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Speaker 1: Russe Lebar is our guest. Ringo's text next Jimmy Chonga's

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Speaker 1: is so much more. You were talking about building a

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Speaker 1: culture and how proud you are of the people you

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Speaker 1: have that have been with you as many as thirty

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Speaker 1: It's from day one, literally from day one, and that's

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Speaker 1: unheard of in the hospitality industry. You and I have

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Speaker 1: had conversations about Johnny Caraba. I think one of the

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Speaker 1: reasons Carabas is a special restaurant, a special company is

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Speaker 1: his ability to retain employees for their entire careers. You

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Speaker 1: go to the Carabas on Vas and there are multiple

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Speaker 1: waiters there who have children who are also waiters there.

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Speaker 1: It's a career, not a job for a kid after

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Speaker 1: they finished high school. He keeps his people for a

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Speaker 1: long time, and you do too, and there's reasons for that.

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Speaker 1: You create a great workplace. But I interrupted you. I

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Speaker 1: had to work up against the break, go ahead and

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Speaker 1: finish that one if you would.

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Speaker 2: What was the thing, Well, I don't remember.

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Speaker 1: We're both we both have dementia. You were talking about

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Speaker 1: Heather starting with you since she was eighteen. You talking

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Speaker 1: about a culture and a business that will last beyond

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Speaker 1: your time.

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Speaker 2: Oh yes, yes. So I was talking about these chains

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Speaker 2: that come and go, and there's so many of them.

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Speaker 2: They start off at a certain level of quality, and

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Speaker 2: then they get taken over by private equity and these

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Speaker 2: accountants start driving the brand saying, look if we if

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Speaker 2: we just cut a little bit here, we'll be able

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Speaker 2: to save X dollars. And they'll do it and they'll

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Speaker 2: see the results thinking well, we can probably cut a

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Speaker 2: little more here or there, and before you know it,

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Speaker 2: you don't even recognize the brand anymore. And so I

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Speaker 2: would just share that a story about that recently with Heather,

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Speaker 2: and I said, you know, we need to get some

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Speaker 2: watches and I need to pass them down to my

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Speaker 2: leadership team. And on the face of it, it says

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Speaker 2: these to say, not on my not on my watch,

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Speaker 2: because whoever takes over the reins will have to make

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Speaker 2: big decisions and the last thing they want to do

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Speaker 2: is is make a decision that's going to drive the

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Speaker 2: business down and change it what made it successful. There's

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Speaker 2: a to share something differently. There's a restaurant in Fort Worth.

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Speaker 2: You may have heard of it, Joe T. Garcia's Yep.

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Speaker 2: Of course, they've been in business since like nineteen eighteen

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Speaker 2: or something like that, and this third generation running it.

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Speaker 2: And you know, when we do site selections, not that

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Speaker 2: we're going to Fort Worth, but when you do site selections,

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Speaker 2: you kind of want to look at alcohol cells for

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Speaker 2: the restaurants that you're going to be here, And just

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Speaker 2: out of curiosity, I was looking at their alcohol cells

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Speaker 2: and they're tremendous, soul, tremendous in fact that their alcohol

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Speaker 2: sales in one month is the equivalent of five or

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Speaker 2: six gringos alcohol sales in a month. It's phenomenal. But

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Speaker 2: and their cash only business, which is wild.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, no, I'm just I'm just processing. I'm sorry,

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Speaker 1: I'm spellbound. Yeah, wow, i'd slinging a lot of booth.

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Speaker 1: That is slinging a lot of booth.

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Speaker 2: That is.

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Speaker 1: So tell me about a mistake you made when you started.

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Speaker 1: I'd love to you're I know you're good at that,

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Speaker 1: but I want you to tell me about a mistake

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Speaker 1: you made. No, you know what, I want to go back.

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Speaker 1: Always tell the story about having to give up the

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Speaker 1: keys to your vehicle and what a humiliating moment that was,

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Speaker 1: and how you draw on that energy a lot to

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Speaker 1: guide you.

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Speaker 2: Now, well, yes, in my twenty so I lost my

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Speaker 2: house to foreclosure when I was twenty six years old,

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Speaker 2: and I returned a vehicle because I could no longer

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Speaker 2: afford the four hundred and twenty dollars ninety one cent payment.

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Speaker 2: It was a Ford Bronco, and I remember dropping off

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Speaker 2: at the dealership and then walking away from it and

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Speaker 2: then turning around at it to look at it one

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Speaker 2: last time, and telling myself inside, I'm down, but I'm

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Speaker 2: not out. And I think that all too often people

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Speaker 2: define themselves. They defined themselves through failure, and really you're

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Speaker 2: supposed to fail forward, as John C. Maxwell said, failing forward,

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Speaker 2: you learn from those mistakes to not repeat them, but

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Speaker 2: find the lesson in them. And there's so many of them.

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Speaker 2: And we, for example, and you know, we had opened

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Speaker 2: Gringos Seafood Kitchen. That was what was it, my two

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Speaker 2: point eight million dollars seafood platter next to Gringos Max

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Speaker 2: Kitchen and Stafford and we closed it a year and

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Speaker 2: three months later. And one of the things I didn't

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Speaker 2: like about that particular location, besides they didn't have the cells,

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Speaker 2: was that we were next to the feeder road and

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Speaker 2: the road noise just drove me crazy. I mean when

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Speaker 2: you were sitting out there, it was just very, very loud.

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Speaker 2: So when we opened up Jimmy Changos Katie in twenty thirteen,

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Speaker 2: we purchased some real estate not on the freeway feeder road,

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Speaker 2: but just set back just a little bit. Well, we

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Speaker 2: may have set ourselves back just a little too much,

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Speaker 2: and so in the future we will never make that

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Speaker 2: mistake again because it can be very costly, and we

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Speaker 2: will always only do freeway locations for the most part

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Speaker 2: in this where within a master plan development that has

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Speaker 2: enough traffic to support at Gringoes. But there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of benefit to being on a freeway. I know that

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Speaker 2: not hurri King, but Waterburger sells on freeway locations versus

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Speaker 2: off the Beaten Path are just drastically different. So you know,

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Speaker 2: if you're going to make the investment, you definitely want

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Speaker 2: to make sure you maximize its potential.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I learned that one the hard way. I used

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Speaker 1: to say that the RCC was one thousand feet from

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Speaker 1: being the hottest place in town. Good fund exactly, if

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Speaker 1: if only. Yeah, So when you look at today how

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Speaker 1: you lead, you lead a big operation, you have a

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Speaker 1: lot of employees. When you look at how you lead today,

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Speaker 1: how is that different from when you started.

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Speaker 2: Well, I definitely am not as involved in the day

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Speaker 2: to day operations as I used to be. It's more

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Speaker 2: of the larger picture of you know, future site developments.

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Speaker 2: I enjoy always being involved in some way. But you know,

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Speaker 2: we men, you rolled out items. I like to get

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Speaker 2: involved in that new drinks, just giving feedback and you know,

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Speaker 2: we have fun. We'll meet in the in the back

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Speaker 2: kitchen area of our corporate office and we'll put a

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Speaker 2: couple of dishes out there or drinks, and we just

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Speaker 2: go to town and we try to you know, go

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Speaker 2: with the majority feedback as far as you know what's hot,

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Speaker 2: what's not, and you know, just be candid. I think

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Speaker 2: all too often a lot of people are afraid to

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Speaker 2: be candid. And there's nothing wrong with it. I mean,

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Speaker 2: your opinion matters, and we want everyone to know that.

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Speaker 2: So even our corporate office staff that they have a

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Speaker 2: lot of input in what we do, just because they're

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Speaker 2: there trying it and letting us know what they think.

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Speaker 1: Is that. I always wondered about this because I get

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Speaker 1: to see my people face to face. Jim works from home,

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Speaker 1: but we communicate thirty times a day. Is it hard

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Speaker 1: having started with just you and a cook? Is it

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Speaker 1: hard having grown to the point that you have employees

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Speaker 1: that you don't get to see or see very often.

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Speaker 1: And your name, you know, Gringo's text mex is Russell

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Speaker 1: Lebarrow and everybody knows it. And somebody could walk in

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Speaker 1: and you know, we're going to have a bad experience, right,

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Speaker 1: Everyone's going to have a bad experience on occasion. Is

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Speaker 1: that hard for you having to to let go of

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Speaker 1: that level of being able to see every person that

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Speaker 1: comes in the door.

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Speaker 2: It's Uh. I really did enjoy when we had three locations,

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Speaker 2: four locations, five, you know, where I could visit every store,

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Speaker 2: uh every almost not every day, but almost every day,

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Speaker 2: and and uh interact with the staff, and that's most

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Speaker 2: of what I enjoy them, you know doing. But as

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Speaker 2: we've grown, it's it's changed a lot. I enjoy giving

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Speaker 2: preciates whatever I visit, when the restaurants right before opening,

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Speaker 2: and and talking to our servers, uh, you know, the

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Speaker 2: the frontline, UH team that they can impact a visit,

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Speaker 2: you know, in a positive or negative way. Just they

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Speaker 2: have that kind of power, you know, And so Uh,

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Speaker 2: you always have to make the story about them and

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Speaker 2: how it impacts them, because it's not it's not you

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Speaker 2: can't tell them, hey, we need you know, seals, or

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Speaker 2: we need to make that sumner of dollars or whatever. Uh,

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Speaker 2: it's it's how does it impact them? And and I

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Speaker 2: always like to tell our servers that, you know, uh.

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Speaker 1: Hold right there, we're gonna we're gonna come back to

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Speaker 1: I always like to tell our servers so that you

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Speaker 1: and I don't forget that since we all seem to

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Speaker 1: forget thing.

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Speaker 2: Hold.

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Speaker 1: Russell Lebara is our guest ringostexmex dot com is his website.

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Speaker 1: That's where you can buy the book, talk about the

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Speaker 1: book in a moment. That's where you can learn about

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Speaker 1: his restaurants, his story, the family story, the business story,

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Speaker 1: the the story of the people who work there. He

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Speaker 1: also owns Jimmy Chonga's You said, I always tell employees.

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Speaker 2: That, Yes, I always like to tell our servers, Uh

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Speaker 2: at during appreciate that, you know, working at Gringos. If

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Speaker 2: they don't make the company part of their long term career,

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Speaker 2: I want the experience to be one of the best

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Speaker 2: that they've ever had. And I want them them to

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Speaker 2: continue developing and mastering a skill set. And it's really

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Speaker 2: a skill set of communication with the public because it's

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Speaker 2: something that's being lost because of technology. Everyone has their

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Speaker 2: face and their phone, and so that they can they

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Speaker 2: can really take these these skills that they're learning and

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Speaker 2: apply them in their future careers. And they're all going

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Speaker 2: to have one. I tell them, Look, thirty years from now,

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Speaker 2: forty years from now, you're going to be somewhere in

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Speaker 2: the third that's either on the ground or six feet under,

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Speaker 2: but you're going to be somewhere. And so why not

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Speaker 2: start creating tomorrow today? And you can do that just

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Speaker 2: by working somewhere like a restaurant. I mean, it's a

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Speaker 2: beautiful thing, it really is. And we have a lot

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Speaker 2: of servers that earn let's say, one hundred dollar tip

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Speaker 2: and I always tell them, listen, you earned it, yes,

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Speaker 2: but it wasn't just the service. The service was important.

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Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, just like that,

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Speaker 2: receiving that one hundred dollars tip made you feel good.

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Speaker 2: You did something so well interacting with this guess that

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Speaker 2: you made them feel so good that they were willing

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Speaker 2: to part ways with that one hundred dollars bill, and

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Speaker 2: you'd be surprised how many servers receive one hundred dollar tip.

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Speaker 2: And it's incredible. And that's part of the culture that

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Speaker 2: that is infectious obviously, and and for good reason. But

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Speaker 2: I just it's just a wonderful thing to create a

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Speaker 2: working environment where excellence is our motto and always trying

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Speaker 2: to improve at every level every single day. And and

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Speaker 2: as long as we continue doing that, it's like a

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Speaker 2: person in a relay race. There's no way you can

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Speaker 2: lose that race if you've been given that lead unless

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Speaker 2: you back down and and and and uh don't continue

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Speaker 2: moving the same way. But uh, we we just have

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Speaker 2: a wonderful team and I couldn't speak, you know, about

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Speaker 2: them more highly than they are.

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Speaker 1: But and they feel the same about you. And I

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Speaker 1: love that Russell Lebar is our guest. I do want

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Speaker 1: to say thanks to Oracle. They have a product called

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Speaker 1: net Suite, and they wanted business owners to know about it,

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Speaker 1: and they knew we were doing business interviews over the

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Speaker 1: years and one of the guy who's responsible for NetSuite

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Speaker 1: with Oracle is a fan of our show and loves

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Speaker 1: what we do and said we'd like to sponsor your

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Speaker 1: business interviews. Why not. You can get the cfo's Guide

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Speaker 1: to AI and Machine Learning at NetSuite dot com slash

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Speaker 1: berry my last name, NetSuite dot com, slash berry. And

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Speaker 1: the idea is, if you've got data all over the place,

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Speaker 1: and like Russell Lebarrow, needs to make a decision quickly,

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Speaker 1: you need your data quickly. You need AI, you need

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Speaker 1: machine learning. You need that technology because you have manual

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Speaker 1: entry of everything and manual retrieval and manual processing, and

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Speaker 1: you can't get your information fast enough. To get the

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Speaker 1: cfo's Guide to AI and Machine Learning, go to NetSuite

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Speaker 1: dot com forward slash berry my last name, Russell. When

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Speaker 1: you talked about servers, you have employed poyees from you know,

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Speaker 1: bartenders to what used to be called waiters servers. Many

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Speaker 1: of those become managers. And on a when you hire

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Speaker 1: somebody or the kitchen, do you have or when you

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Speaker 1: did hire at that level, now that's for your managers.

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Speaker 1: Do you have kind of a process that's important that

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Speaker 1: you'd say, here's the fundamentals of hiring good people.

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Speaker 2: You know, some people interview very very well, as you

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Speaker 2: can imagine, but you know, sooner or later, whatever their

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Speaker 2: personality traits are they come out. But at the end

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Speaker 2: of the day, I don't think there's such thing as

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Speaker 2: a bad employee. I really think that's just bad leadership.

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Speaker 2: And I think that we've just done a good job

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Speaker 2: at weeding out individuals that just don't really fit us.

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Speaker 2: And that's a good thing. I mean, we've had people

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Speaker 2: come and go, but a lot of times they just can't.

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Speaker 2: They don't buy, they don't drink the kool aid, so

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Speaker 2: to speak. But yeah, we we just I think my

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Speaker 2: management team overall does a great job because there is

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Speaker 2: a certain you know, image you want to portray, you

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Speaker 2: want your staff to portray. And you know, we've we've

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Speaker 2: changed the way we've you know, our standards have changed,

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Speaker 2: only not because we wanted them to, because society has

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Speaker 2: just evolved. There was a time where you couldn't even

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Speaker 2: have tattoos, you know, but or even other things that

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Speaker 2: you know, we've had to change or adapt to because

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Speaker 2: times are changing, whether it's you know, something like tattoos

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Speaker 2: or just just quality of life schedules. I mean, we're

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Speaker 2: doing things that are unheard of twenty thirty years ago.

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Speaker 2: So you know, we we listen and we try to

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Speaker 2: pay attention to what's going on within the industry to

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Speaker 2: remain competitive, because we all, at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: compete by comparison, and we want to make sure that

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Speaker 2: you know we're doing what is expected out in the marketplace.

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Speaker 1: I was at your Katie location my good friend Stephen Woodard,

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Speaker 1: DPS trooper. A lot of folks know Woodard, and it

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Speaker 1: was a Saturday, and went out to see North Shore

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Speaker 1: play in the state semifinal, which they shockingly did not win.

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Speaker 1: They were expected to win state this year. It's a

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Speaker 1: strong team. But afterwards, the stadium was not far from Gringos,

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Speaker 1: and I said, let's go to Ring Gringos, and of

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Speaker 1: course he loves Gringos. And we were there and there

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Speaker 1: was an employee, very pretty light skinned black woman, I

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Speaker 1: forget her name. She could be a model, and she

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Speaker 1: had something on her hand that looked almost like a

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Speaker 1: cast and her arm I can't remember. And I said,

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Speaker 1: as I'm sitting there, what happened and she said, oh, nothing,

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Speaker 1: I have a tattoo. We're not you know, you're not.

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Speaker 1: We're not allowed to show our tattoos at work. And

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Speaker 1: she doesn't know that I know you. But I took

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to say, well, I think the owner probably

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Speaker 1: has a concern that employees make a positive reflection and

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Speaker 1: some people are bothered by tattoos. But I thought that

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Speaker 1: was a pretty bold thing because that's saying, yes, you

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Speaker 1: can still work here, but there are things that may

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Speaker 1: upset some customers, and it's important that you project the

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Speaker 1: right image. I don't know how you came to that conclusion.

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Speaker 1: I just thought it was pretty bold.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, like I said, our address code has changed

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Speaker 2: quite a bit, but it's still still positive.

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Speaker 1: So we talk about making tough decisions, and everybody wants

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Speaker 1: to be the person who makes good decisions, tough decisions,

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Speaker 1: but it's not easy to make tough decisions, and so

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Speaker 1: the rubber hits the road when a tough decision might

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Speaker 1: cost you money. So coming up, I'm going to ask

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Speaker 1: you about what was probably a tough decision for you,

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Speaker 1: and maybe you made it easily, but it would be

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Speaker 1: for a lot of people because it's a decision that

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Speaker 1: costs you money, but it's probably turned out to be

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Speaker 1: the right thing for your business. Russell Lebarro our guest.

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Speaker 2: A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, A

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Speaker 2: depression is.

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Speaker 1: When you lose your It's Michael Verry.

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Speaker 2: And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.

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Speaker 1: Russell Lebarra is the founder and owner. I don't know

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Speaker 1: what is Tyler's chairman of the board. I think Jonathan

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Speaker 1: Kim is the president maybe CEO of Ringo's text mex

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Speaker 1: but his business card does not say CEO or chairman

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Speaker 1: of the board or anything else. It says Master Enchiladaoler,

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Speaker 1: which is designed to reflect his position that I am

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Speaker 1: the guy that can go in the kitchen and wood

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Speaker 1: or clean the floors, or wipe down the restrooms or

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Speaker 1: whatever else. And I love that approach about him, the

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Speaker 1: servant leader. I wanted to ask you about a tough decision.

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Speaker 1: And we all talk about tough decisions. You know, you

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Speaker 1: have to make the tough decision. Everybody says that, but

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Speaker 1: it's not until you say, Hey, sometimes you got to

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Speaker 1: kick your kid out because they there's a failure to

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Speaker 1: launch and they're not they're not leaving. Sometimes you have

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Speaker 1: to say something that makes someone angry. So I told

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Speaker 1: you I was at Katie location with Stephen Woodard, my

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Speaker 1: DPS buddy, a couple of weeks ago, after a football

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Speaker 1: game and we're sitting there and he was driving me,

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Speaker 1: so I wasn't driving, so I could drink more than

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Speaker 1: I would have if I was driving. In fact, my

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Speaker 1: rule with my wife is her rule is you can

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Speaker 1: go anywhere you want, you can drink as much as

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Speaker 1: you want, but if you're drinking, you can't drive. And

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Speaker 1: so Uber is my friend, or if I'm going with

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Speaker 1: Uncle Jerry or someone else, I ride with them. And

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Speaker 1: so I had I can't remember I want to say.

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Speaker 1: I want to say it was that that orange crush margerite.

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Speaker 1: Y'all had a specialty marguerite at the time. I don't

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Speaker 1: remember what it was, but I had to specially margarita.

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Speaker 1: And then I had another one. No, I didn't, I had.

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Speaker 1: I had beer that day. I had two beers, and

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Speaker 1: so I had two beers and I'm ready to have

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Speaker 1: my third one and We've been there for a while

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Speaker 1: and I'm not driving, and I'm completely loucid, and I

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Speaker 1: ordered another one and she said, I'm sorry, sir, I

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Speaker 1: can't give you a third drink. And I looked at her, like,

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Speaker 1: you're joking, right am? I slurry? And I said, oh man,

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Speaker 1: I've been here long enough to process this. And by

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Speaker 1: the way, I'm not driving, And she said, I'm sorry,

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Speaker 1: I can't, And I thought, you know, I can respect

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Speaker 1: that because business liquors where people make their money, especially

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Speaker 1: in tex mex To have a policy, and I'm sure

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Speaker 1: you must have problems with people being drunk to say,

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Speaker 1: we're a family restaurant and we're going to choose to

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Speaker 1: lose the marginal money that you would spend because at

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Speaker 1: the point at which you get drunk and some people

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Speaker 1: would cause a problem. That's a decision of business owners

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Speaker 1: should be willing to make. Customers can choose whether they

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Speaker 1: like it or not, and they can choose not to

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Speaker 1: come back. How tough of a decision was that for you?

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Speaker 2: Well, it all has to do with liability. So our

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Speaker 2: drink policy is no more than four and one of

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Speaker 2: the drinks you had must have had contained two shots

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Speaker 2: in it. But it's easier to manage when the policy

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Speaker 2: is consistent across you know, twenty something locations.

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Speaker 1: Russell, I need you to answer the questions, but not

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Speaker 1: out me on what was in my glass. I like

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Speaker 1: to tell my story the way I want to tell

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Speaker 1: my story.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's for drink minimum She did it right, and

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Speaker 2: as much as I love you, we couldn't bend the

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Speaker 2: rules for you because then I'm sending the wrong message

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Speaker 2: to the entire staff.

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Speaker 1: She didn't know who I was, but it didn't matter that.

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Speaker 1: The point was she enforced the rule and I respected

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Speaker 1: that there was a rule. Now, listen, there will be

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Speaker 1: people who like to go in and get hammered, and

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Speaker 1: they would say, I'm mad at you. You didn't sert. Well,

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Speaker 1: guess what you don't have to eat there. There's a

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Speaker 1: text max on every quarter you can go. I respect

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Speaker 1: businesses that are upfront, have their rules, articulate their rules,

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Speaker 1: and stick to their rules because it's part of a

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Speaker 1: bigger business concept. Hey, some people aren't good for our restaurant.

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Speaker 1: We also don't want pedophiles, rapists, ornked people in here,

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Speaker 1: no matter how much they're going to spend. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I respect that, I really do. I think that's a

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Speaker 1: hard thing to do. That's the quote unquote tough decision,

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Speaker 1: and you may lose money in the short run to

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Speaker 1: make more money to be a place that people want

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Speaker 1: to go because you do the right things. I'll give

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Speaker 1: you a good example. Our mutual friend Beaver applan. I

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Speaker 1: asked Beaver one time. I said, y'all don't allow eighteen

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Speaker 1: wheelers at BUCkies and I would have to think that

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Speaker 1: they buy more gas than anybody. Why don't you let

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Speaker 1: them in? And he said, families don't want to be

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Speaker 1: at a truck stop, and truck stops tend to attract

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Speaker 1: certain things around the truckers, not the truckers themselves. That

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Speaker 1: families don't want to be around. And so in order

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Speaker 1: to be what we are, we have to give up

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Speaker 1: that revenue stream in order to get this one over here.

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Speaker 1: And I thought, wow, that's the again, tough decision, but

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Speaker 1: the right decision.

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Speaker 2: Right. That's the third model at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: that's a model.

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Speaker 1: So you read a lot of books because you are

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Speaker 1: always reading something and always quoting something from what you're reading.

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Speaker 1: How do you choose what books you're going to read

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Speaker 1: and what is your time of day you read? Because

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Speaker 1: a lot of people say to me that they would

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Speaker 1: like to read more, and they'll say when do you read?

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Speaker 1: And I tell them I read on the pot I

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Speaker 1: read before I go to bed. There are certain times

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Speaker 1: that I read that if I didn't read a book,

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Speaker 1: i'd be reading my phone and doom scrolling Twitter or

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Speaker 1: whatever else, and I get more out of reading. But

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Speaker 1: have you made a time or when is your time

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Speaker 1: to read? Because I know you're a big reader.

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Speaker 2: Well, thank god for audio books. But I from my

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Speaker 2: house to my office is about a thirty minute drive,

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Speaker 2: so you can knock out quite a bit of a

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Speaker 2: book just listening on the way to work. So I

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Speaker 2: do that a lot. But I mostly listen to autobiographies

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Speaker 2: of people I admire, and that's where I get a

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Speaker 2: lot of my wisdom, if you will. But there's some

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Speaker 2: really great material out there.

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Speaker 1: There is a lot of great material, and I find,

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Speaker 1: you know, the term self help has a bad meaning,

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Speaker 1: and there are guys who are you know, it's a

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Speaker 1: whole industry like wellness, and I think some of it

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Speaker 1: is complete pablem But I find there are certain people

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Speaker 1: that are very good at explaining things in a way

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Speaker 1: that I can read it and apply it and make

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Speaker 1: minor improvements to my life. Exercise is very important to you.

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Speaker 1: Fitness is important to you. Good health is important to you.

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Speaker 1: Was that always the case or was there a moment

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Speaker 1: where you made a conscious decision.

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Speaker 2: It's mostly been the case throughout my life. But there

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Speaker 2: was a time in my thirties where I would say

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Speaker 2: that my core was not where it should have been,

431
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 2: and I had back problems. And ever since then, I've

432
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:28,120
Speaker 2: done sit ups consistently and I've never had a back

433
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,520
Speaker 2: problem since. So I like to keep the core up.

434
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:35,840
Speaker 2: For sure, I wouldn't do it. I don't run like

435
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:36,359
Speaker 2: I used to.

436
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 1: But no, I'm convinced that running is bad for you.

437
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: None of that's had so many back problems from running.

438
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 1: I think running is absolutely horrible for You're just absolutely horrible.

439
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,680
Speaker 1: Tell me a restaurant that you've eaten at recently. I've

440
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,159
Speaker 1: got about thirty seconds in this segment. Tell me a

441
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,880
Speaker 1: restaurant you've eaten at recently that impressed you.

442
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 2: Milton's in the Village, Rice Village, owned by Benji Levitt.

443
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:10,320
Speaker 2: He converted a restaurant the second floor he had opened

444
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:12,720
Speaker 2: up a different concept and then closed it shortly after,

445
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,840
Speaker 2: but re just reopened it as Milton's Italian Restaurant. And

446
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,560
Speaker 2: I probably had the best lasagna that I've ever had anywhere.

447
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,880
Speaker 2: But then I went there last night with some friends

448
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 2: and they didn't have the exact same lasagna they had.

449
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,440
Speaker 2: They had a vegetarian style lasagna last night. I didn't

450
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,680
Speaker 2: order it for that reason, so I'm gonna go back

451
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,200
Speaker 2: and get the Bolonnais version of it if he will.

452
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,639
Speaker 2: Was because it was excellent, outstanding.

453
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 1: Benji is unafraid of the radar restaurant who open or

454
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 1: close a restaurant Milton named for his grandfather, Milton Levitt.

455
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,159
Speaker 1: We're talking to Russell Ibarra Ringos Texmex dot com and

456
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:55,280
Speaker 1: we'll continue.

457
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 2: Add a little bit about these wore houses I know

458
00:24:58,119 --> 00:24:58,600
Speaker 2: all about.

459
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 1: Ramon wants to know what around the world as well.

460
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,920
Speaker 2: Whistling bunghole spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey riders, hooskerdoes hohosker,

461
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 2: don'ts nips and dazers with it without the scooter stick

462
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:11,439
Speaker 2: or one single whistling kiddy chaser.

463
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:18,439
Speaker 1: Michael Show. Russell Levarro, my friend, mentor and the owner

464
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:23,480
Speaker 1: of Gringo's Text Mex is our guest. You mentioned that

465
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 1: you had a great meal at Milton's, which Benji Levitt

466
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:31,959
Speaker 1: has in Rice Village. You sent me an email of

467
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,040
Speaker 1: a conversation between you and Michael Sambrooks, who has a

468
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 1: Text Mex joint called Candente and he is following your lead,

469
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,880
Speaker 1: which makes you a mentor of his also, and at

470
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 1: I guess that location he has created similar to your

471
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 1: Plateau Soldado, which gives two dollars per plate to Camp

472
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 1: Hope and ends up being hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's

473
00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 1: a lot, a lot of money every year just off

474
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,399
Speaker 1: people ordering that dish, and he doing a bendera plate

475
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:10,359
Speaker 1: with very similar When people ask, you're always talking to

476
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,880
Speaker 1: another restaurant owner, and often it's someone I think you're

477
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:17,560
Speaker 1: hoping to learn from. You were talking to me about

478
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,520
Speaker 1: the the Riz Carlton CEO or the four Seasons. I

479
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,399
Speaker 1: can't remember but four seasons. And yet some of the

480
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 1: time it's a one, one shop small business owner that's

481
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 1: meeting with you. What do people ask you when they

482
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,080
Speaker 1: meet you and they want to learn from you? What

483
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 1: kind of questions do you typically get?

484
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:42,400
Speaker 2: Well, I mean a lot of them want to know

485
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 2: if their cost of goods are lining up with the

486
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 2: industry standards, and of course everyone's standards are going to

487
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:53,120
Speaker 2: be different depending on their overhead. But I met recently

488
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:58,400
Speaker 2: with a a It was a Puerto Rican Honduras type

489
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 2: restaurant up on the north west side of the town.

490
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 2: The owners reached out to me via Instagram and wanted

491
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 2: to set up a meeting, so we did at my

492
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 2: office and they were just curious about a lot of things.

493
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 2: You know, they're not where they want to be. Their

494
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 2: cost the goods are way too high, their labor is

495
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 2: way too high, and their prices are just way too low.

496
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:22,760
Speaker 2: So that's probably the reason. But I've had several young

497
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,320
Speaker 2: entrepreneurs reach out to me. One of them was on

498
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:31,399
Speaker 2: Berto Martinez that owns Space City Bidia downtown Houston, and

499
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,679
Speaker 2: his story is unique and it's a prime example of

500
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 2: what it takes to become successful. So this young man

501
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 2: about thirty four years old, he bought a burger franchise.

502
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,199
Speaker 2: Those an Israeli burger franchise called im the letters I

503
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 2: Am Burger, and they started popping up all around the

504
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 2: United States. I think they had eight hundred franchises sold

505
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:57,239
Speaker 2: or something. But he opens four months before COVID, so

506
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 2: he's basically dead in the water before he even got started.

507
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:04,200
Speaker 2: And uh so when when final that he was able

508
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:07,679
Speaker 2: to open up, of course never did the cells he

509
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 2: needs to do. He ended up, uh deciding to close

510
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,359
Speaker 2: the restaurant and was basically handing the keys to the

511
00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:19,080
Speaker 2: landlord and saying, look, I can't make it. And but

512
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,240
Speaker 2: he had noticed that there was this new trend of

513
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 2: tacos going around called Biddia Tacos and it's basically my kids, Yeah, okay,

514
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 2: well well yeah, so uh you know, it's like a

515
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,920
Speaker 2: cassidia but you know, you get some consummee to dip

516
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,800
Speaker 2: your taco in. And he so he opened up this

517
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,400
Speaker 2: place called Space City VideA and it's a small restaurant

518
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 2: in downtown but he, uh, he is doing incredible, incredible

519
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 2: numbers and he's already looking for his second location in Parland.

520
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,240
Speaker 2: And so we've been kind of Jonathan and I both

521
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:02,959
Speaker 2: have kind of been guiding along to help him negotiate

522
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 2: the lease or look at the terms and uh and

523
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,640
Speaker 2: have a plan going forward. But we love doing stuff

524
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 2: like that for people, and you know, and and never

525
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 2: really expecting anything back except maybe a free free taco

526
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,880
Speaker 2: or something, but you know. And then I had another

527
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 2: gentleman from up in the Kingwood area that owns local

528
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:28,480
Speaker 2: cantina and he has a restaurant there on the lake

529
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 2: and he is doing really really well, and he reached

530
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,160
Speaker 2: out and we've met several times. I've taken him to

531
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 2: the Rockets game now and and but I love surrounding

532
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 2: myself with young entrepreneurs because sometimes I wish I could

533
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 2: go back and start all over again, because it's been

534
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 2: fun and and it's it's it's even it's it's a

535
00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 2: lot more fun in the early days because it's new.

536
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 2: It's it's like a child when you're you know, he's

537
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,880
Speaker 2: growing up. Everything around them is new, and so in business,

538
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,280
Speaker 2: you know that there's something really sweet about that, and

539
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,080
Speaker 2: I missed that. So I guess that's one of the

540
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 2: reasons why I have an open line all the time

541
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 2: to entrepreneurs that want to get started and help them

542
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 2: as much as I can.

543
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:21,719
Speaker 1: There's also something invigorating about the passion of a new owner.

544
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 2: You know that.

545
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 1: I've known people that had a day job, but they

546
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,479
Speaker 1: cooked on the weekend or at night, and they were

547
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,320
Speaker 1: good at it, and they save up and then they

548
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 1: quit their job, which man, is such a hard thing

549
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 1: to do. You know, you've got the steady income and

550
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: they you know, they're people. What people don't realize is

551
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:42,120
Speaker 1: when you show up first day to eat, you don't

552
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 1: realize that that was just a shell. You know, they

553
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:45,800
Speaker 1: had to build all this stuff out and then to

554
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: make all those decisions. Now finally we're ready, we're opening up.

555
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,480
Speaker 1: You know how exciting You've told the story before on

556
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 1: you know, opening the blinds on your first day and

557
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:57,280
Speaker 1: waiting on the first car to come in and you

558
00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 1: were going to serve them and you had your kitchen

559
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 1: guy in the back. There is something really cool. You

560
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 1: use the word sweet, which I think is is the

561
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 1: right term. There's something cool like, uh, you know when

562
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,000
Speaker 1: I talked to Crockett or Michael's friends and I ask them,

563
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:14,480
Speaker 1: you know, what are you going to do this summer

564
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 1: and what are you studying and what and just hearing

565
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 1: there their kind of nervous but ambitious optimism. It's it's invigorating.

566
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 1: It's it's good for me, it's good for the soul.

567
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,400
Speaker 2: It really is, it really is.

568
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 1: You were supposed to say more than it really is.

569
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 1: You're supposed to add something to that. That's that's how

570
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:37,520
Speaker 1: the interview format works.

571
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:39,600
Speaker 2: I'm practicing, so.

572
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. How do you decide

573
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,440
Speaker 1: where to put a new location because and the reason

574
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:54,080
Speaker 1: I ask is you've been very successful at location selection

575
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 1: and it's not just a you know, put your finger

576
00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:59,880
Speaker 1: to the to the wind. There's a text mex joint

577
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 1: on every corner already. There are competing concepts, there's a

578
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 1: lot of other restaurants, there are many choices. Have you

579
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,840
Speaker 1: learned over the years kind of this is what works

580
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:13,280
Speaker 1: for us.

581
00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:20,160
Speaker 2: Well, like I've mentioned previously, freeway locations will always be

582
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 2: for us now. But as far as expanding the Gringos chain,

583
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 2: we we have Houston pretty much covered. I mean we

584
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:33,360
Speaker 2: could there are some spots we could probably put other locations,

585
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,320
Speaker 2: but we're starting to venture outside the market. We're going

586
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 2: to be opening in Sybelo, Texas or right outside of

587
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 2: San Antonio shirts and then in Kyle, Texas as well,

588
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 2: both on nine thirty five, and then we're looking at

589
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,080
Speaker 2: a couple other places, one outside of Austin. But we'll

590
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 2: always remain in the suburbs. That's kind of our lane of.

591
00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:56,680
Speaker 1: This and explain why, and.

592
00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 2: Well, well, lots of reasons, but one is a lot

593
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 2: more families in in in the suburbs. There's the real

594
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:10,080
Speaker 2: estate is a lot less expensive in the suburbs, and

595
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:14,120
Speaker 2: and mostly because it's an underserved market. With the level

596
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 2: that we bring to to the market to the to

597
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:23,160
Speaker 2: the marketplace, because I would much rather, you know, be

598
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 2: a big fish in a small pond than vice versa.

599
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:30,760
Speaker 1: So uh wait, right there, wait wait wait wait right

600
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 1: there Russell Lebara, as our guests, will continue our conversation

601
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 1: with him coming up