Welcome back to Turning the Table.
Speaker:We've we've got episode 1 36 here today.
Speaker:Everybody will come back.
Speaker:You'll probably notice that unfortunately it's just me today missing Adam Lamb.
Speaker:Unfortunately he's not around today to join us.
Speaker:But he'll be back soon.
Speaker:Today we've got Anthony Voletta, the president of Bar Taco, which
Speaker:is doing some really cool stuff.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about innovation in the industry.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about labor models that make it easier to stay ahead and looking
Speaker:forward to some of that discussion.
Speaker:So be back in a second and away we go.
Speaker:Welcome to Turning the Table, the Most Progressive Weekly podcast for
Speaker:today's food and beverage industry, featuring staff centric operating
Speaker:solutions for restaurants in the hashtag new hospitality culture.
Speaker:Join Jim Taylor of Benchmark 60 and Adam Lamb as they turn the tables on
Speaker:the prevailing operating assumptions of running a restaurant in favor
Speaker:of innovative solutions to our industry's most persistent challenges.
Speaker:Thanks for joining us and now on.
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Speaker:Anthony, welcome welcome to Turning the Table.
Speaker:How are you?
Speaker:Great to be here.
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:How you doing?
Speaker:I'm good.
Speaker:We were chatting earlier about how you it seems like you're on a podcast every week.
Speaker:You're like the most popular guest around right now, I think.
Speaker:You gotta take advantage while you're the A-list celebrity because before we know
Speaker:it, you become yesterday's lunch, right?
Speaker:So it's all going well.
Speaker:Excuse me, it's no surprise that you know that people are wanting to talk to you
Speaker:because of what's going on with Bar Taco.
Speaker:I see you guys in in the media and the news on social media that there's
Speaker:this crazy rapid growth going on.
Speaker:Congrats.
Speaker:But thank you.
Speaker:Maybe just give us a, what's the latest with Bar Taco?
Speaker:What's going on with you guys?
Speaker:That's yeah.
Speaker:Big growth this year.
Speaker:We just opened up in Nashville and in DC a few months before then.
Speaker:We're opening up Chicago in a month.
Speaker:We've got another store in Boston the month after that.
Speaker:We're opening in Charleston, South Carolina, third one in Miami.
Speaker:So growth is great.
Speaker:It's thankful all of our guests and our staff are making it happen, but it's
Speaker:been, it'll be a heck of a year for us.
Speaker:Yeah, we gotta get you guys up to Canada.
Speaker:We need a bar taco in Canada.
Speaker:It's not the question at some point if you're gonna go quote
Speaker:unquote international, the first one likes to be right up north of us.
Speaker:So wouldn't be surprised to the point we look at it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You'll probably end up in Toronto though, on the other side of the country before
Speaker:on at, but we'll slowly work our way up.
Speaker:We'll get there eventually.
Speaker:So there's lots of different things that we can talk about from we were
Speaker:chatting earlier about what's all the, what's the latest way to get through
Speaker:all this craziness in our industry?
Speaker:And we wanna make sure we talk a little bit about the labor model side
Speaker:of things in terms of what you guys have been really innovative with.
Speaker:But what's, can you just maybe give us like, what's the secret
Speaker:sauce without giving away all.
Speaker:Without giving away all your trade secrets, like what's so cool about
Speaker:Bar Taco besides what we see on social or for those that have been Yeah.
Speaker:And we're very open about trade secrets.
Speaker:We don't keep anything secret.
Speaker:We like to be public with it.
Speaker:But for us it's barta's been an escape since it started 11 years ago.
Speaker:The goal for us as you go in, it feels like you're either in your mountain cabana
Speaker:getting ready to hit the slopes, or in the beach with your toes in the sand,
Speaker:being able to relax and unplug from life.
Speaker:Fresh squeeze margaritas and fresh squeeze cocktails and
Speaker:really good quality food.
Speaker:People love that they flock to it and it's always been a great value concept.
Speaker:We're built during the previous recession, so we've got this really
Speaker:different approach to how we do things and we like to break a lot of the
Speaker:rules and do things differently.
Speaker:And it's it's worked for 11 years, so we're gonna keep it going.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So you just mentioned that you wanted to be an.
Speaker:Is that like the whole concept of be the third place for people?
Speaker:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker:We, when we first started, there wasn't even plugins for laptops.
Speaker:Like we wanted people to literally be detached and just be able to go in
Speaker:and feel like you're on vacation for.
Speaker:However long you're in the restaurant for.
Speaker:Techs change a little bit, so of course we've got plug-ins, but the
Speaker:idea was we wanna be transported.
Speaker:And people, when they walk in the door, that's the biggest compliment we get.
Speaker:It's God, I feel like I walked into someone's beach house.
Speaker:That's exactly what we want them to feel like.
Speaker:So that original location, does it have plug-ins now?
Speaker:Did you guys go back and, yeah we've retrofit everything.
Speaker:Some stuff you gotta adjust but it still has the same feeling,
Speaker:still has the same vibe.
Speaker:And that's what.
Speaker:And so let's get into this big one that everybody wants to ask you about.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:This at a time when every, pretty much every restaurant in North America,
Speaker:in the UK and probably everywhere in the world, can't find people.
Speaker:You guys don't have that problem?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Listen we've got challenges like everybody else, but we're
Speaker:fortunate to be about 92, 90 3% staffed across the company.
Speaker:And yeah, we've got opportunities like everybody does.
Speaker:But at the end of the day we use Covid v.
Speaker:During that time when everybody was really hunkering down
Speaker:and just trying to survive.
Speaker:But we were doing that simultaneously.
Speaker:We were looking for ways to come out of the backend of
Speaker:this in a different approach.
Speaker:And we created our new model created a position called a service leader.
Speaker:So it's this hybrid of a server and a manager the salaried and
Speaker:bonus and things of that nature.
Speaker:Their only job was to make sure the guests had an incredible time
Speaker:when we came out of the pandemic.
Speaker:So we doubled down on salary, labor to do that.
Speaker:And by doing that without servers, all those tips that the guests
Speaker:were giving now became free reign.
Speaker:So we have a fully pooled house.
Speaker:So everybody in every restaurant makes the exact same amount
Speaker:per hour every employee.
Speaker:And then the tips are evenly dispersed based off of hours worked, right?
Speaker:So the per hour wage is the same for every employee.
Speaker:So when you think.
Speaker:The challenges that we have, not only finding staff, but equity of pay
Speaker:and people talking about, I have a better section, or they have better
Speaker:this it's now, it's all equal.
Speaker:And the dishwashers for that matter who've been underpaid and underappreciated
Speaker:for decades in our business are not making the same money as the line cook
Speaker:and the host and the food runner.
Speaker:And it builds this amazing camaraderie of teamwork.
Speaker:That's self-regulated because if Jim's not pulling his.
Speaker:I know he is impacting my pocket and I say something.
Speaker:So now the managers really are able to just run the restaurant.
Speaker:And that really let us come out.
Speaker:It was challenging at first to convince people that telling a cook
Speaker:that's made 20 bucks an hour their entire life that they're gonna make.
Speaker:12 plus tips, they're like, yeah, no, I don't believe you.
Speaker:So it took some education, but now that we're going on two
Speaker:years after it's been amazing.
Speaker:We've been able to pay overly competitive rates in every market.
Speaker:Some were paying double minimum wage in certain markets.
Speaker:And now our managers have a really good growth trajectory because
Speaker:we've created these levels.
Speaker:Of ability to grow and with the amount we're growing they
Speaker:can actually see a future.
Speaker:So the whole package has really, it's changed the landscape for us.
Speaker:And we get literally, I kid you not probably a call every
Speaker:week from another company saying, can you teach us how to do this?
Speaker:And we very freely tell them everything.
Speaker:We share the backend information and all the data because we think
Speaker:it's really gonna help businesses.
Speaker:Good for you.
Speaker:And that's not unique in our industry either.
Speaker:Usually there's a lot of hoarding of information and trade
Speaker:secret and that kinda thing.
Speaker:Question for you about the, everybody makes the same.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Is there ever challenges with you, this person maybe has more a
Speaker:section that's either bigger or more challenging or more detailed or
Speaker:more complex versus somebody else.
Speaker:Is there ever I have to work harder, so I should make more kind of a discuss.
Speaker:There out of the gates.
Speaker:There definitely was.
Speaker:And it was actually more dominant in the back of house cuz out front
Speaker:the sections, there's no servers.
Speaker:It was just managers covering a section I did before in the kitchen.
Speaker:There was a lot of that a lot of the for lack of a better term,
Speaker:preme, donna line cooks that had been around forever that oh, they
Speaker:made more, they didn't believe in it.
Speaker:And for us, we believed in providing a living wage and making sure all
Speaker:of our staff could literally take care of their family, take care of
Speaker:themselves on the wage they work for.
Speaker:And honestly we part of waves most of those people because to us it,
Speaker:it's just as much about the pay as it is the mentality of our staff.
Speaker:If we're gonna build a teamwork, cohesive environment, we want them
Speaker:to believe in what we're doing too.
Speaker:And I'll tell you the turnover, when we first started doing it
Speaker:and our kitchen was really high.
Speaker:But now the wave that's in here they really appreciate it.
Speaker:And we have had, I think, minimal to no comments about Jim works harder than me.
Speaker:I work harder than Jim.
Speaker:I should make.
Speaker:It doesn't happen.
Speaker:We just say, Hey, if you wanna take the next step, we'll promote you.
Speaker:You wanna be more I'll pay you more.
Speaker:We'll get you to be a sous chef.
Speaker:And our internal promote rate is consistently climbing month to
Speaker:month, which helps our growth.
Speaker:So it's, we've killed two birds of one stone.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:And so how does it differ from market to market?
Speaker:Just in case anyone's ever wondering if I'm a little, if I'm a smaller
Speaker:operator, excuse me, or If I'm an employee thinking about maybe that
Speaker:I should work at a place like this.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How does it work in a market that minimum wage is $15 an hour versus
Speaker:minimum wages, $7 an hour, or $2 an hour?
Speaker:From a tip perspective, how does it work depending on the market?
Speaker:Yeah we never take tax tip wage, so markets that allow you to
Speaker:pay three, four bucks an hour for a service, we don't ever do that.
Speaker:So it's always the lowest it goes is minimum wage in most of our
Speaker:locations, barring a few except.
Speaker:We pay minimum wage plus the tips, and the average employee makes about $24 an hour.
Speaker:Some are north of 30, almost 40 during season.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Which is great.
Speaker:But yeah, there is variability.
Speaker:So like Colorado for example, minimum wage is like 1726 or something right now.
Speaker:So their staff does make more, but at the end of the day, we look at it as
Speaker:that 1726 is a big part of the cost.
Speaker:Sure, right?
Speaker:DC is high, Colorado's high places that the markets are going up it
Speaker:tends to be that way across the board.
Speaker:So sure there's a benefit.
Speaker:If you wanna make 40 bucks an hour and go work in Colorado, you can.
Speaker:And we're more than happy to do that.
Speaker:But we actually monitor every week.
Speaker:We have a call every Monday and every single store shows the
Speaker:base pay and it shows the tip.
Speaker:And we look at what the cumulative dollar amount per hour by store is.
Speaker:And if that number, and our baseline has always been about $20 an hour.
Speaker:If a store does not break $20 an hour for more than like consecutive weeks,
Speaker:obviously randomly it'll happen.
Speaker:We supplement the pay and we bring, we take their base wage up for that week
Speaker:because we believe very firmly that $20 mark and up, no matter which market
Speaker:you're in, Is the absolute bare minimum we're gonna commit that you'll ever make.
Speaker:And that goes a long way when you basically say, I'm gonna take money outta
Speaker:my pocket to make sure you make the cash.
Speaker:They work so hard for that.
Speaker:And I'll tell you, we, at the beginning, we had to do it a couple,
Speaker:probably a couple times a month.
Speaker:Now I think we've done it once in the past, probably six months because
Speaker:the staff's being so efficient.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:They realize they're making more cash now without even us having to supplement.
Speaker:So there's just really strong buy-in is what it sounds like you're saying.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And it, it took two years of blood, sweat, and tears.
Speaker:But the people that are with us now I'm thankful every day for how hard they
Speaker:work and for them making this reality.
Speaker:And are mostly your locations in downtown markets?
Speaker:Are they in suburb or No, it's a mix.
Speaker:We don't have many downtowns.
Speaker:We try to, we don't love the big concentration of urban.
Speaker:We've got a couple, but nothing crazy.
Speaker:We like those kind of subsidiary markets just outside.
Speaker:We do well in certain suburban markets.
Speaker:We love the college crowd markets.
Speaker:So we're, it's a little bit of a smorgasborg, if you will, of
Speaker:our locations and the style.
Speaker:But it's more about the use case.
Speaker:People use us 3, 4, 5 times a week in different manners and styles, right?
Speaker:Business, lunch, happy hour, late night drink date in the weekend.
Speaker:So it allows us to, to get really.
Speaker:Creative with our real estate selection.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:Just comment from Shane there.
Speaker:This is big brain stuff.
Speaker:I agree, Shane.
Speaker:That's why we wanted to have him on the show.
Speaker:We've been Anthony, I've, we've had a couple good conversations
Speaker:about this in the past.
Speaker:Yeah, it's, yeah, it's cool to have you here to talk about it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So you said you're pretty open with other companies.
Speaker:They call you to say, how do we do this?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So if I'm an operator of a I'm a small, independent, I own two locations in
Speaker:a pick a market, if I phone you what do you, what's the advice you give?
Speaker:What do you tell 'em?
Speaker:I walk 'em through everything.
Speaker:Every call's been a little bit different, right?
Speaker:Because I think everyone's starting to adjust their service.
Speaker:Models because of whether it's staffing, shortages, pay, commodity prices,
Speaker:all these things that are impacting our business, everyone's starting to
Speaker:get, I shouldn't say starting to be, everybody's been very creative, right?
Speaker:They're really thinking a little bit differently.
Speaker:Typically I ask, I'm like, what is it you're trying to accomplish?
Speaker:If they're looking to do it exactly the way we do it, great.
Speaker:I've got the playbook and I'll walk 'em through beginning to end how we
Speaker:transitioned, what we did, where we.
Speaker:Cuz I firmly believe if we could get another a hundred different
Speaker:concepts to be doing the same thing, it's better for all of us, right?
Speaker:Because it becomes the norm and the guests get trained that this is the way
Speaker:that restaurants can run effectively and still give great hospitality.
Speaker:But if they're trying to do hybrid pieces, I'm I ask 'em the
Speaker:questions, it's more of a dialogue.
Speaker:What is it, what's the problem you're solving for?
Speaker:And what do you, why do you think this is a solution?
Speaker:I try to help them understand that Delta.
Speaker:But the biggest thing for us when I talked to 'em, some of 'em
Speaker:were like, Hey, I just need to make more money, which is fine.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:For us, that was actually the unintended benefit.
Speaker:The initial play was really, I, we wanted salaried managers because they had much
Speaker:more buy-in to be leading hospitality at a higher rate than anybody else.
Speaker:Because we knew after Covid, every restaurant in the world was struggling
Speaker:to just put food on the table.
Speaker:It was like, it was just a struggle and we're like, if we can lean.
Speaker:And provide amazing hospitality better than we ever have before.
Speaker:When everyone else is just trying to execute, we win.
Speaker:And luckily we came out of that and when we were, when we first came outta Covid,
Speaker:our guest sediment, we reach out of five.
Speaker:We were a 3.85.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:Right now, rolling six months, we're a 4.73.
Speaker:The curve has been nothing but 45 degrees up.
Speaker:So the real goal of us was to provide an amazing guest experience, provide
Speaker:a living wage for our team so they.
Speaker:Not have to work two and three jobs, but hopefully go down to one, maybe two.
Speaker:And then the end of the day, if those two things happen,
Speaker:profits always follow, right?
Speaker:That's happy guests, happy staff.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Everything else is easy.
Speaker:And we accomplish both those first two.
Speaker:So obviously the financial benefit is great too.
Speaker:So depends on the people that what they're trying to accomplish, right?
Speaker:There's different benefits of doing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Makes sense.
Speaker:So it sounds we all, we know now and I follow you guys quite closely, so I know
Speaker:there's really strong growth trajectory.
Speaker:You've got pipelines of people that are like you said, 93, 92, 90 5%.
Speaker:What's the biggest challenge in the, in, in the way for you guys right now?
Speaker:Because rapid growth is difficult at the best of times Sure is.
Speaker:So what's, what do you see as over the next year or two, as things that
Speaker:are gonna be challenging to work?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think the challenge is, even though we're at a really good percentage, right?
Speaker:Numbers tell a story.
Speaker:There's qualitative behind every number.
Speaker:And the narrative for us, like everybody, we're always trying to
Speaker:find the best people in the market.
Speaker:And for us, convincing people that this new model is something that
Speaker:they want to be a part of is a, is still a big challenge for us.
Speaker:You think about 95% of restaurants in America have been doing it the same.
Speaker:For decades.
Speaker:So looking at a seasoned manager Jim comes over and he is, got 15
Speaker:years of experience and worked here, there in the other place.
Speaker:And I tell him hey, I've got a different proposition for you.
Speaker:Sometimes either they stge or they come in and they're like this
Speaker:doesn't feel like it's for me.
Speaker:And that's okay.
Speaker:Like we're very, we try to be overly transparent when
Speaker:we interview, like over to a.
Speaker:Like, I'm like, I tell our talent team, I'm like, talk them out of
Speaker:the job because it's so different.
Speaker:And if they're really still excited about being tech forward and providing this
Speaker:type of experience, then they're for us.
Speaker:And it's, that's still hard to convince cuz because all
Speaker:of us are in a staffing cycle.
Speaker:What we're seeing is we pay at like the 85th to 90th percentile in comp
Speaker:wages from the research we found.
Speaker:So we pay.
Speaker:But people are starving for good people that they'll come out and
Speaker:say, Hey, I'll pay 'em $15,000 more.
Speaker:Yeah, you can work less hours.
Speaker:And by the way, all the accountability you have at that company, cuz we're
Speaker:data freaks you don't have here.
Speaker:So they come in, they turn the key in.
Speaker:The sad part is a lot of people are like, you know what, I'll
Speaker:take that, I'll take the money.
Speaker:Le stress, like mental health is a real thing.
Speaker:So to them they're like it's a little bit easier on me personally,
Speaker:I can make some more cash.
Speaker:So we're fighting a little bit of the norm.
Speaker:We're trying to be that pioneer.
Speaker:Kinda shifting.
Speaker:We joke, like the movie Money Ball, we joke like we're the
Speaker:Oakland Athletics a little bit.
Speaker:We're doing it totally different and trying to get people on
Speaker:the team that believe in it.
Speaker:So honestly that's a big challenge for us is to find those right people.
Speaker:And I think also like everybody else, the uncertainty of what's gonna happen
Speaker:in the next 12 months, we don't know.
Speaker:It's, this is, it's, it feels like stable ground, but the
Speaker:stable ground's a little shaky.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So we're doing our best to just plan for the best and the worst at the same time.
Speaker:But most importantly, we wanna make sure, our big challenge is to make sure
Speaker:our people are safe and protected.
Speaker:Like when Covid hit, we didn't lay off one employee one salary.
Speaker:We kept every salary, paid 'em in.
Speaker:We believe that our people deserve that.
Speaker:And we are fortunate to be able to do that.
Speaker:So we're really trying to make sure we can still plan for that if God forbid
Speaker:recession or God knows what happens.
Speaker:So those are our challenges that I think we've got in the next 12 to 18 months.
Speaker:You're comment about protecting people you're speaking my
Speaker:language when you say that.
Speaker:So we spend a lot of time talking to people.
Speaker:Restaurants, other industries all over the world about how to do that better.
Speaker:So you're speaking my language.
Speaker:Shifting gears a little bit.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You and I had a conversation the first time we chatted about that
Speaker:you, when the pandemic happened and everybody went to QR codes.
Speaker:You haven't gone away from them?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:So I had a interesting discussion with somebody a few weeks ago about
Speaker:that sort of, their stance was, and they're a fairly senior leader in our.
Speaker:Their stance was that customers are missing menus.
Speaker:Customers want that nostalgic service related menu thing.
Speaker:So besides the service, obviously it's a big part of the service model that
Speaker:you guys use QR codes, but what I mean your own opinion or the bar taco one.
Speaker:What's the other benefit?
Speaker:Because I believe that there's huge opportunity with keeping QR codes.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:So I'm curious your take or your opinion on that.
Speaker:Yeah of course cuz we don't have menus.
Speaker:I'm gonna sign on the QR side but I think he makes a great point though.
Speaker:There is some nostalgia and there's something about holding a menu.
Speaker:The touch of it, the feel of it, the design, like it's
Speaker:a brand touchpoint, right?
Speaker:Like how you design the font you use whatever, no matter what style
Speaker:of service, quick service define.
Speaker:That's a touchpoint of your brand.
Speaker:There's some, there's a connection from your guests to your concept
Speaker:when they grab that menu.
Speaker:So I agree there's a component of that a thousand percent.
Speaker:But on the other side, and I think when it depends on the concept style we're
Speaker:very primed towards a younger audience.
Speaker:Our target demo is 25 to 30.
Speaker:So we're and it's starting to shift a little bit younger.
Speaker:So we're millennial, gen X, gen Y, gen Z and ultimately they don't want to
Speaker:talk to anybody if they don't have to.
Speaker:They'd prefer to not because they don't want the interaction, because they're
Speaker:so comfortable on their device that everything in their life is instant.
Speaker:So to us, we leaned into that saying yeah, menu is great, but when we stuck
Speaker:with the QR codes and our QR code, just, I guess for the listeners, it's not just the
Speaker:menu, you actually order via your QR code.
Speaker:So it's a digital menu with a platform called one nine.
Speaker:So you control the whole experience.
Speaker:But the points where it really leaned in for us was when you think about a guest
Speaker:experience having a typical server or a menu for that, Either I went to dinner
Speaker:last night with a few people and we were waiting to try to find the server to just
Speaker:order our appetizers, and it's that's the most frustrating thing at the table.
Speaker:Sit down, I'm hungry, I just wanna get something in front of me.
Speaker:Trying to get the second drink, but you can't, you have to wait
Speaker:for your server to come back.
Speaker:Trying to pay your check because the kids are screaming and you know
Speaker:it's bedtime and you want to get 'em out, but you can't find the server.
Speaker:Those things happen at every restaurant from fine dining to quick service.
Speaker:So we gave those moments back to the guest and the menu can't do that.
Speaker:It just doesn't have that ability.
Speaker:And we still have kind of menus in our restaurant, but even pre covid
Speaker:for anybody that's been to the brand, we used to have sushi cards, so we
Speaker:actually didn't even have formal menus.
Speaker:It was a sushi card and you filled.
Speaker:The quantity and what you wanted with your name and you'd pass it in.
Speaker:So the concept actually started in 11 years ago.
Speaker:The thought was, we didn't need servers then.
Speaker:And then we realized, oh my God, we're so busy we need servers.
Speaker:And we brought 'em back in.
Speaker:And so we're really going back to our roots of, Hey, we didn't really want to be
Speaker:a menu driven restaurant that had servers.
Speaker:Now we're just using technology.
Speaker:And I think the pandemic accelerated people's acceptance
Speaker:of technology as a substitute.
Speaker:For things like a menu.
Speaker:So I don't ever foresee a fine dining restaurant having it.
Speaker:I shouldn't say ever, that's a bold statement but I think
Speaker:there are segmentations of the restaurant that Absolutely.
Speaker:Again, that brand touchpoint is just something about it.
Speaker:I went to a really nice restaurant and they handed me an iPad for a
Speaker:wine list and even to me, I was like, this doesn't feel right.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:But for our brands it, I think it aligns.
Speaker:So I think there's a place for it depending on what your style
Speaker:of cuisine and style services.
Speaker:And then you said
Speaker:your
Speaker:data freaks.
Speaker:So how much of the information from the QR codes do you guys use?
Speaker:Oh God, so much there, right?
Speaker:We have more data than we know what to do with anybody.
Speaker:That's the world we live in.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Your mom and pop are a 600 unit chain.
Speaker:Like we all have so much data that we actually don't even know
Speaker:what to do with it sometimes.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So to us, we're trying to really lean into just the customer preference
Speaker:data and really begin to start to mold experiences for them.
Speaker:Working on technology that if you're if you have an allergen or a
Speaker:preference of the way you dine, if you, our whole menu's gluten free.
Speaker:So if, let's just say you were vegan, that you can go in
Speaker:and literally toggle the menu.
Speaker:To the whole menu actually on digital is just vegan.
Speaker:You can't do that on the paper.
Speaker:You can signal it, right?
Speaker:But, so we're working on these customizations in the future that
Speaker:now I can go in, I can say, Hey, I'm a pescatarian, I'm a vegan.
Speaker:I have this, I don't, can't eat soy.
Speaker:One click of a button.
Speaker:And now you don't feel like that uncomfortable experience of,
Speaker:oh, hey, I have this allergy.
Speaker:Can you check with the chef?
Speaker:And it's back and forth and it's, it creates, We're
Speaker:trying to eliminate friction.
Speaker:So I think when those things start to come up and we're still developing those,
Speaker:I think it actually allows people to understand the benefit more of QR for
Speaker:an enhanced individualized experience.
Speaker:Whereas a menu with nine different icons for spicy or allergies,
Speaker:it, it gets a little too muddy.
Speaker:This is a little bit cleaner in our opinion.
Speaker:Yeah, interesting.
Speaker:Adam and I.
Speaker:Had a good discussion, just the two of us on the show a few weeks ago about
Speaker:just some of the innovations in the industry and just having some good
Speaker:open discussion about things like QR codes or this subscription model that
Speaker:we keep hearing and taco Bell, Andre, and some of these con concepts going to,
Speaker:and so it's cool to hear your opinion about you're in it you're in the
Speaker:middle of it, you're at the forefront of.
Speaker:It's cool to hear your opinion, but you're right about the data thing.
Speaker:Most restaurants, especially with all the technology that they've adopted in the
Speaker:last five years, there's more information than they will probably ever literally.
Speaker:And we get sold on it.
Speaker:It's oh, I can give you this.
Speaker:And the question, we start asking ourselves like, all right, what are we
Speaker:really gonna do with that information?
Speaker:And is it beneficial to us today?
Speaker:We're trying to narrow that down and be really specific about what we're doing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The other thing that I gotta tell you too is that from my career in operations
Speaker:before the last, as of up until about three years ago I did a lot of travel
Speaker:and I I've heard you do the same thing.
Speaker:And so I think as the president of the company it's just really it's really
Speaker:good to hear about how much time you spent in actually in the restaurants.
Speaker:Cause I'm sure that goes a long way when it comes to retention.
Speaker:People wanting to move forward in the organization, so I'm
Speaker:gonna commend you for that.
Speaker:Yeah that that's where everything happens at the end of the day.
Speaker:I've, we've all worked for good and bad companies in our careers, and the
Speaker:leaders that I've always admired the most in my career and my development
Speaker:has been ones that really understood and had a connection on the pulse.
Speaker:I think especially when you're doing something that's, as groundbreaking,
Speaker:I should say groundbreaking, but innovative is what we're doing, and.
Speaker:It's important that you're on the ground hearing the feedback
Speaker:from those that are doing it.
Speaker:Cause it's easy to sit on your desk and say, oh no, this is
Speaker:the way it's supposed to be.
Speaker:And make up this vision in my head of what it sounds like.
Speaker:I need to see what it looks like.
Speaker:And quite frankly, it's fun.
Speaker:One of the downfalls of the higher you're getting the company is
Speaker:like you have less time in front of your guests and your staff.
Speaker:And that's why we all love the business, right?
Speaker:Like you want to get there and I want to hear how much our
Speaker:guests love the experience.
Speaker:I wanna meet the regulars.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Welcome our new team members and the team and celebrate those milestones.
Speaker:So that to me, I think is, that's the fun part of the job.
Speaker:I wish I could do that all the time.
Speaker:I'll never forget a mentor of mine when I was in operations.
Speaker:He would always show up, not just show up.
Speaker:He would've, he would spend time in the restaurants.
Speaker:I always just said it as he would show up, but it was always Friday.
Speaker:5 30, 6 o'clock, something like that.
Speaker:And he would walk and he was an executive in the company
Speaker:vice president at the time.
Speaker:And he would cruise around the dining room and the lounge and talk
Speaker:to guests and check in on staff and how was your shift last week?
Speaker:And he'd remember all these people's names and all this different stuff.
Speaker:And at one point, I.
Speaker:I remember thinking to myself what is he doing here?
Speaker:Does he not trust us?
Speaker:Kinda thing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And eventually one day I asked him, I said, look, it's Friday at six o'clock.
Speaker:Shouldn't, why aren't you at home?
Speaker:And I'll never forget his answer.
Speaker:And it seems aligned with kind what you're saying.
Speaker:He goes, you think that the important stuff happens in that office downtown
Speaker:that I have to drive to every day?
Speaker:And I said what do you mean?
Speaker:He goes, this right here, these customers, this, these staff, all of this stuff.
Speaker:This is why we're.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it was I've never forgotten that from a hospitality and operations perspective.
Speaker:He's right.
Speaker:That's what it's all about.
Speaker:So he's absolutely right.
Speaker:Absolutely so it sounds like you've definitely got that
Speaker:same sort of perspective okay.
Speaker:So to wrap some of this stuff up, I'm curious, just your advice for
Speaker:anyone who's in hospitality that hasn't really shifted their service model.
Speaker:They're thinking about how do I be innovative to work
Speaker:through things like whether.
Speaker:There's so much information available, or I need to figure out a
Speaker:different service model that supports this labor shortage differently.
Speaker:What's your advice?
Speaker:Where do you start?
Speaker:Yeah I think the goal, yeah, no it's a great question.
Speaker:Big question.
Speaker:I think at the end of the day when you think about the upcoming years,
Speaker:there's commodity prices are gonna get higher, labor's gonna get higher,
Speaker:everything's gonna get harder.
Speaker:It's gonna have bigger impacts in industry that's gonna, that's gonna put a stress.
Speaker:I think we really need to stop thinking that the way we've always
Speaker:done it or slight versions of it are gonna get us to the future.
Speaker:I think the real way, and I use this on a interview not too long ago, I love the
Speaker:expression if it's not broke, break it.
Speaker:My mentality is you need to really go back in and assume nothing.
Speaker:Assume the way that you do it now couldn't be done ever again.
Speaker:What would you redo?
Speaker:Like how would you rein, how would you innovate it?
Speaker:How would you re.
Speaker:And I think having those conversations regularly is the most important thing
Speaker:you can do Right now, there's never gonna be a one size fits all, but
Speaker:cuz mom and pops are different than 20 units, than different than 600 units.
Speaker:But if we're, if you're not having the conversations harsh about we
Speaker:need to change what do we need to break and put back together again?
Speaker:Is a huge component.
Speaker:And I think also the questions that I'm starting to ask my teams every
Speaker:week now the first question I ask my.
Speaker:Moving forward is, what did you fail at last week?
Speaker:And we cel it's a celebration of failure, right?
Speaker:Like people look at it as, oh my God, I can't afford to fail.
Speaker:I can't afford to not fail and learn and move forward.
Speaker:And I think that's, that mentality with your team is celebrate failures,
Speaker:failing forward, failing often.
Speaker:Failing isn't plenty of books about it.
Speaker:But yeah, the reality is if you're not doing that now,
Speaker:it's gonna be really hard.
Speaker:And ultimately you're either gonna.
Speaker:In the coattails of somebody else or God forbid you're gonna, you got a business.
Speaker:And I would I would hate for anybody to see that happen.
Speaker:And it's easy to get stuck, especially for companies that
Speaker:are on this sort of rapid growth at the forefront of innovation.
Speaker:All the cool stuff you guys are doing, it's easy to just think about
Speaker:all the cool stuff that's going on.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Definitely I would agree with you.
Speaker:It's, it, the fail forward thing is not easy to do, but No.
Speaker:That's really cool.
Speaker:Thanks very much for taking the time.
Speaker:I know you're obviously busy and we were talking about how much sometimes
Speaker:you're on the road and Easter coming up.
Speaker:But thanks so much for taking the time.
Speaker:I'm sure Its my pleasure.
Speaker:It's not just Shane that's listening to saying that this is been bring stuff.
Speaker:So I appreciate you taking the time and hope to have you on the show again
Speaker:here maybe in a few months and we'll get the update on the new openings.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Happy to.
Speaker:Thanks for the time Jim.
Speaker:Really appreciate
Speaker:it.
Speaker:Thanks very much Anthony.
Speaker:Anthony and we'll be in touch.
Speaker:Thanks so much everybody for joining the show today.
Speaker:Again we miss Adam.
Speaker:He'll be back again soon.
Speaker:And onto the next episode here next week.
Speaker:See you then.
Speaker:I'm turning the table.
Speaker:Thanks for joining us on this episode of Turning the Table with
Speaker:me, Adam Lamb and Jim Taylor.
Speaker:We're on a mission to change the food and beverage industry for the better by
Speaker:focusing on staff mental health, physical and emotional wellbeing, by proactively
Speaker:measuring and managing staff workloads.
Speaker:Join other hospitality professionals co-creating the hashtag new
Speaker:hospitality culture by subscribing to our weekly newsletter at ww dot.
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Speaker:In every edition, you'll find innovative solutions ready to test and validate
Speaker:in your operation this weekend.
Speaker:Plus, listen to exclusive bonus content just for you.
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Speaker:If you found value in this episode, please consider leaving us a review
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Speaker:It helps other hospitality profess.
Speaker:Just like you find the show, or better yet, grab the show link
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Speaker:Thanks for stepping in and speaking out for an industry craft and
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Speaker:Remember, retention is the new Cool y'all.
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