FULL COMP: The Voice of the Restaurant Industry Revolution

Catherine Tindall and her company Dominion Enterprise Solutions specialize in helping restaurant get the most money from the Employee Retention Credit with the least amount of effort. To find out how much you stand to earn from the tax credit, visit https://dominiones.com ____________________________________________________________ Full Comp brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a...

today we sit down with co-founder Aman Narang to discuss the ups and downs of servicing the service industry. If they were able to predict the future before, are they able to do it again? For more on Toast visit https://pos.toasttab.com ____________________________________________________________ Full Comp brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp fo...

In this episode Josh Kopel is sitting down with Ryan Wilson, the great grandson of the founder and current CEO of Lawry's Restaurants to talk about how a dynamic business model created a generational company. For more on Lawry's visit https://www.lawrysonline.com ____________________________________________________________ Full Comp brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundr...

Do you ever walk into a restaurant and it just makes sense? The lighting, the design, the floor plan, the sound, the food and the service. It tells a complete story. I'd argue it's easier said than done to achieve that level of harmony. It's takes an expert eye and operational experience to pull it off and the team over at Studio UNLTD as built a reputation for being best in the world in achieving...

Katie Poppe is one of those success stories you read about and are wrought with envy. In 2019, seven years after opening of Blue Star Donuts, the business had 11 retail shops, 100 employees and total annual sales approaching $7 million. She was riding high going into the pandemic but then the music stopped. Today Katie shares her path to success...what it took to get there initially and the extrao...

You don't know what you don't know. What kept me up at night, no matter how many hours I put in at the restaurant, were people problems. How am I going to keep the good ones? What's a painless way to get rid of the bad eggs? And how do I make sure everyone is rowing in the right direction? I feel like I always lacked the resources when it came to human resources. That's why I was so excited to cha...

First who, then what. Who is going to help this restaurant succeed followed by what do we need to do to make this restaurant succeed. Few decisions in life matter more than who we decide to partner with professionally. Today we chat with the team from Source Collab. A restaurant group helmed by Chef Amber, Cindy and Beth, three women from different backgrounds that have come together to create som...

If every problem is a people problem then you really only need to get better at one thing right? That's why I've called in Matt Rolfe. Matt is a people expert and he's leveraging his 15+ years in this industry to share what the top ten percent do that’s fundamentally different from the rest of the us. For more on Matt and his company visit https://mattrolfe.com FULL COMP is brought to you by Yelp...

The jury is still out on food halls. For some brands, they're a blessing and for some of us, they're a curse. There's something about the model that seems broken to me and I'm not the only one that sees it. Today we chat with John Kolaski who's reimagining the food hall from the ground up. He's thinking big while working small and the results are inspiring. That's John Kolaski. For more on K2 Rest...

What do you do when you can literally do anything? Chef Gavin Kaysen worked with some of the most talented chefs in the world. He helmed awarded restaurants in major markets. He could have opened anything anywhere. And he chose to go back to Minneapolis. Today we discuss the merits of following your heart and the positive impacts it can have personally and professionally. As it turns out, success...

What is cool? What are those indescribable qualities that make a restaurant popular? Is it just me or does it seem to be a moving target year to year? Jon Neidich seems to have the formula down, with each spot he opens being trendier then the next. But, and this is what's truly amazing, they have staying power. Today we sit down to discuss what makes a restaurant perennially popular so that we too...

What if, when you started your entrepreneurial journey, you had a playbook that guaranteed your success? Would you follow it religiously or would you deviate when inspiration strikes? Shawn Lalehzarian had that playbook. After opening countless restaurants for big brands he went independent and paired a winning plan with a top trend to create a powerhouse restaurant. In today's conversation we tal...

If every restaurant is a snowflake, unique and special in its own way, then so is every chef and restaurateur. Chef Suzanne Goin is a total original. From the way she thinks, to the way she runs a restaurant to her advocacy work, the chef is on a whole other level. Today we chat about the choices she's made that have led to her massive success and her plan to continue innovating into the future. F...

What's the first thing you do when you want to open your own restaurant? Liz Solomon wanted to open a restaurant but she went about it in a completely innovative way. In today's conversation, Liz takes us on her path to a brick and mortar restaurant that began with an idea, then a catering company, then food carts, then a wholesale company and then...well I guess you'll just have to listen to find...

Who taught you how to be a great restaurateur? Was that person truly great in their role? Were you a truly great student in that season of your life? Today we chat with Mario Del Pero, an objectively great restaurateur and entrepreneur who took the initiative to learn from great restaurateurs. In our conversation, he  walks us along the path that led Mendocino Farms to 42 locations and the amazing...

If I didn't work for me, I'd want to work for Raji Sankar. I'd argue that I'd probably have more fun working for Raji. Her confidence, the way she inspires, her ability to put one at ease, even in stressful situations is the result of thoughtful, intentional leadership. Today's conversation is a masterclass in mastering intention. In becoming the leader and building a business you can be proud of,...

Michael Mina is the best in the biz. He's mastered excellence at scale. What's equally impressive is that he's done it alongside his partner Patric Yumul for the last 20 years. Think about how much our industry has changed in the last 20 years. Today, the three of us reflect back on their decades long partnership together and look forward to the next chapter of their partnership. For more on the M...

Do you struggle with delegation? How about profitability? What about organizational efficiency? Well then I've got a guy I'd like for you to meet. Today's guest is Mike Michalowicz, a famed author that's written two books that changed the trajectory of my professional life. Together we're going to sit down to tackle the key concepts from these books as well as lessons learned from Mike's own profe...

I know you want to become a better restaurateur. That's why you tune in every week. And I hope this helps but there are countless resources out there at our disposal. Today we chat with one of the best restaurateurs I know, Maddie Alfano. In our conversation she unpacks how she got so damn good at becoming great so that you and I can level up too. For more on her restaurant visit https://mariasita...

So you've been thinking about it. You keep staring at that vat of hot sauce that you make from scratch every week and you're wondering how well it would do at your local grocery store. Today we're talking with my buddy Billy Bosch of Iconic Protein who can offer some useful insight. Billy has taken the consumer packaged goods market by storm and in our conversation today he unpacks the process of...

You are in for a treat today. The conversation you're about to hear was one of the most educational experiences I've had since starting the show. T.K. Pillan is not of our industry but that has resulted in him creating a blockbuster concept by taking a different approach to restaurant operations and marketing. Today he unpacks the strategies he used to scale Veggie Grill nationally. For more on Ve...

What kind of leader do you want to be? Most of us don't even have time to think in those terms but today's guest believes that it's an essential place to start if we're going to be successful in this industry. Meet David Dressler, cofounder of Tender Greens. David was the guy that created the culture needed to scale his restaurant from one to 30 locations in less than 10 years. Today he shares the...

Celebrity Chef David LeFevre is a damn good chef and he's applauded nationally for that. But the chef is also a prolific businessman who's dedicated his professional life to growing great restaurants that can pave the path for the next generation. In today's conversation we unpack what it took to grow his restaurant group and how he's choosing to pay it forward. For more on his restaurant group go...

The young guns in are industry are full of new ideas. They're creating an entirely new business model for restaurants centered around media and the diversification of revenue. But what happens when you drop those new ideas into a 75 year old restaurant? Today we chat with Matt Kirschner.  A fledgling restaurateur ready to change the industry and impact his community. We'll get a front row seat to...

50 locations in 15 years. That's massive growth. Snooze is a restaurant born from the dreams of two brothers that became the mission of one of the best operators this industry has every seen. Meet David Birzon, the CEO of Snooze, who took a good business and scaled it into a great company. In our conversation we talk about what it takes to scale a concept centered around community, sustainability...