WEBVTT - Rock-Solid Restaurant Operations Fuel Traffic 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:17.680 Welcome to Chopping it Up. 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.400 I'm your host Mike Halon, the senior restaurant and food 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:25.200 service analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Today we're joined by Ray Johnson, Founder, 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.440 president and CEO of Rec's Restaurant Consulting Company. Thanks for 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:30.200 doing us Ray. 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:32.880 Thank you. Mikeel I'm so glad to be here. 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:35.879 Good stuff, man, I'm glad I've got to meet you 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:40.199 at the Prosper conference. Shout out to David Job and 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:45.440 the team over there last August. You were one of 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.040 the highlights of my trip. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.040 Well, thank you, I tell you David and Luke I'm 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.240 going to shout him out also, just two great, great 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.680 people in this industry and have a feign desire for 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:01.880 this great industry of ours. Yeah. I love meeting you 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:03.960 and the team and some of the people we got 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.199 to meet there and Millie Island was awesome. Looking forward 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:08.000 to next year. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.120 Yeah for sure. All right, let's let's jump in here. 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.319 Man. Why don't you you know, you have a great 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:18.560 career background. You worked at some fantastic brands over the years, 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.880 So if you could tell the audience a little bit 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:22.880 about your you know, career past. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.000 All right, Michael so Reda Didger's version of my great 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.840 career in this great industry. I love this industry, Michael. 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.840 I started out way back in the day at a 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:41.520 franchisee of the McDonald's so QSR. And quickly I went 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:46.280 to a fast casual steakhouse similar to a Bonanza U 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.080 ponder Rosa, a concept called Wrestler Steakhouse that was owned 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:54.520 by Marriott host Uh And right away I thought I 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.320 was pretty good. I was pretty young, and I wanted 0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:59.520 to be with the very very best. And I heard 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:04.240 about the concept that was just doing tremendous volume called 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:09.480 TGI Fridays, and they were the king of the casual 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.280 theme restaurant. And I would go in and just study them, 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.200 and I go, if I'm that good, I want to 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.400 go work for that brand. And I finally got a 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.880 chance to go work for them, work for them twelve years, 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:28.120 learned so much. My mentor was the founder, Dan Scoggins. 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.160 He really taught me some very tough lessons that was 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.160 very very good. And I left there in nineteen ninety 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.400 six as director of operations. As I call it, the 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:43.120 area of the Midwest capital of the world, vacation capital 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:48.520 of the world. I should say Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:53.440 So then I stepped out of the restaurant business Michael 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.880 for the first time and only time, to get into 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.440 the patrollingum C story business. And I had a great 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.480 friend of mine, David Dornell, who was a president of 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.639 Bank of America it was Nation's bank at the time, 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:12.680 and we bought together at them, being our senior lenner 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:17.360 me being an entrepreneur, we bought twenty five C stores 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.800 in a gasoline and marketing distribution company called Saint Louis 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.440 for Trollingman Marketing, and I was the CEO president CEO. 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.800 And it was the greatest lesson I've ever learned about 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.600 leading people because all I knew Michael before get into 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.280 this business that the sign on the street and the 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.000 price on the sign is what you paid for gasoline, right, 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.680 and so, but it taught me a lesson that people 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:48.360 who work for you have great skills and it really 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.920 takes great leadership to engage them. Step back, be a 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:56.040 servant leader, take to time to learn, get to know 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.680 your people, and you don't give up power by being 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.600 a leader. And it just helped me a lot. I 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:06.120 would literally go in and ask many many questions as 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.120 opposed to given directions, and so I did that for 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:14.800 five years as CEO president, and I missed the restaurant 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:19.760 business and I started my own concept called Village Cafes 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.920 out of Saint Louis, and I literally created the concept. 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.680 I was the CFO, CEO, the operations guy, and the 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.440 whole nine yards, and I like to describe it as 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.200 a poor man's version of Prener Bread. We were in 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.200 office buildings and about two thousand square feet. It was 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:42.080 an awesome, awesome brand created. And that was in two 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.440 thousand to two thousand and eight, and then Crackerbrol came 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:51.839 calling and I kept saying no to them, and eventually 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:55.599 they wore me down and I sold my restaurant and 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:58.080 went to work for Crackerbrow And my goal was just 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.640 to work there for a couple of years back and 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:04.080 get back into the entrepreneur world. And the problem was 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:10.480 that kept getting promoted having success, and I became divisional 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.520 vice president and I left there in May of twenty 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.800 twenty two, and it was after fourteen and a half years. 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.560 It was an awesome, awesome ride, and I started my 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:27.800 consulting company, Recei's leadership restaurant consulting, and it's been an awesome, 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.400 awesome entrepreneur ride. There's a lot of people in our 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.640 industry that needed my help. While I was working for 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.880 bands like Cracker Broil and was an officer of the company, 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:39.960 and I would tell them, I go, I can't do that. 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.480 It's a conflict of ventance. So I saw the need 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:45.919 out there and it's been awesome to get out and 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.880 help people run restaurants right now. 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:50.360 That's great. 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.960 At TGI Fridays. Did you have any overlap with Alan Stillman? 0:05:56.120 --> 0:06:00.480 Absolutely, he was. I didn't know Alan, but I knew 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:05.440 of Allen. He was Dan's partner, right founder partner, Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:07.320 I think he started the brand with a he said, 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.599 a five hundred dollars loan from his mom. 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:14.720 Yeah. You know. The story, Michael, is that they started 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:22.440 the brand in New York and it wanted it was 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.400 a brand that was started. The tells of the story 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.960 goes as they wanted to have a place for pilots 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.159 and flight attendants to be able to go as they're 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.159 laying over in these different cities, to go and just 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:37.880 have a great time. It was an awesome some of 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:42.920 the stories Dan till was just awesome. Yeah, a great brand. 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.280 Yeah it's cool, and yeah, I bet you a lot 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.600 of gen z Ers didn't didn't realize it started as 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:49.640 a singles bar, you know. 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:53.400 That's that's right, that's right, and when you go into 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.920 I don't think they have him now, but I remember 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.080 one of our templars was a three tier phone booth 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.599 that people would say, what's a phone boot? But you 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.280 would go in and you would have one level that 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:06.960 you go up. On the next level you can use 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.040 another phone on the next level. It was an awesome, 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.280 awesome stuff. So yeah, I enjoyed it. 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:13.320 Yeah, that's great. Alan's a legend. 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:14.880 I got to I was lucky enough to meet him 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.400 a few years back and I met I met his 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.680 son Michael as well, who's running the family business. 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:20.920 Now. 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.040 They own the Smith and Wilenski's in New York and 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.760 a whole bunch of and a great new brand, well 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.880 not really new anymore, but quality branded restaurant in Manhattan. 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.960 So next time you're in Manhattan, check out Quality. Absolutely 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:34.520 my favorites. 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.120 Yeah, well I'll give a plug. It's the one when 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.640 I sit back and look over my career, it's the 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:44.720 one brand that taught me the most and the most 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.240 disciplined brand that I have ever worked for even to 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:48.720 this day. 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.360 Cool, very cool, all right. 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.920 So for the audience, the reason why I approached Ray 0:07:56.120 --> 0:08:02.920 is because he shared this amazingly inspirational story at prosper So, yeah, 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:07.080 are you willing to share that story with us here 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:07.560 for the pod? 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:15.200 Absolutely, Michael. So. I shared this story because it's really 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:21.120 meant for the leaders and people in general who maybe struggle, 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.640 maybe sometime wants to give up. Maybe sometimes things are 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.440 not happening for them as quickly as they would like 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:29.880 for them to happen. Maybe they feel they should have 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.200 gotten promoted and got in a position that they didn't get, 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.440 and they might give up or get discouraged with the industry. 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.720 But the reader's digest version of the story was, I 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:45.000 was this guy with a TGI Friday, unbalanced in my 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.600 home life, in my work life, I just want to grow, 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.520 I want to be successful. And so I'm this young 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:58.280 African American leader working in an area where my staff 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:03.079 was probably about ninety nine percent sent not African Americans, 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.040 and so I had to lead this great group of 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:11.360 people every single day, every single day. And so I 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.160 would go into work. I would give it my all. 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.200 And over the years I got to a level that 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.720 I was ready to be promoted. And my boss was 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.400 telling me you're the next guy up. You're the next 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:26.040 guy up, and so that just fed me more. I 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.760 got more inspired. I put in the extra work. I 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.240 went beyond the call of duty. I had this thing 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:37.160 that says, excellence is doing more than most people think 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.520 is required. That was my logo, that was my statement. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.600 So I would give the extra effort. And so I 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:50.000 wanted to be this district manager, and so I wanted 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.679 to be the obvious choice. So when it came time, 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:57.240 based on my evaluations, based on my results, time to 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:00.440 be the guy that's going to get promoted. Yet I 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:04.280 had this leader who pulled me aside and he said, hey, listen, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.840 we're going to make a decision. And the decision is 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:12.520 we're not going to promote you. And I was devastated, 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.480 and I think I stared at him, Michael, for about 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.120 ten seconds before I said a word. And he said, 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.520 before you do this, I want to tell you something 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.839 off the record, and I go, okay, I'm listening. And 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:31.040 he said to me, you are a great leader, but 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.040 I'm going to protect you, and I'm not going to 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.760 give you this position that you've earn. I'm going to 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.960 wait for something more suitable. And he said, because the 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.120 position you would have to have, the position that I 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.920 would promote you to, you'd be leading about seventy eight 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:54.360 to eighty five percent Caucasian employees and leaders. And I 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.200 don't think I'm set you up for success. If I 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.640 would put you in that position, you would be in 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:04.000 an area where no one in the area would look 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.640 like you, and it would be tough. And I didn't 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:09.600 know how to respond to that, Michael. I had never 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:11.920 had it to hit me in the face like that. 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:17.280 But after being sitting there for a couple of minutes, 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.480 I asked, two, could I be excuse and I'm going 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.960 to leave now. I'm going to go home. I got 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.560 in my car. I was devastated. I drove all the 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.120 way home. Michael, I don't know why I drove all 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.160 the way home, but I drove all the way home, 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:37.160 got in my driveway, turned around, never got out of 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.760 my car, went back to the restaurant. I'm having a 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:46.080 conversation with myself and my boss was at the restaurant, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.200 and I said, I need to talk to you, and 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.839 I said, I appreciate you telling me the truth. At 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:58.320 least you was honest with me. I said, but I 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:02.120 don't agree with it. I absolutely. I need to make 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.600 sure you know I don't agree with it. That's number one. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.520 Number two. I need to let you know that you 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:14.040 have lit something inside of me fire and desire that 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.760 the next time the position comes open of anything that 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:23.680 I'm qualified for, it's going to be such an obvious 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:29.040 choice promotion for you that you cannot choose me. And 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:31.960 the third thing I said to him at the time, 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.640 and I remember saying this to him, and I said, 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:41.920 I am a leader that lead people, and I don't 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.320 even look in the mirror and see color. I look 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.640 and I treat people for who they are in the 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:51.520 behaviors that they exist. I said, I just do not 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.160 think of it that way, and you need to know 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.600 that by me. So I'm not saying that to you 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:58.760 to go back and have you to change your mind. 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.560 I just need to make make sure you understand how 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:08.000 I felt. So go. He didn't say a word. I 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.800 go back. I have to have this conversation with my 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.400 wife that all the unbalanced hours that I've been working 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.080 all these years, I mean, in these months, I have 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.720 to go back and say, Hey, the reason I wasn't 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:24.160 there for a kids and this and that, and I 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.280 told you that I was going to be the next 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:30.080 guy up. It didn't happen, and I need to tell 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.560 you that that's the bad news. The good news is 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:38.240 I'm more inspired and energized to be the obvious choice next. 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:44.520 Six months later, Michael I was promoted to a district 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.000 manager and a year after that, I was promoted to 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.920 director of operations for a TGI Fridays. And it was 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:55.240 just a lesson of perseverance. It was a lesson of 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:57.800 don't let people tell you who they are who you are. 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:02.040 It's a lesson of it. It's about treating people with 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:05.640 dignating respect and everybody for the values of who they are. 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.760 And it helped me for the rest of my restaurant career. 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:12.800 It's a testament to who you are. Man, I'm sorry 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:13.839 you had to go through it, but. 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:19.640 Man, it's so moving and I love how that you 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:21.800 use that to even motivate yourself more. 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:22.040 Man. 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.960 Fantastic, Yes, and Mike as a plug, I use I 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:31.720 don't use that story, but I use that event to 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:36.640 speak to the college students, especially with eighth SPCU students. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.720 I have programs where I help walk them through a 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.960 runway from a freshman in college through how you can 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.280 get into our great industry. For example, you might be 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.880 a shift leader a freshman year in college. The second year, 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.840 you might be a shift leader again. The third year 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.880 you're going to get some more training and some mentorship leadership, 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.480 and by the time you're ready to grad, way, you 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.520 have a runway or a path that you can understand 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.680 if you want to be in this industry. You have 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:08.320 some experience how you continue to continue to grow in 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.200 this industry. So it's been awesome for me. 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:12.560 That's fantastic, all right. 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.280 We I can talk to you all day about, you know, 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.040 the history of the restaurant business. 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.560 I love it, but I'd. 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.120 Like to talk a little bit about what's going on 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.440 now and kind of catch the point on some of 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.280 the hot topics. You know, Yes, I guess how how 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:32.040 should some of these restaurant chains solve for the solve 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.800 their problems for the long term, right like consumers have 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.840 options right now, It's not easy out there, Michael. 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.800 I think you're absolutely right. I think the muscle that 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:49.040 the restaurant industry had pre tempt. Pandemic was a good 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:52.040 muscle to use. It was the muscle we all knew 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.400 no one had experienced, thank god, the pandemic before right 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.560 and and during the pandemic, there was a lot of 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:03.720 things that happened that people nobody knew how to manage 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.240 against it, you know, off premise, third party delivery, restaurants, 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:12.920 dining rooms being closed. And then post pandemic, thinking that 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.320 we could go back to that type of management or 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.840 that type of the guest experience, it wasn't there anymore. 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:23.040 We didn't have the employees there, and it didn't come back. 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:27.200 People had transitioned out of the restaurant industry that had 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.200 gone over to e commerce, the Amazon's in the Walmarts 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.240 of the world. And so now you're paying someone twenty 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.680 five dollars an hour, doesn't mean that you're going to 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:39.040 get twenty five dollars to productivity. Twenty five dollars is 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:44.040 just to get the person. And so once that that happened, 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.760 is that the muscle that's needed now in the industry 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.240 is the muscle of her attention of employees and to 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.080 create these great experience for our employees to create great 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.680 experience for the guests because the guests learned something doing 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:04.800 the pandemic. From my point of view that I'm forced 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.560 to make meals that are in ways that I could 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:12.480 get pretty close to the restaurant industry, and I was 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:14.800 forced to do that. So now when I come out 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.480 and I don't have the hospitality value and I don't 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:24.040 have it's a higher price, it's less selection, it's a 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.160 service is not there. So now I get to pick 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:29.959 and choose where my one hundred dollars are spent and 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.960 I get to evaluate that that's the value that it's 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.680 just spent one hundred dollars. Was it worth your experience? 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.240 Was it worth off premise where I had to pay 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:45.679 thirty percent more to get a hamburger, where it wasn't 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:50.560 really transportable, It wasn't the quality I expected. And I 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:56.479 think our guests are so smart that they started after spending, 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:01.040 they start evaluating was that value for what I spent 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:05.399 on my family of for worth going back again? Or 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.520 I used to go there three times a month, it's 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:11.920 not worth it anymore. Now that is one and a 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.399 half time, or it's one time for a month. And 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:18.040 I think the restaurant muscles now, is that how do 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.520 you leverage the cycle of what's creating a great guess 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:27.360 experience that is different from post pandemic, that's different than 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.879 pre pandemic. And I think that that's been a challenge 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:31.760 for restaurants. 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.440 Yeah, and last time we spoke, you mentioned too how 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.840 you felt that the marketing and operations for a lot 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:42.080 of the restaurant chains are going in opposite directions versus 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:43.320 pulling in the same direction. 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:50.360 Yeah. I think that everyone is trying to figure it out, 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.200 and I think marketing is running in a lane and 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.600 they have trends and they have things they want to do, 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:01.119 and it probably will drive traffic. The collaboration in the 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.160 alignment has got to be can we sustain traffic? Are 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.840 we driving these our great guests into the door? And 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.720 can we sustain them? Can we give them a great experience? 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:16.760 Is operations all bought in under direction? Marketing wants to go. 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.680 So I could have a great marketing campaign, but if 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.320 I can't execute it in the restaurant it takes too 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.200 many steps in the restaurant to execute it, then I'm 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:28.160 going to get bad service and I'm going to get 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:32.359 bad guess. Experience, and it's also going to turn the 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.359 employees because employees are not going to work in a 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:40.159 stressful environment. I got options now, right, And so my 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:43.439 biggest thing that I talk about to leaders now is 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:49.040 that the collaboration from the beginning, the the agreement, the 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:53.320 alignment from the beginning, and what's the why why, what's 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:57.080 the strategy? Is operations all in on the direction that 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:00.280 we're going. And the last part I'll say is that 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:06.200 I think operations spends a lot of time taking directions 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:08.239 of this is the way we're going for marketing. By 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.840 the time it gets to operations, it's pretty much baked 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:13.840 into the directions and strategy. 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:18.120 Yeah, for sure, operations are I mean, they're so key, 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:23.040 and I feel like there's distill, like undervalued, right. But 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.800 when I see a new company, name a new CEO 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:28.840 and they bring in an operator, I get excited about that. 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:33.359 Yeah, you know, I tell people it's the motor of 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.399 the car, Michael. I could live with my windows not 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:38.960 working and my radio or not playing, but I could 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:46.040 still drive a car. And I think operations is such 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:51.240 a vital, if not the most urgent part, because I 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:54.080 could have the greatest plan in the world but if 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:58.040 I can't execute it in the four walls of the restaurant, 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:03.000 it's not going to work. So I tell a lot 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:09.239 of clients that really, we have to make sure that 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:13.160 if we're going to put something into the building that 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.920 it is going to be executable, not only in terms 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.680 of driving sales, but can I really make it into 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:25.320 a great experience in the restaurant. And so it might 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:29.240 be that I have thirty items on my menu, but 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.560 maybe only ten of them are selling. I might te 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:36.480 mix at about seventy five to eighty percent. I might 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:39.639 be selling the other five at a three percent clip. So, 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:42.919 but I have to prepare as an operator to be 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:45.520 able to sell that for the one or two guests 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:47.679 that might come in and got And that's where I 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:50.760 think marketing and operators have to get together in a 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:54.399 line to say, Okay, this is great to have, is 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:58.919 it really providing value? Am I losing? Execute? Is an 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:03.160 ease of execution? And that's the conversation I think needs 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:06.919 to be had more now today. It's more urgent today 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:08.000 than it was in the past. 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:11.800 Yeah, we saw on an example of this not working. 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:13.199 I guess it was a couple of years ago with 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:15.920 the Burger King Chick King fried chicken sandwich. 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:18.240 It was a great sandwich. 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:22.360 It was probably better than all the other Burger qsr 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:27.120 Chains made. But you know, trying to make a sandwich 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:30.120 that was very labor intensive in a restaurant that frankly 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:36.280 you know was understaffed or very lightly staffed became completely untenable. 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:38.000 And I think it was taken off the menu maybe 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:39.600 six months after it debuted. 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:44.360 Yes, yes, And it's even more important now because productivity 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:49.639 levels have gone down wages have gone up. So I 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:52.639 don't get the same type of grill cook or the 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:55.680 same type of prep cook for twenty five dollars an hour. 0:22:55.800 --> 0:23:00.720 But my expectations are this, so I can't have seven 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:06.480 steps to produce a menu of plate presentation that is 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:11.680 too complicated and volume wized to be able to execute 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:14.240 it in the kitchen. So this is where I think 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:17.679 from the beginning, when the strategy is being put together 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:23.000 as a brand, I think everybody should come together collaborative 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.080 and and talk about it and put the plan the 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:29.560 strategy together from the beginning. And I think that that's 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:34.160 the one piece that's different Michael, that in post pre 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:38.360 pandemic you could get away with it today, it's tough 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:39.119 to get away with it. 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:43.280 Yeah, and you know impact of increased delivering and catering 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:46.160 is really pressured operations. 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:46.520 Correct. 0:23:47.480 --> 0:23:55.320 Yes, I also the velocity of third party off premise 0:23:56.880 --> 0:23:58.760 is coming at you in a way that that was 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:02.119 probably your week. It's muscle because you know it's the 0:24:02.240 --> 0:24:05.480 demand has gone up. But you know the muscle that 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:08.600 you had in the facilities that you built wasn't built 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:11.199 for that type of volume. So now you're trying to 0:24:11.240 --> 0:24:13.640 execute that, and you're trying to execute the dining room, 0:24:13.960 --> 0:24:17.520 and you're trying to execute it maybe with less skill 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:21.320 employees or the training hasn't been there, and it gets 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:23.879