your experience with
(40:15):
your first times sitting atthose tables.
These two questions that I'mgonna ask you next are some of
our staples that we ask to everysingle guest.
So if you could sit at aleadership table with three
other leaders, whether alive orfrom history, who would you
(40:38):
choose and why?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Oh man, you should prepare me for these Three other
leaders.
Three, you need three of them,right?
Three they could be alive.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
They could be from history, they could be from way
back in the day.
Just three leaders that youcould have a seat at and have a
conversation at a table, at atable.
Who would you choose, and why?
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I think the first one that comes to mind would
definitely be john maxwell,because I listen to his minute
with maxwell podcast prettyoften and there's a lot of good
stuff that comes out of that andI cooked for him actually once
at candy kitchen, wow, and I waslike like starstruck to go out
and talk to him.
You know, um, he's a, he's a,he's a great guy, um.
(41:30):
Another one that comes to mindis Nito Cubain, which is the um.
He's the president of highpoint university and his book,
extraordinary transformation.
I'm only like two chapters inright now, but there was a,
there was a chapter.
Two was um aim forextraordinary act with urgency
and that I read that chapter atthe exact moment I needed to
(41:51):
read it.
So it'd be pretty cool to talkto him more about that book and
about that process, because Ifeel like we're kind of in that
process, where we're, you know,we're in this extraordinary
transformation phase as arestaurant Me personally, but
also as a restaurant group withnew ownership and new leadership
and new direction and new focus.
And I think you know I need toget through that book, but I
(42:12):
tend to pick up other booksalong the way, so that's part of
the problem.
And then I don't know.
I mean, I think there's a lotto be said.
I was trying to think I thinkleadership through battle is
something that is veryinteresting to me.
(42:34):
I just think that there'ssomewhere.
At one point I was going to bein the Air Force, I wanted to be
in the military something, Ithink somebody in that realm, I
just don't know who I couldsingle that out to be.
You know like you know like ageneral probably come out of the
mind.
General pack probably jump offthe plate at you.
You know I'd be curious on someof that.
I mean, I've always beenfascinated with Ronald Reagan
(42:55):
and just some of the stuff thathe was doing.
I think military leaders arereally, you know, really sharp
cookies and really poised andreally calm under pressure.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
So anyone in that realm would be fantastic to
speak to.
Ok, last final question at theleadership table, we believe in
conversations that inspire, leadand elevate.
What's one conversation and Iknow you've had many, I know
you've had many, but what's oneconversation in your career that
(43:30):
profoundly shaped how you leadtoday?
Again, I know there's manyconversations you've had to help
shift sands of how you do whatyou do, but what's one that you
can remember that stands out themost?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
That I had about my leadership.
You mean, is that what you'resaying?
Speaker 1 (43:53):
That you had with a leader.
It was a manager, a owner, adirector, an executive, someone
with a chef, someone within yoursphere with a chef, someone
within your sphere that there'sone conversation they had with
you that shaped how you leadothers today.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Wow, that's a good one right there Trying to think,
you know, my time at theBohemian, when I was there, like
that was really one of thestrongest teams I probably ever
worked with in terms of allaround.
Like every department was astrong leader, and it really is
because we had a strong leaderat the top.
John Luckett was our generalmanager and I spent, I mean,
countless hours in his officetalking to him about different
(44:35):
things.
You know I'd be, you know I'm achef, so there'd be a lot of
energy coming off of me.
It'd be like you know, likeeverybody's stupid, you know
like everybody's stupid, youknow, or like something like
that.
I just be frustrated withsomething you know and that's
like, but you could always vomitthat in his office.
He was fine, he knew how totake it.
You know he wasn't taking, heknew what I was doing, but he
(44:56):
was always good with advice.
I mean, it was usually simple,short, sweet and you know, one
in particular was, you know,like I was.
I was.
So that was my first executivechef job.
By the way, I was a sous chefor chef de cuisine for 10 years
before that.
I was the chef's right hand andI was always, you know, doing
the load right.
I was doing all the work.
And so when I had my firstexecutive chef job, like I was
like super focused.
(45:16):
I didn't want to fail.
So I was going in at like sixin the morning make sure that
we're all set for breakfast, andthen I was prepping all the
food from the line, I wassetting the line up and then,
you know, I'd go into lunch, Iwork lunch and I work dinner and
I was leaving at like nine orten o'clock at night and going
home, you know, and I thinkafter doing that for about three
weeks, I was like so frustratedbecause the cooks were coming
in at night and they're justlike walking around making
(45:38):
espresso shots for themselves,getting coffee.
You know I'm like getting.
So I've been here all morningworking my butt off.
You know, I'm like so mad aboutit.
I go in there, I'm like ventingabout it, and he just broke it
down and he's like you're doingall the work for them.
You know that's why you're sofrustrated.
You're doing everything forthem.
So they're coming in and myperception I went from, you know
, all about me, all aboutwanting to get it right, very
(46:10):
focused on that part of it and Iwasn't utilizing my team in a
way that they could work,basically do this work for me,
so through coaching, mentoringand developing them.
So it really switched the way Iwas looking at that whole thing
at that moment in time and Ireally think it's what just
catapulted everything.
I mean from there it was, likeyou know, I had production lists
(46:32):
, I had production schedules, Ihad assigned to people, I was
delegating out the jobs, theprep that needed to be done per
station, per person, kept itbalanced, kept it within a
timeframe that I could expectthem to get it done, and that
really, I think that was reallythe moment that it really
changed the way I was looking atmy leadership role.
(46:53):
I've never really been at the,at the top position.
I was always the worker guyright and I only knew to do what
chef told me.
Or make it special on the fly,and you know, hey, we got this
fish, why don't you make itspecial?
And I put something togethertogether in about 30 minutes.
You know, just get it done,bang it out.
But that was really thetransforming moment.
I feel like, if I go back intime and I look, I had a lot of
other great inspirationalleaders.
(47:13):
I mean Dennis Quaintus atQuaintus Weaver Hotels.
I mean he is like a ball ofenergy.
He had Lucky University andjust taught you a lot about it.
Took all the leadership stuffin the world, all the great
leadership books, and kind ofput it together into one big
training thing.
So it's when you join as amanager, you went through lucky,
you, lucky, lucky universityand you learned all this stuff.
(47:34):
But, like for me, there was alot of it already in there.
So having the knowledge that,oh, this is how, oh well, that
makes sense, I connected thedots really quickly.
So really that also reallyguided me into the next role and
that was before I went to theBohemians.
So I think that transformationprocess in that timeframe you
got to think was like a sevenyear transformation, yeah, which
(47:56):
seems like a lot of time, butit really isn't.
It's like seven years.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
I was able to really catapult through my chef career,
just through those, reallythrough those two people.
I love that.
I love that.
Chef Adam, you've been quiteamazing.
Speaker 2 (48:21):
But before we close out, though, where can listeners
connect with you or learn moreabout the Larkin's family of
restaurants?
Well, we've got all thewebsites.
So Larkin'sbl, uh, limoncello,gbl, uh, grill marks official.
Those were all of our mainrestaurant web pages.
I'm pretty easy to find.
I'm, I'm at chef a hayes on theinstagram and the facebook.
Uh, so I don't post a lot, but,uh, when I do, it's something
(48:41):
decent, it's something ofquality.
Well, it's me horsing aroundwith my children.
The most recent one wasFather's Day on the lake.
They snapped a picture of me.
I had my sunglasses on, andthen I had my readers underneath
my sunglasses.
So they snapped a picture of me.
So I turned it black and whiteand made it my profile picture
and said, yeah, still gettingwork done, but I'm on a bus,
(49:02):
love it Still working, stillStill getting work done, but I'm
on abus, love it, still working,
still answering emails, doingwhat's needed, that kind of
stuff.
But that's probably the bestplace.
Or come to Greenville and havea staycation.
Stay, have a vacation.
If you're in Greenville, have astaycation and come downtown
and hit all of our restaurants.
We're all in walking distancefrom each other and love to have
(49:23):
you in, love to see you in therestaurants.
I mean, that's what we do.
We're just serving people.
20 years we're celebrating thisyear at Larkin's Congratulations
which is super rare forrestaurants in general and we're
having a big 20-yearanniversary party on July 31st
and we have tickets available onthat through Open Table.
(49:44):
So it's going to be somethrowbacks from 2005, some
throwback 2005 dishes andbasically we have some time slot
seatings where you can do, youknow, basically like a
four-course with auction tastingmenu, and then we go down to
our event venue, which is justdown the street called the L,
and we're going to have a bigdessert display and we're going
to have a randomonium playingmusic and a big bar set up down
(50:06):
there.
So it'll be a little party downthere and then you can do
dinner and the party, or you canjust do the party or you can
just do dinner Like you've gotplenty of options.
You know that's how we roll,but just you can see that
through Open Table we do all ourreservations for Larkin's the
Roping Table, so find us there.
It'll give you moredescriptions, more details than
I'm probably giving you now, butall I can tell you is it's
(50:27):
going to be a good time andwe're going to be celebrating 20
years.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
Well, look, I'm going to put all of those and all of
that information into the shownotes, but I can guarantee my
wife and I will be down there inorder to partake in that event.
So thank you so much, and thankyou for pulling up a seat and
sharing your journey with us,your insight into leadership,
(50:53):
training, culture.
I mean, it is just so amazing,so heartwarming, not to say
coming from a CFO, just becausewe have this mental picture of
data driven leadership, but youshow that your culture is a lot
more than numbers, and that'sexactly the kind of conversation
(51:16):
we aim for here at theleadership table To our
listeners.
If this episode resonated withyou, please subscribe, leave a
review and share it with afellow leader.
You can find more leadershiptools at Jason E Brooks dot com.
Until next time, keep leadingwith impact and remember manage,
(51:38):
lead, coach, repeat.
Thank you, adam, have anawesome day.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
You too, jason.
Thank you, adam.
Have an awesome day.
You too, jason, thank you.
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