FULL COMP: The Voice of the Restaurant Industry Revolution

Great restaurants stem from running great businesses and today we’re going to talk about the business of running restaurants. Our guides on this exploration of what a successful business plan looks like will be Karl and Sarah Worley, a married couple who turned their love of biscuits into a thriving restaurant brand. They’ve built their business on the back of foundational principles and bleeding...

Brad Metzger has been the glue binding our industry together for more than a decade. He and his team have helped set the trajectory for countless chefs, owners and operators, helping them build the teams they need to thrive. He’s one part career counselor, one part therapist and one part big brother, and when he decided to bring our industry together by creating a first of its kind conference in L...

Bruce Nelson never dreamed of becoming the Chief Financial Officer of a restaurant group, he wanted to be a restaurateur just like the rest of us. But, when he achieved his dream of restaurant ownership, his life became a nightmare. Coming off hard years and the closure of the restaurant, he took the time to figure out why. It was the math. On a foundational level, his business was doomed to fail...

David Morton is a restaurateur and a student of the game. His ambitions go beyond making food or money, he’s trying to make a difference. David is blazing new trails in our industry, establishing partnerships and opening restaurants in ways that haven’t been done before. In this episode, I sat down with him to discuss his family’s restaurant legacy and how the businesses he’s building today will i...

The team over at Mezli believes the restaurant of the future won't need employees and they’ve invested over $3 million dollars to prove it. Mezli is a fully automated restaurant with no employees. They launched last week and have come on the show to share how it’s gone and where it’s going. For more on Mezli visit https://www.mezli.com ____________________________________________________________ F...

Sandra Noonan is running a tech startup within the fast casual concept Just Salad. She works on the bleeding edge of sustainability, pushing towards a restaurant model that serves the needs of our planet as well as it serves her guests. It hasn’t been an easy road and today Sandra walks us through what’s worked, what hasn’t and what we can do to help usher in the future of sustainable living. For...

Just because your last restaurant was a hit doesn’t mean the next one will be. And, as restaurateurs, we spend a lot of time after a closure trying to figure out what went wrong. Through trial and error, some of us are lucky enough to parse out a recipe for consistent success. John Meadow of the prolific restaurant group LDV has done just that. In today’s conversation we discuss the elements he’s...

If you’re looking to level up your bar program, Jason Asher is the expert that comes to mind. His company, Barter & Shake is directly responsible for influencing the evolution of cocktail culture over the last decade. Today we talk about the how to turn a drink into an experience, what a successful bar program looks like and how improving your bar improves your business. For more on Barter &am...

Steve Konopelski is a former ballet dancer turned broadway performer turned professional chef turned celebrity chef turned media personality. Steve’s personal and professional evolution speaks to the aspirations we all have and today we chat about the intention and the strategy that took Steve from "doing" to "being". For more on the chef check out his youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/...

Today we're talking with Seth Cohen of Sweeten about brand equity, marketing, messaging, real estate and scaling a blockbuster concept in a post pandemic world. For more on Sweetfin visit https://www.sweetfin.com ____________________________________________________________ Full Comp brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal...

Warren Rustand is the most successful human I know. Warren is a basketball hall of famer, he's served US presidents, been the CEO of 10 companies and mentor to countless CEO's and, candidly, he's been an amazing father, husband and friend. Today, Warren will give you the tactics, tools and strategies he's used to live the life of his dreams. For more on Warren or to buy his book visit https://warr...

Today we chat with Emilio Cervantes of Fuente Coffee. A beverage entrepreneur who has help restaurant owners and operators scale their coffee programs to $250,000, $500,000 and even $750,000 dollars. We discuss marketing, brand strategy, messaging and salesmanship to help you weaponize your coffee program. For more on Fuente Coffee visit https://fuentecoffeeco.com _________________________________...

Sean Finter is a hospitality legend. He coaches incredibuly successful hosptialty professionals at the highest level and, in this conversation, he shares the same lessons he teaches them with us today. For more on Sean and his program visit https://www.barlaunch.com Full Comp brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to b...

Over the years I've had the privilege of watching the surgical precision with which Christian Page take stale restaurant brands and given them new life. And what works for him in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and even Hawaii can work for us too. Today we talk branding, marketing and timing with one of the masters. For more on Christian visit https://www.boombang.restaurant Full Comp brought to you by Yel...

Knowing how to cook doesn't mean you can farm and building a beverage brand is very different from building a restaurant. So, I've brought in some experts. Brett Lawrence and Stephen Young have not only built a successful hard seltzer brand, they built a brewery and a beer company before that. In today's episode we leverage their years of experience to determine the path of least resistance when b...

Stratis Morfogen has done business differently from the beginning and, over the last 30 years, it's made a dramatic impact in how successful he's become as a restaurateur. Today, we unpack lessons to be learned from both his successes and his failures on his path of industry disruption. For more on his concepts visit https://www.brooklynchophouse.com _______________________________________________...

In this episode, we chat with restaurateur and media mogul John McDonald who grown a successful media empire alongside his restaurant empire, leveraging the lessons learned from one to improve the other. Today we unpack why media matters. For more on his restaurant group visit https://www.mercerstreethospitality.com/ ____________________________________________________________ Full Comp brought to...

Jim Taylor of Benchmark Sixty, believes he's found the solution to our biggest hurdle as an industry: the lack of predictability when it comest to sales. In our conversation he lays out how we can optimize restaurant profits, make major costs more predictable, and forecast more accurately. For more on Benchmark Sixty visit https://www.taylorcoconsulting.com/ _______________________________________...

Corey Mintz is a failed cook and a successful writer. His latest book "The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, and What Comes After" carefully lays out the thesis for why success is so hard to come by in our industry. In today's conversation we discuss the obstacles within the restaurant business and practical solutions to overcome them. Be sure to pick up his book, The Next Suppe...

Michael Benson's company SoCal Restaurant Design Group has built some of the most prolific restaurants in California and today he's sharing the tactics, tools and strategies he uses to ensure his clients get the most for the least in the shortest period of time. For more on his company visit https://www.socalrestaurantdesign.com/ ____________________________________________________________ Full Co...

What is the only rule that matters in our industry? If you ask today's guest Selwyn Yosslowitz the rule is simple: keep it simple. Other than that, I'd argue Selwyn has broken every rule in the book. In our conversation Selwyn explains how big rents, big menus and big profits can all work together. For more on Marmalade Cafe visit https://marmaladecafe.com _________________________________________...

There's a proven process to live our optimal lives and Rob Dube is here to share it with us. It's called The 10 Disciplines for Managing and Maximizing Your Energy and it changed my life. Today Rob and I run through some of my favorites. To check out the course for yourself at a discounted rate visit https://www.the10disciplines.com/fullcomp ________________________________________________________...

Do you run your restaurant or does your restaurant run your life. As entrepreneurs, we build these businesses with a singular goal in mind: freedom. But how many of us are really free? Today we chat with Elliott Bisnow, co-founder of Summit and author of Make No Small Plans, a book about building a great business and a great life. In our conversation, Elliott breaks down the key decisions that led...

How does a restaurant stay relevant for a decade? If that feels impossible, imagine if that restaurant survived a century. Today we chat with Mark Echeverria, a 4th generation restaurateur of the famous Musso and Frank Grill on Hollywood Blvd. We'll talk about what it took to survive the last 100 years and how they intend to thrive for the next 100. For more on Musso & Frank Grill visit  https...

What does growth look like for restaurants moving forward? From my vantage point, things are looking a lot different. Restaurateurs are getting savvy and dynamic mixing a variety of business models and few exemplify this more that Criag Blum. Johnny Doughnuts is brick and mortar and mobile. Retail and catering. And there's much more on the horizon. Today we chat with Craig about this dynamic resta...