Restaurant Unstoppable Ep. 1158: Etkin Tekin, Craig Sklar & Rob LaTronica, Co-Owners of Haven Hot Chicken

Date: February 13, 2025
Host: Eric Cacciatore

Episode Overview

In this inspiring, deep-dive conversation, Eric sits down with three of the co-owners of Haven Hot Chicken—Etkin Tekin (CEO), Craig Sklar (CIO), and Rob LaTronica (Chief Growth Officer). The episode offers a transparent, data-driven, and vulnerable look at what it takes to build and scale a successful restaurant brand—emphasizing people, systems, brand values, partnerships, pop-ups, and a powerful tech stack. The team lifts the curtain on their journey from formative pop-up experiments to a nine-location, high-growth brand, candidly sharing both the victories and the challenges—especially around leadership, process, partnerships, and scaling operations.

Table of Contents

• Core Principles & Philosophies (04:27)
• Team Backgrounds: Founders’ Stories (08:44 - 19:02)
• Partnerships & Brand Genesis (29:27 - 38:23)
• Pop-Ups as Launchpad: Lessons & Strategy (50:18 - 58:52)
• Scaling Brick & Mortar: Key Dates & Growth (59:16 - 63:48)
• Systems, Processes & People: The Service Physics Impact (63:48 - 81:48)
• Tech Stack: Data-Driven Operations (89:37 - 101:11)
• Culture, Values, & Leadership Lessons (101:45 - 105:48)
• Notable Quotes & Moments
• Recommended Resources

Core Principles & Philosophies (04:27)

• “Be a good employer” is a foundational mantra: decisions start here—hiring, training, and benefits.
  • “What decision would a good employer make?” — Etkin Tekin [04:27]
• Servant leadership is central: Leadership is about empowering and supporting staff at all levels.
  • “Have I done everything that I need to, to support this person, given the education, the resources, the access?” — Rob LaTronica [05:45]
• Quality is non-negotiable: Focus spans food, guest service, and team development.
  • “Quality is critical to us.” — Craig Sklar [05:35]

Team Backgrounds: Founders’ Stories (08:44 - 19:02)

Etkin Tekin (CEO)

• Yale graduate; started a restaurant at age 21 ("Little Salad Shop" → still in business as "New Haven Salad Shop").
• Later spent years at AB InBev (ZX Ventures) to round out his business acumen; scaled an internal startup from $0 to $40M revenue.
• “I realized that...I had the entrepreneurial spirit... but I lacked the professional acumen to scale properly.” [24:37]

Craig Sklar (CIO)

• Originally in craft beer sales (NYC, CT). Owned "Beer Collective" in New Haven.
• “My passion for the hospitality industry...really started with serving people and seeing their reaction to delicious food and drink.” [12:20]
• Beer Collective was a nexus—met both Rob and Ekin there.

Rob LaTronica (Chief Growth Officer)

• Lifelong restaurant worker (started in high school via catering), opened and ran a family restaurant in Woodbridge, CT.
• “Having your front of house manager, your owner, really understand what you're doing in the kitchen is pivotal to a good working relationship.” [17:41]

Partnerships & Brand Genesis (29:27 - 38:23)

• The Power of Partnerships: Their team intentionally sought diverse expertise.
  • “Getting four entrepreneurs to work together, cohesively, is not easy.” — Etkin [38:23]
• Shared Vision: From day one, the idea was to build not just a restaurant but a multi-unit, scalable brand.
• Mission/Values as Governance Tool: “...There is no such thing as Ekin’s way...It’s the Haven way...It actually disambiguated most decision making.” — Etkin [41:07]
• Brand Development: Experimented with “sacrificial prototypes” for brand identity, balancing rigor and comfort, finally selecting "Haven" to evoke inclusion, safety, community, and New Haven roots.

Pop-Ups as Launchpad: Lessons & Strategy (50:18 - 58:52)

Pros:

• Low-capital, rapid feedback, robust menu and process testing.
• Built buzz and local following (1,500 followers by the 4th pop-up).
• “It’s not about making money—it’s a marketing expense for brand and product validation.” — Etkin [50:30]

Cons:

• Logistically intensive (“a slog”); setup and teardown every event.
• Not designed for profitability.

Keys to Success:

• Leveraged existing networks and partners.
• “Find a way to make it worth it for [host restaurants]. We did the ordering, handled everything else, left them to focus on drinks and running food…” — Rob [57:41]
• “We were a small company that thinks like a big one.” — Etkin [42:27]

Scaling Brick & Mortar: Key Dates & Growth (59:16 - 63:48)

• First brick & mortar opened Oct 17, 2020, after ~1 year and 5 pop-ups.
• “First 6 weeks, a line around the corner…We were a little understaffed. Rob fried every single piece of chicken.” — Craig [60:20]
• Rapid expansion:
  • 2nd location: June 22, 2021
  • 3rd: November 22, 2021
  • 4th: April 23, 2023
  • 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th followed quickly, especially from 2023 onward.
• “Five of our units opened in about 14 months—the company more than doubled in size.” — Etkin [82:43]
• Primary challenges throughout: Always people and training.

Systems, Processes & People: The Service Physics Impact (63:48 - 81:48)

Building Systems for Scale

• Early investment in service/process consultants (Service Physics): “They gave us clarity and the structure to create the systems to deliver...with much less running around.” — Craig [65:59]
• Magnet exercise: Mapping every task from raw ingredient to finished food.
• “Kaizen”/continuous improvement mindset, with PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Adjust) loops.

Training & People

• Hiring Chief Operating Officer, Gretchen Bartkis (ex-Starbucks/Amazon): “She rewrote every training guide… created documentation, structure for hiring processes...” — Craig [75:40]
• Clear role definitions (“pods” for front-of-house, kitchen, and prep); cross-training for flexibility.
• “...Just because someone is good at doing a thing doesn’t mean they’re good at teaching it.” — Rob [79:09]
• Emphasis on servant leadership, constructive feedback, and empowering staff.

Tech Stack: Data-Driven Operations (89:37 - 101:11)

Current Stack:

• POS: Toast (full Growth Package: loyalty, gift cards, CRM, payroll, 401k integration).
• Labor & Scheduling: RightWork (AI-powered forecasting and labor optimization).
• CDP (Customer Data Platform): Biky ("Biki" spelling may vary)—deep customer segmentation, menu insights, recency/frequency/monetary analysis.
• Surveys & Guest Experience: Ovation—post-visit SMS, feedback, direct management follow-up, win-back automation.
• LMS: World Manager—for centralized training content and deployment across locations.
• Other Integrations: Loop AI (reputation mgmt., downtime ops insights), QuickBooks (finance).

Enterprise Solutions:

• Moving toward unified data ("one ecosystem")—evaluating R3C to allow single-source-of-truth dashboards for COGS, labor, P&L, etc.
  • “If you have four different reporting modules and they're giving you four different numbers, who are you trusting? You want that source of truth you can really rely on for your business.” — Craig [101:01]

Culture, Values, & Leadership Lessons (101:45 - 105:48)

• “What makes us unstoppable?”

  • Data obsession: “We are obsessed with data and analyzing what it’s telling us.” — Craig [101:45]
  • Values: Rigor, Relentlessness, Humility, Positivity, Joy, Teamwork, Inclusion (repeat reference).
  • Training focus: “Clarity, competency, control. If you don't empower people with the competency and the control, you will not be able to get to scale.” — Rob [102:30]

• Transformation: Personal & Organizational

  • Org-wide emphasis on humility, unreasonable hospitality, and growth via feedback (leaders citing conversations that challenged and changed their personal approaches).
  • “I think one of the ways I've transformed is being better able to articulate how and why I make decisions...” — Etkin [105:01]

Notable Quotes

• “We are a small company that thinks like a big one.” — Etkin [42:27]
• “Partnerships are fantastic...These are the core values by which we do our work.” — Etkin [41:07]
• “Criticism is investment. If I didn’t want you to get better, I would just keep my mouth shut and let you go out the door.” — Rob [81:18]
• “If at any point our quality suffers, we're going to stop, fix our quality before we take any other steps forward.” — Etkin [84:13]
• “Unreasonable hospitality...give away a free meal, it doesn't matter. It's about their lifecycle with us.” — Craig [104:09]
• “If you're superhuman, maybe you can get to three [locations]—but if you don't empower people, you will not be able to scale.” — Rob [102:30]

Recommended Resources

• Consulting: Service Physics (Brian Reese & Steve Crowley) — “We were guinea pigs for their systems. Wouldn’t be where we are today without their early work.” [56:56]
• Tech: Biki/Biky (Abhinav), Ovation
• Books/Mindsets: Lean Startup (Eric Ries), Kaizen/PDCA, Unreasonable Hospitality, The Compound Effect (Darren Hardy), E-Myth (Michael Gerber)
• People Mentioned/Thanked: Matt Jennings (chef mentor), Dame Drops (collaborator), Gretchen Bartkis (COO), Jason (Co-owner/President)

Timestamps for Key Topics

| Topic | Timestamp | |------------------------------|---------------| | Core Values & Philosophy | 04:27–07:13 | | Founders’ Stories | 08:44–19:02 | | Formation of Partnership | 29:27–41:07 | | Brand Development | 34:21–38:23 | | Pop-Up Strategy/Lessons | 50:18–58:52 | | Brick & Mortar Launch | 59:16–63:48 | | Service Physics & Processes | 63:48–66:05 | | Training & People Systems | 74:46–81:48 | | Tech Stack Evolution | 89:37–101:11 | | Culture/Transformation | 101:45–105:48 |

Summary Takeaways

• People first, always: Haven’s greatest strength and challenge is talent management, servant leadership, and genuine investment in team opportunity and support.
• Process orientation: Early adoption of formal systems and continuous improvement (Lean, Kaizen, PDCA) set the foundation for scalable growth.
• Power of partnership: Multi-founder collaboration enabled the brand to combine complementary talents and scale with shared core values and governance.
• Pop-up power: Using pop-ups to validate menu, operational processes, and build community awareness—while intentionally collecting data and feedback—created a nimble, well-tested foundation for expansion.
• Data-driven DNA: Relentless use of data—from menu engineering to labor forecasting to marketing segmentation—guides nearly every decision.
• Culture & values as the North Star: Internal mantras, value statements, and mission alignment drive coherence and resilience through rapid, sometimes chaotic growth.
• Continuous humility & learning: Each founder acknowledges the necessity of feedback, personal evolution, and surround-sound leadership to remain “unstoppable.”

Final Thought:
"We practice what we preach, and it extends not just down, but also up and to the left and right." — Rob [104:10]

Haven Hot Chicken’s story is a blueprint for aspiring restaurateurs—combining the best of systems, values-driven culture, hard-won people wisdom, and an unapologetic embrace of technology, all anchored by humility and partnership.

For more, visit restaurantunstoppable.com for complete show notes, links, and resources.