FULL COMP: The Voice of the Restaurant Industry Revolution

In this episode, we chat with Kim Malek, the founder of Salt & Straw. Kim's ice cream company abides by every foundational business principle while breaking every rule in the restaurant industry. Tune in to learn how to thrive using the new rules of the restaurant industry.  For more on Salt & Straw visit https://saltandstraw.com. ___________________________________________________________...

Who do you look to for inspiration? For me, it's always been Wolfgang Puck. Not only is he a talented chef and restaurateur, he's proven himself to be a world-class entrepreneur. Even without a formal business education, the chef has built an international empire. In today's conversation, we unpack the critical decisions he made to get to the top and how he overcame overwhelming obstacles along th...

We always talk about leading with value and Candace and Andrew from Carbonate are a shining example of this. In service to our industry, they’ve produced a free trend report for the last 15 years. In our conversation we not only cover what’s now and what’s next, we discuss practical ways to implement these trends in your restaurants. For more information on the company, visit https://www.carbonate...

What transforms a single unit family owned and operated restaurant into a regional giant with nine locations? Today we chat with Eric and Alex Adler, cofounders of the Puesto restaurant chain in Southern California. They, like so many other families, built a restaurant to share their love of food and culture with their community. But, unlike so many others in our industry, they’ve thrived, buildin...

Thomas Harvey is a big city guy that chose to open his restaurant in a small town. When everyone else was thinking big, he thought small, in a powerful way. Thomas has made a name for himself nationally by using the proven tactics and strategies he learned in larger markets in Falls Church, Virginia. In our conversation, he shares how using your restaurant to build community is a universal solutio...

Are you sitting on a great lease for your restaurant? Is your restaurant’s lease about to come up for renewal? Are you grinding away with a lease that’s destroying your profitability? A great lease will make or break a young restaurant, setting you up for long term success or sucking the profit margin out of an already difficult industry. Today we chat with Dale Willerton, the lease coach. In our...

What do I preach on this show? Business fundamentals and proven tactics, tools, and strategies that provide repeatable results. Today, we throw all of that out the window. Meet Ahmet and Anastasia of Mandolin. This married couple listened to their gut and shot from the hip and, over the last 13 years, created an iconic brand so powerful it’s become bicoastal. We’re discussing how to build communit...

Grant Kneble is a restaurateur…now. But he didn’t start out that way. Grant is one of the many that, through luck and random circumstance, found his way into the hospitality industry from, of all places, tech. Grant is an SEO wiz and, I’d argue, that is probably the single greatest factor in his success. Today we chat about how his restaurant’s online presence has dominated his brick and mortar co...

We often have such a clear vision for what our lives and our businesses will look like before we open. And then the flood comes and we’re so busy trying to survive that we forget to thrive. We forget why we got into this to begin with. And that “why”, for most of us, was love. Love of community, love of food, and love of revelry. Meet Mark Bitterman, a man who’s never forgotten his why and, no sur...

Every problem has the same source and same solution: people. But, in the midst of a labor crisis, can we afford to be choosy in restaurant hiring? How hard can we push teams before we push them out the door? Greg Provance is a restaurant hiring expert and he’s come to chat about how to transition from managing employees to leading leaders. Today we talk tactics, tools, and strategies to level up o...

Think about all of the promises you’ve made to yourself. When you hit a certain revenue goal, that’s when you’re going to take that vacation. Think of all the plans you have to support and inspire your teams once you can afford it. Today’s guest, Kwini Reed, believes those intentions can become actions today. In our conversation, she shares exactly how she transformed building a restaurant and her...

When you have 30 years of restaurant consulting experience, you learn a lot. You get better over time, and what becomes clear are the truths that stand the test of time. Today we chat with Izzy Kharasch, an expert in restaurant consulting who’s had a front row seat to the evolution of our industry over the last 30 years. Our conversation runs the gamut from marketing gold to robot employees. That’...

In the restaurant industry, booze is our best friend and our worst enemy. It drives profitability, but the misuse and mishandling of booze can just as easily drive us out of business. In today’s episode, we speak with acclaimed mixologist and bar owner Derek Brown who’s advocating for a new take on an old vice. For more information on mindful mixology, visit positivedamageinc.com . _______________...

Our guest today is Troy Hooper, a restaurant coach and consultant, who’s put his money where his mouth is and created eight different restaurant concepts, all under one roof. In this episode, Troy shares the blueprint he’s used to scale countless restaurant concepts as well as grow his own. For more information on Troy’s company, visit https://www.krpusa.com . _____________________________________...

Repetition is key to mastery. Today’s guest, Mark Braver has worked for some of the best concepts in the country and has personally opened over 30 restaurant locations. The lessons he’s learned through this process have led to a formulaic view of our industry that have not only made him a better operator, they can make us better too. For more information on The Fifty/50 Restaurant Group, visit htt...

What does it take to acquire one million followers on instagram? In this episode we sit down with Jabin Troth of Licensed to Distill to discuss the step by step process he used to create a massive audience on social media and the tactics he used to transform that audience into a loyal community. If you’ve been struggling with what to say and how to say it on social, this is the episode for you. Th...

One of the blessings that was born from the pandemic was the Independent Restaurant Coalition. A group of less than two dozen restaurateurs came together to advocate for all of us, and it was through their efforts that over 20 billion dollars was distributed to independents that desperately needed the funds. But, as the fight for survival ends, the fight to thrive begins we sit down with the IRC’s...

How do you get better at doing anything? Practice makes perfect and, today’s guest, Aaron Noveshen has over 30 years of experience in building big brands. It began with his own brand, World Wrapps, and evolved into a restaurant building engine for entrepreneurs looking to win from day one. We sat down to discuss Starbird, his latest venture that fuses together the lessons he’s learned from buildin...

What’s up with big chefs opening restaurants in small markets? The quest for that answer led me to Chef Quentin Garcia, who left successful restaurants in Napa to open a fine dining restaurant in Merced, California. His restaurant is literally the only fine dining restaurant in the area and today we sat down to discuss how his big city cuisine is faring in a small town. For more on Quentin’s resta...

World-famous restaurateur Will Guidara is back with his latest project — and it’s not a restaurant, it’s a book. Will was made famous by the over the top service he provided at Eleven Madison Park and, as it turns out, there was a method to the madness. In this episode, Will and I sit down to discuss the formulaic way that he set expectations for his guests' experience and the process he created t...

Chef Ray Garcia is known for far more than his successful restaurants, he created an entirely new category of cuisine. Being a culinary pioneer isn’t without its difficulties though, and today we discuss how challenging his community’s perceptions around food created a landmark restaurant. For more on Chef Garcia and his upcoming projects, visit https://chefraygarcia.com/ . _______________________...

There are folks out there who see the world differently, and those visionaries are building very different restaurant concepts. In reinventing the model, they have no competition and there’s a ton we can learn from the trail they’re blazing. Today we chat with Chef Melissa Martin of Mosquito Supper Club, a new kind of restaurant located in a very old place. In our conversation, Melissa shares the...

If we want to run a better restaurant business, we need to become better businesspeople. Today we chat with Vitaliy Katsenelson about improving our lives and our businesses by getting our soul in the game. This isn’t about self help or aligning your chakras, this is practical advice built on real life experience. Vitaliy’s decades of experience as a value investor provide a unique perspective into...

I don’t know today’s guest, Timm Chiusano, personally…but I do. I do because I follow him on TikTok where he crafts daily stories that walk you through his life. Timm’s not a daredevil or a world traveler, he’s just a regular person. A corporate executive with a wife, a child and a penchant for protein bars. So why do I tune in daily to see what he’s up to? Honestly, I’m not sure and I thought tha...

Maybe we’re trying too hard with all of the discounts and specials. Think about it, what would your favorite restaurant need to do to convince you to come back? Very little, right? More than anything, you just need to remind your best guests that you still exist and that’s where a guy like Sergio Perez comes into play. Sergio is the head of omnichannel for Bojangles and he’s taken this regional br...