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Speaker 1: Russell Lebara is our guest. You know, it's funny how serendipity.

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Speaker 1: I suppose the line he was on gave out just

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Speaker 1: as I looked up and realized we're up against a break,

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Speaker 1: So it could not have worked out better. We've got

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Speaker 1: him back though. Russell Lebarra is our guest, and we're

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Speaker 1: talking business secrets, the secrets of the secret sauce as

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Speaker 1: I like to call it, of what makes your business run.

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Speaker 1: And Oracle, the fellow at Oracle who is behind NetSuite,

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Speaker 1: which is their AI machine learning package for business owners,

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Speaker 1: is a fan of the show and loves what we

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Speaker 1: do and wanted to sponsor when we have business interviews,

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Speaker 1: and we said absolutely. And you can get the Chief

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Speaker 1: Financial Officer the cfo's guide to AI and machine learning

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Speaker 1: at netswite dot com forward slash my last name netsweet

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Speaker 1: dot com, Berry netsuitet dot com slash Barry Russell. You

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Speaker 1: talk about Sybelo, Texas and opening a location in in

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Speaker 1: San Antone, and are outside of San Antone, and that's

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Speaker 1: not your core. I mean, I can see the immediate

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Speaker 1: challenge being most people there don't know what Gringo's is.

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Speaker 1: Yet you've got such market equity in the greater Houston area,

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Speaker 1: and that's a lot of capital to start in a

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Speaker 1: location like that. I know you're a guy that studies

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Speaker 1: and learns and asks a lot of questions. How do

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Speaker 1: you ramp up your name ID to get people in

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Speaker 1: the door?

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Speaker 2: Well, I believe for starters, our building will have a

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Speaker 2: lot of carbon pills, So we're going to deliver it

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Speaker 2: there for sure. And you know, we went to our

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Speaker 2: furthest location now is College Station only you could almost

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Speaker 2: say that's kind of Houston in a way because how

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Speaker 2: connected the.

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Speaker 3: Two cities are.

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Speaker 2: But College Station was our number two volume store in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, and so that tells us a couple

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Speaker 2: of things that.

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Speaker 3: The brand has.

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Speaker 2: Definitely market recognition already, and being that far away from

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Speaker 2: from the Houston market, but suburbs again, I think we can,

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Speaker 2: we can, we can thrive there, and we'll know soon

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Speaker 2: enough because we'll be opening in Civilo hopefully by the

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Speaker 2: end of next year, in twenty twenty six. And as

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Speaker 2: a matter of fact, we had a meeting today on

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Speaker 2: the site, the site layout. It's gonna be a beautiful

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Speaker 2: location and and our tombaw opens up later this year.

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Speaker 2: But you know, we we have to test at some point,

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Speaker 2: you know, as you well know lupid Ertias and Chewies

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Speaker 2: and all these brands. Text Max is just popular and

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Speaker 2: that's that's the good thing about it. And we'll just

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Speaker 2: you know, go in and do what we do best

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Speaker 2: and and focus there and if we as long as

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Speaker 2: we deliver where we're supposed to do, we should do okay.

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Speaker 2: And we're not concerned about that. And we're all concerned

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Speaker 2: about the stuff. Okay, No, it's just sound. We're just

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Speaker 2: concerned about what we can what We only focus on

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Speaker 2: what we can control and that the people on our seats,

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Speaker 2: and that's it. So we every guest is important, every

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Speaker 2: every meal. That's our first core value, developing guest relationships,

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Speaker 2: one mill at a time. Every single meal we serve

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Speaker 2: is important.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's a tough business. I think people don't realize,

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Speaker 1: you know, you always say you're only as good as

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Speaker 1: the last meal you've served. It's funny how people there's

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Speaker 1: a there's a meme that goes around and I'll see

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Speaker 1: about once a year and it'll be this idea that

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Speaker 1: you can have ninety nine great meals at a locally

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Speaker 1: owned restaurant around the corner and on the one hundredth

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Speaker 1: it's bad, and you go online and you criticize the place,

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Speaker 1: having never complemented them online, whereas you go to Walmart

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Speaker 1: and have a bad experience, or some national chain and

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Speaker 1: have a bad experience and you don't think to complain.

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Speaker 1: And it was about supporting local businesses for this very reason.

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Speaker 1: In your business, that's the tough part is you've got

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Speaker 1: a lot of moving parts, You've got inventory that can spoil,

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Speaker 1: you got you know, it has to be delivered on time.

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Speaker 1: You know all these things, and it's easy to mess up.

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Speaker 1: It's easier to mess up than not. I have to

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Speaker 1: ask you, Russell Lebarra Gringoes tex mex dot com, I

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Speaker 1: have to ask you. It feels like I moved to

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Speaker 1: Houston in nineteen eighty nine. So my first eighteen years

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Speaker 1: in Orange, we only had two little Mexican joints, the

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Speaker 1: Casola and then we had a local joint called Guadalajara,

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Speaker 1: and it wasn't anything fancy, but we loved it. It was

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Speaker 1: good food. It was a Mexican family that owned it.

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Speaker 1: And I moved to Houston and I was shocked at

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Speaker 1: how tex mechs seemed to be everywhere, but it wasn't

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Speaker 1: nearly as prominent as it is now. It feels like,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's the number one concept in America by far.

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Speaker 1: Why do you think tex Mex has exploded at least

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Speaker 1: in the greater Houston area over the last thirty years

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Speaker 1: or has it always been this big?

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Speaker 2: It's always been big relative to the population. But I

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Speaker 2: will say that there's a lot of value in Texana,

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Speaker 2: added value in tex Mex. When you sit down, your

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Speaker 2: autumn actually delivered the basket of chips and salsa, which

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Speaker 2: a lot of restaurants, UH, casual dining restaurants, burger joints,

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Speaker 2: what have you, you don't get that. And in our case,

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Speaker 2: we also provide the green sauce and the free ice

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Speaker 2: cream as you leave the restaurant. So those are those

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Speaker 2: just bring a lot of value to the experience. And

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Speaker 2: and it's unlimited. I mean, you know, a lot of restaurants,

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Speaker 2: like a Chili's, they charge for this kind of stuff

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Speaker 2: and and I think that's one of the benefits of

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Speaker 2: the restaurant tex Mex restaurant industry as a whole. But

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Speaker 2: you know, at the end of the day, though I mean,

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Speaker 2: obviously you have to pass on those calls through your pricing,

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Speaker 2: but it you know, we we just know where we

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Speaker 2: need to be on our food costs. We know where

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Speaker 2: our labor needs to be, and we also know where

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Speaker 2: our volume needs to be. And if we can hit

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Speaker 2: hit on all cylinders, then we can make money. But again,

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Speaker 2: our focus is the the individual experience. We don't we don't,

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Speaker 2: you know, put the cart before the horse, because.

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Speaker 3: You know you can. You can go sound real fast

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Speaker 3: in this business.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's why so many fail. I mean,

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Speaker 1: almost almost every restaurant does fail. And it's you know,

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Speaker 1: as a consumer. You know, I've spent a lot of

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Speaker 1: time studying restaurants by talking to people like you and

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Speaker 1: asking questions and going into your kitchen and comparing notes

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Speaker 1: and all this. And everybody, every consumer wants to be

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Speaker 1: a reviewer, so they can be very critical of restaurants.

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Speaker 1: And that's fine. It holds you to a high standard

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Speaker 1: that makes you want to try harder and all that,

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Speaker 1: but the understanding of how hard it is to deliver.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if I cook a meal for the family,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to screw most everything up because when I

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Speaker 1: do do it everyone's all excited until they eat, and

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Speaker 1: I mess something up every time, and it's frustrating. Imagine

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Speaker 1: trying to do that over and over and over again.

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Speaker 1: It's tough. So if you hadn't done hospitality, if you

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Speaker 1: had not done restaurants, what do you think you would

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Speaker 1: have done?

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Speaker 3: Oh, without a doubt, I've been sells of some sort.

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Speaker 2: If I believe in something, I can sell it. As

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Speaker 2: a matter of fact, when I was selling frail Matador

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Speaker 2: and I was calling on these restaurants, I hadn't want

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Speaker 2: to particular restaurant. I would visit him and he knew

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Speaker 2: our family was in the restaurant business. But he told

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Speaker 2: me that my face, Russell, I will never buy from you.

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Speaker 2: That was a challenge to me. Seven months later he

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Speaker 2: was buying from me and we were became friends. So Cells,

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Speaker 2: I love Cells, and I almost went into a priorate

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Speaker 2: opening Gringos because I was trying to find my place

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Speaker 2: in this world and it was actually going to be

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Speaker 2: selling high production corn and flower to tea equipment out

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Speaker 2: of California. Yeah, there was a really good company out

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Speaker 2: to launch equipment company. And as a matter of fact,

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Speaker 2: my brothers have a full Florida tea line from them

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Speaker 2: that's probably over, I don't know, one hundred and fifty

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Speaker 2: feet long. It's it's incredible to watch fully automated from

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Speaker 2: the from the dough to the package product.

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Speaker 3: It's fun to watch great.

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Speaker 2: Card be your big mister.

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Speaker 3: Ferry a bullet.

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Speaker 1: Russell LaVar is our guest Ringos text Smecks is his

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Speaker 1: primary restaurant. He also has Jimmy Changa's, and he has

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Speaker 1: a lot more. But we're talking business principles with him. Normally,

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Speaker 1: when I talked to Russell, it's about humanitarian things. It's

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Speaker 1: about all the good he does for Camp Pope, It's

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Speaker 1: about all the good he does for community, all the

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Speaker 1: good he does for his employees. Today we're talking business

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Speaker 1: principles and his life. And I love to do these

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Speaker 1: interviews because I find it interesting. I like to ask

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Speaker 1: questions and I think some of you do as well.

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Speaker 1: You were saying about importing avocados.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so the avocados Mexico. Alvocados from Mexico used to

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Speaker 2: only be allowed in the US if you remove the seed,

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Speaker 2: and of course we all know what happens once you

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Speaker 2: cut into an avocado at shelf life, there's just allurs,

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Speaker 2: really and so, and that was done because of the

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Speaker 2: California Avocado Commission. They were the mafia of avocados back

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Speaker 2: in the day, and they controlled a lot of what

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Speaker 2: happened of the pricing of avocados. I mean, they were

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Speaker 2: expensive back then. They're expensive today, but not as as

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Speaker 2: expensive as they could be.

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Speaker 3: But what it happened was with NAFTA.

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Speaker 2: When NAFTA passed and what was it, ninety two ninety three,

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Speaker 2: everything was allowed to be imported exported between Mexico, Canada

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Speaker 2: and the US. But there were some exceptions, and one

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Speaker 2: of them was avocados.

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Speaker 3: And the reason was, according.

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Speaker 2: To California or whoever was in charge, the Mexican avocado

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Speaker 2: had a weavil in it that would contaminate the crop

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Speaker 2: of the US, so you could only ship them above

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Speaker 2: the freeze line in the US. And of course the

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Speaker 2: major demand for avocados was in Texas and Florida, and

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Speaker 2: so they didn't allowed for a few years only because

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Speaker 2: the California Avocado Commission growers they wanted to go into

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Speaker 2: Mexico and start controlling the farms, and they did. They

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Speaker 2: started buying up a lot of these production facilities and

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Speaker 2: packing facilities. And and then once they got control of Mexico's avocados,

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Speaker 2: they said, hey, okay, you can you can bring them in.

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Speaker 2: We've resolved the weevil issue. And they started importing them

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Speaker 2: from Mexico. So, uh, Mexico produces something like seven or

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Speaker 2: eight times what the US does. And and and it's

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Speaker 2: a it's actually a great avocado because of the soil

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Speaker 2: that they're the most of the farms in mitchell conon

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Speaker 2: where they're at, where they're located. But that's one of

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Speaker 2: the reasons why. Also the cartel got involved in avocados.

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Speaker 2: They are now extorting money from the farmers. They would

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Speaker 2: get the records of how many they don't call them

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Speaker 2: acres but acres that they own, and they would charge

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Speaker 2: them attacks if you will, on their land. And that's

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Speaker 2: caused big problems as well. But it's because they call

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Speaker 2: it green gold. It's just it's just there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of money in avocados because it worked.

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Speaker 3: For one.

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Speaker 2: You know, California doesn't have the same amount of alanda

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Speaker 2: used to have to grow a pocados.

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Speaker 3: A lot of it's been given up to development.

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Speaker 2: Plus it's a water issue, believe it or not, it

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Speaker 2: takes eighteen gallons of water to produce one single avocado,

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Speaker 2: and obviously Mexico has it. In the US doesn't, California

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Speaker 2: doesn't have it. But I love alvocados.

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Speaker 3: It's my favorite fruit. As a matter of fact, I

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Speaker 3: do too.

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Speaker 1: I love him. And you know Eddie Martini is allergic

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Speaker 1: to him. Eddie Martini is allergic avocados and bananas, two

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Speaker 1: of my favorite things in the world. Can you imagine

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Speaker 1: living your life like that? That's a ym god question exactly.

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Speaker 1: So why do avocados go bad shortly after you cut

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Speaker 1: into them?

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Speaker 2: That's a good question. I mean they just oxidized. I

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Speaker 2: guess I need.

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Speaker 1: You to know that answer by the next time I talked.

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Speaker 1: Can you ask Stephen Gonzales it ok, Houston avocado? I

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Speaker 1: sure will, because I bet he knows. I bet he does.

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Speaker 3: The actual reason.

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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, his boss Mark used to

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Speaker 2: own an avocado farm in Mexico until the cartel took

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Speaker 2: it over and told them, hey, if you want to

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Speaker 2: come get it, they literally don't that so now you

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Speaker 2: can have it.

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Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, I mean you think about I mean, I

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Speaker 1: wonder what percentage of American consumption of avocados which has

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Speaker 1: to be massive. I wonder what percentage is Tex Mex restaurants.

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Speaker 1: I bet it's a good, good percentage. I wonder if

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Speaker 1: it's over half, could be oh easily when you walk

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Speaker 1: into a restaurant easily and you you are always going

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Speaker 1: into restaurants learning from them, mentoring them, and enjoying them.

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Speaker 1: A lot of people in your industry don't like they

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Speaker 1: never have anything nice to say about other restaurants, and

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Speaker 1: that creeps me out, like why do you you have

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Speaker 1: to run everybody down to help yourself? But you never

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Speaker 1: do that. When you walk into a restaurant, what is

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Speaker 1: something you see that you say this place is going

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Speaker 1: to succeed? And what is something you see that you go, well,

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Speaker 1: they're going to need to fix this or they're not

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Speaker 1: going to make it great question?

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Speaker 2: So yes, I love to go into restaurant and get

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Speaker 2: that first impression when you walk in, what do you see?

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Speaker 3: Because it's you know, in the restaurant industry, we deal.

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Speaker 2: With all the senses, all of them, and I like

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Speaker 2: to look at just how the staff are interacting throughout

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Speaker 2: the restaurant. I like to see what the lighting looks like.

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Speaker 2: Lighting is so important. People don't realize how important lighting

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Speaker 2: is and how it can make or break and experience,

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Speaker 2: especially for women because they don't like a bright restaurant

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Speaker 2: for whatever reason. But anyway, how does the restaurant smell?

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know they're if you go into some

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Speaker 2: casinos now, they have their own dedicated scent being pumped

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Speaker 2: throughout the entire property because over time, with mopping and

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Speaker 2: all the chemicals they use, you know, with mopping and cleaning,

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Speaker 2: that's what the property starts to smell like. And we've

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Speaker 2: actually been talking with a company that provides sense because

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Speaker 2: we've talked about it. We're looking for a spice scent

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Speaker 2: of some sort to to uh to send our restaurants with.

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Speaker 2: We're testing it, but you know, there's UH so we

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Speaker 2: look at that noise levels. Noise levels are also critical

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Speaker 2: because you should be able to have a conversation across

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Speaker 2: the table without screaming. And I don't know about you,

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Speaker 2: My hearing's not the same.

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Speaker 1: So I made no and I don't like loud restaurants,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of restaurants I get the sense that

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Speaker 1: they have designed it to intentionally be loud, with with

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Speaker 1: harsh surfaces that bounce sound. And I don't at all,

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Speaker 1: and especially I'm fifty four. But you see older people

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Speaker 1: out in public, and that bothers them, you know, you

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Speaker 1: can see that. Huh huh, and and it's not fun.

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Speaker 1: Before before my dad got his hearing aids, he didn't

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Speaker 1: he wouldn't go he didn't not want to go out

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Speaker 1: with us to eat because he couldn't hear because the sound,

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Speaker 1: the ambient sound, was so distracting to him. And you know,

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Speaker 1: younger people don't understand that. I'll tell you that the other

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Speaker 1: thing gets on my nerves has nothing to do with you,

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Speaker 1: is what it kind of does. Menus Now, somehow they

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Speaker 1: shrunk the font they're using a font looks like about

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Speaker 1: one And as I've gotten older, I can't read that small.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know why they don't understand that older

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Speaker 1: people need a little more, a little need to be

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Speaker 1: able to see what's on the damn menu. Do you

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Speaker 1: find that?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I do, But I mean that's why I carry readers

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Speaker 2: with me wherever I go. I almost feel like I'm

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Speaker 2: disabled if I don't have a pair with me. But

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Speaker 2: one thing that has to go away is the QR

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Speaker 2: code for menus.

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Speaker 1: Oh Russell. That makes me crazy. I want to read

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Speaker 1: a menu, hold the men, you feel them and you

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Speaker 1: touch it, you know, run it through my fingers. What

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Speaker 1: kind of what quality of paper was it printed on?

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Speaker 1: And and to I don't want to have to go

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Speaker 1: to my phone to read you. Oh it drives me crazy.

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Speaker 1: Russeller Barr is our guesshole type. Don't you call me?

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Speaker 3: Don't you call me? Michael Mary School.

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Speaker 1: We're talking to Russell Lebara, the founder and CEO of

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Speaker 1: Gringos textmax dot com. But he calls himself the master

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Speaker 1: Enchilada Roller because it doesn't like it doesn't like overly

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Speaker 1: fancy things. He'd rather be the everyman, just like anyone

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Speaker 1: in his company. And I like that. We were talking

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Speaker 1: about the QR codes before we went to break the

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Speaker 1: QR codes on at restaurants where they don't want to

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Speaker 1: print the menu, they want you to go to it

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Speaker 1: on your phone.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: I was at brass Frey nineteen years ago, before I

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Speaker 1: ever knew Charles Clark, and I went in and there

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Speaker 1: was or maybe I knew him by them, but they

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Speaker 1: said would you like to see the wine list? And

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Speaker 1: I said I would, and they brought out an iPad

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Speaker 1: and I said, so I started letting. I said, do

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Speaker 1: you have a wine list printed out? He goes, sure,

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Speaker 1: I'll get that for you, and I said, here, take

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Speaker 1: your iPad back because I don't want to accidentally walk

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Speaker 1: out with it. So the next day, I'm talking about

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Speaker 1: how I don't like this trend of putting wines on

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Speaker 1: an iPad, and I was at a fancy restaurant and

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Speaker 1: I didn't say where it was. So a month or

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Speaker 1: so later, I'm talking to Charles Clark and he said,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna make sure we always have a printed out

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Speaker 1: menu for you, because I know you hate wine on

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Speaker 1: the iPad. And I said, how do you know that?

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Speaker 1: He goes, I listened to you every day and I said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but I didn't say your name. I wouldn't have done that.

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Speaker 1: He goes, I was the first person in town to

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Speaker 1: do that. I know who it was. I know you

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Speaker 1: would have seen that at our place. And I said, wow,

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Speaker 1: that's that's really good. But that goes back way back.

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Speaker 1: That's that's been kind of one of my things. But

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Speaker 1: some people really seem to enjoy that because then you

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Speaker 1: get to see the label and the whole thing. So

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Speaker 1: I guess to each his own, So tell me three places,

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Speaker 1: because you eat out more than anybody I know, and

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Speaker 1: you're always trying new restaurants. Tell me three new restaurants

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Speaker 1: you've been into in the last six months that you

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Speaker 1: really liked, and tell me one thing about each that

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Speaker 1: you really liked. Why you liked it.

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Speaker 3: Well, let's see here.

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Speaker 2: And there's been so many of them, and I like

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Speaker 2: them for different reasons, and they're not for everyone because

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Speaker 2: I look at them, I guess through a different lens.

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Speaker 2: For example, Tokoa Madera, a lot of people like it,

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Speaker 2: a lot of people don't. It's it's it's kind of

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Speaker 2: a nightclub atmosphere. It's very loud. But what I like,

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Speaker 2: What I like is that they the effort they put

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Speaker 2: into the design, the interior design of that restaurant.

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Speaker 3: It's it's over the top.

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Speaker 2: And and I'm not saying I've learned anything from it,

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Speaker 2: but I just enjoy it. I go to the one

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Speaker 2: in Vegas quite often anytime I'm there. But that one

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Speaker 2: and then another restaurant that opened up recently, a Mexican

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Speaker 2: restaurant is Mexican Sugar out of Dallas. They opened up

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Speaker 2: on Dallas Street and there they did a nice job

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Speaker 2: of creating a two story space, which I would never

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Speaker 2: recommend a restaurant open up a two story restaurant because

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Speaker 2: it's very difficult to manage. But they did a great

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Speaker 2: job of designing both levels and I think they're going

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Speaker 2: to do really well there. It's it's something unique, and

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Speaker 2: if they hurt anyone in the Inner Loop, it's going

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Speaker 2: to be Tokeomadera because it's kind of the same, kind

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Speaker 2: of the same model. But another restaurant that opened up

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Speaker 2: that I've enjoyed a lot is Balboa suf Club.

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Speaker 1: Sam Philippi.

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Speaker 2: Yes, they did a really good job, but there's some

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Speaker 2: former execs of Hillstone or Houston's and they opened up

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Speaker 2: a location in Dallas. Plus they have an Italian restaurant

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Speaker 2: in the same development called Ibaco, and they're doing.

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Speaker 3: It just a fantastic is like it? Yes, did you

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Speaker 3: like it? I've only been.

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Speaker 2: I enjoyed it, but I haven't been back. I've only

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Speaker 2: been twice. By having it back, I've been to Balboah

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Speaker 2: more often.

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Speaker 1: I was just talking to Eddie Martini about those two

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Speaker 1: restaur fans and he was saying how much he likes

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Speaker 1: those two. He also eats out a lot but he,

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Speaker 1: unlike you, he eats out because he has a company

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Speaker 1: credit card and he can eat out at fancy restaurants,

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Speaker 1: not because he's checking them out for And who was

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Speaker 1: the third win? Who was the third restaurant or did

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Speaker 1: you say it? Uh?

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Speaker 2: Well, I know I already said, yeah, Balbo was a

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Speaker 2: third Mexican sugar in a toka. But there's just there's

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Speaker 2: just so many great restaurants. Houston has a revenue restaurant

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Speaker 2: opening every single week. It seems like a movie premiere.

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Speaker 3: And but the pie is not. I don't think the

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Speaker 3: pie is.

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Speaker 2: Large enough to support all these restaurants, especially the overhead

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Speaker 2: some of them have the rents that many of them

400
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Speaker 2: are paying or you know, five six, seven hundred thousand

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Speaker 2: a year, if not more in some cases, and and

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Speaker 2: and I just don't know how they can make the

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Speaker 2: numbers work. But you know, there's always people willing to

404
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Speaker 2: put money into an invest money in a restaurant, and

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Speaker 2: a lot of these restaurant tours are able to find them.

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Speaker 1: So oh yeah, I think part of that is you

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Speaker 1: got to be inside the loop to be written about

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Speaker 1: by the food critics. That's where they all hang out,

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Speaker 1: preferably Montrose and I think it's oversaturated Montrose and the

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Speaker 1: heights I think are oversaturated. And then you know folks

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Speaker 1: like you open and Laporte and Katie where none of

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Speaker 1: the restaurant you know, the fickle five hundred folks go,

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Speaker 1: and where the restaurant tours that so desperately want to

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Speaker 1: be written about by the food critics. So you got

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Speaker 1: all these restaurants in this little pocket, and then you

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Speaker 1: got very little outside of that, mostly just chains. And

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Speaker 1: I think it just opens up an opportunity for folks

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Speaker 1: like you that say, well, we'll come in and serve

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Speaker 1: great food at a very good price and not be prissy,

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Speaker 1: and we won't be written about, but we'll still be

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Speaker 1: here twenty years from now hopefully.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that's why it's supposed to work.

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Speaker 1: Remember when we talked about the interview format is when

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Speaker 1: I say something, then you have to say something more

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Speaker 1: than a couple of words. Remember that part.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but I want to say something worth saying.

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Speaker 1: Oh good point, good point? Yes, yes, okay.

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Speaker 2: That you were going to ask me something about my book.

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Speaker 2: I was How did you know that because you mentioned

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Speaker 2: it earlier?

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Speaker 1: Oh yes, I was, so. Rush Limbaugh wrote two books

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Speaker 1: and this is a guy who created content for three

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Speaker 1: hours a day for many, many years and was the

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Speaker 1: best ever at it on the radio. He wrote two

435
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:29,719
Speaker 1: books that were fabulously successful, financially, commercially, professionally, you name it.

436
00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:33,040
Speaker 1: And he said, I want A caller called up and said,

437
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:34,640
Speaker 1: you know, you got to write another book. I've read

438
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:36,240
Speaker 1: your books. I love your books. And he said, I

439
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:38,240
Speaker 1: won't do it. And he said, it's not for me.

440
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,880
Speaker 1: I don't have an iron butt and I just don't have.

441
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:43,640
Speaker 1: You know, when I get up out of the seat

442
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,800
Speaker 1: from doing my show, I don't want to sit down

443
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:50,399
Speaker 1: and write. It's harder than people realize. How was the

444
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,159
Speaker 1: writing process for you compared to what you expected it

445
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:54,399
Speaker 1: to be.

446
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 2: Well, it was mostly the editing part that was the

447
00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 2: most challenging, but the content actually been writing a lot

448
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,840
Speaker 2: of it over the years. And I've already started keeping

449
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 2: a I already have a list going of all these

450
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 2: different stories I want to put in my next one.

451
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:12,399
Speaker 2: Should I write the next one? And because they're always

452
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:14,840
Speaker 2: these stories are always popping up, I mean they just

453
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:19,320
Speaker 2: they just kind of create themselves through through conversations with

454
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 2: other people. A prime example this my nephew called me

455
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:26,199
Speaker 2: a few days ago because he wanted to know if

456
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,399
Speaker 2: I knew the owner of this particular restaurant. And the

457
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 2: reason he wanted to know was because he wanted to

458
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,680
Speaker 2: take his wife there that night to celebrate her birthday,

459
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 2: and he wanted them to put on the marquee Happy

460
00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 2: birthday so and so and so. And the reason was

461
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,439
Speaker 2: because they had already they quoted him two hundred and

462
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,000
Speaker 2: fifty dollars. Now, he had never been to this restaurant.

463
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:54,080
Speaker 2: It's a very nice steakhouse and one I had never

464
00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 2: heard of. But anyway, two hundred and fifty dollars just

465
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,879
Speaker 2: seemed very very steep that they this restaurant missed an

466
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:04,120
Speaker 2: opportunity to put.

467
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:05,639
Speaker 3: The letters up. Let's say fifty.

468
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,800
Speaker 2: Dollars or one hundred dollars or whatever, something more reasonable.

469
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:09,480
Speaker 2: But it's like they said, two hundred and fifty because

470
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,080
Speaker 2: we're doing you a favor, and yet they missed the

471
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:16,120
Speaker 2: entire transaction because they ended up going to another restaurant,

472
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 2: and they would have posted on social media and really

473
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:20,680
Speaker 2: probably helped drive a few.

474
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 3: More tables there and maybe been a regular guest. I

475
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,520
Speaker 3: don't know, but why do you make those kinds of

476
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,520
Speaker 3: how can a restaurant tour make those kind of mistakes?

477
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,480
Speaker 3: I don't understand it. In such a competitive environment.

478
00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 2: I would have said, yes, sir, we'll we'll put it up,

479
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,120
Speaker 2: no problem, We'll do.

480
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 1: It for free, right hold right there. Russell Barr is

481
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,960
Speaker 1: our guests more than him. We will fight hard for

482
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 1: the freedom to holte the Michael Verry Joe A Heart

483
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:51,119
Speaker 1: in your tender direction. Russell Lebarr is our guest and

484
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:59,920
Speaker 1: talking about secrets of success, how you accomplish your goals,

485
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 1: how you order your life, Lessons learned, failures learned from

486
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 1: and he's always embraced his failures with me. And that's

487
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:13,200
Speaker 1: something I appreciate because when I talk to people, whether

488
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,439
Speaker 1: on air or off, I will often ask, almost always

489
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:21,080
Speaker 1: ask them, tell me a major failure in your life

490
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:27,640
Speaker 1: and why that failure occurred. Because if we let's say

491
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 1: somebody opens a restaurant and they open a rec they

492
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:33,920
Speaker 1: have five restaurants and they're about to open their sixth

493
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: and they open it and it fails, and I say,

494
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 1: what did you think was going to happen? That didn't

495
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: happen because nobody thinks they're going to open a failed restaurant.

496
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,320
Speaker 1: They thought that the neighborhood would be more supportive, or

497
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,240
Speaker 1: they thought that that street had more traffic, or whatever

498
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:53,960
Speaker 1: it is. I think we learn a lot from that.

499
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,120
Speaker 1: But you've also had a number of successes, Russell lebar.

500
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 1: When you look at your life and and things that

501
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:05,960
Speaker 1: you have succeeded at, where do you see your successes?

502
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:14,560
Speaker 2: Well, obviously it's been in attracting the right people. I mean,

503
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 2: I know, I'll keep going back to that, but that's

504
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:19,440
Speaker 2: that's again that that is what we are. We're a

505
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:24,200
Speaker 2: collection of just people that share common interest and common goals.

506
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:33,640
Speaker 2: But you know, I most of my failures happened during

507
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 2: my twenties, and I call those are my college years

508
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 2: if you want to call them that.

509
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:41,320
Speaker 3: But I learned a lot and I'm grateful that I did,

510
00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:41,680
Speaker 3: and I'm.

511
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 2: Grateful that everything that happened happened. But you know, going forward,

512
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 2: you know, I don't want to have any failure that

513
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 2: that would destroy everything we've done. But you know, we

514
00:26:55,160 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 2: have to approach, you know, especially living in such a

515
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:06,119
Speaker 2: litigious society. We we we have a dispute right now

516
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:11,440
Speaker 2: going on with a team member, an accident that happened

517
00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 2: and you know, I've always been proud of the fact

518
00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 2: that we've been involved in very few lawsuits over the years,

519
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:25,120
Speaker 2: very very few. And sometimes you have to see again,

520
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 2: see the larger picture and not uh say it's your

521
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 2: way of the highway, and then and then fight to

522
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:33,680
Speaker 2: the end and still end up paying what you would

523
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 2: have paid if you just settled way back. And so

524
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,159
Speaker 2: I believe in, you know, locking locking hands instead of

525
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,119
Speaker 2: locking horns. And we've been we've been very successful at

526
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,359
Speaker 2: staying out of a lot of lawsuits for that, and

527
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,880
Speaker 2: and i'd consider those for some people being failures, even

528
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:53,480
Speaker 2: though they may have thought they won. And yeah, I could

529
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 2: share some weld stories with you about family members soon

530
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:59,679
Speaker 2: as family members. I mean, it's it's ridiculous sometimes, but

531
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 2: some people are determined to prove that they were right,

532
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:05,880
Speaker 2: and they did, but it just cost him how many

533
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 2: hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

534
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know. Percy Foreman a very famous criminal defense

535
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 1: attorney in Houston many years ago. He was like the

536
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,919
Speaker 1: Fly Bailey of his day, springing the oj Simpsons of

537
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: the era. And he had a client who everybody knew

538
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 1: was guilty, and he managed to get him off, and

539
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:33,119
Speaker 1: the story goes that a newspaper reporter said, mister, mister Foreman,

540
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,480
Speaker 1: mister Foreman, don't you doesn't it bother you that your

541
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 1: client was guilty and you got him off And he

542
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: said no. He said, don't you think he should have

543
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 1: to pay? And he said, oh, he's going to pay dearly.

544
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 1: And the point was he got a Rolls Royce out

545
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 1: of the deal. And that's how the guy was going

546
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:53,600
Speaker 1: to It was going to cost him a lot of money,

547
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: just maybe not maybe not going to prison. You mentioned lawsuits,

548
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,800
Speaker 1: Russell Lebar and one of the things when I talk

549
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:06,720
Speaker 1: to business owners is everybody understands that if you're in

550
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 1: the wrong, there should be a course, a recourse for

551
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 1: a victim to make that right. Nobody has a problem

552
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,560
Speaker 1: with that. It's the frivolous stuff that gets you. You

553
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: shared publicly a picture of a woman who walked into

554
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 1: one of your restaurants, I don't know which location, and

555
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 1: she looked around make sure nobody could see her, and

556
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 1: then she fell on the ground and proceeded to do

557
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 1: a snow angel and told everybody that the floor was

558
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,920
Speaker 1: slick and she had fallen and she wanted to you know,

559
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,440
Speaker 1: several hundred thousand dollars or whatever. I don't know if

560
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 1: you remember the details of that case. How often does

561
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 1: that happen?

562
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 2: More often than you might think. But we just had

563
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 2: people just falling over. I mean, I think with those

564
00:29:55,320 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 2: to be walking and fall over. You know when I

565
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:05,600
Speaker 2: travel to other countries and I look at their sidewalks,

566
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 2: their roads, their everything, and I'm thinking, wow. I mean,

567
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,160
Speaker 2: I went to a restaurant the other day in Columbia

568
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,280
Speaker 2: and there were steps everywhere, and I'm thinking, in the US,

569
00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 2: it just couldn't happen because people be tripping and falling everywhere. Yeah,

570
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,719
Speaker 2: it's ridiculous. But you know, we have liability insurance property

571
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:28,520
Speaker 2: liability insurance, and the problem with that, believe it or not,

572
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:30,720
Speaker 2: is it takes us out of the equation. Whenever there

573
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 2: is a dispute or an alleged accident of some sort,

574
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 2: and the insurance companies they just settle. Unfortunately, they they

575
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 2: don't fight these cases and they'll settle. Fifty seventy five

576
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,760
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand. We had a guest and an team

577
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 2: member one time bump heads. They each turned around at

578
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 2: the same time and bumped heads. Of course, our team

579
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:57,200
Speaker 2: member's fine, but this guest sued and was awarded one

580
00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars by the well settled the interest companies

581
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 2: settled with them figure it's cheaper.

582
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, they just figured it's it's cheaper to settle well.

583
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 1: But you know something that most people don't understand, and

584
00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,840
Speaker 1: this is this is the economics of it all, is

585
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,440
Speaker 1: that that hundred thousand dollars, while the check was written

586
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 1: by the business owner, the person who's going to end

587
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 1: up paying that is the customer. So rolled into every

588
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 1: ten dollars you spend at a restaurant, is this many

589
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 1: pennies or this many dollars for lawsuits, and this many

590
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 1: dollars for avocados, and this many dollars for the rent,

591
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 1: and this many dollars for the air conditioning, and that's

592
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: one of those things, and this many dollars for theft,

593
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:42,960
Speaker 1: and so the rest of us pay for that nonsense.

594
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 1: So that's that's what makes it even worse. It's people

595
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,600
Speaker 1: have this idea that there's the rich business owner, and

596
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 1: it's good he should have to give up some of

597
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,479
Speaker 1: what he has. He's not going to pay for it.

598
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:54,320
Speaker 1: It's going to be passed on to the customer.

599
00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:59,040
Speaker 2: Well, if there's one bit of advice I could give

600
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 2: all business owners, actually is making sure that every employee

601
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 2: signed a binding arbitration agreement.

602
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:07,840
Speaker 3: Because.

603
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,960
Speaker 2: It forces if there is an incident, it does force

604
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 2: their attorneys to have to work for it rather than

605
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 2: resolve it through an insurance company.

606
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 1: And a lot of lawyers just want to send a

607
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,720
Speaker 1: demand letter and get forty percent of what you're willing

608
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: to settle for before you have to engage an outside firm.

609
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 1: And that is the reality. Russell Lebara. I've kept you

610
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,640
Speaker 1: longer than you agreed to stay, but you've been very

611
00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: gracious with your time and very candid with your answers,

612
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,520
Speaker 1: and I appreciate it, and I know our listeners do

613
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,040
Speaker 1: as well. I appreciate all you do for our veterans

614
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 1: with PTSD at Camp Hope, all you do for your employees,

615
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 1: your customers, and our community, and I value and appreciate

616
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:56,640
Speaker 1: your friendship. Thanks for being with us my family.

617
00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 3: Thank you, Michael, I appreciate it.

618
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 2: Yes, and gentlemen.

619
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 1: Elviss has left for Jilding.

620
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 2: Thank you, and goodnight,