WEBVTT - Michael Stillman, CEO of Quality Branded Restaurants: “Lighting Something on Fire Always Helps” 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.280 Welcome Office hours, when we sit down with the chief 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:11.600 executives shaping the world and answer your most pressing questions 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:15.560 about leadership, career, and life. I'm Mike Steib and today 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.720 we welcome to the show. One of the funnest guys 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:23.320 I know, Michael Stillman, is CEO of Quality Branded Restaurants 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.280 and one of the most respected restaurant tours in America. 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.160 Five of his restaurants are in the top fifty grossing 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:33.960 in the nation, and nobody you will ever meet throws 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.120 a party like Michael Stillman. I'm so glad to have 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:37.919 you on the podcast. 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:42.000 Man, pleasure to be here. 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:43.200 This is going to be a lot of fun. 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:43.960 I'm excited. 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:47.680 How many martinis do your restaurants produce every year? 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.640 You know what, that's a very good question. I would 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:56.560 say probably about one hundred thousand martinis a year. One 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:00.200 hundred thousand martinis a year. But honestly, I think being 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:04.480 called the funnest man that you know, yeah, or one 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:06.800 of the funnest man I want to know, is probably 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.759 talking about the highlights of my week top five. Yeah, 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:11.200 I'm glad to hear it. 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.680 One hundred thousand marties. If this was a consulting case interview. 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:17.479 We would have to go, we would have to size 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:19.040 the number of how many people go to the rest 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:20.800 How many people go to the restaurants every year? It's 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:22.160 twelve restaurants. 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.319 Approximately, you know, one hundred and twenty five to one 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:30.280 hundred fifty thousand on average, so you annually. Yeah, so so. 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.440 One fourth of them have three or four of martable 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:34.480 or a million. So over a million people go to 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:35.399 the restaurants every year. 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:36.559 Yeah, over a million people. 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.440 One hundred thousand per restaurant, one. 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.000 Hundred twenty five to one hundred fifty thousand per restaurant 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:41.720 on average. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.080 Geez, from the outside, somebody would not appreciate that. You 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:46.399 come in to the restaurant, you sit, you eat, and 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.720 you leave. How much volume you guys are doing every day. 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.200 It's a lot. People always take a look at it and 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.720 they say, oh, you seem so crowded at seven o'clock. 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.720 And I said, but are you crowded at five o'clock? 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.240 Are you crowd at nine o'clock? Or you crowded at 0:01:59.240 --> 0:01:59.800 two o'clock. 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:02.000 I can't get a table. I can get a table, 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:04.200 but you can't get a table. We have got a 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.000 bunch of questions from folks, some who are big fans 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.359 of your restaurants, some who just love restaurants in general. 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:11.600 A lot of people want to understand how the business works. 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.520 And I'm going to go right to the first one. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.520 It is from our friend Michael Misslansky. Michael was on 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:20.960 the pod a couple of weeks ago and he left 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.400 a question for you, and his question is, as a frequent. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.360 Visitor to your restaurants, you have an amazing ability to 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.920 build restaurants that are so much fun for the consumer, 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.080 which I think is not usually the case. So often 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.800 restaurants are built for the executive chef. How is it 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:40.320 that you kind of bottle that differently in every restaurant 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.040 to create these wonderful experiences no matter where you go. 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.240 Tell all of us what does it take to make 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.320 for a fun night, or a fun restaurant or a 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.960 fun vibe. That's an incredible question. I like the question, 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:56.600 and the questionner. You know, I would start with saying, 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:02.840 lighting something on fire always helps. Okay, what kind of 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.400 things do you generally let on fire? I mean, you 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.720 can light anything on fire. You can like drinks on fire, 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.680 you can like food on fire, you can like guests 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:11.239 on fire. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.000 You got to put them out. But you know, you've 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:15.280 got to make a show. You've got to make a 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.440 little bit of a spectacle, you know. Honestly, I think 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.600 we think about ourselves as having sort of a reverend 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.160 sense of humor, and I think that's part of the 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:31.000 core of fun is starting by not taking yourself so seriously. Right. 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:33.800 So I got to drink at Quality branded and it 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.440 came in a ceramic peacock of some sort and I 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:37.840 had to kind of drink out of the tail. It 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:39.840 was a good drink, but it was definitely a scene. 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.120 My wife is a corporate attorney, and she complained to 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:47.720 me that those drinks looked too unprofessional for how to work. 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.040 I said, you know what you gotta you know, ride 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:55.040 the Horse came in on and I think that's a 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:59.760 perfect example, though. I think, you know, an unexpected twist, 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.400 you know, can shake people out of the norm. And 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.760 you know, especially in the corporate environment, you know that 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.600 that sort of sets a tone, It separates us out, 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:10.400 and it sort of allows everyone you were with to 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.440 sort of have a break in their normal action and 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.400 in a way that sort of, you know, mix us 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.320 things up. And I think it creates the opportunity for 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:19.960 fun a lot. 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.200 Now I can I can imagine pulling that off for 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.400 a dinner party. You're serving a million customers a year 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.320 across a dozen restaurants. You guys must do well over 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.039 one hundred million dollars of turnover every year. How do 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:36.000 you scale that? How do you scale fun and surprise 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:37.720 and joy? 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.520 That is one of the most complicated questions, and I 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.120 think it's something we think a lot about because obviously, 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.240 in your most amazing, you know, mom and pop restaurant, 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.520 you are dealing hands on with the owner you know 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.480 every single day, and they know you, they've high touch. 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.080 So I think a lot of it is about trying 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:00.440 to make sure that people understand, you know, your core ideaology, 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:02.719 and to sort of look for the right sort of 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.920 candidates to be in your organization that get what you're 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.680 all about. But I think beyond that, I think a 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.560 lot of it is sort of just setting the tone 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.120 early and allowing them the freedom to sort of work 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:19.960 into your core you know, conceptspe you know, and sort 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.640 of building from their ideas and extrapolating on them. So 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.120 part of it is creating programming that's sort of unique 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:31.400 and special, a lot of like table side service, a 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:32.560 lot of sort of you. 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.400 Know, so this is like you do the special caesar 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:36.560 salad at the table, you do the butter service at 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.599 the table. That kind of stuff is additive and fun. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:41.919 It's a big part of what we do. But I 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:43.960 think more than that, I think it's sort of allowing 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:47.520 people the opportunity at scale to create their own sense 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.960 of fun, especially the people work for us. Then they 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.560 have a natural aptitude for what you're trying to do, 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.719 and they understand sort of the vibe of what you're 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.080 trying to create, and it becomes more organic. So there's 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:03.120 pieces about. 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.720 We got a question from Marisol in Dallas, Texas. She 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:09.040 texted it in asking eighty percent of restaurants go out 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.040 of business in two years. Yours seem to be thriving. 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.719 So what is the secret to making profitable restaurants? So 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:17.880 you told us how to make fun restaurants, but your 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:19.279 restaurants make dough. 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:23.600 Yeah, how do you do it? It's a complicated industry. 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.200 I would say, you know, we think a lot about 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.600 who the audience is. And I know that sounds so crazy, 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.080 but I think when it comes down to it, so 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:41.240 many people go into restaurant business for passion, but they 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.960 think less about what their audience wants. They have a 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.880 tremendous idea, they have something to share, they have the 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.240 recipes of their family, but does it connect with the 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.200 location they found and the people that are there. It's 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:57.359 as basic as saying, where am I going to be? 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.200 What do these people really want as a starting point? 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.800 And can I build that consistently over time? You know, 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.800 in a way that really satisfies that. And I think 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:12.160 that sounds so basic, but you know, time and time again, 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:13.640 when people come to me and they say I want 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.520 to open a restaurant and they talk me through their idea, 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.280 you know it's it's three or four layers down before 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:24.920 I get to the premise of you know, where you're going. 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.720 What it is like, is that what that audience wants, 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:30.480 you know, is. 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.400 A starting So when you think your restaurants, it's Smith 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.600 and Malenski, it's a Manhattan steakhouse, it's been around for 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.760 decades and decades, who's that audience? Who's that the audience 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:39.960 you think about for that restaurant. 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.880 So you know, when my father built Smith Wansky in 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:47.080 nineteen seventy seven, there were two classic New York steakhouses 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.000 at the time. When was the Palm, the original Palm, 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:52.720 and one was Chris Sella's, which is no longer Rounds. 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:59.120 And he wanted to create, you know, a new version 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:03.880 of a time classic. And part of his thought was 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:10.040 to build a menu that actually had a bigger wine program, 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.080 which wasn't really the thing at the time at a steakhouse, 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.800 and to focus on American wine, which was just starting 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.640 to become prominent in the late seventies and early eighties, 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:24.200 and to sort of highlight a larger range of food. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.600 Like he had very specific ideas, and I think he 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:32.960 felt like those key attributes were things that were differentiators 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.720 for what the audience already he knew what they liked. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.000 He wanted to be around what people liked, but he 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.680 felt like he could create elements that they would like 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.200 even more that made it unique. 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.040 Key you know, and his audience. Presumably this was late seventies. 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:50.320 It's a guy's in seventy seven trading stocks or selling 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.760 insurance and then going out for stakes after work. So 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.559 a lot of corporate, a lot of you know, great 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:59.800 advertising was across the street, and all the classic law 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.880 firm and a lot of that sort of power brokers. 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.920 But you know, I think he said, I see what 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:10.160 they like. Can I create the next iteration, something more unique, 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.440 something more special? But I think he built it on, 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.200 you know, a core. And if someone was at the 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.880 opening and they came to the restaurant today, would they say, 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.400 this is the same restaurant. This is still Smith and Wielenski's. 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.000 You know, My hope would be that someone would come 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.520 and would say, this hasn't changed in forty five years. 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.080 And I'm sure you've heard this before, but my knowledge 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.400 of the amount of things we have tweaked and product 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:41.160 and pulled during that time to make it feel like 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:43.800 the product that an audience in twenty twenty three would 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.320 want but still feel timeless is probably the hardest of 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.000 all the things I work on it. 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.160 But it's maintained its essence. I believe so now that 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.000 if we drove that guy across town yeah to Bad 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.200 Roman Yeah, and said this is the same restaurant tour, 0:09:58.720 --> 0:09:59.640 what would you think. 0:09:59.480 --> 0:09:59.960 It would be? 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.360 It's different, extraordinarily challenging for them to believe it. So 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.160 in case anyone our audience hasn't been there or it 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.400 isn't on Instagram. This is the most Instagram famous restaurant 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:11.640 I think in the world. 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:13.120 I mean, it's getting there. 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.359 Tell our audience about Bad Roman. 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:20.640 Bad Roman. You know what's funny is my father when 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:22.440 he came to Bad Roman, he said, you know, this 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:26.160 is so different from anything I've ever done. And I said, 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.960 you know, the irony is, this is the essence of 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.160 what you've done in a different way. It is meant 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:38.600 to be, you know, a maximalist reinterpretation of Italian. It's 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:45.160 meant to be layers upon layers, like overwhelming sensory overload. 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:49.320 Fun you know so much so you know that you 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:54.600 can't help but smile and disengage. It's supposed to overwhelm 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:58.400 you and really immerse you. Right. 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.479 Our next question is from Carlos and Scottsdale. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.040 You know, we lost so many businesses and restaurants during COVID. 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.880 Wondered how you kept yours alive during that time. 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:20.360 This was a tough time. 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:21.480 It was. 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.280 It was tough for everybody, but for you guys. It 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.320 was illegal to go to a restaurant. 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:31.240 It was extraordinarily challenging. We lost four of our employees 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.760 in April of twenty twenty to COVID, and we had 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.400 eleven hundred employees and we went down to thirty employees 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.040 and slowly we built it back up to having fifteen 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:49.280 hundred people now. It was insanely challenging, as I think 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:54.040 for everyone it has been, and I think we, you know, 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.160 had to focus on the core of what we were 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:04.040 about and look, honestly, without government intervention, without the city's help, 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.840 without a lot of creativity, without a lot of people 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:12.280 working for us, sacrificing in so many ways, and friends 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.360 and people helping out, and our you know, all the 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.760 people went to our restaurants, stepping up and coming out 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.920 and helping our people, like none of it would have worked. 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:28.200 But I think it started with those employees. The power 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.319 of wanting to have those people back in the door, 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.319 to be able to have them working again, to be 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.440 able to great for that, I think that created the 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.160 energy for us. And I think we we pivoted to 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:46.480 like crazy stuff outdoors, we pivoted to, you know, as everyone, 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:50.000 we pivoted everything we could, but we try to maintain 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:54.240 the dna of what worked for us before, and for us, 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:58.600 that was you know, leaning into our people, you know, 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.880 and leaning into our sense of fun in humor, especially 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.560 in such a dire time, and trying to like create 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:08.280 some really unique and funny moments in what was such 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.120 a you know, challenging time. 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.240 Now, I made a stake in thirty five degree weather 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:15.480 at one of your restaurants outside and it was like 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:17.080 we were so in my life. Kevi and I were 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.920 so eager to get back, we get back to normal life, 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.559 that we were willing to do abnormal things to be 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:23.120 close to it. 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.240 I remember when we first when people started to dine outside, 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:33.720 we created some you know, larger scale, more unique outdoor 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.000 dining and we were one of the first people to 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.400 do it. And people said, how do you give the 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:40.640 foresight to do that? How'd you know, Isaac? We didn't know. 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.280 For I didn't think we were creating something that we 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.640 would use for a year and a half or two years. 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:53.920 I thought we were creating a sense of fun of marketing, uh, 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.640 something people walk by and be like stunned. You know 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.959 that that well, people were trying to and I said, 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:05.559 I think, I said, I'm willing to sacrifice the kind 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:09.640 of financial, you know, thing to be creative and to 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.640 have a moment. And it made people smile, and it 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.000 made people excited again it. 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.959 You didn't just tent some tables, You built weig structures 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.640 outside one of yours had a botchy ball court or something. 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:24.600 It built a giant structure, you know, made of grass 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.200 or fake grass. It looked like a giant wall from 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:33.200 a you know, French tuileries garden. And everyone who walked 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.720 by in the middle of Midtel, Manhattan, and at the 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:41.880 time it was a crazy feeling here smiled and were 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.120 amazed and it felt so good to be able to 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.880 just create anything at that moment, just like to create something, 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.200 and that was so relevant and important. And I think 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.640 it just you know, one for people to be able 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.840 to eat anywhere and have that community, but be able 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:01.520 to see something that that felt creative and inspiring when 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.480 everything was all being shut down and closed in. I 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:06.760 think people really reacted well to that. And that was 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.800 really our intent because we didn't really think, you know, 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:11.760 and honestly we hope that we weren't going to use 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:12.240 it that look. 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:14.560 Caroline in Denver. 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.560 Hi Rest, that seemed like a chaotic business. 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:19.880 We'll kind of set back to your experience. 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:24.560 And how do you handle the unexpressed uh, you know, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:30.160 the biblical uh you know, plagues, floods, fires, pestilens. You 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.560 just you know, check mark down the list and it's 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:36.280 all of the above and that Senate and Health inspectors 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.920 and then some. I mean, we have had so many 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.200 floods that I actually, you know, thought about how many 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.360 different floods we had at openings that I've done over 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:52.440 the years. It's, you know, an insane business of incredibly 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:59.480 moving parts, and you know, it's it's literally, you know, 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.000 it's a you have to be able to roll up 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.280 your sleeves, to want to roll up your sleeves at 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.600 the most insane moment. And I remember a quality meets 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.320 seventeen years ago, about a month and we had the 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.360 most important critic at the time, and we had a 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.800 flood outside and our kitchen was in the basement and 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:23.040 it overflowed through the facilities and it flooded the whole kitchen. 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:25.840 While you had a critic, while we had a critic 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:30.160 putting in orders, and we had people on crates milk crates. 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:31.920 There was like a foot and a half of water. 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.760 It was streaming down the stairway to the kitchen. You 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:38.920 could not go to the bathrooms because we was streaming 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:40.960 through the bathrooms. We were just I hope this person 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.120 doesn't need to go to the bathroom. And we continued 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.960 to try to serve the whole restaurant, like piling through 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.800 this water around an hour until this person left, because 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.360 we just said we're going to do it. We have 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.280 no other option. And you know, I can think of 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.120 time and time again, like part of it is the 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:03.920 creative will and group to to in some ways want 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.720 for that moment, you know, to say, what are you 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:09.159 going to bring at me? Because we're going to roll 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:10.720 up our sleeves and be ready for it. There's a 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:12.320 mentality in our business like that. 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:16.240 I was going to opening night at Zuzu's and then 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:18.919 and then there was the kitchen burn down or something. 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.640 We have had that was the second fire on opening nights. 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.159 You know, it starts to look like insurance for it 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:32.040 after a while, Michael keep having these these fires, opening 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:35.040 electric fires. 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.200 So and when I guess our our our caller wants 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:40.560 to know what do you do about it? It sounds like 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:42.720 you just you just grind on. You get the crates. 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.520 You if there's a fire, you fix you, you put 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:47.040 it out, you fix it, you get back to work. 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:51.280 Is there any particular takeaway other than just expect it 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.560 to happen and do your best. I mean, I think 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.199 it's tried to say, but I think those moments are 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.360 the moments where you can create the most union experiences 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:05.920 long term for your guests and for your employees. And 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:11.720 you know, the first time it happens, you're insane, and 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.240 solely over time you realize these are the moments where 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.679 you know you will bond as a team and create 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.679 a strength if you can get through it. And you know, 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:25.439 if you handle those moments well for your guests and 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.880 you understand that. And I think that's like any business, 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:31.399 grisis creates opportunity, And it's really true. 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:34.720 You have to look at that moment and and sort 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.400 of roll up your sleeves and say, I'm an opportunity here. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:38.800 As crazy as it sounds. 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.360 Yeah, something has been happening all the time. That's the job. 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:42.239 That's what they need us for. 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:48.199 It's we're therefore you need a lot of miniature fire extinguishers. 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:53.600 Literally, well it's also code, so it's exactly right, all right. 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.679 The next one is from Alex in Virginia Beach. 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.600 I own a small business and you helping Google reviews 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:03.480 dominate my life. How do you handle negative reviews that 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:07.280 might hurt your business? I usually just respond online with 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:09.280 go somewhere else. Do you really? 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:11.720 That was a lot of musk said that to the 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:16.000 advertisers this week and more and more colorful language. I 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.840 don't imagine that that's what you do? What did you 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.000 do when The New York Times called bad Roman a 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.800 coked out ruby Tuesdays? We made hats for everyone in 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.959 our office. Did you this was a real review? Folks? 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.200 At times was like, what is this place? That's so wild? 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.040 They couldn't handle it? And you guys completely owned it. 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:38.400 Every time we get a kind of facetious review now, 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.240 or a sarcastic review, or there's a funny sort of 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.640 line and it has a twinge of truth because it's 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.760 part of our core and we are trying to be 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:50.040 funny and silly, we'd take it and we own it. 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:53.400 And I literally make hats. I make hats and say 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.719 pleasantly gimmicky. I would get pleasantly gimmicky. I would get 0:19:57.720 --> 0:19:59.919 a tattoo if I could. That's said pleasantly gimmcky. Some 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.800 it said pleasantly gimmicky. And I told everyone in my office. 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.320 I wish I could have that tattoo because I said, 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.080 that's right, that's right, that's right. We're trying to be fun. 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:13.359 We're trying to, you know, have people smile. And you 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.840 know they can take that and give in another tone. 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.160 But we know what our people want and it's it's 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.760 a massive amount of people, and there's legitimacy to that 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.000 over time, and you know what your audience wants, and 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.480 you know you're creating something that over time is consistently 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:33.320 So you got to own those sort of comments and 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.240 know that's that's true to who you are and that's okay. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.720 And you really leaned into the Instagram thing with bad 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.240 Roman too. Oh absolutely, you had an ad campaign. I 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.560 was thrilled, you know, I said, you know, there was 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:50.040 a there was a slew of articles and I think, 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.720 you know a lot of media was concerned and they're 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:57.720 concerned about influencers and how strong they are. And it 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.919 surprises me how incredibly strong influencers are and how they 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:03.840 can create. And I think they wrote a lot of 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:09.320 negative everybody's in restaurants taking photos and everybody's too obsessed 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:13.760 with this, and you know, I thought to myself, people 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:14.040 like this. 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.639 They like to have fun, they like to take pictures 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:19.840 of their stuff. They probably do it a little too much, 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:23.880 but they are enjoying themselves. They are back out, they 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.080 are sharing experiences, and I don't think they do like 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:31.120 electric to be lectured. And I said, yeah, we're owning 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.320 this and we're saying, yeah, we're having fun and we 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:36.760 know people want to take photos and share them and 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.919 we're you know, creating around that to a degree, and like, 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:41.960