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Speaker 1: It's that time time, time, time, Luck and Load.

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Speaker 2: From Michael Verie Show is on the air.

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Speaker 3: Up the bar with our guest and we're talking business secrets,

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Speaker 3: the secrets of the secret sauce, as I like to

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Speaker 3: call it, of what makes your business run. An Oracle,

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Speaker 3: the fellow at Oracle who is behind NetSuite, which is

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Speaker 3: their AI machine learning package for business owners, is a

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Speaker 3: fan of the show and loves what we do and

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Speaker 3: wanted to sponsor when we have business interviews, and we

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Speaker 3: said absolutely, And you can get the Chief Financial Officer

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Speaker 3: the cfo's guide to AI and machine learning at NetSuite

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Speaker 3: dot com forward slash my last name netsweet dot com,

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Speaker 3: Berry NetSuite dot com slash Barry Russell. You talk about Sybelo,

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Speaker 3: Texas and opening a location in San Antone and are

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Speaker 3: outside of San anton and that's not your core.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I can see the.

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Speaker 3: Immediate challenge being most people there don't know what Gringos is.

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Speaker 3: Yet You've got such market equity in the greater Houston

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Speaker 3: area and that's a lot of capital to start in

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Speaker 3: a location like that. I know you're a guy that

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Speaker 3: studies and learns and asks a lot of questions. How

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Speaker 3: do you ramp up your name id to get people

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Speaker 3: in the door.

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Speaker 4: Well, I believe for starters are our building will have

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Speaker 4: a lot of carbon bills, so we're going to deliver

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Speaker 4: there for sure.

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Speaker 5: And you know, we went to our furthest location now.

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Speaker 4: Is College Station only you could almost say that's kind

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Speaker 4: of Houston in a way because how connected the two

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Speaker 4: cities are. But College Station was our number two volume

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Speaker 4: store in twenty twenty four, and so that tells us

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Speaker 4: a couple of things that the brand has definitely a

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Speaker 4: market recognition already, and being that far away from from

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Speaker 4: the Houston market, but the suburbs again, I think we can,

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Speaker 4: we can, we can thrive there, and we'll know soon

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Speaker 4: enough because we'll be opening in Civilo hopefully by the

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Speaker 4: end of next year, in twenty twenty six. And as

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Speaker 4: a matter of fact, we had a meeting today on

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Speaker 4: the site, the site layout. That's gonna be a beautiful

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Speaker 4: location and and our Tombaugh.

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Speaker 5: Opens up later this year. But you know, we we

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Speaker 5: have to test at some point.

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Speaker 4: You know, as you well know Lupid Dirtias and Chewies

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Speaker 4: and all these brands, text Mactus is just popular and

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Speaker 4: that's that's the good thing about it, and we'll just

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Speaker 4: you know, go in and do what we do better

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Speaker 4: and and focus there and if we as long as

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Speaker 4: we deliver where we're supposed to do, we should do okay.

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Speaker 4: And we're not concerned about that, concerned about the stuff,

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Speaker 4: no gread no, just that we're just concerned about what

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Speaker 4: we can what We only focus on what we can control, and.

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Speaker 5: That's the people on our seats. And that's it.

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Speaker 4: We Every guest is important, every every meal. That's our

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Speaker 4: first core value, developing guest relationships, one mill at that time.

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Speaker 4: Every single meal we serve is important.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a tough business.

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Speaker 3: I think people don't realize, you know, you always say

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Speaker 3: you're only as good as the last meal you've served.

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Speaker 3: It's funny how people there's a there's a meme that

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Speaker 3: goes around and I'll see about once a year and

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Speaker 3: it'll be this idea that you can have ninety nine

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Speaker 3: great meals at a locally owned restaurant around the corner

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Speaker 3: and on the hundred that's bad, and you go online

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Speaker 3: and you criticize the place having never complemented them online,

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Speaker 3: whereas you go to walmartin have a bad experience or

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Speaker 3: some national chain and have a bad experience and you

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Speaker 3: don't think to complain. And it was about supporting local

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Speaker 3: businesses for this very reason. In your business, that's the

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Speaker 3: tough part is you've got a lot of moving parts,

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Speaker 3: you got inventory that can spoil. You know, it has

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Speaker 3: to be delivered on time. You know all these things,

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Speaker 3: and it's easy to mess up. It's easier to mess

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Speaker 3: up than not. I have to ask you, Russell Lebara

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Speaker 3: Gringoes texmax dot com.

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Speaker 2: I have to ask you.

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Speaker 3: It feels like I moved to Houston in nineteen eighty nine.

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Speaker 3: So my first eighteen years in Orange, we only had

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Speaker 3: two little Mexican joints, the Casa Ola and then we

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Speaker 3: had a local joint called Guadalajara, and it wasn't anything fancy,

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Speaker 3: but we loved it.

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Speaker 2: It was good food. It was a Mexican family that

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Speaker 2: owned it.

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Speaker 3: And I moved to Houston and I was shocked at

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Speaker 3: how tex mex seemed to be everywhere, but it wasn't

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Speaker 3: nearly as prominent as it is now. It feels like,

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's the number one concept in America by far.

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Speaker 3: Why do you think textmes has exploded at least in

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Speaker 3: the Greater Houston area over the last thirty years or

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Speaker 3: has it always been this big.

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Speaker 4: It's always been big relative to the population. But I

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Speaker 4: will say that there's a lot of value in text

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Speaker 4: added value in tex Mex. When you sit down, you're

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Speaker 4: automatically delivered a basket of chips and salsa, which a

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Speaker 4: lot of restaurants, casual dining restaurants, burger joints, what happen

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Speaker 4: you don't get that. And in our case, we also

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Speaker 4: provide the green sauce and the free ice cream as

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Speaker 4: you leave the restaurant. So those are those just bring

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Speaker 4: a lot of value to the experience, and it's unlimited.

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Speaker 4: I mean, you know, a lot of restaurants, like a Chilis,

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Speaker 4: they charge for this kind of stuff, and I think

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Speaker 4: that's one of the benefits of the restaurant tex Mex

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Speaker 4: restaurant industry as a whole. But you know, at the

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Speaker 4: end of the day, though, I mean, obviously you have

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Speaker 4: to pass on those calls through your pricing, but you know,

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Speaker 4: we we just know where we need to be on

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Speaker 4: our food costs. We know where our label needs to be,

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Speaker 4: and we also know where our volume needs to be.

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Speaker 4: And if we can hit hit on all cylinders, then

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Speaker 4: we can make money. But again, our focus is in

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Speaker 4: the individual experience.

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Speaker 5: We don't.

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Speaker 4: We don't, you know, put the cart before the horse,

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Speaker 4: because you know, you can go sounds real fast in

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Speaker 4: this business.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that's why so many fail. I

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Speaker 3: mean almost almost every restaurant does fail. And it's you know,

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Speaker 3: as a consumer. You know, I've spent a lot of

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Speaker 3: time studying restaurants by talking to people like you and

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Speaker 3: asking questions and going into your kitchen and.

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Speaker 2: Comparing notes and all this.

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Speaker 3: And everybody, every consumer wants to be a reviewer, so

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Speaker 3: so they can be very critical of restaurants.

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Speaker 2: And that's fine.

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Speaker 3: It holds you to a high standard that makes you

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Speaker 3: want to try harder and all that, but the understanding

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Speaker 3: of how hard it is to liver. I mean, if

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Speaker 3: I cook a meal for the family, I'm going to

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Speaker 3: screw most everything up because when I do do it,

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Speaker 3: everyone's all excited until they eat, and I mess something

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Speaker 3: up every time, and it's frustrating. Imagine trying to do

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Speaker 3: that over and over and over again.

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Speaker 2: It's tough.

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Speaker 3: So if you hadn't done hospitality, if you had not

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Speaker 3: done restaurants, what do you think you would have done.

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Speaker 4: Oh, without a doubt. I've been in cells of some sort.

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Speaker 4: If I believe in something, I can sell it. As

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Speaker 4: a matter of fact, when I was selling for Elmetador

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Speaker 4: and I was calling on these restaurants, I had one

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Speaker 4: particular restaurant I would visit him and he knew our

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Speaker 4: family was in the restaurant business. But he told me

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Speaker 4: that my face, Russall, I would never buy from you.

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Speaker 4: That was a challenge to me. Seven months later he

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Speaker 4: was buying from me and we became friends.

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Speaker 5: So cells.

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Speaker 4: I love sales, and I almost went into it prior

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Speaker 4: to opening Gringos because I was trying to find my

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Speaker 4: place in this world and it was actually going to

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Speaker 4: be selling a high production corn and plumb tor tea

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Speaker 4: equipment California. Yeah, there was a really good company out to.

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Speaker 5: Launch equipment company. And as a matter of fact, my

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Speaker 5: brothers have a full part of.

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Speaker 4: Tea line from them that's probably over, I don't know,

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Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty feet long, which it's incredible to

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Speaker 4: watch fully automated from the from the dough to the

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Speaker 4: package product.

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Speaker 5: It's fun to one.

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Speaker 1: Your big mister Michael Berry, Russell levarg Is, I guess

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Speaker 1: Ringo's tex smex is his primary restaurant.

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Speaker 3: He also has Jimmy Changa's, and he has a lot more.

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Speaker 3: But we're talking business principles with him. Normally, when I

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Speaker 3: talk to Russell, it's about humanitarian things. It's about all

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Speaker 3: the good he does for Camp Hope, It's about all

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Speaker 3: the good he does for community, all the good he

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Speaker 3: does for his employees. Today we're talking business principles and

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Speaker 3: his life. And I love to do these interviews because

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Speaker 3: I find it interesting. I like to ask questions, and

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Speaker 3: I think some of you do as well. You were

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Speaker 3: saying about importing avocados.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so the avocados Mexico.

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Speaker 5: Avocados from Mexico.

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Speaker 4: Used to only be allowed in the US if you

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Speaker 4: remove the seed. And of course we all know what

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Speaker 4: happens once you cut into an avocado. That shelf life

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Speaker 4: there's just hours, really and so and that was done

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Speaker 4: because of the California Avocado Commission. They were the mafia

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Speaker 4: of of avocados back in the day, and they controlled

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Speaker 4: a lot of what happened of the pricing of avocados.

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Speaker 4: I mean, they were expensive back then. They're expensive today,

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Speaker 4: but not as as expensive as they could be.

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Speaker 5: But what had happened was with NAFTA.

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Speaker 4: When NAFTA passed and what was it, ninety two ninety three,

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Speaker 4: everything was allowed to be imported exported between Mexico, Canada

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Speaker 4: and the US. But there were some exceptions, and one

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Speaker 4: of them was avocados. And the reason was, according to

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Speaker 4: California or whoever was in charge, the Mexican avocado had

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Speaker 4: a weavil in it that would contaminate the crop of

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Speaker 4: the US, so you could only ship them above the

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Speaker 4: freeze line in the US. And of course the major

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Speaker 4: demand for avocados was in Texas and Florida, and so

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Speaker 4: they didn't allowed for a few years only because the

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Speaker 4: California Avocado Commission growers they wanted to go into Mexico

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Speaker 4: and start controlling the farms and uh, and they did.

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Speaker 5: They started buying up a lot of these production facilities

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Speaker 5: and packing.

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Speaker 4: Facilities, and then once they got control of Mexico's avocados,

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Speaker 4: they said, hey, okay, you can you can.

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Speaker 5: Bring them in. We've resolved the weevil.

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Speaker 4: Issue, and they started importing them from Mexico. So, uh,

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Speaker 4: Mexico produces something like seven or eight times what the

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Speaker 4: US does.

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Speaker 5: And and and.

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Speaker 4: It's a it's actually a great avocado because of the

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Speaker 4: soil that they're the most of the farms in mite

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Speaker 4: Conon where they're at, where they're located. But that's one

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Speaker 4: of the reasons why also the cartel got involved in avocados.

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Speaker 4: They are now extorting money from the farmers. They would

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Speaker 4: get the records of how any they don't call them acres,

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Speaker 4: but acres that they own, and they would charge them

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Speaker 4: attacks if you will, on their land. And that's caused

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Speaker 4: big problems as well. But it's because they call it

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Speaker 4: green gold. It's just it's just there's a lot of

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Speaker 4: money in avocados because they for one, you know, California.

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Speaker 5: Doesn't have.

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Speaker 4: The same amount of land that used to have to

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Speaker 4: grow avocados. A lot of it's been given up to development.

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Speaker 4: Plus it's a water issue, believe it or not. It

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Speaker 4: takes eighteen gallons of water to produce one single avocado.

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Speaker 4: And obviously Mexico has it. In the US doesn't, California

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Speaker 4: doesn't have it.

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Speaker 5: But I love avocados. It's my favorite fruit.

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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, I do too.

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Speaker 3: I love them, and you know Eddie Martini is allergic

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Speaker 3: to them. Eddie Martini is allergic avocados and bananas, two

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Speaker 3: of my favorite things in the world. Can you imagine

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Speaker 3: living your life like that? That's a y me god

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Speaker 3: kind of question.

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Speaker 5: Exactly.

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Speaker 3: So why do avocados go bad shortly after you cut

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Speaker 3: into them?

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Speaker 4: That's a good question. I mean they just oxidize. I

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Speaker 4: guess I.

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Speaker 3: Need you to note that answer by the next time

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Speaker 3: I talk to you. Can you ask Steven Gonzales at Houston

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Speaker 3: Avocado I will, because I bet he knows.

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Speaker 2: I bet he does. The actual reason.

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Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, his boss, Mark used to

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Speaker 4: own an avocado farm in Mexico until the cartel took

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Speaker 4: it over and told him, Hey, if you want to

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Speaker 4: come get it.

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Speaker 5: They literally told him that. He so, now you can

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Speaker 5: have it.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 3: Wow, I mean you think about I mean, I wonder

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Speaker 3: what percentage of American consumption of avocados, which has to

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Speaker 3: be massive. I wonder what percentage is text mex restaurants.

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Speaker 3: I bet it's a good, good percentage. I wonder if

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Speaker 3: it's over half. Could be Oh, easily when you walk

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Speaker 3: into a restaurant easily, and you you are always going

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Speaker 3: into restaurants, learning from them, mentoring them, and enjoying them

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Speaker 3: a lot of people in your industry don't, like they

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Speaker 3: never have anything nice to say about other restaurants, and

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Speaker 3: that creeps me out, like why do you you have

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Speaker 3: to run everybody down to help yourself but you never

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Speaker 3: do that. When you walk into a restaurant, what is

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Speaker 3: something you see that you say this place is going

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Speaker 3: to succeed? And what is something you see that you go, well,

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Speaker 3: they're going to need to fix this or they're not

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Speaker 3: going to make it great question?

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Speaker 4: So yes, I love to go into restaurants and get

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Speaker 4: that first impression when you walk in, what do you see?

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Speaker 5: Because it's you know, in the restaurant industry, we deal

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Speaker 5: with all the senses, all.

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Speaker 4: Of them, and I like to look at just how

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Speaker 4: the staff are interacting throughout the restaurant. I like to

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Speaker 4: see what the lighting looks like. Lighting is so important.

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Speaker 4: People don't realize how important is and how it can

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Speaker 4: make or break and experience, especially for women because they

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Speaker 4: don't like a bright restaurant for whatever reason.

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Speaker 5: But anyway, you know, how does the restaurant smell?

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Speaker 4: I mean, you know they're if you go into some

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Speaker 4: casinos now, they have their own dedicated scent being pumped

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Speaker 4: throughout the entire property because over time, uh, with mopping

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Speaker 4: and all the chemicals they use, uh, you know, with

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Speaker 4: mopping and cleaning, that's what the property starts to smell like.

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Speaker 4: And we've actually been talking with a company that provides

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Speaker 4: sense because we've talked about it. We're looking for a

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Speaker 4: spice scent of some sort to to uh to send

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Speaker 4: our restaurants with. We're testing it, but you know there's

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Speaker 4: UH so we look at that noise levels. Noise levels

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Speaker 4: are also critical because you should be able to have

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Speaker 4: a conversation across the table without screaming. And I don't

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Speaker 4: know about you, my hearing is not the same.

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Speaker 3: So I'm at and a lot of restaurants I get

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Speaker 3: the sense that they have designed to intentionally be loud

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Speaker 3: with harsh surfaces.

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Speaker 2: That bounce sound.

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Speaker 3: And I don't jat at all, and especially I'm fifty four,

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Speaker 3: but you see older people out in public and that

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Speaker 3: bothers them. You know, you can see that, huh huh,

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Speaker 3: and it's not fun. Before before my dad got his

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Speaker 3: hearing aids, he didn't he wouldn't go He did not

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Speaker 3: want to go out with us to eat because he

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Speaker 3: couldn't hear because the sound, the ambient sound, was so

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Speaker 3: distracting to him. And you know, younger people don't understand that.

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you.

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Speaker 3: The other thing gets on my nerves has nothing to

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Speaker 3: do with you, is well it kind of does. Menus Now,

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Speaker 3: somehow they shrunk the font. They're using a font what

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Speaker 3: looks like about one. And as I've gotten older, I

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Speaker 3: can't read that small And I don't know why they

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Speaker 3: don't understand that older people need a little more, a

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Speaker 3: little need to be able to see.

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Speaker 2: What's on the damn menu? Do you find that?

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Speaker 5: Yeah? I do, But I mean that's why I carry

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Speaker 5: readers with me wherever I go.

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Speaker 4: I almost feel like I'm disabled if I don't have

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Speaker 4: a pair with me. But one thing that has to

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Speaker 4: go away is the QR code for menus.

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Speaker 2: Oh us, So that makes me crazy.

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Speaker 3: I want to read a menu holder men You feel

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Speaker 3: them and you touch it, you know, run it through

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Speaker 3: my fingers, what kind of what quality of paper was

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Speaker 3: it printed on? And and to I don't want to

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Speaker 3: have to go to my phone to read you. Oh

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Speaker 3: it drives me crazy. Russell Lebar is our guest whole type.

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Speaker 3: Don't you call me?

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Speaker 1: Don't you call me a chicken, Michael, Mary.

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Speaker 3: We're talking to Russell Lebara, the founder and CEO of

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Speaker 3: Gringos Text mex dot com. But he calls himself the

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Speaker 3: master Enchilada Roller because it doesn't like it doesn't like

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Speaker 3: overly fancy things. He'd rather be the everyman, just like

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Speaker 3: anyone in his company, and I like that. We were

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Speaker 3: talking about the QR codes before we went to break

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Speaker 3: the QR codes at restaurants where they don't want to

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Speaker 3: print the menu, they want you to go to it

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Speaker 3: on your phone.

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Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 3: I was at brass Ree nineteen years ago, before I

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Speaker 3: ever knew Charles Clark, and I went in and there

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Speaker 3: was or maybe I knew him by them, but they said,

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Speaker 3: would you like to see the wine list? And I

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Speaker 3: said I would, and they brought out an iPad and

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Speaker 3: I said, so I started, and I said, do you

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Speaker 3: have a wine list printed out? He goes, sure, I'll

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Speaker 3: get that for you, and I said, here, take your

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Speaker 3: iPad back because I don't want to acidentally walk out

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Speaker 3: with it. So the next day I'm talking about how

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Speaker 3: I don't like this trend of putting wines on an iPad.

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Speaker 3: And I was at a fancy restaurant, and I didn't

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Speaker 3: say where it was. So a month or so later,

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Speaker 3: I'm talking to Charles Clark and he said, I'm going

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Speaker 3: to make sure we always have a printed out menu

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Speaker 3: for you because I know you hate wine on the iPad.

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Speaker 2: And I said, how do you know that?

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Speaker 3: He goes, I listened to you every day and I said, yeah,

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Speaker 3: but I didn't say your name. I wouldn't have done that,

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Speaker 3: he goes, I was the first person in town to

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Speaker 3: do that. I know who it was. I know you

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Speaker 3: would have seen that at our place. And I said, wow,

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Speaker 3: that's that's really good. But that goes back way back.

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Speaker 3: That's been kind of one of my things. But some

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Speaker 3: people really seem to enjoy that because then you get

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Speaker 3: to see the label and the whole thing. So I

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Speaker 3: guess to each his own. So tell me three places.

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Speaker 3: Because you eat out more than anybody I know, and

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Speaker 3: you're always trying new restaurants, tell me three new restaurants

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Speaker 3: you've been to in the last six months that you

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Speaker 3: really liked, and tell me one thing about each that

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Speaker 3: you really liked.

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Speaker 2: Why you liked it.

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Speaker 4: Well, let's see here, And there's been so many of them,

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Speaker 4: and I like them for different reasons, and they're not

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Speaker 4: for everyone because I look at them, I guess through

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Speaker 4: a different lens. For example, Tokyo Madera, a lot of

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Speaker 4: people like it, a lot of people don't. It's kind

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Speaker 4: of a nightclub atmosphere. It's very loud.

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Speaker 5: But what I like.

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Speaker 4: What I like is that the effort they put into

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Speaker 4: the design, the interior design of that restaurant. It's it's

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Speaker 4: over the top, and I'm not saying I've learned anything

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Speaker 4: from it, but I just enjoy it. I go to

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Speaker 4: the one in Vegas quite often anytime I'm there.

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Speaker 5: But that one and then.

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Speaker 4: Another restaurant that opened up recently, a Mexican restaurant, is

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Speaker 4: Mexican Sugar out of Dallas.

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Speaker 5: They opened up on Dallas Street and they.

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Speaker 4: Did a nice job of creating a two story space,

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Speaker 4: which I would never recommend a restaurant open up a

379
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Speaker 4: two story restaurant because it's very difficult to manage. But

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Speaker 4: they did a great job of designing both levels and

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Speaker 4: I think they're going to do really well there. It's

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Speaker 4: something unique, and if they hurt anyone in the Inner Loop,

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Speaker 4: it's going to be Tokomadera because it's kind of the same,

384
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Speaker 4: kind of the same model. But another restaurant that opened

385
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Speaker 4: up that I've enjoyed a lot is Balboa suf clubh.

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Speaker 2: Philippi.

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Speaker 5: Yes, they did a really good job.

388
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Speaker 4: But there's some former exacts of Hillstone or Houston's.

389
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,600
Speaker 5: Yeah, and they opened up a location of Dallas. Plus

390
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Speaker 5: they have an.

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Speaker 4: Italian restaurant in the same development called Il Bacco, and

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Speaker 4: they're doing it just a fantastic is like it?

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Speaker 5: Yes?

394
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Speaker 2: Did you like it?

395
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Speaker 5: Only been? I enjoyed it, but I haven't been back.

396
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Speaker 5: I've only been twice. B having it back. I've been

397
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Speaker 5: to Balbo more often.

398
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Speaker 3: I was just talking to Eddie Martini about those two

399
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Speaker 3: restaurants and he was saying how much he likes those two.

400
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:36,000
Speaker 3: He also eats out a lot, but he unlike you.

401
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:38,600
Speaker 3: He eats out because he has a company credit card

402
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,119
Speaker 3: and he can eat out at fancy restaurants, not because

403
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Speaker 3: he's checking them out.

404
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Speaker 2: And who was the third one? Who was the third

405
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Speaker 2: restaurant or did you say it?

406
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Speaker 1: Uh?

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Speaker 5: Well, I know I already said, yeah.

408
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Speaker 4: Balbo was a third Mexican sugar in a Toka. But

409
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Speaker 4: there's just there's just so many great restaurants. Houston has

410
00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,280
Speaker 4: a revenue restaurant opening every single week. It seems like

411
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Speaker 4: like a movie premiere.

412
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 5: But the pie is not. I don't think the pie

413
00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:06,960
Speaker 5: is large enough.

414
00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,399
Speaker 4: To support all these restaurants, especially the overhead. Some of

415
00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,679
Speaker 4: them have the rents that many of them are paying,

416
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,960
Speaker 4: are you know, five six seven hundred thousand a year

417
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Speaker 4: if not more in some cases, And and I just

418
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Speaker 4: don't know how they can make the numbers work.

419
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Speaker 5: But you know, there's always people willing to.

420
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Speaker 4: Put money into an invest money in a restaurant, and

421
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:29,640
Speaker 4: a lot of these restaurant tours are able to find

422
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Speaker 4: them so well.

423
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:35,119
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think part of that is you got to

424
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Speaker 3: be inside the loop to be written about by the

425
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Speaker 3: by the food critics. That's where they all hang out,

426
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Speaker 3: preferably Montrose, and I think it's oversaturated Montrose and the

427
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:48,040
Speaker 3: heights I think are oversaturated. And then you know folks

428
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:51,320
Speaker 3: like you Open and Laporte and Katie, where none of

429
00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:56,159
Speaker 3: the restaurant you know, the Piqual five hundred folks go,

430
00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,000
Speaker 3: and where the restaurant tours that so desperately want to

431
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,360
Speaker 3: be written about by the food critics. So you got

432
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,679
Speaker 3: all these restaurants in this little pocket, and then you

433
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,720
Speaker 3: got very little outside of that, mostly just chains. And

434
00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,840
Speaker 3: I think it just opens up an opportunity for folks

435
00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:12,520
Speaker 3: like you that say, well, we'll come in and serve

436
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 3: great food at a very good price and not be prissy,

437
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,119
Speaker 3: and we won't be written about, but we'll still be

438
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Speaker 3: here twenty years from now hopefully.

439
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Speaker 5: Yes, so it's supposed to work.

440
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Speaker 3: Remember when we talked about the interview format is when

441
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:25,760
Speaker 3: I say something, then you have to say something more

442
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 3: than a couple of words.

443
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:27,240
Speaker 2: Remember that part.

444
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:34,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I want to say something worth saying. Good point. Yes, yes, okay,

445
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,119
Speaker 5: that you were going to ask me something about my book.

446
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:39,960
Speaker 5: I was How did you know that because you mentioned

447
00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:40,399
Speaker 5: it earlier?

448
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:44,639
Speaker 3: Oh yes, I was so. Rush Limbaugh wrote two books.

449
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,120
Speaker 3: And this is a guy who created content for three

450
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:50,280
Speaker 3: hours a day for many many years and was the

451
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,880
Speaker 3: best ever at it on the radio. He wrote two

452
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:59,280
Speaker 3: books that were fabulously successful, financially, commercially, professionally.

453
00:22:59,359 --> 00:22:59,920
Speaker 5: You name it.

454
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,240
Speaker 3: And he said, I want A caller called up and said,

455
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:04,800
Speaker 3: you know, you got to write another book. I read

456
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,439
Speaker 3: your books. I love your books. And he said, I

457
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:08,439
Speaker 3: won't do it, and he said, it's not for me.

458
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,840
Speaker 3: I don't have an iron butt, and I just don't

459
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 3: have you know, when I get up out of the

460
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:15,560
Speaker 3: seat from doing my show, I don't want to sit

461
00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:20,439
Speaker 3: down and write. It's harder than people realized. How was

462
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 3: the writing process for you compared to what you expected

463
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:24,560
Speaker 3: it to be.

464
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:26,000
Speaker 5: Well, mostly the.

465
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:29,920
Speaker 4: Editing part that was the most challenging. But the content.

466
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,000
Speaker 4: I'd actually been writing a lot of it over the years,

467
00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,800
Speaker 4: and I've already started keeping a I already have a

468
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:37,919
Speaker 4: list going of all these different stories I want to

469
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 4: put in my next one? Should I write the next one?

470
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,479
Speaker 4: And uh, because they're always these stories are always popping up.

471
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,040
Speaker 4: I mean they just they just kind of create themselves

472
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:52,400
Speaker 4: through through conversations with other people. A prime example this

473
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 4: my nephew called me a few days ago because he

474
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 4: wanted to open I knew the owner of this particular restaurant.

475
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,399
Speaker 4: And the reason wanted to know was because he wanted

476
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,880
Speaker 4: to take his wife there that night to celebrate her birthday,

477
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 4: and he wanted them to put on the marquee Happy

478
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 4: birthday so and so and so, And the reason was

479
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,560
Speaker 4: because they had already they quoted him two hundred and

480
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 4: fifty dollars. Now, he had never been to this restaurant.

481
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 4: It's a very nice steakhouse and one I had never

482
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 4: heard of. But anyway, two hundred and fifty dollars just

483
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,800
Speaker 4: seemed very very steep. But this restaurant missed an opportunity

484
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,920
Speaker 4: to put the letters up. Let's say fifty dollars or

485
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 4: one hundred dollars or whatever, something more reasonable. But it's

486
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 4: like they said two hundred and fifty because we're doing

487
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:44,480
Speaker 4: you a favor, and yet they missed the entire transaction

488
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,000
Speaker 4: because they ended up going to another restaurant, and they

489
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 4: would have posted on social media and really probably helped

490
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 4: drive a few more tables there and maybe been a

491
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:52,920
Speaker 4: regular guest.

492
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:53,360
Speaker 5: I don't know.

493
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 4: But why do you make those kinds? How can a

494
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 4: restaurant tour make those kind of mistakes? I don't understand it.

495
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 4: In such a competitive environment, I would have said, yes, sir,

496
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 4: we'll put it up, no problem, We'll do it for.

497
00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 2: Free, right hold right there?

498
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 5: Russell r Is our guest.

499
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,960
Speaker 2: More with him, will fart hard for the freedom to

500
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:20,720
Speaker 2: hold the Michael Barry Show. Russell Labar is our guest

501
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:26,400
Speaker 2: and talking about secrets of success.

502
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,119
Speaker 3: How you accomplish your goals, how you order your life,

503
00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 3: Lessons learned, failures learned from And he's always embraced his

504
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 3: failures with me. And that's something I appreciate because when

505
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,959
Speaker 3: I talk to people, whether on air or off, I

506
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 3: will often ask, almost always ask them, tell me a

507
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:55,240
Speaker 3: major failure in your life and why that failure occurred.

508
00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:00,440
Speaker 3: Because if we let's say somebody opens a restaurant and

509
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,640
Speaker 3: they open a rent. They have five restaurants, and they're

510
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:04,720
Speaker 3: about to open their sixth and they open it and

511
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:10,240
Speaker 3: it fails, and I say, what did you think was

512
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,000
Speaker 3: going to happen? That didn't happen because nobody thinks they're

513
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 3: going to open a failed restaurant. They thought that the

514
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 3: neighborhood would be more supportive, or they thought that that

515
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 3: street had more traffic, or whatever it is. I think

516
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,119
Speaker 3: we learned a lot from that. But you've also had

517
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 3: a number of successes, Russell lebar. When you look at

518
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 3: your life and things that you have succeeded at, where

519
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 3: do you see your successes.

520
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 5: Well, obviously it's been attracting the right people.

521
00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:45,960
Speaker 4: I mean, I know, I'll keep going back to that,

522
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:49,120
Speaker 4: but that's that's again that is what we are. We're

523
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 4: a collection of just people that share common interest and

524
00:26:53,119 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 4: common goals. But you know, most of our failures happened

525
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 4: during my twenties, and I call those are my college years,

526
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,440
Speaker 4: if you want to call them that. But I learned

527
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 4: a lot and I'm grateful that I did, and I'm

528
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:15,080
Speaker 4: grateful that everything that happened happened. But uh, you know,

529
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,600
Speaker 4: going forward, you know, I don't want to have any

530
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 4: ferry that that would just destroy everything we've done. But

531
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:30,040
Speaker 4: you know, we have to approach, you know, especially living

532
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:35,159
Speaker 4: in such a litigious society. We we we have a

533
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 4: dispute right now going on with a team member, an

534
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:45,199
Speaker 4: accident that happened. And you know, I've always been proud

535
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 4: of the fact that we've been involved in very few

536
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 4: lawsuits over the years, very very few. And sometimes you

537
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 4: have to see again, see the larger picture and not

538
00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 4: uh say it's your way of the highway, and then

539
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 4: and then fight to the end and still end up

540
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 4: paying what you would have paid if you just settled

541
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 4: way back.

542
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 5: And so I believe in you knowing locking hands instead

543
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,119
Speaker 5: of locking horns. And we've been we've been.

544
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,360
Speaker 4: Very successful at staying out of a lot of lawsuits

545
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:18,360
Speaker 4: for that, and I consider those for some people being failures,

546
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 4: even though they may have thought they won. And yeah,

547
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 4: like I share some wild stories with you about family

548
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,360
Speaker 4: members soon as family members. I mean, it's ridiculous sometimes,

549
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 4: but some people are determined to prove that they were right,

550
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 4: and they did, but it just cost them how many

551
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 4: hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal piece?

552
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 2: Yeah?

553
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 5: You know.

554
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 3: Percy Forman a very famous criminal defense attorney in Houston

555
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 3: many years ago. He was like the Flee Bailey of

556
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 3: his day, springing the OJ Simpson's of the era. And

557
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,160
Speaker 3: he had a client who everybody knew was guilty and

558
00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 3: he managed to get him off. And the story goes

559
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 3: that a newspaper reporter said, mister, mister Foreman, mister Foreman,

560
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 3: don't you doesn't it bother you that your client was

561
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 3: guilty and you got him off? And he said no.

562
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 3: He said, don't you think he should have to pay?

563
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 3: And he said, oh, he's going to pay dearly. And

564
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 3: the point was he got a Rolls Royce out of

565
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 3: the deal. And that's how the guy was going to

566
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 3: It was going to cost him a lot of money,

567
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 3: just maybe not maybe not going to prison.

568
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:27,800
Speaker 2: You mentioned lawsuits, Russell lebar.

569
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 3: And one of the things when I talked to business

570
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:36,440
Speaker 3: owners is, uh, everybody understands that that if you're in

571
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:40,600
Speaker 3: the wrong, there should be a course, a recourse, or

572
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 3: a victim to make that right. Nobody has a problem

573
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,280
Speaker 3: with that. It's the frivolous stuff that gets you. You

574
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 3: shared publicly a picture of a woman who walked into

575
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 3: one of your restaurants, I don't know which location, and

576
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 3: she looked around make sure nobody could see her, and

577
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:00,240
Speaker 3: then she fell on the ground and proceeded to do

578
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 3: a snow angel and told everybody that the floor was

579
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 3: slick and she had fallen, and she wanted to you know,

580
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,160
Speaker 3: several hundred thousand dollars or whatever. I don't know if

581
00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 3: you remember the details of that case. How often does

582
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:14,800
Speaker 3: that happen?

583
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 4: More often than you might think. But we just have

584
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,720
Speaker 4: people just falling over. I mean, those just be walking

585
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 4: and fall over.

586
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 5: You know.

587
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,640
Speaker 4: I when I travel to other countries and I look

588
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 4: at their sidewalks, their roads and everything, and I'm thinking, wow.

589
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 4: I mean, I went to a restaurant the other day

590
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 4: in Columbia and there were steps everywhere, and I'm thinking

591
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,760
Speaker 4: in the US, it just couldn't happen because people be

592
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 4: tripping and falling everywhere. Yeah, it's it's ridiculous, but you know,

593
00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:55,920
Speaker 4: we have liability insurance property liability insurance, and the problem

594
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 4: with that, believe it or not, is it takes us

595
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 4: out of the equation where there is a dispute or

596
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 4: an alleged accident of some sort, and the insurance companies

597
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 4: they just settle. Unfortunately, they just they don't fight these

598
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:15,320
Speaker 4: cases and they'll set all fifty seventy five one hundred thousand.

599
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 4: We had a guest and an team member one time

600
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,200
Speaker 4: bump heads. They each turned around at the same time

601
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:23,960
Speaker 4: and bumped heads. Of course, our team members fine, but

602
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,959
Speaker 4: this this guest sued and was awarded one hundred thousand dollars.

603
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,360
Speaker 5: Well settled. The insurance companies settled with them.

604
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,800
Speaker 4: So they they just figured it's scheaper, they just figured

605
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 4: it's super to settle.

606
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 3: Well, then, you know assaulting that most people don't understand.

607
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 3: And this is this is the economics of it all,

608
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 3: is that that hundred thousand dollars, while the check was

609
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 3: written by the business owner, the person who's going to

610
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,560
Speaker 3: end up paying that is the customer. So rolled into

611
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 3: every ten dollars you spend at a restaurant, is this

612
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,080
Speaker 3: many pennies or this many dollars for lawsuits, and this

613
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,600
Speaker 3: many dollars for avocados, and this many dollars for the rent,

614
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,360
Speaker 3: and this many dollars for the air conditioning and that's

615
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 3: one of those things, and this many dollars for theft,

616
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:12,720
Speaker 3: and so the rest of us pay for that nonsense.

617
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,600
Speaker 3: So that's that's what makes it even worse. People have

618
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:18,560
Speaker 3: this idea that there's the rich business owner and it's

619
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:20,160
Speaker 3: good he should have to give up some of what

620
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:20,720
Speaker 3: he has.

621
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 2: He's not going to pay for it. It's going to be

622
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 2: passed on to the customer.

623
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 4: Well, if there's one bit of advice I could give

624
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,920
Speaker 4: all business owners actually is making sure that every employee

625
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 4: signed a binding arbitration agreement.

626
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 5: Because.

627
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 4: It forces if there is an incident, it does force

628
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 4: their attorneys to have to work for it rather than

629
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 4: resolve it through an insurance company.

630
00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 3: And a lot of lawyers just want to send a

631
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,480
Speaker 3: demand letter and get forty percent of what you're willing

632
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 3: to settle for before you have to engage in an

633
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 3: outside firm.

634
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 2: And that is the reality. Russell Lebara, I've kept you.

635
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 3: Longer than you agreed to stay, but you've been very

636
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:09,480
Speaker 3: gracious with your time and very candid with your answers,

637
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,280
Speaker 3: and I appreciate it, and I know our listeners do

638
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:13,120
Speaker 3: it as well.

639
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 2: I appreciate all you do for our veterans with PTSD IT.

640
00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:20,760
Speaker 3: Camp Hope, all you do for your employees, your customers,

641
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:22,480
Speaker 3: and our community.

642
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 2: And I value and appreciate your friendship. Thanks for being

643
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 2: with FIN.

644
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 5: Thank you, Michael, appreciate its forgiving me.

645
00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 2: Thank you, and good night,