Restaurant Unstoppable Episode 1231: Dan Carr, CEO & Co-Owner of Visconti’s Hospitality Group

Date: October 29, 2025
Host: Eric Cacciatore
Guest: Dan Carr – CEO & Co-Owner, Visconti’s Hospitality Group

Episode Overview

This episode features a wide-ranging, candid, and insightful conversation with Dan Carr, the driving force behind Visconti’s Hospitality Group in Washington State. The discussion dives deep into Dan’s journey from Midwest beginnings, through the successes and failures of entrepreneurship, to building a multi-concept legacy with a relentless commitment to values-driven leadership, operational excellence, and conscious capitalism in today’s restaurant industry.

Main Themes

• The power of simplicity, consistency, and organic growth in building lasting restaurant success
• The lessons learned through failure, resilience, and evolving from hands-on operator to an empowering leader
• The critical importance of systems, vertical integration, and clarity in business models
• The unique challenge of scaling genuine hospitality and culture
• Transitioning leadership and legacy planning in a family business

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Success Is Built on Simplicity and Consistency

• Simplicity in Cooking and Operations
  • Dan embraces the Italian philosophy of “three ingredients make a fourth flavor” and applies it to both menu and business: “The simplicity is what kind of grasped me. The three-ingredient ideal... you have your basil, tomatoes, olive oil, but together you have this fourth beautiful flavor. That’s how I look at kitchens.” – Dan Carr (06:00)
• Consistency as Differentiator
  • “Don’t blow your customer away. Do everything just top service, perfect food every time. Leave something for next time… Consistency will blow them away subconsciously over time.” – (07:28)
  • Achieved through systems, a focus on repeatable excellence rather than one-off “wow” moments.

2. “Organic” Growth and Vertical Integration

• Evolution of Visconti’s Group

  • From a single Italian restaurant (opened 1985) to a multi-concept group:
    • 2 full-service Italian restaurants (Visconti’s Wenatchee & Leavenworth)
    • Fire & Ice (Neapolitan pizzeria & gelato)
    • Leavenworth Sausage Garden (high-margin, focused menu)
    • Miller Street Catering/Commissary (centralized production)
  • “It was almost organic… The sausage garden grew organically out of that [meat company]. The cured shop came out of the meat company. The pizzeria made all the meats… Everything grew out of something else.” – Dan (13:19)

• Vertical Integration: Pros & Challenges

  • Delivering farm-to-table authenticity, quality control, and unique selling points.
  • “The pro is controlling your product… that product never left the farm till it came into our place and hit your plate.” – (81:44)
  • Warning: Vertical integration brings complexity. Success requires expert partnerships and humility to recognize your limits.

  “If you are in fine dining and you want to go into cupcakes or you see this little fast food thing, don’t do it without professional, knowledgeable, but mostly experienced people in that genre. They don’t have to be around for long… but you have to have that help.” – Dan Carr (100:31 & 00:00)

3. The Power of Systems and Data

• Relentless Focus on Systems
  • Early adoption of inventory, cost-tracking, and budgeting systems: “I was always searching for that system put together for me.”
  • Transition from spreadsheets and manual systems to Restaurant Systems Pro: “Soup to nuts… gave us that forward thinking that a CPA works with history, a CFO works with the future.”
  • Takeaway: Systems give you visibility and allow for strategic planning—transforming gut-feeling operations into data-driven businesses.
• Key Metrics Shared
  • Full-service restaurants: ~12% profit, 61% prime cost
  • Fast-casual Sausage Garden: 20%+ profit, 40-42% prime cost
  • Group annual revenue: Over $10 million (12:30)

4. Growth Through Adversity & Learning from Failure

• Setbacks & Resilience
  • Dan candidly shares his struggles with overconfidence, bad investments, bankruptcy, and personal hardship: “I was unstoppable at being stupid… Had to declare bankruptcy.” (41:24)
  • Lessons: Separate personal expenses, owner’s pay, and profit. Don’t take short-term success for granted. “You learn hard that it goes faster than it comes in.” (43:17)
• Turning Points
  • Systems and accountability (consulting, goal setting)
  • Relentless pursuit of learning and adaptation
  • Humility to seek help in new, unfamiliar areas

5. The Non-Negotiables: Culture, Values, and Genuine Hospitality

• Hospitality Can't Be Fully Scaled or Automated

  • “Can you scale that person, that level of give-an-F about the relationship? No, you can’t.” (61:49)
  • The “Candy factor”—Dan’s partner—epitomizes what makes a restaurant irreplaceable: personal connection, local leadership, and culture.

• Investing in Four-Wall Marketing (Hospitality)

  • “We felt give them hospitality rather than print it. Spending on labor to free up Candy to host was our marketing.” (57:23)

• Core Values As Decision Drivers

  • Deep work with David Scott Peters to codify and align on core values: “Every decision… Was just there: Did it fit our core values?” (126:16)
  • Importance of unified communication—especially when working with family.

6. Wisdom for Aspiring Restaurateurs

• Set Goals, Get Organized, Write it Down
  • “Write it down. What do you want?… What are the two things that are stopping you? Then break those down… It’s a tree. You’ll build your objectives.” (21:34)
• Know What You Don’t Know
  • Don’t expand into unfamiliar territory without bringing in experienced help, even fractionally or short-term.
• Start Small, Grow Roots First
  • Growth is “organic.” Focus on depth (roots) before spread (branches). Put energy into your foundations: “You will attract growth if you put all the energy and resources into what you’re already doing better.” (72:30)
• Profit First Mindset
  • “You have to calculate your paycheck, the profit, the money being set aside. There’s more to just having enough money so you can do what you want.” (43:17)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“Don’t blow your customer away. Do everything just top service, perfect food every time. Leave something for next time… Consistency will blow them away subconsciously over time.”
— Dan Carr [07:28]

“I got into something I didn’t know, and the only thing I would love anybody to get if they ever hear this podcast is… don’t do it without professional, knowledgeable, but mostly experienced people in that genre.”
— Dan Carr [00:00, 100:31]

“If you make it about helping people where they’re at and help them understand the process… the software is a stepping stone.”
— Eric Cacciatore [113:16]

“We just go to work… Now, all of a sudden, we have to take care of the papers… and make sure it’s the best for everybody.”
— Dan Carr on transitioning ownership [122:43]

“Give them hospitality rather than print it. Spending on labor to free up Candy to host was our marketing.”
— Dan Carr [57:23]

“We train our managers and key people to give that hospitality in our place… but as you scale, you dilute that original, special something.”
— Dan Carr [62:22]

Timestamps of Important Segments

• Opening Advice: “Don’t do it alone…” (00:00)
• Dan’s Success Mantra—On Simple Consistency (04:55)
• Profit Margins & Operational Metrics (11:10 – 12:23)
• The Story of Organic Growth & Vertical Integration (13:19 – 15:47)
• Lessons from Bankruptcy & Recovery (41:24)
• Hospitality vs. Scalability (61:00 – 64:00)
• Switch to Wood-Fired Oven—Innovation & Differentiation (64:20 – 67:00)
• Building Systems—From Old Spreadsheets to Restaurant Systems Pro (103:21+)
• Succession Planning, Core Values & Legacy (124:04 – 129:19)
• Advice for Next Generation: Don’t Expand Without Help (100:31/00:00)
• Shoutouts & Influences: Danny Meyer, Gordon Ramsay, Cameron Mitchell (132:56)
• Closing Thoughts (134:17+)

Additional Insights

• On Farm-to-Table & Conscious Capitalism:
  Dan is wary of “greenwashing” and stresses honesty in sourcing and marketing. Vertical integration, when possible, delivers better quality and transparency but must be approached humbly and with expertise.

• On Leadership Handover:
  Transitioning a business isn’t just about legal or financial transfer, but about a careful process of shared values, clear communication, and respect for the next generation’s unique strengths.

• On Community & Scaling Hospitality:
  Core relationships, employee empowerment, and front-of-house charisma are what define a restaurant’s place in its community. These qualities can’t be replaced by systems or scale alone.

Closing

Dan’s story offers a blueprint for anyone who wants to build not just a successful restaurant, but a lasting, values-driven, community-rooted hospitality business. Through humility, systems, clarity, and uncompromising care for people—guests and staff alike—true legacy is made.

Contact Dan Carr:
Email: dancarr@viscontis.com