WEBVTT - Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.800 This is Masters in Business with Barry Ridholts on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:10.959 This week on the podcast, I have a perfect guest 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:15.320 to help us understand what is going on during lockdown 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.640 with bars, restaurants and hotels and what we can do 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:22.720 to finally get out of it. His name is John Taffer. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:27.160 He is perhaps known best for creating the NFL Sunday ticket, 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.760 which you probably know today as Red Zone. He is 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:34.639 the star and creator of Bar Rescue, a nightclub hall 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.879 of fame in Duct just somebody who has been incredibly 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:45.080 insightful in understanding how to make bars and restaurants work better, 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.479 not only for the owners and for the employees, but 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:52.080 for the customers as well. He really understands the industry 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:56.120 in a way that nobody else does. And he is 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:00.200 very concerns that we are going to have a lot 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.920 of problems keeping some of these restaurants and bars open 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.560 once we finally come out of the pandemic. We have 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.920 done a tremendous amount of economic damage and it is 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.480 going to leave a mark. He has some ideas how 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.680 to get out from behind that. So, with no further ado, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:21.759 my conversation with John Taffer, this is Masters in Business 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:26.200 with Barry Ridholts on Bloomberg Radio. My special guest this 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.840 week is John Taffer. He created the NFL Sunday Ticket 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.520 before going on to star and create Bar Rescue. He 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.919 was one of six inductees until the Nightclub Hall of Fame. 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:41.480 He has created several apps for managing a bar or 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.880 a nightclub, including bar HQ. His latest show, Marriage Rescue, 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:49.000 is out. He is the author of Raise the Bar, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:54.680 an action based method for maximum customer reactions. John Taffer, 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.320 Welcome to Bloomberg. Nice to be here, Barry. So you're 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.520 the perfect guy to speak about restaurants and bars and 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:04.880 how people are going to be able to come out 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:08.520 of this quarantine. But before we get to that, let's 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:13.120 talk a little bit about your background. How does a 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.200 kid who grew up in Great Neck end up on 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.320 the West Coast in the hospitality industry. You know, it's funny. 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:22.760 When I went to high school back in those days, 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:24.440 a lot of us went west. You know, we just 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:26.880 went to California, That's what we did. So I had 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.640 taken music lessons when I was in high school. I 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:31.440 was a drummer. I was very serious about it. Took 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.120 lessons for nine years and went to California actually to 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.560 pursue a music career. And in my pursuit of the 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.560 music career, I started managing a nightclub. One day, the Troubadour, 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:45.840 the very famous Troubadoor in Hollowood, California, which had opened 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.959 in fifty seven, Lenny Bruce was arrested on a Troubadoor 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.760 stage Barry for saying something I won't repeat. That's the 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.880 kind of history that that place had. So I got 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:59.040 a job at the at the Troubadour and started managing it, 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.519 and one thing to another, and I've been in a bar, 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.600 in hospitality management business ever since, but ever run bars, restaurants, 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.800 resort hotels. I've really worked in every facet of the 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.760 hospitality industry. So how does one transition from running a 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.960 bar to running a consulting business to television? You know, 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.920 in the mid eighties, tax code changed, barry, and it 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.200 got to the point that hotels could no longer right 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:28.359 off certain deductions. So restaurants and bars and hotels had 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:31.960 previously been more amenities. They weren't run as profit center 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.240 as they were run really a service, uh mechanisms to 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.200 support guest room sales in the hotel. Well when those 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:41.040 tax codes changed. My company was very successful. This is 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.080 back in the mid eighties, and I created a company 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:46.400 to teach the hotel industry how to make money in 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:48.200 food and beverage, which, believe it or not, they weren't 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.520 good at then. And these were all the hotel franchises 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.440 around the country. I won't mention brands, but household brands. 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.760 Twelve hundred hotels in one company, eight hundred and another. 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.400 So we went in in. In those days, hotel restaurants 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:05.320 Barry weren't exactly the greatest hotel bars you wouldn't even 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.960 go to. So we we're the company that built all 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.760 the outside entrances in and tried to create a position 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.640 them for the local market. We're also the company when 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.160 we got it hired by all the hotel companies. I'm 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.000 the guy who flew around America closing almost every top 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.120 four restaurant on every hotel and moving them from those 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.800 things into into food and beverage operations that would be successful. 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.560 We did that for many years, did hundreds of hotels, 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.560 got very very good at it, Arry, and we opened 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.520 my first restaurant, which I owned myself. I opened in 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:40.160 a St. Louis let's go back to the top floor restaurant. 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.360 You're saying there's not a lot of pedestrian traffic when 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.640 you put the restaurant at the top of the hotel, well, 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:50.920 it becomes what I call the dreaded special occasion syndrome. 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.200 You'll go there on your anniversary, Barry, you might go 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.039 there on your wife's birthday, but you're not going there 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:00.680 more often than that. And when hotels would drop restaurants 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.560 on the top four as, they inherently became that special 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:09.239 occasion syndrome which knocked off all frequency and UH destroyed 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.160 their potential day to day. So none of them were 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.200 ever really successful, with very few exceptions. So how does 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:19.200 one transition from being a consultant to name brand hotel 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.560 chains to something like bar Rescue? You know, well, bar 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.200 Rescue was interesting, Bear and all my hotel work. Over 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.039 the years, I became a public speaker and I spoke 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.600 at all sorts of hospitality and industry events are all 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.480 of the country, thirty forty speeches a year to UH 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:37.960 many companies, and many of those speeches were to brand 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:42.719 conferences for companies like Marriott Holiday in back then Hilton 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.240 And when I would go give a keynote speech at 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.960 a brand conference. One day, somebody came up to me 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:49.960 at one of those speeches and said, John, you should 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.480 be on television. So Gordon Ramsey was on TV at 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:55.960 the time, this is about ten years ago, eleven years ago. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.040 He had his show Kitchen Nightmares. So I sat out 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:00.960 and I put together my own concept, Barry. It was 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:05.279 a cross between Kitchen Nightmares and Mission Impossible, and I 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.479 wanted to pick experts. Remember Mission Impossible, they picked the 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:10.400 experts out of the file at the beginning of every 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:14.040 episode and there could be different experts for different episodes. Well, 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.120 that was the model I wanted to use. So I 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.440 created bar Risk. You wrote it up on a piece 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.359 of paper and it was originally called On the Rocks, 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.279 and you like the story. So I take that's a 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.760 fantastic name. On the Rocks. That's even better than Rescue. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.039 That's what I thought. But so I go to Paramount, 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.560 And years earlier I had done a project for Paramount, 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.080 the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and I had worked on 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.920 a restaurant concept, so I knew the president of Paramount. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.120 So I take my rite up On the Rocks to 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.479 my friend that Paramount he reads it and I won't 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.680 repeat his language, Barry, but he said to me, John, 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:51.360 you will never blanking beyond television. You're too old, you're 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.680 not good looking at enough. It will never happen. So 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:57.919 I drive out of the Paramount gates a little little disappointed, 0:06:57.960 --> 0:06:59.800 and I say, you know what, I'm gonna do this myself. 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:02.640 So I, when I shot my own sizzle reel, which 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:04.560 is sort of a three minute version of the show, 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:10.760 sent that sizzle reel to four different production companies in Hollywood. Unbelievably, 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.920 I got four offers from four and one of them 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.400 was at the television convention in France. They called me 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.960 from Frances said, no side with anyone, so we come back. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.760 So now I have a deals on the table. So 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.760 I look at the four production companies and I didn't 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.960 follow anyone's advice. Everybody told me to take the money, 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.000 picked companies that gave me the largest offer. I didn't. 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:33.680 I chose the company I thought would make the best show, 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:36.440 and it was a few few less dollars for me. 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.400 So we put together the pilot. The show sold in 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.760 two months, was on TV less than a year from 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:45.720 the day that I went to the Paramount lot and 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.040 was told I'll never be on television. The show premiered, 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.320 and of course I got a beautiful phone call from 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.040 my buddy who told me I'll never be on TV. 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.200 But the show went through three different names. It started 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.600 with on the Rocks, and when they tested on the Roxbury, 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.920 they found that it came up with a marriage connotation 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:04.320 and marriages on a rock, so so that brand didn't work. 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.520 Then we became bar Rehab for a little while, and 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:09.760 then we landed on bar Rescue and if show premier 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:11.960 and of course we're in our tenth year. I'll be 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.400 shooting my two hundredth episode in a few months. Have 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.000 been quiet down and it's an act of a run. 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.040 You know. There's an amazing book by William Goldman, who 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:24.680 wrote screenplays like Butch Cassidy and The Princess Bride and 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:29.920 his it's called Adventures in Screenwriting, and he has entire 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:35.360 chapters about all the amazing movies from Raiders of the 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:39.640 Lost Arc to Star Wars to Princess Bride that everybody 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.120 passed on and said, this is a disaster, this will 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:47.319 never be successful. You're another case study, I am, and 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.440 there's something to be said in this There isn't any 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:52.280 one person in the world who can tell you you 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:54.840 can or cannot do something, and there shouldn't be a 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:56.520 group of people in the world that tell you can 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.160 or cannot do something. You know this when when they 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.400 walked out, when I walked off to Paramount, a lot 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.320 very because of that meeting, it became important to me. 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.120 It was an idea on the way in, but when 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.880 he said no, it became a vendetta on the way out. 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:15.400 And I thank him for that meeting. That's quite fascinating. 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.080 Let's talk a little bit about the early part of 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.400 your career. You worked at the infamous Troubadour in West 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.760 Hollywood in the late seventies. That place had a wild reputation. 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:30.120 What was that era like when you were there. Well, 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.720 I think wild is a good word. This was a 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.640 very different time in our society, was pre aids. Sort 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.400 of sexual revolution was still going on in those days. 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.200 There was no gang activity, no threat of violence, so 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.320 it's a very different time. I hate to sound like 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:47.160 a hippie and say love and peace, but it was 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.439 sort of a little bit of love and peace. Back then. 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:52.120 People didn't fear each other. They were quicker to get 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.520 intimate with each other and music was exploding. Then, all 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.839 different types of music were exploding on the scene. Then 0:09:58.040 --> 0:09:59.760 the Troubadour was sort of the center of it. And 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:02.360 so let me give a short list of some of 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.760 the bands that either premiered or played there. Jackson Brown, 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:11.720 The Birds, The Eagles, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morris 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:16.000 and Bonnie Ray Red, Hot Chili Peppers, Linda Ronstat, James Taylor, 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:20.000 On and on. The list goes. What was it like 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:23.920 when you were there watching that talent go through that stage? Well, 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.599 it was an incredible thing. Doug Weston, who founded and 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.200 ran the Troubadour, would get these real tapes back in 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.320 those days and he would listen to these tapes. There 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:35.400 were no videos. He would listen to these tapes and 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.720 picked the bands that he would book at the Troubador. 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.280 All of those bands you mentioned played there when they 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:43.959 weren't famous. That's the amazing thing of it. Doug's ear, 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.400 you know, reacted to them and he saw potential. So 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:49.679 they came and played in the Troubador. So I wasn't 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.679 watching stars per se bad I didn't know it. They 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.960 were going to be superstars in some cases, megastars. So 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.920 to me, it wasn't as much about the star as 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.080 it was the music. And when Elton would play or 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:04.880 these people would play and they get off the stage, 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.120 you were overwhelmed by the performance into music and you 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:09.959 would say to yourself, this person is going to be 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.839 a star. And in the Troubador you got to see 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:16.359 many of them were in your chops and become stars. 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.880 So the music and the performance side seems to be 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.680 running on all cylinders. But the actual management of the 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.920 restaurant and the bar was kind of a disaster. Employee 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.680 theft was rife, the books never balanced. You take over 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:38.200 in what do you do to change how the places managed? Well, 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:39.679 a number of things. First of all, there were no 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:41.959 rules in the Troubator, and everybody who worked there was 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.480 a musician. I mean, that's just the way it evolved. 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.559 So if if you were a musician and you needed 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.080 a job, you worked at the Troubator. People would take 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:50.839 a side of beef, throw in the back of their 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.280 car and take it home Barry. I mean, people would 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:57.319 take full bottles of liquor home, do it no controls whatsoever, 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:59.760 and a half of beef that they took home the 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:01.680 other half of it day ate while they were working 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:05.160 that day, so there were no controls. The club had 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.720 no money, and there was a floor safe in the kitchen, 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:09.680 and at the end of the night we put the 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.120 few hundred dollars we made in the for safe, and 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:13.680 in the morning I had to come in as the 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.880 manager empty the floor safe and used that money to 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:18.880 buy liquor that morning. Because we were on C O. D. 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.600 We had no accounts anywhere, and in those days the 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.600 owner used to engage in recreational activities and he would 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:26.079 go in there at four in the morning and take 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.360 the money out of the safe. So I would come 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.520 in at eight thirty in the morning hoping that money 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:32.920 was there so I could pay for wicket too, every 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.680 and it wasn't there. So it was a real battle 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.120 running the Troubador. It turned into a system whereabout I 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.559 took the money home with me every night and then 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:43.319 came back in the morning with it so I could 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.920 buy liquor and such. But here's a funny story. When 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.760 I took over the Troubadour, we had about two inches 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.480 of water in the kitchen a flood, and we did 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.520 the tributor did not have the money to fix it. 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.160 Was struggling at the time, so we put together the 0:12:56.200 --> 0:13:01.400 Troubadours twenty fifth anniversary events for a month. Everybody came back, 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:05.280 very Linda Ronstad, Elton, John Jackson Brown, even bands like 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.199 The Knack, they all came back. We made a fortune 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:09.959 that month. We're able to fix the floor and the 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:15.319 Troubador survived. So what you're describing in first taking over 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:20.120 the bar and restaurant is effectively the basics. What sort 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.480 of basics of business do People who go to bars 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:27.040 have no idea is happening behind the scenes. Well, you know, 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.080 when I took over at the Troubador, it was fascinating 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.200 to me because I had never run any place before, 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:33.440 so I didn't know how it should be. But I 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.240 learned very quickly how it shouldn't be. I mean, everybody 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.480 giving away drinks to their friends, overpouring like crazy, making 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:44.160 themselves drinks, giving away food, taking food home, no standards. 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.520 If there's your buddy, cut the steak thick. If he's 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:48.520 not your buddy, you cut it thin. I mean, there 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.600 was no standards, no rules. It was a complete flee 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.240 for all. And I learned at a young age When 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.000 I worked at the Troubador, I was in a legendary 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.000 facility when it came to music, But I was in 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.560 the worst run bar America. There was no question about it. 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.040 Nobody could survive with the set of rules or lack 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.920 of them as the Troubador had. So I walked away 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.920 from the trouba or experience, with a very powerful knowledge 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:16.560 that great places can be poorly run, great places can close. 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:18.800 And I learned how type the margins are in the 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:22.520 bar business, which is twelve percent if if it works, 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.920 twelve eights of home run, so there's not a lot 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:30.040 of room for error or employee borrowing of either food 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:34.400 or drink or cash. How quickly when you walk into 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.680 a bar, can you identify if this is something that 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.960 could be rehabilitated and made at least break even if 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.400 not profitable, or hey, this place is never gonna make 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.840 it well. I walk in within about two or three minutes, 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.560 I can scope the operation. I can determine what operational 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:53.280 potential has literally in minutes, things like smell of music, pace, 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.800 energy that set up behind the bar, how did the 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:59.400 tabletops look? Are salt and pepper shaker sticky? Are they clean? 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:01.400 I mean, it's eight or ten things that you can 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.080 use is pretty good measurements to determine ability. But to me, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.400 the business isn't what's failing. It's the owner that's failing. 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:11.600 And I've always look at taken a look at this Barry, 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:13.960 and that the only way I could fix the failing 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:17.560 business is to fix the failing owner. And every failing 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.920 business has a failing owner. So I start there. I 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.360 start on the owner. If I can't make the owner 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.920 want to clean, if I can't make the owner embraced, change, 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.760 if I can't make the owner uh change his life, 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.560 day to day's processes, his procedures, that I cannot change 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.960 the business. I could build him to taj Mahal and 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.040 he'd still fail there. So that's why bar rescue gets 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.680 so intense. Because I can build a bar with my 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.920 eyes closed, Barry. I can put into computer systems the recipes. 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:49.840 That's easy, that's logistics. The challenge is creating an owner 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:52.120 who knows how to be successful and has the desire 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.000 to be successful. That's always the biggest fight and bar rescue. 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:57.600 You know, it's funny. You remind me of something that 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.240 one of the dog trainers at one of the dog 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.040 show is once said to me, because I don't train dogs, 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.160 I trained dog owners. The dog knows what to do. 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.560 It's teaching the owner, and you're you're basically saying the 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.520 exact same time. I am. You know, great employees know 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:14.360 what to do, Give him an environment, let him do it. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.600 Train them, of course, But so many cases it all 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:21.480 comes down to the owners, and it gets very conflicting, 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:23.640 and it gets intense, as I know you know about. 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:28.160 And here's why. Because of accountability. I forced them to 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.440 tell me that they're failing because of them. I won't 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.520 let them say they're failing because of the bar. The 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.720 bar is them. I won't let them say they're failing 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:39.640 because of the competition or the recession, or the whatever 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.480 the case is. They always push an excuse. And my 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.160 second book, which was a New York Times bestseller, Don't 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.560 b as Yourself Cut The Excuses that are holding you back, 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:55.160 identifies to me the single denominator of failure in business 0:16:55.280 --> 0:17:00.120 is an excuse. In almost every case. Make it. It 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:02.680 is fascinating to think about it. What is an excuse? 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.040 Barry and excuses a reconciliation of a mistake, you did 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.199 something you shouldn't have, you didn't do something you should have, 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.520 or you're screwed up somehow, and now you create an 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.280 excuse which makes you feel good about the failure. It's 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.960 lets you explain the failure to other people. So you 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:19.639 go to sleep that night and when you look in 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.480 the mirror and you don't blame that shortcoming on yourself, 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.800 You blame it on the excuse. So in the morning, 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.760 when you wake up and you say to yourself, why 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.560 am I failing, Well, it's that excuse. It's not me. 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.760 So you have no reason to change. But if I 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:36.639 can get you to wake up in the morning and 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.080 look in the mirror and say I'm failing because of me, 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:43.320 you won't like that, barry that self accountability, then you'll 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.800 start to change. So the ugly part of our rescue 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.560 is when I'm forcing them to say that to themselves, 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.840 I am failing because of me. They need to say 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:57.480 that now they own failure. And once your own failure, 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.320 I believe you have a chance of owning success. If 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:02.919 you never own your failure, how the heck do you 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:07.240 get to success. So finishing up this point back, I 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.800 believe that when I go in and train people and 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.040 I do this in my public speeches and my keynotes. 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:13.880 I give keynotes all the time these days of doing 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.840 v notes. We have a special camera to stage set 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.320 up and we do V notes speeches and we do very, 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.200 very many of them. And every speech I give I 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.760 always started with the same premise. I don't want to 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.080 change what you do. I want to change the way 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.560 you think. You see, if I say don't do this, 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:31.320 do that, don't do that, do this. When I leave, 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.000 you'll go back and do it over again. Seventy chance 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.520 you will. But if I can change the way you think, Barry, 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:40.719 then I can't help but change what you do. So 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.800 I'm very aggressive in that focus. Whether it's bar Rescue, 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.840 whether it's of my educational or keynote programs, I am 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:51.760 very focused on forcing people to assess, uh what they do, 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:55.040 not how they do it, and by changing how you think, 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.760 I can't help but change actions. So that's become my signature, 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.000 and as I give my speech is all around the country, 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.400 I'm very focused on shaking up the way people think 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.960 so that they can begin to think differently. I love that. 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.800 That's quite fascinating. You had a role in the creation 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:15.160 of NFL's Sunday Ticket. Tell us how that came about. Oh, 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:17.879 that's a heck of a story. Of years ago, I 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.880 had one sports bar Operator of the Year in America, 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.560 and I also had a consulting practice, and we consulted 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.080 to not only people in the industry, but products looking 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:29.520 to break into the industry. And I got a phone 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.320 call one day from a company called com Sat. And 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:34.720 com Sat is based in Maryland. They have a huge 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.639 field of uplink dishes and they manage most of the 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:42.240 satellites in space, including government satellites. So they're a satellite 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:44.800 management company and they manage the signals coming up the 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:47.280 signals coming down. So at the time, this is the 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.400 mid nineties, they managed things like pay per view cinema 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:54.160 for hotels went through their satellites, and most entertainment channels did. 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:56.720 They came to me and said, John, we would like 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:00.119 your company to do a feasibility study on out of 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:04.879 market sports programming concept, being that you sitting in New York, 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:07.880 Barry could watch a Dallas Cowboy game. You could get 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.720 that signal on your home TV. So they asked my 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.199 company to assess it. What could we charge for it? 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:15.679 Would Bars want to buy it? What would be the 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:18.440 fee structure, what support do they need to be able 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.119 to sell it to their customers and promoted, etcetera. So 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.520 they retained us to do this feasibility study. So we did. 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:28.480 We did the feasibility study. We identified huge market potential 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.119 for this type of product, and they paid us dearly 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:32.720 for that work. And then they came back to us 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:35.200 a couple of weeks later and said, John, we really 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:37.560 like this. Tell us what the product would look like. 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:40.520 So then we did a second phase of work where 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:43.439 we started design what Sunday Ticket would look like. And 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:47.639 while we were doing that work, Barry something happened technologically 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:52.520 called compression. And compression changed the satellite industry where now 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:58.040 I could receive multiple signals on multiple transponders off one dish. 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:00.680 Prior to that, you might remember Barry to watch seven 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.639 football games at once. The bar how to have a 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.119 half acre field behind it with those big analog dishes. 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:10.000 It became sort of cost prohibitive. Since compression was created 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:13.119 in that second document, we then created the premise of 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:15.560 Sunday Ticket. You could watch seven or eight games at 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:19.080 the same time off one satellite system. The technology worked, 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.520 and then we started putting together the ad slicks to 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:26.320 promo manuals, a marketing book or promotion book for the bar. 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:28.840 We put it all together and then we delivered that 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.040 to comp SAT. Compsat then came back a third time 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:35.440 and said, this is great, Now give us a marketing universe. John, 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:37.879 Who the heck can we sell this too? So we 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:41.600 put together another document filled with the Fridays and Damon's 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.760 Ribs and Applebee's and all of those brands and their 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:47.520 corporate offices and all their contacts and essence a target 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:50.359 market book and gave them that, and they paid us 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.280 very well for each one of these. Comp Sat then 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.560 took my three pieces of work brought it to the 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.560 NFL to license the signal. The NFL had the three 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:02.920 Pafford documents and said, you know, this is really good, 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:05.960 let's do it ourselves. So they put me on the 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:10.320 board of NFL Enterprises, and Sunday Ticket came to be. Wow, 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:14.640 that's quite astonishing, and I imagine that that was as 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:18.280 wildly successful as it sounds. The way you make it 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:20.479 to this day, you still have an option of doing that, 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:23.000 don't you. Well, you know, when Sunday Ticket launched, it 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:25.639 was originally only in commercial licenses. You couldn't get it 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:28.399 at home for the first two years, so it became 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:30.880 if you wanted to watch that Dallas game in New York, 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:32.159 you had to go to a bar to do it. 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:34.560 You couldn't watch it at home. Of course, years later 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:37.840 Sunday Ticket evolved into a residential product too, and now 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:40.960 there's NFL Read and different variations of it. But when 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:43.240 we did it, which was about twenty six years ago, 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:46.760 it's still the model by which all sports leagues do 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:49.680 their programming. Wow, twenty six years ago, that's a long time. 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:53.680 So how does that then get par laid into bar rescue? 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:56.920 Well it really didn't. So I'm back to my Paramount story. 0:22:57.000 --> 0:22:59.480 So I leave Paramount, they put together my sizzle Wheel, 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:02.639 and I go to Paramount. Of course, I told you, 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:04.720 and I'm told I'll never be on television, so I 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:07.200 didn't accept that. I wrote it up, send it to 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:10.679 four production companies, and the four production companies sent me 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:12.960 four offers. I couldn't believe it. And these guys all 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:16.440 now background with the NFL. They they saw the past 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:19.600 success obviously not really honestly, all they did was look 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:22.440 at me on TV honestly, that's all they did. These 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:25.679 are television stations. Sure they cared about my background a 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.399 little bit, but you know, I learned on television that 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:31.080 you know a lot of television chefs can cook at dinner, 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:32.960 They can cook one place to TV, but they can't 0:23:33.040 --> 0:23:36.280 run a kitchen. So there's a big difference, particularly in 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:42.200 a hospitality space between TV hospitality people and operations hospitality people, 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:45.760 huge difference, and I've learned that and Bar Rescue. So 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:48.080 they did Nutch care as long as I could create 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:50.120 a good TV show. They knew I had a background 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:51.920 in it, so they knew I was a quote expert, 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:55.960 but they didn't put much effort into learning my background 0:23:55.960 --> 0:23:58.439 in a hospitality business. They were more interested in what 0:23:58.480 --> 0:24:02.040 I could do on camera. So we created a sizzle 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:05.240 reel and the network picked it up. In four days 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:07.840 the show launched. You'll get a kick out of this. 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:11.359 First season was ten episodes, second season was ten third 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:16.200 episode was season was forty episodes. Fifth season was fifty 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:19.040 episodes in one year, and it takes a week to 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:21.560 make one, so you can imagine, uh, the amount of 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:24.439 work that year. But you know, Bar Rescue was successful. 0:24:24.480 --> 0:24:27.159 I think for one main reason and one reason alone. 0:24:27.960 --> 0:24:31.040 It's real. I never met these people before. I get 0:24:31.040 --> 0:24:34.040 a sixty second briefing before the show starts. Barry, that's it. 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:37.600 I've never been in the bar before, so bar Rescue 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:40.760 last because people know real, they know fake, and I 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:43.160 don't know anything about these people at the bar. When 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:45.720 I find out, the audience finds out at the same time. 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:49.440 So I've worked very, very hard to keep the show authentic, 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:53.119 sometimes at odds with the network to do so, because 0:24:53.119 --> 0:24:54.679 you know, in the television business they want to know 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:57.840 what they're getting before they read a check, and Bar Rescue, 0:24:57.840 --> 0:24:59.639 you're not gonna know what you're getting till after your 0:24:59.720 --> 0:25:01.320 right the check. It just doesn't work that way in 0:25:01.359 --> 0:25:03.800 my show. You have to trust me. So it took 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:06.639 some time. Now, of course, we had the level of 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:09.840 trust with the network. We never had network executives on show. 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:11.800 The network really has very little to do with what 0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:14.560 we produced. We do it all ourselves, deliver the show 0:25:14.600 --> 0:25:18.080 to the network, and we operate very autonomously of the network, 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:21.040 which enhances the reality of the show. Let's talk a 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:24.359 little bit about what's going on with Shelter in Place 0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:28.320 and working from home in lockdowns. The bar and restaurant 0:25:28.320 --> 0:25:32.520 industry has been pretty decimated by this. I spoke to 0:25:32.720 --> 0:25:35.359 Pat la Freda, a meat purveyor in New York City, 0:25:35.359 --> 0:25:41.080 who said about half of his restaurants are just shut totally, 0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:45.040 and of those that are open that are doing curbside 0:25:45.040 --> 0:25:48.359 service take out to go, they're running about a third 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:52.399 of what they traditionally run. What is the world of 0:25:52.440 --> 0:25:56.840 bars and restaurants gonna look like coming out of this quarantine? Well, 0:25:56.840 --> 0:25:59.159 I think decimator is the right word, Barry, And obviously 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:02.520 I'm heartbroken to for this, and many restaurants are running 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:06.960 a closer to uh off ten percent of what they 0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:11.160 did and many of course haven't opened yet. And making 0:26:11.200 --> 0:26:14.880 a couple of points, I'm very concerned about the difference 0:26:14.920 --> 0:26:19.160 between sustaining and opening, and all we've gotten government stimulus 0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:22.960 hours We're all spending our money sustaining ourselves when we 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:26.280 have no revenue potential, and I'm terrified we're not going 0:26:26.320 --> 0:26:29.040 to make it and have the resources to open properly 0:26:29.040 --> 0:26:32.600 when we do have potential. That's what's horrifying me about 0:26:32.600 --> 0:26:36.480 the industry. And every week more go down that don't 0:26:36.480 --> 0:26:39.679 reopen again because what we're doing, we're causing them to 0:26:39.760 --> 0:26:43.359 bleed to death slowly. Now. I'm not saying every restaurant, 0:26:43.520 --> 0:26:45.880 but I think in many cases I wouldn't open now. 0:26:46.480 --> 0:26:49.280 I would stay closed. I would retain my resources for 0:26:49.320 --> 0:26:51.920 a real opening. I would open in a few weeks 0:26:51.960 --> 0:26:55.119 when people are more comfortable, open with a bang, with 0:26:55.160 --> 0:26:58.240 a little marketing. I wouldn't just open quietly with everyone else. 0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:02.000 And I'm just very are concerned. And in our government 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:05.400 stimulus package, Bear, they gave us money for payroll, rent 0:27:05.480 --> 0:27:09.640 and utilities, but there's no inventory allocation. Now when these 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:13.200 restaurants really open to a capacity down the road three 0:27:13.280 --> 0:27:15.560 four whatever months from now. Keep in mind they've been 0:27:15.640 --> 0:27:18.600 running into deficits, so they don't have resources. Now they 0:27:18.640 --> 0:27:21.840 have to fill their refrigerator, really feel it because everything 0:27:21.920 --> 0:27:24.240 is bad. They even have to change their beer kegs 0:27:24.240 --> 0:27:26.879 because those are bad barry. So now they need the 0:27:26.960 --> 0:27:30.760 resources to create a completely new inventory to open properly. 0:27:31.040 --> 0:27:33.920 They don't have those resources, which means they don't order 0:27:33.960 --> 0:27:36.960 from the food distributor, the manufactory doesn't make it, and 0:27:37.000 --> 0:27:40.160 the farmer doesn't grow it. So if we don't get 0:27:40.160 --> 0:27:44.680 American Americans restaurants to refill their refrigerators. We're going to 0:27:44.800 --> 0:27:49.879 have an impact right down the whole supply chain that. Yeah, 0:27:49.920 --> 0:27:53.200 they really need a new line of credit so they 0:27:53.240 --> 0:27:56.160 could ramp up. Correct, we need some type of an 0:27:56.160 --> 0:27:59.960 inventory credit so that we can spend dollars on product. 0:28:00.000 --> 0:28:01.760 Then it should be structured the saying that the money 0:28:01.800 --> 0:28:04.600 spent on product, it's not repayable. If it's not, it is. 0:28:05.080 --> 0:28:08.320 But we must get these refrigerators full against the restaurants 0:28:08.320 --> 0:28:11.560 can get to real capacity levels as far as having 0:28:11.560 --> 0:28:14.400 the products to sell so that The other thing that 0:28:14.520 --> 0:28:18.520 terrifies me, Barry is the separation between bars and restaurants. 0:28:18.560 --> 0:28:20.960 The industry doesn't separate them. We talk about them in 0:28:21.000 --> 0:28:25.080 one glide, and they're not bars. For example, if you 0:28:25.119 --> 0:28:29.119 look at the regulations around restaurant openings, you're not allowed 0:28:29.160 --> 0:28:30.960 to walk up to the bar. You're not allowed to 0:28:31.000 --> 0:28:33.919 sit at the bar. There's no standing room allowed. You 0:28:34.000 --> 0:28:36.760 have to be sitting at the table. So by effect, 0:28:37.119 --> 0:28:40.240 the regulations to open a restaurant has closed the bar. 0:28:40.960 --> 0:28:43.520 Now you can order a drink at your table, but 0:28:43.640 --> 0:28:45.800 the bar itself is closed for walk up or sit 0:28:45.840 --> 0:28:50.080 down customers. Now that to me, I get it. But 0:28:50.560 --> 0:28:53.720 the bar in fact is being clustered. Are the restaurant 0:28:53.760 --> 0:28:57.640 is open, It's no, the bar is at zero. We 0:28:57.840 --> 0:29:00.440 must remember that. So all of the as far as 0:29:00.440 --> 0:29:03.520 across the country, particularly ones that don't have food, people 0:29:03.520 --> 0:29:05.840 can't walk up to their bars, can't sit at their bars, 0:29:06.040 --> 0:29:09.880 they can't have standing rooms barry. That's almost every small 0:29:09.880 --> 0:29:13.280 neighborhood bar in America. So the bar industry is far 0:29:13.400 --> 0:29:17.240 more challenged than the restaurant industry is, and I'm very 0:29:17.240 --> 0:29:20.960 concerned we're gonna lose about them. Wow, that's a giant number. 0:29:21.360 --> 0:29:26.080 My understanding of profitability at restaurants is that the bar 0:29:26.400 --> 0:29:30.520 plays an enormous part in that. If we reopen restaurants 0:29:30.520 --> 0:29:34.280 and the bar portion of a restaurant remains closed, does 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:37.840 that mean we're dooming these restaurants to uh not be 0:29:37.960 --> 0:29:40.840 profitable for the foreseeable future. Well, yes, that that's in 0:29:40.880 --> 0:29:43.880 many cases. The numbers that you're talking about is product cost. 0:29:44.320 --> 0:29:48.440 Food costs in a restaurant can run, beverage costs can run, 0:29:49.600 --> 0:29:52.960 so you're making considerably more dollars per revenue dollar off 0:29:52.960 --> 0:29:55.880 of liquor. You also can sell liquor without the burden 0:29:55.880 --> 0:29:58.840 of the kitchen staff, so your labor costs connected to 0:29:58.920 --> 0:30:01.440 liquor and to rinks is a little lower as well. 0:30:01.640 --> 0:30:04.760 So yes, when you take the beverage sales out of 0:30:04.760 --> 0:30:08.760 a casual dining operation, let's say where it's beverage sales, 0:30:09.120 --> 0:30:12.800 now it's a food sales, lower profit item, and it's 0:30:12.840 --> 0:30:16.520 only at potential. There's no way it can make money. 0:30:17.000 --> 0:30:20.520 It's barely sustaining itself. And when it runs out of 0:30:20.560 --> 0:30:23.360 the resources, the same itself. Very how does it reopen 0:30:23.560 --> 0:30:26.000 when the pandemic is over? So here's one of the 0:30:26.080 --> 0:30:30.800 questions that I keep hearing from economists. They are saying, 0:30:30.880 --> 0:30:34.640 it's not so much that we're forced into lockdown that's 0:30:34.680 --> 0:30:37.600 preventing us from going out and about to these places 0:30:37.640 --> 0:30:40.840 that a lot of people on their own are afraid 0:30:40.880 --> 0:30:43.600 to go to restaurants and afraid to go to bars 0:30:44.160 --> 0:30:48.800 or concerts or shows or whatever. So two questions for you, First, 0:30:49.280 --> 0:30:51.800 how long is it going to take for people to 0:30:51.920 --> 0:30:56.960 get over their fears? And second, can restaurants and bars 0:30:57.240 --> 0:31:00.760 wait that long? Are we basically gonna be stuck in 0:31:00.760 --> 0:31:05.200 a slow circle the drain situation. I'm worried about the ladder, 0:31:05.560 --> 0:31:08.360 but if I can, I made this pretty simple all right, 0:31:08.440 --> 0:31:10.960 let's cut it up in thirds. I believe the third 0:31:10.960 --> 0:31:13.720 of the population, the younger third, the invincible third, they're 0:31:13.720 --> 0:31:16.040 gonna go out right away. They're gonna go out there 0:31:16.120 --> 0:31:17.680 in the party. We've seen a bunch of them out 0:31:17.720 --> 0:31:19.720 the past weekend or two in states that are allowing it. 0:31:20.240 --> 0:31:23.680 The second third I called the reserve third. They want 0:31:23.680 --> 0:31:25.880 to watch and see for a couple of weeks what's happening. 0:31:25.960 --> 0:31:28.400 You know, there was there any spike in illnesses that 0:31:28.520 --> 0:31:32.080 the restaurants look safe? Are people wearing masks? Okay, if 0:31:32.080 --> 0:31:34.880 it looks good, it feels good. That second third will 0:31:34.920 --> 0:31:37.560 start to come out in a few weeks. The third 0:31:37.680 --> 0:31:41.120 third I called a certain third. They're not going out 0:31:41.120 --> 0:31:43.520 to there's a vaccine and they can be absolutely certain. 0:31:43.560 --> 0:31:46.160 These are people who are a little older, demo, maybe 0:31:46.160 --> 0:31:49.360 pre existing conditions, but Barry, that's the sector of the 0:31:49.400 --> 0:31:53.480 audience that has the highest disposable income. It's going to 0:31:53.640 --> 0:31:57.480 impact the luxury sector, and nobody's talking about this far 0:31:57.600 --> 0:32:00.000 greater than the casual and other sectors in the restaurant 0:32:00.040 --> 0:32:02.760 the bar industry. They're the last ones to come out. 0:32:03.280 --> 0:32:05.840 And that's why I worry about brands like Neeme and 0:32:05.920 --> 0:32:08.080 Marcus and luxury brands, and how they're going to be 0:32:08.160 --> 0:32:11.440 impacted during this whole thing because of the certain third, 0:32:11.440 --> 0:32:14.680 as I call it. So that's what's happening outside. But 0:32:14.760 --> 0:32:17.840 here's the interesting part. I have great confidence in the 0:32:17.880 --> 0:32:21.520 restaurant business. BART We've been dealing with invisible enemies since 0:32:21.560 --> 0:32:25.520 our inception. We call it bacteria, and bars and restaurants 0:32:25.520 --> 0:32:28.640 deal with bacteria every day. We know how to clean 0:32:28.640 --> 0:32:31.160 our surfaces, we know how to wash our hands, we 0:32:31.200 --> 0:32:34.080 know what chemicals to use to clean those services. We 0:32:34.160 --> 0:32:37.120 know to separate raw product from cook product. We are 0:32:37.200 --> 0:32:41.600 really good at this. A good restaurant operator manages bacteria 0:32:41.720 --> 0:32:45.520 in his kitchen every single day and people don't get sick. Well, 0:32:45.840 --> 0:32:49.800 now we have a virus. It's a different invisible energy enemy. 0:32:49.920 --> 0:32:52.480 But the chemicals have to change a little because it's 0:32:52.520 --> 0:32:56.400 viral rather than bacterial. But the processes don't change that much. 0:32:56.720 --> 0:32:58.880 We still have to wipe our surfaces all the time, 0:32:59.080 --> 0:33:01.520 we still have to wash hands all the time. Now 0:33:01.520 --> 0:33:04.760 we're adding masks and other ppe to the process. But 0:33:04.920 --> 0:33:09.000 make no mistake, unlike the retail business, or the car business, 0:33:09.080 --> 0:33:12.240 or the furniture business, restaurants know how to do this. 0:33:12.760 --> 0:33:16.200 We've been doing it our whole lives. Here's my fear. 0:33:16.720 --> 0:33:19.680 I am scared more about the customers than I am 0:33:19.760 --> 0:33:21.880 the restaurants. So let me give you an example. We 0:33:21.960 --> 0:33:24.320 talked about that first third, that second third, and that 0:33:24.480 --> 0:33:29.120 third third. If that first third goes out, doesn't wear masks, 0:33:29.680 --> 0:33:33.440 doesn't employee social distancing, so that we are the news. 0:33:33.480 --> 0:33:36.520 That second third, all they see is images of people 0:33:36.560 --> 0:33:40.160 being irresponsible in restaurants. Nobody's wearing masks, they're hanging together, 0:33:40.440 --> 0:33:43.320 there's crowds in front. That second third is not going 0:33:43.360 --> 0:33:47.600 to go. So I suggest that the actions of the 0:33:47.760 --> 0:33:52.520 customers these first few weeks, more than a restaurants, are 0:33:52.520 --> 0:33:55.200 going to determine whether this works or not. And think 0:33:55.240 --> 0:33:57.760 about it. About if you're driving by a restaurant and 0:33:57.760 --> 0:34:01.800 there's four people standing in front space and they're wearing masks, 0:34:02.160 --> 0:34:04.960 your immediate impression is, Okay, they got their stuff together. 0:34:05.000 --> 0:34:07.440 That must be a safe place to go. Drive to 0:34:07.480 --> 0:34:10.560 the next restaurant. Crowd in front, nobody wearing masks. Are 0:34:10.560 --> 0:34:13.399 you going to go in that restaurant? If I'm twenty two, yes, 0:34:13.440 --> 0:34:16.200 if I'm fifty two, now, So My point is this, 0:34:16.920 --> 0:34:19.319 those customers that are saying I refuse to wear a 0:34:19.360 --> 0:34:23.480 mask because of vanity, are risking all of these businesses, 0:34:23.800 --> 0:34:26.680 not just the health of the person standing next to them. 0:34:26.719 --> 0:34:30.640 And it's a powerful point. The only reason why somebody 0:34:30.640 --> 0:34:34.400 would not wear a mask today is because of vanity, 0:34:34.680 --> 0:34:37.960 and that makes no sense. Vanity shouldn't come before safety. 0:34:38.520 --> 0:34:41.320 Vanity shouldn't come before the safety of the person next 0:34:41.320 --> 0:34:45.040 to you. Vanity shouldn't come before destroying the local business. 0:34:45.719 --> 0:34:48.640 So I'm trying to communicate the people that if we 0:34:48.760 --> 0:34:51.200 don't behave in these ways, we're gonna lose more of 0:34:51.239 --> 0:34:54.520 these businesses. People are not going to come. So I 0:34:54.640 --> 0:34:57.120 put the burden equally on the customer as I do 0:34:57.200 --> 0:35:00.000 the restaurant. I know that will do what is supposed 0:35:00.520 --> 0:35:02.839 Will the customers do what they're supposed to, and if 0:35:02.840 --> 0:35:06.279 they don't, that restaurant is doomed. Today, we're living in 0:35:06.360 --> 0:35:09.279 a culture of accountability, Barry. If you go out to 0:35:09.320 --> 0:35:11.440 dinner and have a bad dinners on yelp, in a 0:35:11.480 --> 0:35:14.880 matter of seconds, if we have infections in any of 0:35:14.920 --> 0:35:17.719 these restaurants, and we have crises to break out in 0:35:17.760 --> 0:35:20.680 any of these businesses, it will go public and it 0:35:20.680 --> 0:35:25.840 will destroy that business. So think about it, and restaurant 0:35:25.840 --> 0:35:30.480 operated does everything right by the book PPE procedures, processes, 0:35:30.760 --> 0:35:34.839 A bunch of customers come in, very irresponsible, people get sick, 0:35:34.920 --> 0:35:37.640 and now that restaurant is shut down. I have two 0:35:37.719 --> 0:35:40.560 questions about how we come out of this. One is 0:35:40.560 --> 0:35:42.920 sort of short term and the other is long term. 0:35:43.000 --> 0:35:45.600 Let let me start with the shorter term one. So, 0:35:45.760 --> 0:35:49.160 if we're doing social distancing and some of these restaurants 0:35:49.680 --> 0:35:54.120 are are running at half capacity, can these guys break 0:35:54.200 --> 0:35:58.280 even with every other table and every other seat pulled 0:35:58.280 --> 0:36:00.080 out of the restaurant? Is that is that really be 0:36:00.080 --> 0:36:05.279 a viable financial option? No, it's not at all. And 0:36:05.360 --> 0:36:06.880 you know, I've said to myself, if we can't do 0:36:06.960 --> 0:36:08.879 a hundred lunches in an hour, because I'm the thirty 0:36:08.920 --> 0:36:11.600 percent capacity, you know, now I have to do those 0:36:11.680 --> 0:36:14.600 lunches over three hours. Okay, So I can do early 0:36:14.640 --> 0:36:17.240 bird lunch specials, late bird lunch specials. I can spread 0:36:17.320 --> 0:36:19.840 the business, but now I'm doing the same revenue for 0:36:19.960 --> 0:36:23.080 three times the labor costs. Barry, that doesn't work either. 0:36:23.680 --> 0:36:27.239 So if I recover the revenues over more hours, that 0:36:27.320 --> 0:36:30.360 doesn't solve the problem. I have to recover the revenue 0:36:30.360 --> 0:36:33.360 in the same hours to make my numbers work. That 0:36:33.400 --> 0:36:35.360 makes a lot of sense. And then the second question. 0:36:35.960 --> 0:36:39.360 I keep hearing people saying, this is going to change 0:36:39.440 --> 0:36:42.480 us forever. Everything is going to be different. Fast forward 0:36:42.640 --> 0:36:46.319 two years. We have a treatment, we have a vaccine. 0:36:46.960 --> 0:36:50.600 Does the restaurant industry return to normal or are we 0:36:50.719 --> 0:36:54.080 forever altered by this experience. I'm I'm of the belief 0:36:54.120 --> 0:36:56.080 that we do return to normal. You know. I think 0:36:56.120 --> 0:36:59.879 we're social animals and we need social interaction and six 0:37:00.000 --> 0:37:01.680 be the part isn't gonna work for us long term. 0:37:02.040 --> 0:37:05.040 Once we have a vaccine and people feel safe, I 0:37:05.080 --> 0:37:09.040 believe we go back to normal activity and and I 0:37:09.080 --> 0:37:11.319 think that there might be some adjustments to society. I 0:37:11.360 --> 0:37:13.279 think kitchens will never quite be the same, and I'm 0:37:13.280 --> 0:37:15.680 all for that. I'm opening a restaurant in Atlanta in 0:37:15.760 --> 0:37:19.320 July called Taffer's Tavern. We've created the kitchen of the future. 0:37:19.360 --> 0:37:23.320 It's all robotic cooking. There's no human touching of food 0:37:23.320 --> 0:37:26.279 as it goes to the cooking life process. And if 0:37:26.280 --> 0:37:28.759 you look at the kitchen today and we'll send you 0:37:28.840 --> 0:37:30.600 pictures when it opens back, you can see what the 0:37:30.680 --> 0:37:34.000 kitchen looks like. But but we're changing the industry. You 0:37:34.040 --> 0:37:36.120 look at a kitchen today, it almost looks more like 0:37:36.120 --> 0:37:38.680 an operating room than it does a kitchen. You know, 0:37:38.760 --> 0:37:41.759 we can't have street clothes and kitchens anymore. We can't 0:37:41.800 --> 0:37:43.680 let people wear their ball cap from home in a 0:37:43.760 --> 0:37:46.160 kitchen anymore. You know, we have to have gloves, we 0:37:46.200 --> 0:37:48.600 have to have uniforms in the kitchen. We have to 0:37:48.600 --> 0:37:51.200 have hats that we issue, not hats that they wear 0:37:51.200 --> 0:37:54.480 from home. It's a different style of operating now. They 0:37:54.480 --> 0:37:56.640 have to have masks, they have to have gloves, but 0:37:56.719 --> 0:37:59.040 we have to have less contact in the kitchen. So 0:37:59.120 --> 0:38:01.160 I think it's there's mind the way. It's going to 0:38:01.400 --> 0:38:04.680 change the way future kitchens are designed, and it's changing 0:38:04.760 --> 0:38:09.360 kitchen equipment hugely. Companies like Middleby, who owns about sixty 0:38:09.560 --> 0:38:12.799 professional grade ovens and cook they're focused on all these 0:38:12.920 --> 0:38:15.920 robotics and everyone is focused on how to do this 0:38:16.000 --> 0:38:19.960 without people. What's interesting art is six months ago we 0:38:20.040 --> 0:38:22.520 all were doing this. We were all trying to create 0:38:22.640 --> 0:38:25.200 robotic kitchens without people in them because we had no 0:38:25.280 --> 0:38:28.120 labor pool back then. Remember just a few months ago 0:38:28.680 --> 0:38:31.920 we couldn't find any people. We had fifteen dollar minimum wages. 0:38:32.239 --> 0:38:34.440 Many of the hires we had with New Americans, they 0:38:34.440 --> 0:38:37.080 didn't speak so well, so we had to simplify and 0:38:37.120 --> 0:38:41.040 reduce the labor burdens and kitchens. So it's interesting when 0:38:41.040 --> 0:38:44.080 I started that process two years ago, because we had 0:38:44.120 --> 0:38:46.120 so much labor in the market we didn't have labor 0:38:46.120 --> 0:38:48.680 in the marketplace. I wound up with a kitchen that's 0:38:48.719 --> 0:38:52.680 perfect for post COVID, but that wasn't what we built. 0:38:52.920 --> 0:38:55.279 We just tried to build the most sanitary kitchen that 0:38:55.280 --> 0:38:57.880 would be the most efficient kitchen in America, and we 0:38:57.920 --> 0:39:00.960 wound up with a COVID nineteen kitchen. It interesting, that's 0:39:00.960 --> 0:39:03.840 absolutely fascinating. So I know I only have you for 0:39:03.880 --> 0:39:06.400 a couple of more minutes. Let's jump to our speed 0:39:06.480 --> 0:39:08.960 round where we're gonna find out a little bit about you, 0:39:09.120 --> 0:39:13.239 uh personally, And let's begin with the question that's on 0:39:13.280 --> 0:39:16.480 everybody's mind. What are you streaming these days? Give us 0:39:16.520 --> 0:39:20.279 your favorite Netflix, Disney plus Amazon Prime shows. What are 0:39:20.320 --> 0:39:23.279 you watching or listening to? Well, I've been I've been 0:39:23.320 --> 0:39:25.880 watching Ozark, of course, which which I love, and I 0:39:26.440 --> 0:39:28.400 just finished the new season, so I'm a little bummed. 0:39:28.400 --> 0:39:30.800 I got no more Ozark for a while. There's another 0:39:30.840 --> 0:39:34.080 show on Netflix called Stranger, which is a British show 0:39:34.120 --> 0:39:36.239 that I've been watching, which is really great. It's a 0:39:36.280 --> 0:39:40.279 mystery show. Um. And then of course on Disney, I 0:39:40.320 --> 0:39:42.479 must confess I'm a classics guy. I've watched a little 0:39:42.520 --> 0:39:45.239 Star Wars, but I must confess I watched Beauty and 0:39:45.280 --> 0:39:49.200 the Beast the other day. Yeah, nothing like a little 0:39:49.280 --> 0:39:52.560 cheerful escapism to forget the mess we're dealing with. A 0:39:52.680 --> 0:39:55.080 cartoon works pretty well in the middle of it. Really, 0:39:55.120 --> 0:39:58.520 it really does. Tell us. By the way, the cartoon 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:01.680 I'm watching on Disney plus us is um after I 0:40:01.719 --> 0:40:06.440 went through the Mandalorian is a Star Wars series called Rebels, 0:40:06.760 --> 0:40:11.360 and it's surprisingly good plot lines for an animated series. 0:40:11.880 --> 0:40:15.080 Tell us about your early mentors who helped guide your 0:40:15.239 --> 0:40:19.399 career and turn you into the television powerhouse you are. Well, 0:40:19.400 --> 0:40:22.680 you know, it's interesting. I didn't really have any television idols, 0:40:23.360 --> 0:40:26.239 uh per se. Gordon Ramsey of course was out before me, 0:40:26.360 --> 0:40:31.200 sort of created the genre. So watching Gordon, of course, uh, 0:40:31.239 --> 0:40:34.400 the way he works and has impacted me. But you know, 0:40:34.440 --> 0:40:37.120 I have strange mentors. I mean, Thomas Jefferson is a 0:40:37.160 --> 0:40:40.640 huge mentor to me. I know everything about his life. 0:40:40.680 --> 0:40:43.160 I have huge respect for Jefferson. He's a real mentor 0:40:43.239 --> 0:40:46.799 to me. Believe it or not. Howard Hughes, I've read 0:40:46.840 --> 0:40:48.840 every book ever written on a man who's been a 0:40:48.920 --> 0:40:51.640 huge mentor to me. The fact that he stepped from 0:40:51.680 --> 0:40:54.920 one industry to another, uh was huge. It was hugely 0:40:54.920 --> 0:40:58.400 powerful to me. Uh. You know more locally, Uh, there 0:40:58.400 --> 0:41:01.359 are people. Uh. Youngman by the name of Stillman who 0:41:01.360 --> 0:41:04.120 created Friday's was a mentor to me. He redefined the 0:41:04.120 --> 0:41:08.160 whole dining segment. But I tend to be more motivated 0:41:08.160 --> 0:41:11.719 by global figures more than smaller industry figures. And of 0:41:11.719 --> 0:41:14.480 course the greatest motivator of all to me was my grandfather, 0:41:15.239 --> 0:41:17.359 who taught me that the only way you can become 0:41:17.400 --> 0:41:19.319 a millionaire in life is to be the smartest guy 0:41:19.320 --> 0:41:21.480 in the room. And the other thing he taught me 0:41:21.560 --> 0:41:23.959 was John, if you don't have a big check book, 0:41:24.120 --> 0:41:27.640 you better have a big idea book. And those are 0:41:27.680 --> 0:41:29.279 the things he taught me when I was young. But 0:41:29.320 --> 0:41:32.680 he was probably my biggest mentor. Speaking of books, what 0:41:32.719 --> 0:41:34.719 are you reading? What are some of your favorites. What's 0:41:34.800 --> 0:41:38.160 keeping you occupied these days? Well, you know, I've been 0:41:38.360 --> 0:41:41.120 uh looking at a number of books. It's interesting. I 0:41:41.160 --> 0:41:42.960 just read one of mine again the other day. Don't 0:41:42.960 --> 0:41:45.160 be yes yourself. But there's a book that I love 0:41:45.200 --> 0:41:48.120 that I've been telling friends to read that I read 0:41:48.200 --> 0:41:50.080 years ago. When I pulled it out again, it's called 0:41:50.160 --> 0:41:54.879 The Myth Revisited and it's a book about the entrepreneurial myth. 0:41:55.440 --> 0:41:58.040 And it's a short book. It's a quick read, and 0:41:58.080 --> 0:42:00.760 it really makes us think about ourselves, whether we truly 0:42:00.760 --> 0:42:05.759 are entrepreneurs, businesspeople, administrators. If counts us into categories of 0:42:05.880 --> 0:42:09.279 business through personality and helps us to understand ourselves. It's 0:42:09.360 --> 0:42:11.719 it's a fun book. It's called The Myth Revisited. It's 0:42:11.760 --> 0:42:14.640 written by Michael Gerber. I will definitely check that out. 0:42:15.360 --> 0:42:17.560 Tell us the sort of advice you would give to 0:42:17.640 --> 0:42:21.560 a recent college grad who was thinking about going into 0:42:21.640 --> 0:42:25.839 either the hospitality business or the television industry. Well, you know, 0:42:25.960 --> 0:42:29.719 both industries are are somewhat of a metamorphosis, if you will, 0:42:29.800 --> 0:42:32.360 or a fork in the road. The hospitality industry is 0:42:32.360 --> 0:42:34.800 not going to go away. We need hotels, we need restaurants, 0:42:34.800 --> 0:42:36.880 We need bars. It's an important part of our society. 0:42:37.200 --> 0:42:39.719 But those who go into that business today are going 0:42:39.719 --> 0:42:42.840 to be the instruments of change. Great marketers are going 0:42:42.880 --> 0:42:45.160 to bubble to the top. Very great promoters are going 0:42:45.200 --> 0:42:48.560 to create revenue. Great operators are gonna find new systems. 0:42:48.600 --> 0:42:51.400 So I personally see this as a time of rebirth. 0:42:51.719 --> 0:42:53.560 You know, it's almost like when it's a forest fire 0:42:53.560 --> 0:42:55.840 and those new sprouts pop out of the graud. Certainly 0:42:55.840 --> 0:42:59.120 one grow quicker than others. I really believe that. I 0:42:59.120 --> 0:43:01.279 believe there's going to be an exciting time as soon 0:43:01.320 --> 0:43:04.520 as that vaccine comes out in the industry. So I'm 0:43:04.560 --> 0:43:06.840 selling the people that want to go into this space, 0:43:07.160 --> 0:43:10.600 don't not don't hold yourself back. Think of the greatness. 0:43:10.640 --> 0:43:13.880 Think of the amazingly powerful ideas and programs that are 0:43:13.880 --> 0:43:17.120 going to read, define and relaunch the industry. So I 0:43:17.160 --> 0:43:19.680 would not divert into a different way. I would remember 0:43:19.760 --> 0:43:24.000 for every person who's graduating this year that great marketers 0:43:24.000 --> 0:43:27.640 are going to market really well, great promoters, great operators 0:43:27.680 --> 0:43:30.719 be one of those. But if there's anything that this 0:43:30.760 --> 0:43:33.880 pandemic has taught us, it's mediocre is not going to 0:43:33.920 --> 0:43:36.719 work coming out of this We need energy to come 0:43:36.719 --> 0:43:38.759 out of this. We need ideas to come out of this. 0:43:39.120 --> 0:43:42.800 We need those young minds, those young ideas that understand 0:43:42.880 --> 0:43:46.200 social media so well, grew up living these things. They're 0:43:46.200 --> 0:43:48.720 going to be the biggest contributors to this change, I believe. 0:43:49.000 --> 0:43:51.520 I love that suggestion. I think you're you're dead on 0:43:51.719 --> 0:43:54.400 And our final question, what do you know about the 0:43:54.400 --> 0:43:58.319 world of hospitality today? You wish you knew back in 0:43:58.360 --> 0:44:02.640 the late seventies when you were first started at the Troubadour. Well, 0:44:02.640 --> 0:44:05.319 you know, I think the world of hospitality today is 0:44:05.680 --> 0:44:08.279 we didn't appreciate loyalty like we did today. You know, 0:44:08.320 --> 0:44:11.120 we didn't have loyalty programs and frequency cards and all 0:44:11.160 --> 0:44:14.400 of those things. We used to look at guests as transactions. 0:44:15.000 --> 0:44:17.600 We didn't look at them as relationships. It was only 0:44:17.600 --> 0:44:19.520 in the later years of the industry that we all 0:44:19.560 --> 0:44:23.760 started to understand the power of frequency and building guest relationships. 0:44:23.960 --> 0:44:26.440 And that's when all the software programs created, in the 0:44:26.520 --> 0:44:29.840 tracking programs and the frequency programs. The one thing that 0:44:29.920 --> 0:44:32.680 I didn't know when I started in this business, and 0:44:32.760 --> 0:44:36.160 I learned my financials, I learned my operations, I never 0:44:36.280 --> 0:44:40.400 learned what really marketing was till much later years. Marketing 0:44:40.480 --> 0:44:43.320 is only three things, Barry, And in the hospitality industry, 0:44:43.360 --> 0:44:45.040 I didn't know when I was younger. I don't think 0:44:45.040 --> 0:44:48.880 they did. Marketing is new customer programs, frequency programs, and 0:44:48.920 --> 0:44:51.719 spend programs. That's all we got there. I gotta get 0:44:51.719 --> 0:44:53.759 you to come the first time, I gotta get you 0:44:53.760 --> 0:44:55.640 to come more often, and I gotta get you to 0:44:55.680 --> 0:45:00.000 spend more while you're there. That's all we got. Most hospitality, 0:45:00.040 --> 0:45:03.040 the operators don't cut marketing into those three things. They 0:45:03.080 --> 0:45:06.640 just spend the money generically. And if ever, post pandemic, 0:45:06.960 --> 0:45:09.960 we need to isolate our dollars into new customer programs, 0:45:09.960 --> 0:45:13.239 frequency programs, and spend programs. Now is the time to 0:45:13.320 --> 0:45:15.320 do that. But I didn't know any of that. I 0:45:15.480 --> 0:45:19.279 was just spend the money and trying to fill buildings. Today, Uh, 0:45:19.320 --> 0:45:22.360 these types of knowledge of frequencies and customer loyalty is 0:45:22.360 --> 0:45:25.680 what's made our industry so successful. And candle Bebarry, that's 0:45:25.680 --> 0:45:28.319 what's built the brands that we have today is those 0:45:28.360 --> 0:45:31.799 loyalty efforts. John, let me throw one more question at you, 0:45:31.880 --> 0:45:35.759 because you kind of tickled something in my memory. If 0:45:35.920 --> 0:45:39.120 you are a customer today, and you want to help 0:45:39.239 --> 0:45:43.719 keep your local restaurant in business even though we're under lockdown. 0:45:44.160 --> 0:45:47.000 What could an individual do to help out that restaurant. Well, 0:45:47.000 --> 0:45:49.440 a number of things. One, gift cards are a great 0:45:49.440 --> 0:45:52.120 way to do it. There's a website anybody can go to. 0:45:52.440 --> 0:45:56.080 It's called shift fur cares dot com. S H I 0:45:56.160 --> 0:45:58.600 F T four the number cares dot com. If you 0:45:58.680 --> 0:46:01.120 go to that website, you can buy a gift card 0:46:01.200 --> 0:46:04.200 for any restaurant in your local town, and they pay 0:46:04.239 --> 0:46:06.560 them five percent more than the value of the gift card. 0:46:07.000 --> 0:46:08.520 So if you're gonna buy a gift card, go to 0:46:08.560 --> 0:46:11.680 shift four cares dot com getting the extra five I 0:46:11.680 --> 0:46:14.960 think that's very very important. I think calling restaurants and 0:46:15.000 --> 0:46:17.759 trying to do some catering programs. If you're having any 0:46:17.840 --> 0:46:20.200 kind of family over, if you can order dinner for four's, 0:46:20.280 --> 0:46:23.479 I think that's very very important. I think bars should 0:46:23.480 --> 0:46:26.759 start selling deconstructed cocktails. You know some of us out 0:46:26.800 --> 0:46:29.360 to kill avatia rum and stuff at home. Sell me 0:46:29.400 --> 0:46:32.319 the cocktail without the booze. The government can't regulate that 0:46:32.560 --> 0:46:35.000 they are currently regulated. When there's booze in it, I'll 0:46:35.040 --> 0:46:37.600 put the booze in at home. So we have to 0:46:37.600 --> 0:46:41.400 be innovative as restaurateurs to offer packages to people that 0:46:41.520 --> 0:46:45.280 they can buy. But I really think, look, the second 0:46:45.280 --> 0:46:47.879 public building ever built in American Barry, was a bar. 0:46:48.680 --> 0:46:51.160 The first public building built in America was a church. 0:46:52.080 --> 0:46:55.680 Those bars were called public houses. State boarders were built 0:46:55.680 --> 0:46:59.719 were discussed in those bars. Our Constitution was originally discussed 0:46:59.719 --> 0:47:02.640 in these bars all across the country. So bars are 0:47:02.680 --> 0:47:07.480 in the fiber of America. Our first distiller was George Washington. 0:47:08.280 --> 0:47:11.880 So bars have a place in our society, that coveted 0:47:11.960 --> 0:47:15.120 third place. Barry, you go home, you got to work, 0:47:15.400 --> 0:47:18.160 and then there's that coveted third place. To some people, 0:47:18.160 --> 0:47:20.040 it might be a country club. To other people it's 0:47:20.080 --> 0:47:23.040 their local bar. But that third place is an important 0:47:23.040 --> 0:47:26.839 place to our society. It's where we all converge. It's 0:47:26.960 --> 0:47:31.319 the place of community. So they can't go away. And 0:47:31.360 --> 0:47:33.640 as people, we want to fight for this industry and 0:47:33.680 --> 0:47:36.359 protect it. And I'm asking the government to step up 0:47:36.360 --> 0:47:38.680 and look at some inventory credits to help get us 0:47:38.680 --> 0:47:41.960 over this hump. Quite interesting. Thanks John for being so 0:47:42.040 --> 0:47:46.120 generous with your time. If you enjoy this conversation, well 0:47:46.280 --> 0:47:48.640 be sure and check out any of the previous three 0:47:48.880 --> 0:47:52.040 D plus prior ones we've had over the past six years. 0:47:52.400 --> 0:47:58.040 You can find those at iTunes, Spotify, Google podcast, Overcast, Stitcher, 0:47:58.080 --> 0:48:02.440 wherever your final podcasts sold. We love your comments, feedback 0:48:02.440 --> 0:48:06.560 and suggestions right to us at m IB podcast at 0:48:06.560 --> 0:48:10.200 Bloomberg dot net. Give us a review on Apple iTunes. 0:48:10.840 --> 0:48:14.160 You can check out my weekly column on Bloomberg dot 0:48:14.160 --> 0:48:17.680 com Slash Opinion, Follow me on Twitter at Rid Halts. 0:48:17.840 --> 0:48:21.600 Sign up for my daily reads at ridhlts dot com. 0:48:21.640 --> 0:48:23.480 I would be remiss if I did not thank my 0:48:23.600 --> 0:48:27.560 crack staff who helps us put together this conversation every week. 0:48:27.920 --> 0:48:32.920 Tim Harrow is my audio engineer. Michael Boyle is my producer. 0:48:33.320 --> 0:48:37.759 Michael bat Nick is my researcher. Batica val Bron is 0:48:37.800 --> 0:48:41.759 our project manager. I'm Barry Hults. You've been listening to 0:48:41.880 --> 0:48:44.480 Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio.