← Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
1234: Addie and Dustin Teague, Owners of Relish Restaurant and Bar
02:05:21
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- [00:00]
Eric Cacciatore
What up, Unstoppables? Real quick, just want to say thank you. If you've been downloading this podcast, if you've subscribed, if you shared it, that goes so far in supporting our mission to inspire, empower, and transform the industry. And if you have not yet subscribed, please do an iTunes or Spotify. We even have a YouTube channel and you can watch these interviews if you'd like. And real quick, something that we haven't done yet and we're trying something new, we're going to ask all of our guests to join us live in our restaurant Unstoppable community. So if you haven't joined our community, head over to restaurantunstoppable.com live. Today's guests are going to be joining us in the community. Be sure to stick around to the end to find out how to join that conversation. Enjoy today's show. What is. What is her? Bonian. One word to your one sentence.
- [00:42]
Dustin Teague
I think peace of mind. Peace of mind is great, but I would say the reason we made the switch was because of integrity. We needed more integrity behind what was in front of us from. And we couldn't. Once again, we didn't believe. You're telling me it's this, but I'm looking at this and once again, what's going on here? It doesn't make sense.
- [01:05]
Addie Teague
It was just, again, I don't think their systems and they were not restaurant savvy.
- [01:10]
Eric Cacciatore
When you think about knowing the numbers are correct. Here's this piece of paper, right? Yeah, it has. Yeah, it has some integrity. But you're telling me. But it's not like rigid, like, it's not solid. It's not. It is not a tablet that was etched in stone where you were sure what you were putting on this. Because we cannot change.
- [01:26]
Addie Teague
Correct.
- [01:26]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [01:27]
Eric Cacciatore
I think that's how I interpret it.
- [01:28]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. Yes, exactly.
- [01:29]
Eric Cacciatore
The people.
- [01:30]
Dustin Teague
No, no, no. Great firm. But once again, trusting what they're telling you. I mean, accountants, they're. They're up there with your attorneys and the lease that you sign, they can really make or break you.
- [01:46]
Eric Cacciatore
I do think that the future of the restaurant industry is in fractional chiefs. Whether that be a fractional CFO or a fractional CMO or a fractional people officer or human resources chief or whatever it is. The world is becoming increasingly complex. What worked 20 years ago doesn't work today. You need granular, detailed data to make decisions in your business and to move the needle and to be tight. And that world is moving at such a breakneck speed. Right now. And you didn't get into the restaurant industry to play with technology and to be accountants and to be chief financial officers. You want to work in your community and give people in your community opportunity and be creative and love your community. And when you're being pulled and being forced to stare at a computer screen all day and crunch numbers and stay up to date with the latest and greatest technology like that is a full time job on its own. And to hire a chief operating officer or a chief financial officer, that's a six figure figure salary. Yeah, you as an independent operator can't afford that. And it is I think the world of fractional CFOs and or sorry, CFOs is the future of the industry because you it is more than any single operator can manage on their own.
- [03:11]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely.
- [03:11]
Eric Cacciatore
And not to mention they don't want to do it.
- [03:14]
Dustin Teague
I shouldn't have to.
- [03:20]
Eric Cacciatore
Welcome to restaurant unstoppable. For 10 years and over 1000 episodes I've been traveling the country chasing word of mouth leads and having in person only long form discussions with the industry's finest owners and operators. Our mission is to inspire, empower and transform the restaurant industry by bridging the gap between this generation's leaders and the next. Listen to today's guests and so many others and get one step closer to becoming unsafe. Unstoppable. This episode is made possible by US Foods and one of the pillars of the US Foods we help you make it promise is more tools which provides resources designed to make running your food service operation easier and more efficient. From the all in one food service app Moxy which goes beyond order placement to help manage every part of your operation 24, 7 to the digital solutions like Check Bay, Business Tools and Vitals, US Foods delivers smart time saving tools built to simplify operations and support your success. To learn more visit www.usfoods.com. expect more restaurant owners what if I told you there is a way to lower your prime cost by a thousand dollars and get paid a thousand dollars on top of that? If it sounds too good to be true, it's not. Restaurant Systems Pro is offering that deal right now to 10 of my lucky listeners. Listen closely. Join The Restaurant Pro 30 Day Prime Cost Challenge and if you successfully improve your prime cost by $1,000 or more compared to the same 30 days the year prior, they will pay you $1,000. Find the link in the show notes titled restaurant systems pro 30 day prime cost challenge. Click that link and get signed up. Today only 10 people are going to get approved into this program. Get on it. This episode is made possible by Serboni your all in one bookkeeping and financial solution. We're talking about reliable tax preparation. Business incorporation. Seamless payroll and compliance reports. Strategic CFO services that drive business growth. Detailed custom reporting for complete financial clarity. Dedicated support for restaurants in multi location businesses. Did I mention bookkeeping late, sir? Bony handle the numbers so you can focus on the vision. Call Serboni today at 281-888-2-2413 to schedule your free 30 minute consultation and discover house bony can streamline your operations and boost your bottom line. Limited time offer an exclusive to restaurant stoppable listeners. Mention this Message and get 20% off your first month of services with excitement. Allow me to introduce to you today's guest owners of Relish restaurant and bar, Addie and Dustin Teague. Addie, Dustin, are you two feeling unstoppable today?
- [06:17]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. Every day.
- [06:19]
Eric Cacciatore
I love it. I can't wait to get in. But real quick, who are we talking to paint the picture? How many locations? How many seats? What is your your percent profit in prime cost? Just like kind of get that out there.
- [06:29]
Dustin Teague
Okay, so we have two concepts, two relishes. One is a little under 5000 square ft. The other one's a little over 4. I think we have a total of 125 employees. Absolutely. And we run right at about 11 $1200 in sales per square foot. Okay, I've got my prime cost at 62%.
- [06:57]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay, what's that split with the cost of goods and labor? Does that look like.
- [07:00]
Dustin Teague
So our cost of goods? I'd say it's a majority of it's in labor. So we invest a lot into our employees. We pay really well. And of course we would rather be overstaffed than understaffed. And then we really focus on really following the fundamentals of a kitchen and controlling our cost of goods on a daily basis. So we're probably 2832 somewhere in that range. And of course that involves both my wife and I being a part of that prime cost as well. We work the business every day.
- [07:36]
Eric Cacciatore
So 2832 labor or 2832 split.
- [07:40]
Dustin Teague
So 28 cost of goods sold and then 32% to 34 on labor.
- [07:45]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [07:45]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely.
- [07:46]
Eric Cacciatore
Awesome. What is the percent profit you're hitting right now?
- [07:49]
Dustin Teague
Percent profit. We hit 14.7%.
- [07:51]
Eric Cacciatore
And your profit? Casual dining?
- [07:54]
Dustin Teague
We are fine.
- [07:56]
Eric Cacciatore
Fine casual. There's so many blurred lines today.
- [07:59]
Dustin Teague
We're a blend right in between.
- [08:01]
Addie Teague
Elevated casual is kind of how I like to say. I mean we, we you know, this type of place, you can come in with your friends casual on a weeknight, or you can come and celebrate a birthday. I mean, it's. It's really kind of that sweet spot that I like to think.
- [08:17]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it.
- [08:18]
Addie Teague
But it's definitely elevated experience. But you feel comfortable.
- [08:24]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it. Awesome. I was actually just wrapped up with Chef David Denise. I hope I'm saying his name. He does it so much better than I do. I Americanize his name so bad. But, you know, it's harder and harder to do ultra or fine dining or ultra fine dining. Today, the market's just shrinking for that. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
- [08:43]
Addie Teague
Right.
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Eric Cacciatore
And you got to really appeal to, like, what works. And a lot of people are drawn to the allure, the sexiness of fine dining, but you're really. There's not a big market share. I support that.
- [08:54]
Addie Teague
No. Steakhouses are like, to me, that's. They kind of are the fine dining that's. That's left or, you know, sushi places.
- [09:02]
Eric Cacciatore
Seem to be killing it right now. The almost costume is killing it.
- [09:05]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [09:05]
Dustin Teague
And we've always said it. We. The world we want to be in is a premium space when it comes to dining. We think it's a lot less susceptible to the rest, if that makes sense. Yeah. You know, we. We felt we never wanted a fine dining restaurant, but we always wanted something that was not, you know, not attainable, obtainable for what, you know, we think guests expectations are and, you know, the day and age dining out and that experience that they're looking for. Yeah.
- [09:37]
Eric Cacciatore
So, okay. I think we have an idea of who we're talking to now. I can't wait to dive into your story, find out how you got to where you are today. But let's get that motivational, inspirational ball rolling with a success quote or mantra. And I don't think I gave you a heads up on this, so I apologize. So first thing that comes to mind, maybe it's a core value, maybe it's a saying that echoes within your restaurants. Like, what comes to mind, like, let's get that motivational ball going.
- [10:00]
Addie Teague
Oh, God.
- [10:00]
Dustin Teague
I think you know mine, but I'll.
- [10:01]
Addie Teague
Let you know, you go first, because.
- [10:03]
Dustin Teague
I buy some time, so I motivate my team. And a saying that we've always really tried to stick to is, you know, when you're in the weeds, when. When there's no light at the end of the tunnel, and you kind of ask yourself, what am I doing here in this fight that I'm in. So to say, day by day, night by night, plate by plate, and bite by bite. So, okay, we. We focus on the smaller details and not let the bigger picture kind of eat us alive, if that makes sense. Yeah.
- [10:37]
Eric Cacciatore
I have a similar quote that I've heard from a past guest chef, Evan Hennessy, out of stages in Dover, New Hampshire. One or 30, whether there's one person in the dining room or 30, and I think they only have a 30 seat restaurant. Yeah, it's the same. One or 30.
- [10:52]
Dustin Teague
Just.
- [10:53]
Eric Cacciatore
Just. Yeah, just the same. Always.
- [10:55]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [10:55]
Eric Cacciatore
You know, is that. Is that close, do you think?
- [10:58]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. And once again, we focus on every bite, every single detail that goes out the door and whether that's one guest or 30. It's the same mentality of hitting reset the day we come in. New day, new light, new experience in front of us. Focus on the details and kind of.
- [11:19]
Addie Teague
Keep going one step forward.
- [11:20]
Dustin Teague
Reset that mentality every single day we come in.
- [11:23]
Eric Cacciatore
That's that hard and that easy. Or that easy and that hard, I should say.
- [11:26]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [11:27]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [11:27]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. Okay. Addie, you had some time to think of something.
- [11:30]
Addie Teague
I mean, just, it's. This goes back to just. As a child, my mom always told me it's, keep it simple. She would say, keep it simple, stupid. But I don't, you know, like, endearing. But I just. I find that to be true in life with everything. I mean, you got to keep it simple. Kind of the same thing. You're saying, look at this, look at everything. You know, kind of one piece by one piece. Don't over complicate it. You know, that's just. And with food, that's kind of my. My mantra on food, too. I think simple is better.
- [11:58]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. Honestly, I think this is where restaurant owners get in trouble because they. They're creative. We. A lot of us have add. I always say us, like, I own a restaurant, but someday I want to own a restaurant. I definitely have add. I'll say that. But we get distracted easily. And, like, we want to do a bunch of different things. And you gotta keep it focused on what do we do? What, like, what is our lane? What is our niche? What do we. What can we execute better than anybody else and just do that and then.
- [12:27]
Addie Teague
Streamline it and stay in your lane? That's. And that's. Yeah. You don't want to compare yourself to too many people and that sort of thing. That's also important to me. Like, keep in your lane kind of thing. Yeah.
- [12:37]
Eric Cacciatore
Great way to get this thing started.
- [12:38]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [12:39]
Eric Cacciatore
Where does it make Sense to start sharing your story, like, and who wants to go first? Because I know you guys didn't meet until, like, 2000, was it 11? Is that what I had on my timeline?
- [12:51]
Dustin Teague
So you and I have known each other our whole lives. High school. And we both went our separate ways after high school, but of course, found ourselves in love with the industry. I got out of high school and dove right into it and really, you know, cut my teeth in a kitchen and finding out what the industry was all about. I had always waited tables like yourself, Add through the roof, motor that never stops. And the moment I stepped in a kitchen, of course, it felt like I found a home that I could use my hands for the rest of my life and get paid to do so. So I traveled. I've worked in, you know, different states, different cities. I moved around specifically to build my craft and really expose myself to as much as possible. I was in the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas for almost a year and a half. Saw the largest operations of hospitality you can get. Went up to New York, spent a small stint with a crafted hospitality restaurant called river park, saw what fine dining truly was and, you know, standards that were through the roof.
- [14:07]
Eric Cacciatore
And so help me wrap my mind on timeline. For some reason, my mind works so chronologically. So you guys came back to Houston, you crossed paths in 2011, went to high school together. Did you graduate different high schools?
- [14:20]
Dustin Teague
We kind of ran around in the same.
- [14:22]
Eric Cacciatore
Same year?
- [14:22]
Addie Teague
Yeah, we were two years apart.
- [14:24]
Eric Cacciatore
Two years apart. Who graduated first?
- [14:26]
Dustin Teague
I was 2003. She was two years behind.
- [14:28]
Eric Cacciatore
Same year I graduated. Nice. So 2003. So you're basically looking at, like, eight years of being in the industry doing your thing, and you, Addie, were in the industry, doing your thing for six years.
- [14:41]
Addie Teague
About. Yes. Yeah. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do in the industry, so I went to culinary school, got it. And did some things. New York.
- [14:48]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it.
- [14:49]
Dustin Teague
So she's got to dive more into. Well, we have to work. We will Stuff in New York.
- [14:55]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, I mean, I like to kind of unpackage one and then pivot to. So did you know when you graduated high school that you wanted to be a restaurant owner someday? Like. Or were you just looking for, like, what were you. Wasn't intentional. Were you just looking for something to do, to travel? Like, what was drawing you to the industry?
- [15:13]
Dustin Teague
I think it was every stepping stone of the industry became a new challenge. And you almost. I found out I was an entrepreneur because I could not sit in one place and I wanted to figure something else out if that made sense. And then it came a point where I think both of us felt that we were in the industry. We saw the direction it was going, and we felt we could contribute.
- [15:42]
Eric Cacciatore
And you felt this way separately, but you. You come to realize you had the same feeling before you cross paths again?
- [15:47]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. I can remember at a young age watching those above and understanding their, you know, standing in a kitchen and cooking somebody's food and understanding you wouldn't be here if there wasn't a vision, if there wasn't an idea behind a restaurant that created a certain experience. So I think I was drawn at an early age of the challenge of that experience that everybody's trying to create in a restaurant.
- [16:20]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [16:20]
Dustin Teague
And when I went from place to place, I. I took little bits and pieces of every experience that I, you know, worked within. And, yeah, it was. It was. It was obvious to me I wanted to create my own experience and people. Person watching people enjoy what you've done for them, once again, that's what. That's why we're all still here.
- [16:42]
Eric Cacciatore
So the goal was to be a restaurant owner?
- [16:44]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. It was. Well, it wasn't necessarily to be a restaurant owner. It was to create an experience and to push the industry. And there's no other platform that you can do that. I mean, you're an exec, you're limited, you're in a kitchen, you're GM you're overseeing the restaurant, but you're not necessarily cooking all the food. To me, that's an overall experience that I wanted complete control of. And I felt that what we could do would obviously help and push the industry forward.
- [17:18]
Eric Cacciatore
So you. You weren't necessarily committed to the idea of being a restaurateur and owning a business and doing P. Ls and creating pro formas, but you knew you wanted to create a unique experience that was your own. And you could have done that as an executive chef. You could have had somebody, you know, bankroll your vision, your dream, and you could have stayed in the kitchen and found partners to do the other stuff.
- [17:38]
Dustin Teague
Yes. And it really. It was. We wanted to touch as many people's lives as we could. And that wasn't just through food. That was through employment.
- [17:46]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it.
- [17:47]
Dustin Teague
That's a big reason we do what we do.
- [17:50]
Eric Cacciatore
How many different restaurants would you say you worked at from post, like, college? Did you go to school?
- [17:55]
Dustin Teague
I did not. So I actually tried a small stint in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at a school there and spent too much time in a bar.
- [18:06]
Eric Cacciatore
What was Your lowest gpa and you give me.
- [18:07]
Dustin Teague
Oh, it didn't even break one.
- [18:08]
Addie Teague
It was bad.
- [18:09]
Dustin Teague
Oh, really?
- [18:10]
Eric Cacciatore
I feel good about myself.
- [18:11]
Addie Teague
You didn't go to class. I don't think so.
- [18:13]
Dustin Teague
I was the worst student. I. I went to college to party.
- [18:18]
Eric Cacciatore
I had a 1.18 my freshman year.
- [18:20]
Dustin Teague
Oh, no. So.
- [18:21]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
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Dustin Teague
Well, hey, when I.
- [18:22]
Eric Cacciatore
You're in good.
- [18:22]
Dustin Teague
Mr. 1.0, my mom quickly.
- [18:25]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [18:26]
Dustin Teague
Cut that credit card off. And I packed my bags.
- [18:28]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, I will. I like to brag that I did bring that up to a 3.3 by the time I graduated. So. I figured it out.
- [18:33]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
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Addie Teague
You're all right. Yeah.
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Eric Cacciatore
I'm like, oh, where would it have been if I didn't have that first semester?
- [18:38]
Dustin Teague
Well, I found myself in school, sitting down, staying still, and going, this is not me.
- [18:44]
Addie Teague
You talk about add, adhd. Yeah. This is your.
- [18:47]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. It's. We're meant for the industry. There's a motor in us. A lot of people could work 80, 90 hours a week, and it kills them. It hurts them. Add, you do that, and that's called life. We move. We never stop. We barely sleep. I was meant to work with my hands and be on my feet.
- [19:08]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, I can really identify with that mindset. For sure. Okay, so pause there. Pivot. You graduate, two years later, you find yourself in New York City.
- [19:18]
Addie Teague
Well, I went. Well, I went to undergrad in Austin.
- [19:21]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [19:21]
Addie Teague
And I thought I was going to do maybe marketing, maybe advertising. I went to, actually, St. Edwards. Okay. A small liberal arts school there. And I just, like, never could find anything I was, like, truly in love with. I did some, you know, some internships here and there and got a few little jobs, but I loved food. I loved, again, cooking for people, creating an experience, even if it was just in my own dining room. And so I asked, you know, my parents, can I move to New York, go to culinary school? And they were very supportive. They loved food. My. My grandparents were in the industry. And so I went up there, did culinary school at the French Culinary Institute, which is now something else. And I got to work at eleven Madison park as a host. I got to work as a production assistant for a Martha Stewart company show. I got to work at Lapan Quetidion in their corporate office. What else? I worked in a catering kitchen from one of the biggest catering companies in New York City. So I got to do, like, really test the waters. And I just love this industry in general.
- [20:35]
Eric Cacciatore
And was that all while working or going to school? Was it the school that helped you.
- [20:40]
Addie Teague
Get these connections No, I would just go out on my own and you know, reply to, to job, good for you. Yeah. And they weren't always long since, but it was just, that was my time to really figure out what I wanted to do. I mean, you know, like, that was my time to grow, which was really awesome that I got to have that opportunity and experience.
- [20:59]
Eric Cacciatore
How many years was your, your program?
- [21:00]
Addie Teague
It was, it was like an eight month program, but I was in New York for over a year.
- [21:04]
Eric Cacciatore
How much that cost you? Do you mind me asking?
- [21:06]
Addie Teague
Oh God, I don't remember. It was like ballpark, maybe like $15,000.
- [21:11]
Eric Cacciatore
Was it, were you paying for your way or did you get some help?
- [21:14]
Addie Teague
I got some help, luckily, yes. But a lot of they had great financial aid. They had really good, you know, offerings. And I will say though, the best, even your, the teachers, they were like, you got to learn through experience. You know, the, the culinary school is great if you didn't know how to chop a vegetable.
- [21:31]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [21:32]
Addie Teague
But at the end of the day I think that the network there was more important than, than anything. And so it's when people, I need to go to C school and I'm like, no you don't. Yeah, I feel, I feel bad saying that I love, I love, loved my experience there and the opportunity and I, I learned a lot, made a lot of good friends. But I don't think that you need to go to culinary school to be in the business. And if anything, if you don't have the financial backing and it would be something that would be draining to you, I'd say don't do it. Yeah, absolutely.
- [21:59]
Eric Cacciatore
I can get on that bandwagon. Would you?
- [22:01]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. I think you should study psychology more than the culinary side before you get into this. There's so much of the mind that is, is involved in understanding when running relationships.
- [22:14]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [22:14]
Eric Cacciatore
Food and relationships. That's this industry for sure. Yeah, I can support those, those sentiments. And I do find that the people who do best in culinary school are the ones that decide later, maybe 22, 23, 24, that they want to be a chef.
- [22:29]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [22:30]
Eric Cacciatore
And they're trying to make up for lost time because they didn't get that five years, six years on their late teens networking and then they get to the CIA or said culinary school or whatever. Wherever you're going and you're, you're grinding, you're showing up, you're passionate, you love it. And if you, you're also talented, the instructors are going to see that and they're going to open doors for sure. So you can kind of work the system a little bit and pay for that, that network.
- [23:00]
Dustin Teague
Right.
- [23:01]
Eric Cacciatore
But if you're not, if you're going there to learn how to hold a knife, there's YouTube today also there's kitchens all over America that will teach you how to hold a knife. Yeah, yeah. Like go to work. Don't bury yourself in debt. Use that desire, that talent to be your one way ticket anywhere in the world.
- [23:19]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [23:20]
Eric Cacciatore
And you'll get a way better education.
- [23:22]
Dustin Teague
And I've said this to her in the past, it's not the food you make in this industry, it's the hand you shake.
- [23:27]
Addie Teague
Well, just like a lot of business.
- [23:28]
Eric Cacciatore
And how you shake it.
- [23:29]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, once again, I, I, yeah, I truly stand behind that. It's political to an extent, but once again it's, you get in with, you know, CIA for instance, and once you're in, you're in. That's like the Harvard of it all. Well, yeah, once again. Right, exactly. And of course you have to, you know, truly get in it. But who are you going to hire? The CI CIA guy? Are you going to hire me? You're going to truly question my skill set before you question his because of the prestigious college that he went to and the training from all the chefs that he had. So, you know, from my perspective, you can make it, but you have a better opportunity at a certain level in the industry if you go pay those dues at the culinary schools.
- [24:17]
Eric Cacciatore
This episode is made possible by US Foods and one of the pillars of the US Foods we help you make it promise is more tools which provides resources designed to make running your food service operation easier and more efficient. From the all in One food service at Moxy, which goes beyond order placement to help you manage every part of your operation 24. 7 to the digital solutions like check business tools and vitals, US Foods delivers smart time saving tools built to simplify your operation and support your success. With Moxie alone, you can browse products with AI powered search, manage lists, track deliveries with the AI powered Where's my Truck? By US Foods Reorder with just a few clicks and you can do the that from your phone, tablet or desktop. Here's a bonus, you can even browse Moxie without signing in. And we can't forget Check Business Tools which is essentially a suite of vetted third party solutions that help operators solve critical business challenges such as drive traffic to their location, simplify staffing processes and modernize operations for greater efficiency. To learn more, visit www.usfoods.com. expect more. Yeah. I mean, it's never even at the culinary school. You gotta, you gotta grind. You gotta work it to earn that respect. To earn. Because this professor is putting their name on the line.
- [25:37]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [25:37]
Eric Cacciatore
So not. You can't just pay the, the yearly tuition and be like, where are my introductions?
- [25:42]
Dustin Teague
No, absolutely not.
- [25:44]
Addie Teague
You have to earn your stripes.
- [25:46]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [25:46]
Eric Cacciatore
You gotta work for it either way. But you can't accelerate the process. If, if you, if you got the talent and you work hard, people will open your doors.
- [25:54]
Dustin Teague
Yes, absolutely.
- [25:55]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay. So did you know that you wanted to open a restaurant? When did that come into your world?
- [26:01]
Addie Teague
So, I mean, I think I originally loved the idea of catering. Ina Garten is one of my, you know, was my idol growing up and probably one of the reasons why. Then we opened Relish Fine Foods, which was a market to go style. It was, you know, they were very popular around that time.
- [26:20]
Eric Cacciatore
Do you think they're coming back?
- [26:23]
Addie Teague
I think it's really hard. I personally feel like that business was hard for us to run.
- [26:30]
Dustin Teague
If you want to run a 78% prime cost.
- [26:33]
Addie Teague
Yeah, it was tricky. I don't think so. No. Short answer.
- [26:38]
Eric Cacciatore
Sorry.
- [26:38]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. Alcohol is the buffer in that game. Unless you're in a very high volume.
- [26:44]
Eric Cacciatore
So you're talking about retail alcohol.
- [26:46]
Dustin Teague
No. Consumption. Well, yeah, you and retail alcohol is small markups because this was a market, right?
- [26:53]
Addie Teague
It was, but we did catering, so that was our bread and butter. That's where we really made our, our money.
- [26:58]
Eric Cacciatore
So the market served as a retail.
- [26:59]
Addie Teague
In a commissary, essentially. And to me it was like marketing.
- [27:03]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [27:04]
Addie Teague
It was in a great area.
- [27:06]
Dustin Teague
It was a storefront.
- [27:07]
Addie Teague
It was a storefront. And then we got to really kind of, you know, have our services through that. Like we, we sold, yeah, we sold some stuff on the shelves and now we sold dinners and things like that to go. And we special market with a lot of, you know, really, we did a lot of events.
- [27:22]
Eric Cacciatore
I want to unpackage this more, but I want before we get to 2011, when you're, you know, you're building your first business. Biggest influences for both of you during this time. You both work for some really well known restaurant groups. You mentioned craft. Was it craft?
- [27:35]
Dustin Teague
Crafted. Yes.
- [27:36]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. Crafted. Some lost. You were in Las Vegas?
- [27:41]
Dustin Teague
I did. I worked at the Golden Nugget for Landry's. It was right when he purchased it.
- [27:46]
Eric Cacciatore
Biggest impressions during this come up, this, this, this early career come up. People that you saw doing it Right. That you wanted to emulate, who did you admire.
- [27:58]
Dustin Teague
Honestly, I admired the groups. Wasn't really a celebrity or a particular chef. It was my chef. And, and I refer to him all the time as one of the guys that's driven our industry. But you'll never hear about him.
- [28:14]
Eric Cacciatore
Let's hear about him.
- [28:15]
Dustin Teague
His name is Ricky Cruz. And of course, in Houston, Tony Vallon built an empire of Italian food at a place called Grotto. Grotto was a restaurant that I first started at. And at the time, Ricky Cruz was the executive chef. And it's the story of, you know, dishwasher to executive chef and, you know, a guy who really, once again, was all eyes and ears in a kitchen. And what did you admire about chef Ricky Cruz?
- [28:51]
Eric Cacciatore
What was it about his.
- [28:52]
Dustin Teague
What he came from and what he's done, how hard he works, how hard he works. And to be honest, my work ethic, the way I run my business, the way I push my kitchen and everything else in between is what I learned from him.
- [29:06]
Eric Cacciatore
How hard work did he work?
- [29:09]
Dustin Teague
Just as hard as I work today, if not harder.
- [29:11]
Eric Cacciatore
What does that look like?
- [29:13]
Dustin Teague
One that looks like a good attitude and a positive mindset and a boatload of hours.
- [29:26]
Eric Cacciatore
Give me an example of his positive mindset or his attitude.
- [29:30]
Dustin Teague
So the grind that you would get into daily, once again, he was, he was one that. He didn't let you burn. He was a leader. He got in there with you and picked you right back up. Whether it was weeds pulled. No, he did. He would truly pull you out of anything. And once again, it was the story of the first guy in and the last guy out. Every single day when you showed up, he was there. And you worked your 12 hour shift as a chef and, and he was still there when you left. So.
- [30:05]
Eric Cacciatore
So he taught you a lot through example.
- [30:09]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [30:10]
Eric Cacciatore
Did he ever teach you a philosophy or a mindset or like you said, his, his attitude is positivity. But did he ever say something or did you say how he shows up or why he shows up like that?
- [30:22]
Dustin Teague
So, I mean, it, it's, it boils down and for him it was, it was, it was love in so many different directions. And once again, you can either love what you do and figure out if this is what you love, or once again, you're in the wrong area. And how could he do what he did? He loved, he loved taking care of a staff and providing food for a customer. Right. And once again, that, that was. And that's what motivated me to either make that mind up or get the heck out of.
- [31:01]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. And that's what it's about. I don't think that we celebrate that enough in the industry. It's because we're not the ones doing the celebrating. I think it's a lot of adjacent industries, media, publications, celebrating their perspective. And I think that's what we tend to prioritize, because that's what puts seats and butts.
- [31:17]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [31:18]
Eric Cacciatore
Unfortunately, yeah.
- [31:19]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [31:20]
Eric Cacciatore
And I think we need to be mindful of it. But it's hard to see that when we're in it. You don't. You don't see things that you're super close to. You don't see the forest through the woods, you know, and I think we forget what. What it's all about. Okay, same question. Addie, you work for some amazing people, live in Madison park, arguably one of the best restaurants ever in terms of if we do put value on lists.
- [31:45]
Addie Teague
Right?
- [31:45]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, but what did they. Or maybe it was working for. For entrepreneur like Martha Stewart, Although I heard she was a hard one to work for.
- [31:53]
Addie Teague
Yes, she. Code red when she. When she arrived, it was always, you know, look busy.
- [31:58]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. Commanding.
- [31:59]
Addie Teague
Yeah. Don't look her in the eye. But. But I also do. I mean, I. She's. She's the goat. So I. I can't.
- [32:06]
Eric Cacciatore
You can't?
- [32:07]
Addie Teague
No. My God, she's incredible. But no. 11 Madison Park. I. If you want to talk hospitality, they. They really. That was what I learned there. That's what I took away more than anything.
- [32:20]
Eric Cacciatore
What is hospitality to eleven Madison Park? I mean, I'm sure most of us have read the book. It's literally the answer's in that book. But what was it for your interpretation.
- [32:27]
Addie Teague
Of that, Making people feel welcome, making a seamless, you know, dinner at this fine dining restaurant. But you feel comfortable, like you belong. I mean, everyone there that walked in, you know, we greeted them by name. Like, that was so important how we talk to people, you know, how we interacted with people. That was so much of the training.
- [32:52]
Eric Cacciatore
How do they train that?
- [32:53]
Addie Teague
Oh, it's. It's.
- [32:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Do they just say, make sure you use names?
- [32:57]
Addie Teague
Yes. I mean, and you learn. You learn by watching. Again, like, a lot of. It's. You're. You're watching how to interact. But yes. Like, I mean, they want you. The way that you answer a question there is really important to them, and they would test you constantly. I would have my GM pull me outside and ask me these questions, and if I didn't answer them correctly, he turned around and walked back inside.
- [33:19]
Dustin Teague
And it was leave you in the scene.
- [33:22]
Eric Cacciatore
What kind of questions he Was asking.
- [33:23]
Addie Teague
Well, these were more. I mean, they want you to know everything there. What type of wood was in the inlet of the ceiling? You know, details. The details.
- [33:34]
Eric Cacciatore
Because the details are what people remember.
- [33:36]
Addie Teague
Absolutely. And that was, I mean, the details there. We, we had everyone's coats. We were holding them waiting for them. We would know when their table was getting up. We had gifts for everybody. We rolled their menus every night. I mean, the, the, the details there were incredible.
- [33:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [33:54]
Addie Teague
And it took a whole team, you know, to do it.
- [33:57]
Eric Cacciatore
Love in the iceberg.
- [33:58]
Addie Teague
Oh, God, I do not remember.
- [33:59]
Dustin Teague
I should remember.
- [34:00]
Addie Teague
I want to say, like 80 something. But then they had a PDR and they had a bar which was more informal, but, I mean. And I, I started working there the month that Danny Meyer sold it to Daniel.
- [34:18]
Eric Cacciatore
Who?
- [34:19]
Addie Teague
Daniel and Daniel home. Yeah. So that was like an interesting phase to kind of see that turnover.
- [34:28]
Eric Cacciatore
I'm sure you weren't privy to all the details of that agreement in the negotiations.
- [34:32]
Addie Teague
No, no. And actually, I let, I really. Will and Daniel were incredible, but I really love Danny and his philosophy and not that they, they were, they wanted to be even better than that, which is incredible. But I like Danny's a little more casual. They, they, they wanted to keep going, which again, said they wanted to be the best restaurant in the world, which is great. And they got there.
- [34:56]
Eric Cacciatore
That's not my, that, that's in the, like, they mentioned that in unreasonable hospitality. That was the goal.
- [35:01]
Addie Teague
Yes. For sure.
- [35:02]
Eric Cacciatore
What I don't like is how much that goal hinges on networking. It's because it's a club.
- [35:09]
Addie Teague
Yeah. Yeah.
- [35:10]
Eric Cacciatore
And I don't know, like, anyway, it's not my time to talk.
- [35:15]
Addie Teague
No, no, no, no. But I'm with you. And that's. I, I, they, I don't want to say it left a bad taste, but it was just not where I wanted to be.
- [35:25]
Eric Cacciatore
It's not what the industry was born out of.
- [35:27]
Addie Teague
No. And it's not where that was. Not my.
- [35:29]
Dustin Teague
The 1%.
- [35:30]
Eric Cacciatore
So it was, it's also great to have goals. It was absolutely, you know, like, I'm not shooting them down for trying to achieve something. I think it's important that we achieve and we try to do the best we can do. And I want to be clear about that.
- [35:43]
Addie Teague
Absolutely. Um, and they did a great job. I mean, they are incredible people and whatever. You know, I respect them, but their goal was not what I wanted.
- [35:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Like, what they did was incredible. I think you, you just, you, you. It has to be a yes. And you have to be Incredible. And do all the details and be so good at what you do. And you got to play the game, and you can't hit those goals unless you're also able and willing to play the game.
- [36:08]
Addie Teague
Totally.
- [36:09]
Eric Cacciatore
I don't want to make it clear that, like, you know, they were. What they accomplished was truly like the detail. And what they accomplished was really, truly impressive. But totally, I digress. So hospitality, how they taught it, how they trained it. Can you get any more detail into that?
- [36:25]
Addie Teague
I mean, it was just like I said, I was at the host. And so a lot of ours was the interacting with guests. I mean, they were. When again, when Will and them took over, like, I'm from the South, I say y', all, you know, that's that to me, that's hospitality. I don't know. But to them, that was not. They did not like that.
- [36:42]
Eric Cacciatore
Well, I mean, there's different approaches. There's no one. There's no one way. That's what I've learned. Yes, but it's your way, and you have to teach people your way.
- [36:48]
Addie Teague
Correct. And so that was, you know, just things like that, but verbal, like how they spoke to people and stuff. I took that to heart. And, you know, and one of the things I learned in the open table system and what I loved that they did is, I mean, before our guests came in, we knew everything that they loved, like all of all of their wines, the caviar, you know, we know when to expect them. And that's one of the things that we really use at Relish. And again, I said we're casual, but we're we. The level. Hospitality is there. We. We know your name when you walk in. We love to know that you like the Chablis. And last time you got the snapper, you did not love the lemon sauce. So this time maybe we'll offer you something else. But those notes, those things that we can we anticipate what you want.
- [37:35]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, I think that's one thing will go there. Does really well or explained really well. I can't remember where I heard him say it or if it wasn't a video or in his book, but I know it's tied to him. Hospitality. If you look at the synonyms of hospitality, and these are. This is my words, it's things like warmth, congeniality, sincere, like. Like just generosity, like neighborliness. And he summed it up, and I think that this is really smart relative to just psychology. Like, hospitality is seeing someone and you can't be warm. You can't be neighborly. You can't be generous, you can't be convenial unless you're in that moment seeing someone.
- [38:20]
Addie Teague
Absolutely.
- [38:21]
Eric Cacciatore
And he. If you look at human needs, if you believe in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it's like physiological. Do I have food, shelter and warmth? Do I feel secure? Am I being threatened by an outside, like, force?
- [38:38]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [38:38]
Eric Cacciatore
And then the next most important thing, do I feel seen and valued? It's that important to our mental in, like, psychological health of just being seen and valued. And I think hospitality being, like, seeing people. Hospitality is literally a part of our human DNA. And I would. I don't know. What are your thoughts on that?
- [39:02]
Addie Teague
Absolutely. I mean, it's super important. And I think that's one thing that we do well and that we talk.
- [39:10]
Dustin Teague
About the psychological side to cooking and our service. And, you know, you. You mentioned a lot of those points on, you know, being seen. And that's all a guest is looking for when they walk through the door. And so we focus on that experience in between. Yeah, I mean, it's the anticipated if. If a guest is asking you for something in our mind, we haven't used ours, and we haven't anticipated their needs. And so what are they looking for? They're looking for you to do that. They're not looking for you to. You know, anybody can come over and bring you a fork because you dropped it, you know, or, you know, you can refill a cocktail. Anybody can do those things. But really understanding what the guest is asking for during that process is what we focus on.
- [39:59]
Addie Teague
Hard to teach that to people.
- [40:01]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. If a guest is asking you something, they're really wanting something out of it. Can you see that clear enough to once again execute?
- [40:08]
Addie Teague
And there's also the guest that wants to be left alone.
- [40:11]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [40:13]
Eric Cacciatore
That's, I think of like, you're reminding me of the Japanese interpretation of hospitality or how they show hospitality. And it's all about anticipating needs. It's new. You never ask what they want. You just do it.
- [40:24]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [40:24]
Dustin Teague
Never reactive, but proactive with every thought that comes out. I mean, we talk about it all the time.
- [40:31]
Addie Teague
Active.
- [40:32]
Dustin Teague
We sell a dessert and we mark it right away. Once again, we. We don't wait for the process and we understand that once again, you set a dessert down and a guest has to ask you for that silverware. You've, you've. You've missed what they're here for. Let's. Those are the details we're supposed to have down.
- [40:50]
Eric Cacciatore
So let's jump to 2011 in your timeline, now that we have an idea of what kind of got you here, what brought you guys back home? Home to Houston?
- [40:59]
Addie Teague
Well, I had that idea for a little market in Houston and very lucky to have parents who were on board and thought it was a good idea and willing to support me. And I knew Dustin, as we. As we mentioned, through being mutual friends growing up in high school and whatnot. And at that point, he was catering with a catering company here, and I needed an executive chef to help me. And so it just seemed like a great, perfect idea.
- [41:31]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. I was at a place called Affair Extraordinaire, which is a big catering company in Houston. And it was the perfect fit. I was either looking to take that over. I was in that stage where I was ready to do more. Yeah, to do more.
- [41:48]
Eric Cacciatore
25, 26 years old. Is that right? 2011.
- [41:53]
Dustin Teague
Yes. So, yeah, good. Eight, nine years into it.
- [41:56]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [41:56]
Dustin Teague
I went to. With the Landry's group. I traveled for five or six years with them, different locations. I was part of an opening team that was opening restaurants with them. Hence why I was in the Golden Nugget Casino for a year and a half.
- [42:11]
Eric Cacciatore
Landry's. Why is that so familiar?
- [42:12]
Dustin Teague
Are they Tillman Fertitta?
- [42:14]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [42:14]
Dustin Teague
They're like a huge, huge billionaire guy, owns the Rockets. Golden Nugget. So backstory to that was your tide.
- [42:22]
Eric Cacciatore
To Los Angeles or Las Vegas?
- [42:23]
Dustin Teague
Yes, yes. And so the Grotto was honestly an Italian institution in Houston, and it was run by a guy named Tony Valone. Tony Balone's since passed, but he and a lot of other families in Houston put Italian food and doing it correctly on the map with that restaurant, the Grotto. And so Tillman Fertitta bought the Grotto from Tony Balone. And then once that happened, it turned into a corporate, you know, a corporate business that they were kind of tried to scale across the country. Yeah, I signed up for that because once again, I was going exposure travel. You need somebody to go to Las Vegas and run a restaurant for you. I was single, 23, 24 years old. So I jumped at that opportunity right away.
- [43:16]
Eric Cacciatore
You see it all the time. People try to scale brand, you know, look at like, Carabas. That's another Texas brand. Houston, right?
- [43:24]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [43:24]
Eric Cacciatore
The original Carabas.
- [43:26]
Addie Teague
You need to go if you've.
- [43:27]
Eric Cacciatore
Oh, I've had Johnny on the show.
- [43:29]
Addie Teague
Okay.
- [43:30]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, we know him personally. He's a good guy.
- [43:32]
Eric Cacciatore
He's off. Phenomenal guy.
- [43:33]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [43:34]
Eric Cacciatore
And, you know, it's. It wasn't the brand that made Carrabba's Carrabba's it was Johnny Carrabba, the Caraba family. It was the culture, the people.
- [43:43]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [43:43]
Eric Cacciatore
You can't scale that.
- [43:45]
Addie Teague
No.
- [43:45]
Eric Cacciatore
And you. We've gotten better at identifying, I think, and realizing that it's people. And to scale a brand, you need to scale a culture. And you have culture carriers that are the people who embody that culture. And you, you bring them with the brand. Right. But even that's hard to do because you. You dilute that, the bigger you get.
- [44:04]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [44:04]
Dustin Teague
That was our originally our plan with relish. And we've come to the realization it's impossible.
- [44:10]
Addie Teague
It is. It's really not that.
- [44:11]
Dustin Teague
Because if you don't take us with it.
- [44:13]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [44:14]
Dustin Teague
Once again, we are big part of. We're a big part of our brand and what we do for it. So we don't think it's even possible to move other cities or states or. What we've built is a Houston brand and it belongs here. Then it'll stay here.
- [44:31]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, yeah. So you guys come together. Where would you have that? Where were you going with that, Trent? I don't want to. I want to cut you short. I think I took. I took you off. No, you're talking about scaling brands.
- [44:41]
Dustin Teague
No, what it is you mentioned Johnny Corabin originally, everybody wants.
- [44:45]
Addie Teague
Well, he did it the right way.
- [44:47]
Dustin Teague
He did it the right way.
- [44:49]
Addie Teague
We're gonna follow Johnny.
- [44:50]
Eric Cacciatore
They did absolutely phenomenal job. And I love that he, in the contract said, I own the original.
- [44:55]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [44:56]
Eric Cacciatore
So if this thing goes self like, we can always bring it back to what it was meant to be.
- [45:00]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [45:01]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [45:01]
Dustin Teague
And he's maintained that.
- [45:02]
Addie Teague
No, he's a very, very good.
- [45:04]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, they did a great job. I didn't mean to.
- [45:06]
Addie Teague
No, sorry.
- [45:06]
Eric Cacciatore
They didn't do a great job. But they'll never be an original job.
- [45:09]
Addie Teague
No, no, no.
- [45:10]
Eric Cacciatore
They'll never be the original.
- [45:11]
Addie Teague
No. That's why they have the two. The original Carabas left in Houston and.
- [45:15]
Dustin Teague
Then they have the other one or somebody else owns the other one. And those are the only two that are not part of the deal.
- [45:21]
Eric Cacciatore
Right. Yeah. Yeah. So sorry, go ahead.
- [45:24]
Addie Teague
No, no, I feel bad. We're going off topic here.
- [45:26]
Eric Cacciatore
No, there is no. There's no path. There's meandering conversations. So it's my job to bring us back on path. So you guys come together. You're talking about the work you're doing. Landry's. You're back in Houston. That's why you're back in Houston. See, this is my job to come back to this. How do we get here? So you. So it sounds like, and I'm reading between the lines, it sounds like you're very fortunate that you had a family to support you. Is that where you got the money to start?
- [45:50]
Addie Teague
It did.
- [45:50]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay, Beautiful.
- [45:51]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [45:52]
Eric Cacciatore
So what did you need to get started to build this vision that you're trying to do? You mean with the market?
- [45:59]
Addie Teague
With the market, yeah. Well, I mean, so we. We found a lease. It was a little small spot. My mom actually had a little small food business, so she had a commercial kitchen. So we didn't have to build out a commercial kitchen. We thought, you know, this would be a small investment. We could cook out of that commercial kitchen and then open this market where we would. Then it's like a commissary, transport the food. So. So, you know, I. I moved back. I mainly needed a team of people and that's where Dustin came in to help me build that.
- [46:32]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it. I don't want to spend all like, I want to get to where we are today. I want to make sure we talk about that. But how long did relish survive? From 2011 to 2015. 15. So four year run.
- [46:47]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [46:48]
Eric Cacciatore
What was it that. What was the biggest way that this experience, building this thing together, doing this thing. How did that form who you were? You had relish and Relish restaurant and bar at the same time, then you end up closing the market?
- [47:05]
Addie Teague
Not really. We. We were in some lease issues there. We were not supposed to be a dine in restaurant, but people wanted to eat there. We were making sandwiches and things to go.
- [47:15]
Eric Cacciatore
So you had a license. You got a license for a marketplace, but then you didn't have the right.
- [47:19]
Addie Teague
Well, it was.
- [47:20]
Dustin Teague
We were technically the code of a prepared market, which you're not allowed to eat in and consume food in.
- [47:27]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it.
- [47:28]
Dustin Teague
And our neighbor exercised a competition clause in their lease to prove we are a fast food restaurant at this pace with X amount of chairs. And. And yeah, when it went to court and when you looked at it, we. We had a landlord politely ask us, you've done well. We were really the reason they came at us. We were booming and we took over their parking lot. So once that happened, landlord asked us to leave and then that's when Addie and I were going, do we want.
- [48:02]
Addie Teague
You know, how can we build this and make this something else?
- [48:04]
Dustin Teague
Right. Do you want a 82 prime cost business or do you want to. Well, in 55.
- [48:09]
Eric Cacciatore
In your partner's defense or your partner, but your neighbor's defense.
- [48:11]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [48:12]
Eric Cacciatore
That's why there's clauses for sure because the, the totally. You can't have one restaurant that's doing really well in a space that wasn't designed for two restaurants.
- [48:22]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. And I think that so many landlords today, they, they're hurting restaurants because we want to run them. But the economics of these strips and parking and everything that comes in them. No, we, we agreed, we agreed with him totally that.
- [48:37]
Addie Teague
But we were, we were, we were growing.
- [48:38]
Eric Cacciatore
I didn't think you disagreed. I just want to. This is a learning opportunity.
- [48:41]
Dustin Teague
100 people. And what we learned during that was what we're doing is hurting someone else. We need to go. Right. And that's what we learned from the get go was this was never our intentions to come in and civil engineering.
- [48:55]
Eric Cacciatore
Like what can the space support?
- [48:57]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [48:57]
Eric Cacciatore
You need to be able to have parking and you need to be smart about. You want those types of clauses in your, your agreement, your, your lease agreement and stuff like that because you want to have foresight.
- [49:09]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely, absolutely.
- [49:10]
Eric Cacciatore
If a restaurant goes in next door, even if they're not directly competitive with.
- [49:14]
Dustin Teague
The genre of food, it can still hurt your restaurant. Yeah.
- [49:17]
Eric Cacciatore
Can this physical space, like the, the footprint of this complex handle that? And if. No, then that having that foresight and putting that into your agreement with your landlord is good business. And I don't know if they had that foresight or if it just happened to be there. But like that's a really smart operator.
- [49:38]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. We know the operator and we know.
- [49:40]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [49:40]
Dustin Teague
No, they, they, they're smart people and we've done the same thing.
- [49:45]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [49:45]
Dustin Teague
In our current leases.
- [49:47]
Eric Cacciatore
Probably learned from someone. Absolutely.
- [49:50]
Dustin Teague
And we get that, that you know, we're at the mercy of landlords and whether once again the metrics of their strips work and we've got to just make the best call in deciding whether they do or not. Any other.
- [50:04]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. Any other big lessons from this first attempt at business and it sounds like things are going well. You're taking up all the parking. Right. Like.
- [50:11]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [50:11]
Eric Cacciatore
What was going. What was good about it? What worked.
- [50:17]
Addie Teague
The pro.
- [50:17]
Dustin Teague
I mean of course we put. We focus on a good product for a neighborhood that once again was in need of, you know, a little coffee shop and prepared deli.
- [50:32]
Eric Cacciatore
So you were packaging it as grab and go. Were you plating?
- [50:35]
Addie Teague
No, everything was in. To go.
- [50:37]
Dustin Teague
Everything was in a.
- [50:38]
Eric Cacciatore
People were sitting down and eating it.
- [50:39]
Addie Teague
Because we had a little waiting area for guests like a counter, stand up counter and people would stand up and eat and, and, and we had little benches outside, like just cute. You Know, people would sit on the benches and eat, you know, so there weren't tables? No.
- [50:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay. So things were going really well. So was the, the, the challenge just the, the, the amount of money that was being tied up in inventory to have a market like what, what wasn't working, working? Why didn't you do what you were doing there someplace else if it was working there?
- [51:11]
Dustin Teague
The volume that it is a volume game. And when I say you have to sell thousands of boxes of pasta to make sense, to put space on the wall for him once again, I, I, what was it? We saw a few other concepts like us all pop up in different neighborhoods. We all transitioned from the model and understood the day and age of rent and the price per square foot that we pay. It's impossible to make these numbers work economically. They did not, they did not fit a P and L that would sustain over time. And we looked at it and thought, well, we could do these, but you need 20 and 30 of them for them to make sense.
- [52:00]
Eric Cacciatore
And yeah, these are the things you don't learn until you, you don't know what you don't know until you know. And the only way to find out is by doing it. Or listen to a really great podcast I share stories about. Be wary of this if this is your vision. Know that we had a similar vision and that we didn't think about these things.
- [52:16]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely.
- [52:16]
Eric Cacciatore
It's important to talk so just the sheer amount of volume you'd have to do in a market, retail like space, in order to make it work, you have to scale to a ma a critical number or have a giant footprint where you own all the retail business in a right neighborhood.
- [52:30]
Addie Teague
And we did a lot. I mean, between, like I said, it's, we didn't, the, we did not make money off of those pastas and the specialty goods we were selling. I mean, that to me was again, more marketing. It was the catering. We did box lunch catering, corporate catering.
- [52:44]
Dustin Teague
Things like that, private catering at houses around the area.
- [52:48]
Addie Teague
So that's where we really, that was.
- [52:50]
Eric Cacciatore
Our, I think people who are doing that well, I've also noticed aren't relying on the footprint of their marketplace as much as they're using it as a commissary.
- [52:58]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [52:58]
Eric Cacciatore
But they're also tapping into maybe slowing down a little bit now, but for a while a real booming sector which was delivered like pre fixed, like, like fixed meals delivered.
- [53:11]
Addie Teague
Oh, right.
- [53:12]
Eric Cacciatore
So whether that was like a healthy dining, like if you wanted to be able to have meals cooked and delivered to your home and you could just put in the refrigerator and heat them up throughout the week. But, like, geared towards a type of individual that was trying to eat clean, healthy food, and they can't get that anywhere else.
- [53:28]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [53:28]
Eric Cacciatore
But can't necessarily afford to have a private chef.
- [53:30]
Addie Teague
Right. You know, definitely A lot of those that I feel like they have kind of died out, but there were that.
- [53:35]
Eric Cacciatore
The pandemic really helped with that.
- [53:37]
Addie Teague
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [53:38]
Dustin Teague
It was the economics that once again, it.
- [53:41]
Eric Cacciatore
It's.
- [53:42]
Dustin Teague
You're in the grocery store business and you gotta have a lot of traffic every single day.
- [53:46]
Eric Cacciatore
But here's the thing. I think the grocery store business started to catch on to it too, because now there's a huge amount of footprint in grocery stores. That's the takeaway dedicated to grab and go.
- [53:57]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [53:57]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. The prepared side.
- [53:58]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [53:59]
Dustin Teague
In fact, we. We noticed a few recipes and things in our prepared market. Make their way to our local grocery store. Prepared market. Shell.
- [54:09]
Eric Cacciatore
Look, I'm guilty. I. I will. Am not too proud to go to the grocery store and get a prepared meal and throw it in the microwave.
- [54:16]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [54:16]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, exactly.
- [54:18]
Eric Cacciatore
You know, there's a level of convenience, for sure.
- [54:21]
Addie Teague
We work a lot. We have two kids. The convenience factor is. Is really important.
- [54:27]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [54:28]
Eric Cacciatore
Hey, babe, what's for dinner? Oh, and just do a roasted turkey from the grocery store. I will destroy a roasted turkey. That is like my favorite thing. I just will stand over that thing like an animal in the kitchen and just rip it out of the bag. It's kind of.
- [54:41]
Addie Teague
I'm not supposed to say this, but the Randall's fried chicken is some of my favorite.
- [54:44]
Eric Cacciatore
Oh, my gosh.
- [54:45]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [54:46]
Eric Cacciatore
I've never had it, but I'll take your word for it. I digress. Again, so. So you. So this goes down. You guys are having success. You're. It's not working because the. The. The way it was working wasn't working for everybody in the space. So you are forced to find a new location. This is 2014.
- [55:05]
Addie Teague
Yes, that's around 2014.
- [55:08]
Eric Cacciatore
Was there a plan to open another restaurant before this went down?
- [55:11]
Addie Teague
Not really. I mean, you know, obviously it was something we thought about, but I think this just catapulted that. And it actually turns out that the. The tenant of the restaurant that was in the same shopping center as us had another restaurant that they were looking to get rid of. And so they had a lease that they wanted someone to take over.
- [55:33]
Eric Cacciatore
So this is in the same footprint that your market was in just now. You're.
- [55:37]
Addie Teague
It's a different restaurant, so it's down the road.
- [55:39]
Eric Cacciatore
Now that's allowed because there's so no.
- [55:41]
Addie Teague
They, they, they owned a restaurant called the Bird and the Bear.
- [55:44]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [55:45]
Addie Teague
And that was down the road from where we were. Oh, and this is. So they had multiple restaurants.
- [55:50]
Dustin Teague
The same group that was exercising their no competition clause also had a restaurant down the road that they needed to get out.
- [55:57]
Eric Cacciatore
That's how we should play.
- [55:59]
Dustin Teague
Exactly. The irony behind it all was the same person that we needed to leave because also gave us the platform that we, you know, brought us to where we're at today.
- [56:09]
Eric Cacciatore
So that's good business. We've got some little take notes kids. If you're listening to this at home, like that's how we should, that's, that's how we should do it.
- [56:16]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, absolutely.
- [56:17]
Addie Teague
So it worked out.
- [56:18]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [56:19]
Eric Cacciatore
So any lessons on being someone's exit strategy?
- [56:24]
Dustin Teague
As long as you make sure it's beneficial for you?
- [56:27]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. I mean, restaurant owners. What if I told you there is a way to lower your prime cost by $1,000 month over month and get paid $1,000? That sounds like a deal too good to be true. But that's exactly the deal that Restaurant Systems Pro is offering 10 of my lucky listeners. So why are they doing this? Because they consistently help their clients get between 15 and 25% profit in business. And when they approach new clients and say, I can do the same thing for you, they get met with a lot of resistance. And because it sounds too good to be true, most restaurants think if you do between 5 and 10%, you're doing good. So to hit 15 or 25%, like what do we have to sacrifice? What, what scam are you throwing at me, sir? No, thank you. But the truth is they really do help people hit these numbers. And the way they do it is by having all the most important systems that are tied to profitability fully integrated into an enterprise solution. I'm talking like accounting, inventory, scheduling, checklist, training systems, general ledger, balance sheets, costing cards. When you have all those systems dialed in, ironclad, tied, connected, fully integrated, in an enterprise solution, you get data. And when you have data, you can make little tweaks here and there. And those little tweaks, you can see the fruits of your labor, the effects of your efforts. And that's how you hit 15 and 25% profit. And on top of all this, they also have support, which is unheard of in today's age. So you get all these things compounded that help you hit that 15 to 25%. And if I have your attention, keep Listening. Join the Restaurant Systems Pro 30 Day Prime Cost Challenge and if you successfully improve your prime cost by $1,000 or more compared to the same 30 day period last year, they will pay you a thousand dollars. If you're listening on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, find the show notes and we will have a link titled restaurant systems pro 30 day prime cost challenge. Click that link and get signed up today. Only 10 spots, guys. Do not wait. Get your spot, lower your prime cost by a thousand dollars and get paid that $1,000. They're actually calling this a reverse guarantee. Get on it. This episode is made possible by Sir Bony. Sir Bony is your all in one bookkeeping and financial solution referred to me organically in episode 1200 by Mama Betty's founder, Jason Carrier. You got to hear what Jason had to say about Sir Bony. Anything that comes remotely close to your financials, Sir Boni has your back. Reliable tax preparation and business incorporation. Seamless payroll and compliance reports. Strategic CFO services that drive business growth. Detailed customer reporting for complete financial clarity and dedicated support for restaurants and multi location businesses. Did I mention they do bookkeeping? They do it all. This is an end to end financial management solution all under one roof. Let Sir Boney handle the numbers so you can focus on the vision. Call Sir Bony today at 281-888-2413 to schedule your free 30 minute consultation and discover how Sir Boni can streamline your operations and boost your bottom line limited time offer and this is exclusive to Restaurant Unstoppable listeners. Mention this Message and get 20% off your first month of services. So the person that set this up seems like they have good business ethics. Did they set up the agreement good? That the takeover or did you take over a lease?
- [59:54]
Addie Teague
We took over a lease.
- [59:55]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [59:55]
Addie Teague
Anything that's hard. I think we've learned a lot from that. A. It's not how we would have done the lease. There are a lot of things that maybe we would have the parking and things like that, but we'd had no choice.
- [60:08]
Eric Cacciatore
Well, yeah.
- [60:09]
Addie Teague
And so you know, you're. I don't want to say you're held hostage there, but at the same time, look, it did create and give us another opportunity and now we learned even more from that.
- [60:19]
Eric Cacciatore
So this. Sorry, go ahead.
- [60:20]
Addie Teague
Yeah, no, I just. I personally feel like, you know, not every choice you make is going to be perfect. It can't always be. But as long as you learn from that and can pivot and figure out how to make it good. That's what we've really tried to do there. And now as we have now signed one and maybe another lease coming up, we know how to do this.
- [60:44]
Eric Cacciatore
What wasn't good about the lease, like, that we can create awareness, like look for these things.
- [60:48]
Dustin Teague
Parking.
- [60:48]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [60:49]
Dustin Teague
Number one thing. Yeah, yeah.
- [60:51]
Addie Teague
The parking was. It was in that really hidden information.
- [60:55]
Dustin Teague
I mean, when you're working at lease in this industry, you don't ever want to spare a dollar because it's the most important part. I mean, you could have the best food, the best chefs, awesome service system, amazing maitre d's, phenomenal wine list. If the process of getting that butt in a seat is hindered because of multiple different factors, Access the seat. Once again, the. The parking is the number one thing that you have to.
- [61:27]
Addie Teague
In Houston.
- [61:28]
Dustin Teague
In Houston, you have to understand it's.
- [61:30]
Eric Cacciatore
Your cars around here.
- [61:32]
Dustin Teague
It's priority number one.
- [61:33]
Addie Teague
People don't take public transportation. People rarely walk. It's really hot A lot of the year. It's. People want to drive.
- [61:40]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [61:41]
Addie Teague
And. And that is.
- [61:43]
Dustin Teague
And with being a big city, it's expensive. Yeah, I'm.
- [61:46]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, sorry, go ahead.
- [61:47]
Dustin Teague
It's expensive to not drive in Houston?
- [61:51]
Addie Teague
Well, yeah, like Uber, with how big.
- [61:53]
Dustin Teague
It is and you know, how many great restaurants we have, I mean, you could. You could be in 30, 35 minute uber drives just to get to a great restaurant that you want to go to and to sustain that on a regular basis. Once it is, it's not conducive for our city. Which hints why we think local neighborhood restaurants, once again, they thrive because your neighborhood sticks with you. They're not necessarily.
- [62:17]
Eric Cacciatore
There's a shift happening right now. It's. There's so many things going through my mind right now. Like there was a period where it, like you wanted to be in the middle of downtown, and that's where all the best real estate was. But that's not the case anymore. And if you have your. I mean, you've. No disrespect to Texas, I want to put that out there. If you ever fly into Texas and you're flying over Texas and you're looking down, you're flying into Dallas, you're looking down. It's an ocean of suburbia. And you're gonna get in a car and drive 20 minutes to a retail outlet to get fed. And if you look at how people behave for hundreds, thousands of years, we never had a. Aside from going to hunt and gather the food, we'd bring the food back and we would. And we would eat it in our community, with our people, with our community. And we don't have that. That central. What's the word I'm looking for? Third place. That was just standard. And when we were colonizing the Americas. And I know that's a very triggering word. I'm sorry if I'm triggering. So. But when we were colonizing the Americas, you needed. If you wanted to start a town, do you know the first thing you needed to do to be established as a. A town?
- [63:35]
Addie Teague
A tavern.
- [63:37]
Eric Cacciatore
You needed a public house, a pub. Not a post office, not a church. But those things are also downtown.
- [63:45]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [63:46]
Eric Cacciatore
Everything was in the public house. A tavern. That's where you got your news. That's where you got your mail. That's where you got your entertainment. That's where you got your beer. That's where you literally did everything. It was the hub of a community. It was the heart of a community. Community. It was the community oven. It was where everything happened. And we just got away from that. Right. And, like, there's so much opportunity in the sprawling oceans of suburbia across America. Knock down a few houses and build a restaurant there.
- [64:19]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [64:19]
Eric Cacciatore
Like, we need that in America right now. We need a place to come together and be with our community. And it's. It's missing.
- [64:25]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. And even in Houston, we. We feel. And we. We've been a part of a. A move to the west side of Houston for good reason. Untapped suburbia with very few restaurants. And we've seen the volume, you know, come drastically because of it.
- [64:42]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [64:43]
Dustin Teague
To where? Take. Take downtown to, you know, Galleria and anywhere in between there. Trust me when I say this, there are too many restaurants. Restaurants. There are. Yeah, There are so many restaurants. And for the first time. Yeah. In Houston, we, you know, we could walk along long a row of restaurants, and not one of them was originated and produced in Houston. It's other big cities and states realizing this suburbia that's out there in Texas, and we've just been flooded with them since the pandemic.
- [65:19]
Eric Cacciatore
I think that there is a big weight on the shoulders or some weight that should be beared on the shoulders of the. The developers of America.
- [65:28]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [65:29]
Eric Cacciatore
When we were doing the civil engineering laying out this country, it was geared towards consumerism. It was geared for, you know, there are so many small towns that dried up when we built the interstate and, like, you know, prior to, like, commercial aviation and everything that, like the. Like Route 66.
- [65:50]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [65:51]
Eric Cacciatore
Like, yeah. And you re. You built these super highways that bypass all these towns, and it pulled all the commercial. What's the word Agriculture. What's the word I'm looking for? It will come to me. But the commerce, all the commerce out of these small towns.
- [66:08]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [66:09]
Eric Cacciatore
Anyway, this is. Is turning into a huge history. That wasn't. No, no, it's. But it's just like there's. Yeah. Anyway, it's just fascinating, you know, we don't know until we know.
- [66:18]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [66:18]
Eric Cacciatore
But back to your story, because I want to make sure we share your story. So you find this location, you. You identify. You didn't know that the. There's parts of the lease or specifically parking. Any other tips or advice when it comes to looking at Elise, things you've learned over time?
- [66:32]
Addie Teague
Well, one thing that we learned there too, which you can't always plan for, is construction, especially road construction and that sort of stuff, though, like just taking necessary evil. Right. And. And. Right. But no, yeah, no, well, I mean.
- [66:51]
Dustin Teague
I think that's a great point. You really focus on signing a good lease and making sure it represents everything the business needs. But once again, what's the development? What's happening around the town? Yeah.
- [67:03]
Eric Cacciatore
What are the plans here?
- [67:04]
Dustin Teague
Right, exactly.
- [67:05]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [67:05]
Dustin Teague
And I think, you know, that's an advantage of building your brand in your backyard, if that makes sense. Yeah. And even, you know, we're with a new opportunity right here in front of us, and minus the little relish on San Felipe that we put, we would never be staring in front of this opportunity that's in front of us. And it is far from the small town. You know, it. Unfortunately, real estate in Houston, and I think in a lot of big cities, once again, they're getting away from the small, quaint, unique restaurants, and we're all being. Being put into a pool of take it or leave it. These of the spaces, they're huge. They represent a certain grandiose and bigger scale. And you talk to commerce and you know, the difference between, you know, taking out the stoplight in a small town and you think that's a good thing by putting Route 66 to it. But once again, what does it do to the small town?
- [68:15]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [68:16]
Dustin Teague
And the people that have been there.
- [68:17]
Eric Cacciatore
The whole time, the small road that supported it, it was the super. Super four lane highways. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- [68:24]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [68:25]
Eric Cacciatore
But again, I mean, that's just the world that. That is consumerism, you know, and I think that it's weird. It's a. And also, what's the issue? Why are there so many restaurants today? Well, because when all those strip malls were built, there were empty spaces. Retail was also a thing back then.
- [68:41]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [68:42]
Eric Cacciatore
People would Go to retail stores to get electronics, fabrics, clothing.
- [68:48]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [68:48]
Eric Cacciatore
That doesn't work anymore.
- [68:49]
Addie Teague
I know.
- [68:50]
Eric Cacciatore
Because we get all of our on Amazon or like, delivered by mail.
- [68:54]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [68:54]
Eric Cacciatore
So now we have all this empty resale retail space. What works in retail space still to this day? Restaurants. But not that many. Saturation.
- [69:04]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [69:04]
Eric Cacciatore
You know, like where every box in a retail strip is a restaurant. That's not sustainable.
- [69:09]
Addie Teague
No, it's not.
- [69:09]
Dustin Teague
No. When it's 80 restaurants and 2, 2% re or 20% retail, it's impossible for each of those restaurants.
- [69:17]
Addie Teague
I know.
- [69:18]
Dustin Teague
Economically, once again, for it to make sense for you to be there. Two restaurants versus, you know, eight retail spots you have. You're paying different rent. And I think there's less, there's more leverage for a landlord and less for you as a, as a tenant.
- [69:35]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [69:36]
Dustin Teague
Once again, more competition. I, I, I get. You should put yourself right in the middle and we feel it. You should be right in the middle of the competition that you want to compete with. Don't run from it. Don't go to the outskirts. Put your business right there in front of their face because it's working. Yes.
- [69:53]
Eric Cacciatore
That's the, the Lowe's Home Depot approach.
- [69:56]
Dustin Teague
Exactly. You want them to see you and you want to keep an eye on them the entire time. Once again, that is a business mindset that I think is very important. You never want to be alone. You want to be with others, but it's got to be right, if that makes sense. We find it out. We're, we're in a strip and we're the only restaurant, and we probably might be the only strip on that side of town that only has one restaurant in it.
- [70:21]
Eric Cacciatore
Oh, wow.
- [70:21]
Dustin Teague
And of course, you go look at the others, and there's three and four. And you had mentioned commercial real estate. And you want commerce and you want things to change and you want.
- [70:34]
Eric Cacciatore
You.
- [70:34]
Dustin Teague
Know, you want things to grow, but at what cost do we do it? And our, even Houston itself. Real estate's so expensive. Everything is so vertical.
- [70:43]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [70:45]
Dustin Teague
Well, when it's vertical down below, we're convinced that.
- [70:51]
Eric Cacciatore
What do you say? Everything's so expensive. It's vertical. You're talking about like literal vertical skyscrapers.
- [70:55]
Dustin Teague
Skyscrapers. They're just.
- [70:56]
Eric Cacciatore
Because they're building dirt.
- [70:58]
Dustin Teague
Vertical integration or okay, vertical skyscrapers, because once again, the dirt that's below them is so expensive. You can't just build one layer, you need to build 5 to 10. Yeah. For it to make sense. So we've outgrown the local restaurants that can support local rent and independently own buildings, especially on the side of town that we're on.
- [71:18]
Addie Teague
We just. There were like three or or so local amazing restaurants that have recently.
- [71:24]
Dustin Teague
Phenomenal restaurants that just shut down on us. And we went to every single one of them and we walked out and went. I mean, this is good stuff. You know, this is what customers are asking for.
- [71:36]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [71:36]
Dustin Teague
The economics behind. Yeah. Two or three of these businesses. That's what the question that went through my brain was. Well, I need to know more.
- [71:45]
Eric Cacciatore
Why.
- [71:45]
Dustin Teague
Why in the world two phenomenal chefs right up the road from us that we know can put amazing food on a plate and provide an experience? And they were shutting their doors. Yeah.
- [71:56]
Eric Cacciatore
This is the stuff I love. It's the macroeconomic big picture. What's going on. I can talk about this stuff all day. Don't ask me about P Ls, though. I'm not gonna lie.
- [72:05]
Addie Teague
I'm not.
- [72:06]
Eric Cacciatore
I will ask you questions. I have to learn.
- [72:09]
Addie Teague
Yeah, exactly.
- [72:10]
Dustin Teague
So. And that's why I run the P and L and.
- [72:13]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, but. But it's. We. We are in a time right now. I love history. Increasingly I wish I love history when I was in high school, but we are in a time right now. And that during the end of the last industrial age, where, when that came to a scre. A screeching hole like what built the. It was the, the factories that built up a lot of the cities across America. All these cities that were on rivers like your, Your. Like your C level cities. Not like your. Houston's an A level, New York's an A level, Los Angeles is an A level, but your B and C level cities. Those were factors. Factories. Those were the industrial workers. Yeah, exactly. And when, when we left the industrial age and all the opportunity dried up across America, everybody was forced to go to your Boston's, your New Yorks, your Houstons, your Dallas's, your. All the. The A's, wherever the big, the biggest airports are those places. Right. But that swing happened. And I. And it's. I think it's pretty obvious right now that the swing is going in the other direction. And if you're in Houston, I. Probably not good news. But the opportunities now are in the B and C cities because people are exiting the big cities to go find more affordable or spreading out. And the, the pandemic really exposed that and, and, and expedited it.
- [73:29]
Dustin Teague
Right.
- [73:30]
Eric Cacciatore
Because it was the worst place to be during a pandemic was in a city. Right. So we spread out. But I think it's good because we needed to Spread out because everything was getting too expensive. The cities.
- [73:40]
Dustin Teague
Right.
- [73:41]
Addie Teague
And we see that opportunity as a business owner to go to those suburbs. And he said, there's plenty of them.
- [73:47]
Eric Cacciatore
But when we do it the next time around.
- [73:48]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [73:49]
Eric Cacciatore
Can we be a little bit more intentional about how we lay out these. These neighborhoods?
- [73:53]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely.
- [73:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [73:54]
Addie Teague
Yes. Yeah, for sure.
- [73:57]
Eric Cacciatore
So back to your story. So you guys open your. Your 2014. You open Relish Restaurant and Bar.
- [74:04]
Addie Teague
Yes. 2016, was it 16?
- [74:07]
Dustin Teague
It took about a year and a half of construction.
- [74:09]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it. So 2016. So not that. Only nine years ago, right?
- [74:12]
Addie Teague
Yeah. We just celebrated our nine.
- [74:14]
Eric Cacciatore
Congratulations.
- [74:15]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [74:15]
Eric Cacciatore
That's awesome. What. What has the evolution been for you guys? I mean, was it the same story with this location? Did you have to go get financing or were you able to raise money without.
- [74:24]
Dustin Teague
So the original was personal financing. The second one, when we moved, we went to a bank record.
- [74:30]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [74:31]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [74:31]
Eric Cacciatore
You could get money.
- [74:32]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [74:32]
Dustin Teague
So we. We went to a bank, got a loan for that one, which we're. How much did we need? Yeah, it's about a million five.
- [74:40]
Eric Cacciatore
And you're proud to say, what, it's.
- [74:43]
Dustin Teague
All debt free and we've paid it all?
- [74:44]
Addie Teague
Well. Yeah.
- [74:45]
Eric Cacciatore
Congratulations. How long did that take?
- [74:47]
Dustin Teague
Five years.
- [74:48]
Eric Cacciatore
That's. That's a good five.
- [74:49]
Addie Teague
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [74:50]
Eric Cacciatore
That's awesome.
- [74:51]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [74:52]
Eric Cacciatore
So what. What has your. Like, what were your challenges getting that first location over?
- [74:59]
Dustin Teague
I mean, challenges. Picking the wrong. It's just contractor. I mean, having the right team. The challenge with that one was timing. For instance, we just built a restaurant. It was done in five months from ground up. That business was slapping lipstick on a pig. It took us a year and a half. So financially, that almost cracked us.
- [75:21]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [75:21]
Dustin Teague
Because we were paying rent while paying construction.
- [75:26]
Addie Teague
Well, then having to start paying our loan back, I mean, it was about.
- [75:29]
Dustin Teague
A million and a half million seven. I mean, 40% of that was keeping it up to date on rent just to get the doors open. That's the lesson we learn. Assuming a lease. Because you assume to start paying rent right away.
- [75:45]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [75:46]
Dustin Teague
That process, once again, that was a big economic learning curve for us on, you know, the details of a lease. And then once again, how do they. How does this all economically work from the financial side? And I would say that was the biggest hurdle of. We were screaming at a contractor going, we need the doors open.
- [76:08]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [76:08]
Dustin Teague
You are bleeding us dry.
- [76:10]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [76:10]
Dustin Teague
And we're about to lose this thing. And so, yeah, I. I would think that was. That. That was a big, big part of it at the beginning.
- [76:17]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. What Was your. What was your rent? Do you know what? Was there a number?
- [76:21]
Dustin Teague
You're a percentage, so. No, we don't pay percentage rent on anything.
- [76:25]
Eric Cacciatore
No, I meant was there like a target percentage, like when you were.
- [76:28]
Dustin Teague
When you're trying to.
- [76:28]
Addie Teague
For sales.
- [76:29]
Dustin Teague
So it's 8%. Occupancy costs are less. Okay. So when you factor in what the landlord tells you can only be 8% of your monthly.
- [76:37]
Eric Cacciatore
Right. You got your pro forma. This is what we're projecting. And you want it to be 8% or less. I've heard seven. Seven is a really good target to hit.
- [76:43]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [76:43]
Eric Cacciatore
Seven. Awesome. If you can get it lower than that.
- [76:46]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [76:46]
Eric Cacciatore
Phenomenal. Jason Carrier, another or Sir Bony. Do you know Jason? He's doing like 6.5 million in total revenue with a 3%.
- [76:55]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. I think we're at 4. I'll give you occupancy.
- [76:59]
Eric Cacciatore
Mexican, kind of similar Mexican restaurant. Yeah. There you got the volume. They're margaritas. That's why everyone's got diabetes.
- [77:06]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [77:07]
Dustin Teague
Our total. Our total year. Year today.
- [77:10]
Addie Teague
A really good margarita shouldn't have sugar.
- [77:12]
Dustin Teague
Right. Year to date, occupancy costs. And our new concept is 4.3%.
- [77:17]
Eric Cacciatore
Oh, wow.
- [77:18]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [77:19]
Dustin Teague
So that means we. We won. The landlord did not.
- [77:24]
Eric Cacciatore
Well, more landlords to lose if I'm being well.
- [77:27]
Dustin Teague
And once again. And they politely send out the email and go, boy, did we call that one wrong.
- [77:33]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [77:33]
Dustin Teague
As in we went in and said, these are the numbers we're willing to.
- [77:36]
Addie Teague
But they have to understand.
- [77:37]
Dustin Teague
And we know. Knew. Of course, if we blew those out of the water, we benefit from.
- [77:41]
Addie Teague
First thing I'll say is we absolutely love our landlord that we have right now our new land. He's incredible.
- [77:46]
Dustin Teague
Oh, incredible, man.
- [77:47]
Addie Teague
But. But.
- [77:48]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, go ahead.
- [77:48]
Addie Teague
No, you're fine.
- [77:49]
Eric Cacciatore
I'm making a mental note because I think something needs to happen. I want to make sure it happens.
- [77:52]
Addie Teague
I. I just. I just wanted to say I don't think that they're losing, and I think that more landlords need to realize. And I think he did, too. If you want local operators, if you want to support the community and you don't want another. I hate to say it, Fox Group restaurant coming in. Who has that kind of money to spend? You're gonna have. You're gonna have to give a little bit. Like you're. You can't charge what they're. I mean, they're just.
- [78:18]
Dustin Teague
Can't hit home runs on every lease.
- [78:20]
Addie Teague
No.
- [78:20]
Dustin Teague
And that's what we look at.
- [78:21]
Addie Teague
And he saw an opportunity to have us And I think we saw an opportunity to be where he. I think it was a wonderful partnership.
- [78:28]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, absolutely.
- [78:29]
Eric Cacciatore
And it keeps the money local. Yeah.
- [78:31]
Addie Teague
That's what I'm saying. So he really wanted a local operator. And I think that that's. That speaks volumes of him and, and what they're trying to do.
- [78:38]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [78:39]
Dustin Teague
Good. Or. And you mentioned the money in local. That's, that's why we do it. We talk all the time about payroll. To some people, the payroll, you know, it's. It's hard to deal with. I love seeing the big numbers because I know how much of that I'm stuffing back into the local economy that's around me.
- [78:57]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [78:58]
Dustin Teague
And all the employees and 125 employees. Even this business out here this year is going to do over a million dollars in tip pool. Yeah. That, that makes us tick. Because that's the number we look at and go. That we could care less about anything else other than the community that we built. Whether it's our employees or those around us that come in on a regular basis and say, hey, thank you. I can't tell you how many people said thank you for doing this and what you do. So we can come in and of course, experience a night out that means more to us. Once again, what we set out to do was create an experience that feels good.
- [79:38]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. And I say it all the time. My mission statement is to inspire, empower, and transform the industry. But my purpose is to change the world by empowering and transforming the restaurant industry. Because I do think, to your point, if we can get restaurant owners to start thinking differently, to reconnect with what it means to be a restaurant, why restaurants existed in the first place, to. To be transformative, to. To be the hub of a community, to lift people up, to provide opportunity. That's what it's all about. And if we can convince restaurant owners of this and that becomes the purpose of restaurant owners and that changes communities.
- [80:09]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [80:10]
Eric Cacciatore
And that's the power.
- [80:11]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. And we've lost a little bit of that. I think in the industry. It's.
- [80:14]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [80:14]
Dustin Teague
There's a lot of vanity in our industry.
- [80:16]
Eric Cacciatore
I think it was out of survival. I'm being honest.
- [80:18]
Addie Teague
Yeah. I, I don't disagree. Yeah.
- [80:20]
Dustin Teague
I, once again, a lot, A lot are doing it for all the wrong reasons. If we can get them back to do it and nurture a soul, you know, through food and hospitality. That's what you're trying to do, people.
- [80:34]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [80:34]
Dustin Teague
Just a business. Yeah. This is, it's more than that.
- [80:38]
Eric Cacciatore
The thing that I had to stop and look at my phone for what I was doing was I said I lease/rent negotiation master class is what I wrote down. Cuz I want to collaborate with a lawyer or like a net like any if you have information email me email me because I want to put together a resource because that one thing if people know how to go to sit at a table and negotiate with their landlords and if we start sharing this information we all win.
- [81:04]
Addie Teague
Yeah. Agree.
- [81:05]
Dustin Teague
I would love for you to talk to our real estate agent who I will tell you he's awesome.
- [81:10]
Eric Cacciatore
Let's make it happen.
- [81:11]
Dustin Teague
He's an amazing man. He's been in Houston for a really long time and once again he works for his clients and that occupancy cost that we talked about, that's 100% him fighting.
- [81:23]
Eric Cacciatore
Can we share his name?
- [81:24]
Dustin Teague
Yes, his name is Greg Lewis. Lewis company.
- [81:27]
Eric Cacciatore
Greg, I'm coming after you man.
- [81:28]
Dustin Teague
Greg, we're coming to you.
- [81:29]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, let's make that happen.
- [81:30]
Dustin Teague
I'd love me that I would mention that was the person I sent the picture to earlier because he called me.
- [81:35]
Addie Teague
No he's. And I that's again building your team and when you find people like that, that that are on your side and truly want you to succeed and, and believe in you and that to me is the biggest, one of the biggest pieces of.
- [81:51]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [81:52]
Addie Teague
What you do.
- [81:53]
Dustin Teague
There's the real estate agent that puts you in a space because they need to pay their bills and then there's the real estate agent that puts you in the space because they need know it'll work. That's. Yeah they, they know this will work. There are a lot in between and once again you, you have to get in with somebody that's not just thinking of how much they get to take.
- [82:11]
Addie Teague
But it's also a hard form.
- [82:13]
Dustin Teague
But they have to also think of what my client will lose if this doesn't work out.
- [82:18]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [82:19]
Dustin Teague
So to me they're.
- [82:20]
Addie Teague
It's a lot.
- [82:21]
Eric Cacciatore
It's conscious capitalism.
- [82:22]
Addie Teague
Yeah. Yeah.
- [82:23]
Dustin Teague
And they're kind of consultants and they don't have to live with the consciousness consequences but they can tell us what to do all they want.
- [82:30]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [82:31]
Dustin Teague
So you have to trust that consultant or that real estate agent that you are not just thinking about the bottom line, how much you're going to make off of this. Yeah. It's the details in between and what I lose if it doesn't work.
- [82:43]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [82:44]
Dustin Teague
Your reputation and I mean and that's.
- [82:46]
Eric Cacciatore
Business is all about relationships.
- [82:48]
Dustin Teague
Yes. And once again banking this world if you're doing it our way, which is not private investors just chunking money at us. We're going to banks. We're showing them financial projections and PNLs and business plans that work. You get one shot in that world. Yeah. And if you screw it up, you'll never get back in it again. Right. Especially us. We fund through the sba. We love that there's a resource out there to fund our future and our entrepreneurial, you know, mindsets. And we don't have to answer to anybody for it. And we still own 100% of our concepts. We haven't bought in to the guy who walks in the door with a bunch of money and said, let's do this. No, thank you. And we have dozens and dozens of them all the time. So we've turned down many of people that have said, hey, we would love to work with you. We love working with ourselves and with people that we. We trust if the right person comes along.
- [83:50]
Addie Teague
Not saying we wouldn't.
- [83:51]
Dustin Teague
Oh, and of course. But once again.
- [83:52]
Addie Teague
Right. It's just not.
- [83:53]
Dustin Teague
Do we want 25 of these and to lose who Relish really is just to make some more money? No. We want to keep. Our brand is everything to us. And so every decision we make is based around.
- [84:07]
Eric Cacciatore
So is that the future of the brand? What is the vision? Let me ask you that.
- [84:10]
Addie Teague
You mean in future? Kind of just like.
- [84:12]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, like, so, you know, it's been nine years since opening your first. You've. In 2024, you opened your second. Congratulations. You have two relish restaurant and bars right now. What's the vision?
- [84:27]
Addie Teague
What's the goal for vision? I think we both love relish and potentially could open up, you know, maybe a couple more of them. But I also think we. We see opportunity for other concepts at some point. We. We love. We both love opening restaurants 20 years from now.
- [84:46]
Eric Cacciatore
You guys are in your 30s, right? Good clothes. No, you're my age.
- [84:49]
Dustin Teague
I'm 41.
- [84:50]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, 41.
- [84:50]
Addie Teague
Okay, so 39 as of two days ago. Yeah.
- [84:53]
Eric Cacciatore
You're at that point where, you know, you got about 20 years of this, of being operators. What's the vision? Like, what's, like, where. Like, what's the point you want to reach? Like, what does that look like? What is your future?
- [85:06]
Dustin Teague
I mean, one. So a big part of the reason we run our business and chose to take a chance and do what we've done is for our family and our kids. So as long as our kids can go to school and, you know, have a good start in life, and are safe, secure, safe, secure, happy. All the good things really those, I mean minus can. I think we're addicted to not addicted. But we love the process of opening them because we see how many lives it changes and it touches. So that's the addiction. I think that we'll both continue on.
- [85:48]
Eric Cacciatore
If we opportunity for others, we stop.
- [85:52]
Dustin Teague
Our visions and goals. Everyone else's stops as well.
- [85:58]
Eric Cacciatore
So what's your vision in terms. So you shared your personal vision and goal to have safety, security and like that's what really matters to you. If you can do that, then who cares what happens. But perfect world, your vision for what? Is there an overarching like llc? Like there's a holding company.
- [86:13]
Dustin Teague
Yes. So we operate under Fine Foods Hospitality. That's our hospitality group.
- [86:18]
Eric Cacciatore
So what is the vision for Fine Foods Hospitality in the perfect world? Like is there a scale you want to hit? A number you want to hit?
- [86:23]
Dustin Teague
I think embedded into our community with multiple different concepts that once again touch and change as many lives as they can, whether it's a employee or whether it's a customer.
- [86:35]
Addie Teague
I think it's a slow process though. That's what we have not rushed ourselves in this and, and that's, you know, we are. We are potentially now having to move our original location here in a couple years as our lease is up there.
- [86:48]
Dustin Teague
And next year is a 10 year. Yeah.
- [86:50]
Addie Teague
So we're kind of ready for that. So that's a big move for us. And then we are open to I think opening. Like we said, we don't want to do too many because we want to be where it's important us to be very rooted and involved in each location. So that's hard as you open more. But I think potentially opening if there's some opportunity there to open another one or two, that would be nice. We had ideas for some other.
- [87:16]
Dustin Teague
We wanted concepts, 20 of them. And then you get into it and you go. But it becomes very impersonable when you do that type of stuff and you get that pick.
- [87:24]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, go ahead.
- [87:27]
Dustin Teague
Now once again, if Johnny Carrabba wants to build 20 of them.
- [87:32]
Addie Teague
But the way he did it again.
- [87:33]
Dustin Teague
But we want ours like we want to keep the integrity behind it that he.
- [87:37]
Addie Teague
That he can call his.
- [87:38]
Dustin Teague
And they'd never let go. They still do it the same way every time you walk in, that's the.
- [87:42]
Addie Teague
Way to do it.
- [87:42]
Eric Cacciatore
The Carabas across America might crash. But at the end of the day he's still doing what he started back.
- [87:47]
Addie Teague
Home and everyone loves his product here. You know, I mean so to me like again, if that was a perfect world and you really asked us like what that goal. Absolutely.
- [87:55]
Eric Cacciatore
Another master class, how to negotiate with capital investors to retain your integrity and branding.
- [88:04]
Dustin Teague
Once again, I'm a self taught guy. Masterclass has been a big part.
- [88:08]
Addie Teague
Yes. So we need this.
- [88:10]
Dustin Teague
That. I love that you say that because once again, negotiation is ask me what my vision is.
- [88:14]
Addie Teague
Yeah. Keep going.
- [88:16]
Dustin Teague
Well, and I, I pause for a second because I mean we might need another two hour podcast for my wild vision in my brain. But once again we want to keep touching lives and that part of the community here that means more to us. I mean we were been in a TSA line and don't even know who this person is. And they say I love your restaurant.
- [88:41]
Eric Cacciatore
Oh, that's awesome.
- [88:42]
Dustin Teague
That means more than me.
- [88:43]
Eric Cacciatore
That's hospitality.
- [88:44]
Dustin Teague
That's hospitality. Exactly. That is. And I've explained it to. We're like.
- [88:54]
Eric Cacciatore
So that's not hospitality, that's gratitude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And hospitality and gratitude is a love dance.
- [89:00]
Dustin Teague
Oh, exactly.
- [89:00]
Eric Cacciatore
You know, being. I think, and I think that that's where the consumer kind of has lost their way. They have lost graciousness.
- [89:06]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [89:07]
Eric Cacciatore
And I think it has to be a two way street.
- [89:09]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [89:09]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. Did I cut you short?
- [89:10]
Addie Teague
No, but I, I like that point.
- [89:12]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [89:13]
Addie Teague
I agree with that very much.
- [89:14]
Dustin Teague
I wish we could talk more on the two way street too.
- [89:17]
Addie Teague
Yeah. But no, but we, we are very lucky. We have I would say 98 of our, our guests and the people that come in our door are. We like know love them, you know.
- [89:29]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. We're embedded into them even too much to where it hurts.
- [89:36]
Addie Teague
I know. We've attended funerals and been a part of baby showers and weddings and you know, I feel like you become a part of these people's lives.
- [89:45]
Dustin Teague
The Kerrville floods that just took place, we knew so much that was touched to that and even our regulars losing their grandchildren and you know, being able.
- [89:58]
Addie Teague
To give back through feeding people.
- [90:00]
Dustin Teague
Yes, exactly. And as Luna, as soon as the, the connection is lost between us and once again our customer to a point where we don't, we don't feel those.
- [90:12]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [90:13]
Dustin Teague
Like a human should. We've lost what we're supposed to be doing.
- [90:16]
Eric Cacciatore
We are the most connected and disconnected we've ever been. And I think the restaurant industry reconnects people the way we're making meant to.
- [90:21]
Dustin Teague
Be connected and there's holding this country together.
- [90:24]
Eric Cacciatore
There's a reason why I drive across the country and I do my interviews in person.
- [90:28]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [90:28]
Eric Cacciatore
And it's Because I can't get the same level of connection with my guests if I'm doing it over a computer. No, there's magic that happens when you come together and you sit at a table and you eat. Sometimes there's food, which is great.
- [90:40]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [90:40]
Eric Cacciatore
I don't ever expect the food. Thank you, sir. Bony. But to sit and. But what food does is it brings people together.
- [90:46]
Addie Teague
Absolutely.
- [90:47]
Eric Cacciatore
So you can talk, you know. Are you familiar with Zingerman's Delicatessen, Zingerman's Community of Business? What you're describing is what. What has happened with. Why am I drawing a blank right now? Ari Weinswag and what they have built in Zingerman's. There's a series of books out there from Ari. A Lapsed Anarchists Approach to Building a Great Business is what he started it with. And there's like that, you know that title Lapse in our consultation Approach to Building a Great Business, Becoming a Great Leader, Leading Oneself. There's a whole series of short essays that he's written and what they did in his whole approach to the Zingerman's Community of Business. I think we think of scale, we think of growth, we think out lateral. But what he's doing in his approach is. No, growth doesn't have to be lateral. It can be deep. You can go deeper into a community. You can take your values, your. Your business philosophy and you can put that into your community, into your community and create opportunity and say, this is how we do business. And we started with the delicatessen and it was amazing and oh, your things. Candy. You want to be a candy place or your things. You want to have a roadhouse, a restaurant? Oh, you want to have a coffee shop? Well, you're now a partner of our community of business and we're going to take our business, our business ethos and we're going to teach you how to do this to. We're going. We're going to give you our values. You can use our values because we have a proven method and it's just coming together and creating opportunity for others and bankrolling and having a part of that as other people's success. When you create success for other people, you win too.
- [92:20]
Addie Teague
Absolutely.
- [92:21]
Eric Cacciatore
It's a win win. And that's what Zingerman's Delicatessen, Zingerman's Community of Business has done in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I highly recommend.
- [92:29]
Addie Teague
I'll have to look into that.
- [92:30]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, they teach stuff. Stuff too. They have courses.
- [92:33]
Addie Teague
I love that.
- [92:33]
Dustin Teague
I think that's one thing the industry we should probably do a little more of. Is once again reaching out and helping teach others, if that makes sense. And it's not just technique and food and the craftsmanship behind it. It's. It's exactly. Well, no, the P L, the business side, we all get taught the other stuff. You got to do all that research yourself. And then we all. Once again, I'm running a good P and L because I saw a good P and L and how it was run. I wouldn't be in that situation unless I had that good example and I had a person teaching me. Now, I won't tell you who it is because his job would be on the line. You know, more of the story. I had a good mentor that was taking a P and L and looking at it and showing me and saying, this is how you do things.
- [93:29]
Eric Cacciatore
I just want to make sure that I understood that if this, if it got out that this person who remain anonymous that you are sharing information about how to run a business, but because he was teaching you how to read a P L, he would lose his job.
- [93:43]
Dustin Teague
So, yes, with this group, I would, I, I would say.
- [93:49]
Eric Cacciatore
And this is only certain people, this.
- [93:51]
Dustin Teague
Is only a certain.
- [93:52]
Addie Teague
Those numbers.
- [93:53]
Dustin Teague
Can we cut it? And I'll tell you who it is. Is.
- [93:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Don't tell me who it is. We'll keep it in here because I don't want to tell me afterwards. I don't want to.
- [93:58]
Dustin Teague
Perfect.
- [93:59]
Eric Cacciatore
Anyway.
- [93:59]
Dustin Teague
Yes. And exactly. Once again, really big group and a person with that who said, listen, I know what you're doing and I'm going to teach you how this should be. And I'm thankful for him, but you're right, he shouldn't. We shouldn't have to once again unload people because they're trying to push the industry forward. We should open that door, if you ask me.
- [94:22]
Eric Cacciatore
And I love. Do you guys practice open book management?
- [94:27]
Dustin Teague
Somewhat. Yeah.
- [94:28]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah. So again, Ari Weinswag Zingerman selected us and a huge proponent of open book management and sharing. All the numbers.
- [94:36]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [94:36]
Eric Cacciatore
Down to the bottom line.
- [94:37]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [94:38]
Addie Teague
I think it's super important.
- [94:38]
Dustin Teague
Transparent to an extent. Yes.
- [94:40]
Addie Teague
For your servers. I mean, for everybody to see that though, because I also do think that there's like this element that people think they see, they see how many people you're serving and they think, oh my God, you must be just rolling in the dough. And you're like, no, no, no.
- [94:56]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [94:56]
Addie Teague
Do you want to see how many things that we have to pay this month just to keep things the lights on, you know, especially right now? And like I, my, I think my dad always taught me like, you take a dollar and you show them. Okay. We taught this $1. This is how much we're taking from that. And you should, you know, and really break it down.
- [95:12]
Dustin Teague
And then you start 14 cents in front of them and go. You see why we do this?
- [95:16]
Eric Cacciatore
There's 100 pennies on this table. Yeah. Let's take, let's take, you know, 32 PER of those pennies. Put them over here. Let's take, what do you say? 38, 28. Put them over here. Oh, there's 8% for rent. Oh. And then there's taxes.
- [95:29]
Dustin Teague
Oh.
- [95:30]
Eric Cacciatore
And you know, all the other expenses. And then you're left with 15 pennies.
- [95:34]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [95:35]
Eric Cacciatore
If you're doing great.
- [95:36]
Addie Teague
If you're doing great, you're doing great.
- [95:38]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [95:38]
Addie Teague
And so anyways, I do think that that's important because again, people think that this is like a very lucrative and it can be industry for certain people, but that's not what it's about. And that's really like, if you want to get in this to make a boatload of money, I think you're in the wrong industry.
- [95:54]
Dustin Teague
Right.
- [95:54]
Eric Cacciatore
And you can, I think the, the, the message I want to get out is you can do phenomenally well.
- [95:59]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [95:59]
Eric Cacciatore
If you have the mindset that it's not about me, it's about everybody else.
- [96:02]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [96:03]
Eric Cacciatore
And if you take your ability, your knowledge and you give it away more. If the better you serve, the better you give. The more you give, the, the more likely you are to get.
- [96:14]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [96:15]
Eric Cacciatore
What you, your dreams. Your dreams will come true. Like. And if you spread it out, we go further together.
- [96:19]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, absolutely.
- [96:20]
Eric Cacciatore
Yes. And yeah. I mean, I'm a huge proponent for or advocate for open book management. I think that what you said is transparency. Vulnerability. What was the word?
- [96:31]
Dustin Teague
Transparency. Because.
- [96:32]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [96:33]
Dustin Teague
You want your employees to know how successful they've, they've contributed to.
- [96:38]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [96:39]
Dustin Teague
You want them to know that your business is debt free. And we talk about our number one asset and it's our employees. We don't care about anything else. We care about everything else.
- [96:51]
Eric Cacciatore
Is the work behind you right now.
- [96:53]
Dustin Teague
Teamwork.
- [96:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [96:54]
Dustin Teague
Once again, you need that to make things happen. And the more you invest into the them honestly, the more you get out of it. But I, I battled that with the receiving in taking it the wrong way. Are you using it as an opportunity to gloat or brag, to share your numbers? Yeah.
- [97:16]
Eric Cacciatore
So you're talking about the employee will think that. Why are you sharing this with some no.
- [97:19]
Addie Teague
Is that what you're saying?
- [97:20]
Dustin Teague
Well, would they take it the wrong way? As if they.
- [97:23]
Eric Cacciatore
Who's they in this scenario?
- [97:26]
Dustin Teague
1. I mean, could it be any. It could be anybody. It could be in your employee. It could be other industry operators. It could be press. Yes, it could be press rubbing in our face.
- [97:35]
Eric Cacciatore
We're struggling to get.
- [97:36]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, exactly. So I've always battled that, but once again, I. I had no problem with. With facts and talking the facts of your business for transparency or what do you expect to come in return?
- [97:52]
Eric Cacciatore
Society has a really weird relationship with profit. We're taught that profit is yucky. And I used to feel like this, if I'm being honest with myself, I was like, it's not about profit. No, it's not about profit. Yeah, but fiscal responsibility is a huge part of being successful.
- [98:07]
Dustin Teague
Right.
- [98:07]
Eric Cacciatore
And it's not how much profit can we get, it's what can you do with that profit.
- [98:11]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely. Especially if you are using someone else's money.
- [98:15]
Eric Cacciatore
Profit's meant for you. Two things. Two things only to pay off debt and to invest in assets.
- [98:21]
Dustin Teague
Yes, exactly.
- [98:23]
Eric Cacciatore
I think restaurant owners. Do you guys give yourself owners pay.
- [98:25]
Dustin Teague
We pay ourselves a salary. Anything that's made off the business is never touched.
- [98:30]
Eric Cacciatore
Right. And I think when most people hear this, when we're talking about profit, they're thinking, oh, that's what you take home. No, no, no, no, no, no. Profit pays off debt, I. E. That's how you got your debt. Your loan paid off in five years because all the profit was going to paying off your debt.
- [98:46]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [98:46]
Eric Cacciatore
And the other. Once you pay off debt, profit goes to assets.
- [98:53]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [98:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Buying net assets, defined as something that makes you money expanding.
- [98:58]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [98:59]
Eric Cacciatore
And using your profit to create opportunity for other people, acquiring assets and then giving other people opportunity to manage those assets, assets, and. And maybe become a partner in that thing.
- [99:13]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely.
- [99:13]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [99:14]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [99:14]
Eric Cacciatore
And that's how you scale. And then, then it. Then it compounds. And you can take maybe that, that thing that you invested in. You're only getting 8% of profit. Yeah. You know, and they're getting whatever that would be. 7%.
- [99:29]
Dustin Teague
Yes, exactly.
- [99:30]
Eric Cacciatore
But guess what? You're not losing 7%, right. You're getting access to 7% that you would never had other access to otherwise because you can't do it alone. And then you do it again. Now you have three locations, but now you're making twice as much profit.
- [99:44]
Dustin Teague
Right? Yes. Yeah.
- [99:45]
Eric Cacciatore
And then now more resources, more profit, more opportunity. And that's how you scale a business.
- [99:52]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely.
- [99:53]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [99:53]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [99:54]
Eric Cacciatore
So I want to Talk. I mean, so where are you today? Paint the picture of where you are today in terms of what's next for. For you. And I like to use this analogy of shifting gears. Like you guys are ramping up right now. If you're, if Sixth Gear is 20 years from now and you have 10 restaurants, different concepts, providing opportunity for different people in your community, that's sixth gear. Where would you say you are now? What gear are you in?
- [100:23]
Dustin Teague
I mean, two restaurants. I'd say gear number two.
- [100:28]
Eric Cacciatore
Or I'd say. I'll give you credit, I'll say three.
- [100:30]
Addie Teague
I say three.
- [100:30]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [100:31]
Eric Cacciatore
You're in three and you're getting ready to scale to 10, right?
- [100:35]
Dustin Teague
Yes. And you mentioned where you at in 20 years? Done with that process, you know, exit strategy. Exit strategy, restaurants. Yes. No, really, it starts today. So we can exit in 20 years.
- [100:49]
Eric Cacciatore
That's year six out.
- [100:51]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [100:52]
Eric Cacciatore
So gear five is.
- [100:54]
Addie Teague
Yes. Like your full, full throttle.
- [100:56]
Eric Cacciatore
You're going into fourth to prepare for five and. And six is out.
- [100:59]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [100:59]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [101:00]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [101:01]
Dustin Teague
And once again, what is six and out? Still providing and still in the industry, but in our own ways.
- [101:08]
Addie Teague
Barbecue joint in the middle of nowhere in Texas.
- [101:11]
Dustin Teague
Cannot wait. My vision is a, you know, now.
- [101:17]
Eric Cacciatore
You'Re cooking free, now you're doing what you want, right?
- [101:19]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [101:19]
Eric Cacciatore
Well, you're.
- [101:20]
Dustin Teague
I can shut it down when I want. I can.
- [101:22]
Eric Cacciatore
You're not doing for the money, you're doing for the pure love.
- [101:25]
Dustin Teague
Correct. Pure love of Texas, all the woods that come with it and food that I've been eating my whole life here.
- [101:35]
Eric Cacciatore
So two restaurants. What is your organizational structure today? Like, what are your lanes like? You guys are the co owners, you have titles beyond owner.
- [101:43]
Dustin Teague
So I'm the director of the operations. She is somewhat in that role, but I'll let you know.
- [101:53]
Addie Teague
I'm more behind the scenes, I would say. I'm not there day to day doing operations, but I help oversee. Now we have cerboni, but I help with accounting, marketing, advertising.
- [102:07]
Eric Cacciatore
Working on the business.
- [102:08]
Dustin Teague
Working on the business.
- [102:10]
Eric Cacciatore
Both of you coos on the business too.
- [102:12]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [102:12]
Eric Cacciatore
So you're, you're in the weeds, but you're tweaking, you're taking the, the data from that you're getting with. We'll get into that from your technology. I'm assuming, I'm assuming you're using technology, you're using systems, you're collecting data and you're saying, okay, I have all this data. How do we move the needle on this scorecard? How we play better? That's your Role. And your role is.
- [102:32]
Addie Teague
I mean I.
- [102:34]
Dustin Teague
The administrative making. Sure. Like for instance we now we own and we're back in our commissary and our structured is run through an HR department. We have Serboni running this and then we have a commissary that's producing for both locations. We have a pastry chef who is there who runs that particular kitchen. But that's where we show up on a daily basis. That's kind of our corporate hub that we've built.
- [103:01]
Addie Teague
I make sure everything's kind of humming in the background. I mean it's a lot keeping up with a lot of the administrative permits, insurance.
- [103:08]
Dustin Teague
I mean it's making sure the health.
- [103:10]
Addie Teague
Insurance for the employees.
- [103:11]
Dustin Teague
She hates the word hr, but she is a big HR proponent of her business.
- [103:15]
Addie Teague
And. And yes. So. And even helping making sure our. We're going to do holiday cookie boxes this year. You know make getting the flyers done. Photography.
- [103:26]
Dustin Teague
I would say the brand, she. She is pushing the brand forward. And the brand itself has so many inner pieces that you have to adjust on a regular basis.
- [103:37]
Eric Cacciatore
Coo, cmo, cpo, Chief people Officer.
- [103:44]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [103:45]
Eric Cacciatore
That's huge.
- [103:46]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [103:47]
Eric Cacciatore
So if so your assets all combine in terms of physical, tangible, brick and mortar assets. Two restaurants and a commissary. And in the restaurants do you have general managers? Assistant managers? Like what does that look like?
- [103:58]
Dustin Teague
We have general managers. Excuse me. We have maitre Ds. That would be our number two. And then we have what we refer to as captains.
- [104:08]
Eric Cacciatore
Those are assistant managers. Leads.
- [104:11]
Dustin Teague
Leads. They're high paid hourly leads.
- [104:16]
Eric Cacciatore
Direct report to the maitre d. Yes.
- [104:18]
Dustin Teague
And score the highest level of a tip pool. Our entire company is tip Pooled hierarchy system, tenure, skill set, loyalty. I mean all of it's involved.
- [104:31]
Eric Cacciatore
I love that you mentioned that because I made a note to come back to tipping. What are you using to manage those tip pools?
- [104:36]
Dustin Teague
We use toast for pos. And we use their to toast tip pool. Excuse me. Got it. And we've customized it. The point system that match each and every employee's position.
- [104:49]
Eric Cacciatore
So how's that point system work?
- [104:53]
Dustin Teague
So a hierarchy between 0.5 and 1.2 trainees. You know, you. We hold our team accountable through the point system. And the point system shows where they are through our training.
- [105:09]
Eric Cacciatore
And that skill is 0.5 to 1.2.
- [105:11]
Dustin Teague
1.2. 1.2 is the highest tip pole you can pull, which is a captain. A 1.1 would be a junior captain. 1.0 means you've made it to the top of the tip pool. As a server to come in my restaurant, you've got to start at 0.7. It's not negotiable.
- [105:26]
Eric Cacciatore
How do you scale from 0.7 to 0.1?
- [105:28]
Dustin Teague
1.0 evaluations and really. Yeah, just evaluating the employee training. Are they receptive to it?
- [105:40]
Eric Cacciatore
Is there a certain amount of like checkpoints or check like a. Hey, if you want to get from 0.5 to 0.6, then here's a curriculum for you to take these classes until. To pass these tests.
- [105:51]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [105:51]
Eric Cacciatore
You can do that on your own time them. You can do that in a week if you want to go.
- [105:55]
Dustin Teague
Yes. And so we set them down, put them through that process and if they grade well, you bump up. You grade well, you bump up. And we feel that of course running a system the opposite in the past, this was New York, this was really a big proponent of Houston's the concept.
- [106:14]
Eric Cacciatore
Did you work at Houston's?
- [106:15]
Dustin Teague
We didn't, but we both really to believe it or not concept. When we built Houston's and they asked us, what are you building? We want to be the Houstons of the neighborhood, still personable. And we're not going to tell you no. We don't have lemonade when there's lemons in the back.
- [106:30]
Eric Cacciatore
Right. Get a little sugar throw.
- [106:32]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, we're going to make you lemonade. Yeah. But we're going to do it Houston's way, which is fast, efficient, you know what you're going to get when you come.
- [106:39]
Addie Teague
They run. It's a well oiled machine.
- [106:40]
Dustin Teague
It's a tight ship.
- [106:41]
Eric Cacciatore
And so I've had people on the show that come from that.
- [106:43]
Addie Teague
Really? Yeah, yeah.
- [106:44]
Dustin Teague
We. You want to run at the exact same things.
- [106:48]
Addie Teague
Both.
- [106:49]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. Once again they're very cutthroat. They will take your tip pull system and bring it down because of the starch on your call. Now, are we a little more kind to our people? Absolutely.
- [106:59]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [107:00]
Dustin Teague
But the mentality of understanding guys, we maintain standards and we don't allow those to come in and question them nor steer them in whatever direction they choose to. Houston's is great with that. With understanding that you can't let employees come in and do what they want. You have to make sure that they're following the criteria of what you've asked them to do.
- [107:22]
Addie Teague
Right.
- [107:23]
Dustin Teague
Got it. And of course doing it in a very respectful way.
- [107:25]
Eric Cacciatore
I had Chris Florzak on the show. I wanted to if you want to check out, he's the CEO of Rise Souffle in Dallas, Texas.
- [107:31]
Addie Teague
Okay.
- [107:32]
Eric Cacciatore
He was a phenomenal Interview.
- [107:33]
Addie Teague
Okay.
- [107:34]
Eric Cacciatore
He came up in that world.
- [107:35]
Addie Teague
Okay.
- [107:36]
Dustin Teague
Houston's world.
- [107:36]
Addie Teague
Yeah, yeah.
- [107:37]
Dustin Teague
Love it. Yeah.
- [107:38]
Eric Cacciatore
I'm pretty sure I might be getting my. I talked to a lot of people.
- [107:41]
Addie Teague
I know. I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah.
- [107:43]
Eric Cacciatore
So what about. Same thing. So now we know that you have a tip pooling scale from 0.5 to 1.2. And as you're moving up that ladder, I think when you clear 1.0, you get to a captain status, which then.
- [107:58]
Dustin Teague
Allows you to get a higher hourly. Hourly rate than just your normal speed server rate.
- [108:03]
Eric Cacciatore
Maitre d is essentially.
- [108:05]
Addie Teague
That is a salaried position.
- [108:06]
Eric Cacciatore
Salary position. Also get tips out.
- [108:09]
Dustin Teague
Not in our scenario. We pay a high salary to them. We only have two foh. Salaried employees. That's a GM and a maitre D. Okay, got it.
- [108:16]
Eric Cacciatore
And what about backup house? What does that look like? Kitchen manager.
- [108:20]
Dustin Teague
So I'm director of operations, but I'm also still the executive chef of menus and all food.
- [108:25]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it.
- [108:26]
Dustin Teague
In both locations, I have CDCs who oversee the cuisine and everything that's there. And then there are junior Sue Sues. Got one kitchen manager who's a prep guy, or actually two. So we probably have 12, 15 salaried employees that all kind of fit within that. That realm of things.
- [108:45]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it. What about tech stack? Now that we know organizational structure and what that looks like, what does your tech stack look like? You mentioned toast. You're using toast tip pool. What else?
- [108:57]
Dustin Teague
Honestly, we keep it open. Tables are reservation platform. And honestly, we keep it pretty simple. Past that, not much overhead. As far as this and this, mostly.
- [109:09]
Addie Teague
Everything is toast at the moment. And an extra chef.
- [109:12]
Eric Cacciatore
What is that? So for your accounting, extra chef. What about general ledger are using QuickBooks.
- [109:17]
Addie Teague
So Serboni uses R365.
- [109:20]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [109:21]
Dustin Teague
Which is the best?
- [109:21]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [109:22]
Dustin Teague
Yeah. That's why we switched to Serboni, because they offered that and we.
- [109:26]
Eric Cacciatore
So you use R365. They're managing it?
- [109:29]
Addie Teague
No, they do it on there, and they do full accounting for us there.
- [109:33]
Eric Cacciatore
How does that work, though? So you don't pay for Restaurant365 or do they just bill you for it?
- [109:40]
Addie Teague
I believe that we have some payment structure for them.
- [109:45]
Dustin Teague
I can't remember the 365. I forget how it goes.
- [109:47]
Eric Cacciatore
I mean, in my mind of whatever would do is they would build a restaurant for you within their system, they might have. They might have their own accounts.
- [109:54]
Dustin Teague
Right.
- [109:54]
Eric Cacciatore
And then within their account, they have, you know, this restaurant that we manage, and then they give you that information.
- [110:01]
Dustin Teague
Correct.
- [110:02]
Eric Cacciatore
So with. With our365. Are you using inventory management, labor management, any of those tools?
- [110:08]
Addie Teague
So no, that's why we use through Toast, the Toast and Extra Chef.
- [110:12]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it. So it's a real custom approach to they. You're using their license to. And they're managing for the accounting. Got it.
- [110:21]
Addie Teague
Side of things.
- [110:22]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it. Interesting.
- [110:23]
Addie Teague
And then for the inventory and everything else, that's where the Extra Chef that integrates with Toast, we liked that they all integrate together.
- [110:29]
Eric Cacciatore
Got it.
- [110:30]
Addie Teague
And I think our365 does integrate with Toast, but for us to then switch over our whole inventory platform and recipe and all of that, it would have been a lot of money and time and energy that we just.
- [110:42]
Eric Cacciatore
So you're. You're okay. So how does that work? Because in my mind, these enterprise. I would call a restaurant365 a enterprise solution, which is your one stop shop for pretty much all of your profitability systems, inventory costing, purchasing, labor management, you know, training could be on their general ledger.
- [111:04]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, we don't all the.
- [111:07]
Eric Cacciatore
The things, but when that's tied to your POS and the information flows, it seems to hit a little bit harder.
- [111:13]
Addie Teague
So we, yeah, we, and we could. We had the opportunity to do that. It wasn't necessary after talking to Sir Bon because we have been set up with Toast for many years. We just switched to Siboni, what, six months ago.
- [111:22]
Eric Cacciatore
Okay.
- [111:23]
Addie Teague
And so to switch over again, like everything that we've been doing on Toast and Extra Chef, it wasn't a necessary step.
- [111:31]
Dustin Teague
And to be honest, we're still a little old school and we like it that way. Not everything has gone, you know, kind of digital platform with everything we do. I mean, ordering and receiving.
- [111:46]
Addie Teague
Our own systems.
- [111:46]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, we've got our own systems. And kind of the way that we do that and they, and they actually.
- [111:51]
Addie Teague
Work with Toast here at Zerboni and. And they help upload all of our invoices to Extra Chef. And that is.
- [112:00]
Dustin Teague
Whoa. That's the most important.
- [112:03]
Addie Teague
Yes.
- [112:03]
Dustin Teague
Portion for us for tracking. That's. That's what we want to track. Invoices. And anything that hits the door, we want our eyes on it. And this has allowed us to do so.
- [112:13]
Eric Cacciatore
So you, you switched to Serboni in the past six months. How did you just like, why make that move? What. What was Sir Boni in your eyes? How did you discover for them?
- [112:24]
Dustin Teague
So we needed, we needed change and more information. And for instance, you mentioned QuickBooks versus 365. I mean I feel like we, our.
- [112:35]
Addie Teague
Old accounting firm used QuickBooks and I.
- [112:36]
Dustin Teague
We just didn't feel like it was outdated. It wasn't up to speed with.
- [112:39]
Eric Cacciatore
Was built for restaurants.
- [112:40]
Addie Teague
It wasn't.
- [112:40]
Dustin Teague
No, it's not. No. And so the details, the metrics, I mean everything that we're able to get.
- [112:46]
Eric Cacciatore
Out of.
- [112:48]
Dustin Teague
Was a no brainer for us with really the scale of the restaurant we just built and what we're about to do again, and the scale of that one. Once again we, we looked at it as if this was great for the little commissary storefront that we have. We needed a bigger firm to get more control and more eyes of the control of the business itself.
- [113:12]
Addie Teague
Running the restaurant, doing what we do on a dated. We don't. We. We're not accounting like this is. That is not for us.
- [113:19]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [113:20]
Addie Teague
That's not what we're good at.
- [113:21]
Eric Cacciatore
Right.
- [113:22]
Addie Teague
So having a firm like this has been instrumental, I think in being able to really monitor really detailed our business. I mean we were watching it obviously, but now it's really. That has been very helpful.
- [113:36]
Eric Cacciatore
What is, what is her. Boni, in one word to your one sentence.
- [113:43]
Dustin Teague
I think peace of mind. Peace of mind is great. But I would say the reason we made the switch was because of integrity. We needed more integrity behind what was in front of us from. And we couldn't. Once again, we didn't believe. You're telling me it's this, but I'm looking at this and once again, what's going on here? It doesn't make sense.
- [114:06]
Addie Teague
It was just again, I don't think their systems and they were not restaurant savvy.
- [114:11]
Eric Cacciatore
When you think here's this piece of paper, right? Yeah, it has, yeah, it has some integrity. But you're telling me, but it's not like rigid, like it's not solid. It's not, it is not a tablet that was etched in stone where you were sure what you were putting on this. Because we cannot change, Correct?
- [114:27]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [114:28]
Eric Cacciatore
I think that's how I interpret.
- [114:29]
Addie Teague
Absolutely.
- [114:29]
Dustin Teague
Yes, exactly.
- [114:30]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [114:30]
Eric Cacciatore
Quality of the people.
- [114:31]
Dustin Teague
No, no, no, no. Great people, great firm. But once again trusting what they're telling you. I mean accountants, they're, they're up there with your attorneys and the lease that you sign. They can really make or break you.
- [114:47]
Eric Cacciatore
I do think that the future of the restaurant industry is in fractional chiefs. Whether that be a fractional CFO or a fractional CMO or a fractional people officer or H. Human resources chief or whatever it is. The world is becoming increasingly complex. What worked 20 years ago doesn't work today. You need granular Detailed data to make decisions in your business and to move the needle and to be tight. And that world is moving at such a breakneck speed right now. And you didn't get into the restaurant industry to play with technology and to be accountants, to be chief financial officers. You want to work in your community and give people in your community opportunity and be creative and love your community. And when you're being pulled and being forced to stare at a computer screen all day and crunch numbers and stay up to date with the latest and greatest technology like that is a full time job on its own. And to hire a chief operating officer or a chief financial officer, that's a six figure salary.
- [115:55]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [115:56]
Eric Cacciatore
You as an independent operator can't afford that. And it is, I think the world of fractional CFOs and or sorry, CFOs is the future of the industry because you. It is more than any single operator can manage on their own. Absolutely. And not to mention they don't want to do it.
- [116:14]
Dustin Teague
I shouldn't start or start in July or March for what? Once again, the marginal person that does a little bit of everything. But you need them in house, if that's what you're trying to say.
- [116:28]
Addie Teague
Oh no, but the cfo, you know like the CFO services that they do.
- [116:31]
Dustin Teague
Yes. And I get that.
- [116:32]
Eric Cacciatore
So I've been told that like a bookkeeper looks in. Looks to the past.
- [116:37]
Dustin Teague
Exactly.
- [116:37]
Eric Cacciatore
And a CFO looks to the future.
- [116:39]
Addie Teague
Absolutely.
- [116:40]
Eric Cacciatore
They take the data from the past and they project and create. Give you a strategy using numbers.
- [116:44]
Addie Teague
One thing we signed up for here and it's incredible.
- [116:48]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [116:48]
Addie Teague
The, the just detail.
- [116:52]
Dustin Teague
And once again, we need guidance. Not the answer to the math problem that you just did.
- [117:01]
Eric Cacciatore
You want somebody who loves it and passionate. Not in taxes too. That's what you also get, Joshua, a little credit.
- [117:08]
Addie Teague
Oh my gosh.
- [117:09]
Dustin Teague
No.
- [117:09]
Addie Teague
Absolutely.
- [117:10]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [117:10]
Dustin Teague
And that was something. That was another concern for the switch. Once again, integrity. Were the numbers what they were? And then once again, you don't want to get in trouble with the tax man with that type of stuff. So were we doing things correctly? Were they protecting us as a brand? That was very important for us because we.
- [117:30]
Addie Teague
It's important.
- [117:30]
Dustin Teague
Once again we were noticing things and we're glad we made the moves.
- [117:35]
Eric Cacciatore
What's been the biggest shift.
- [117:38]
Addie Teague
Since.
- [117:39]
Eric Cacciatore
Since making the move.
- [117:40]
Addie Teague
I honestly feel it was so stressful with the other firm. And again, not. I don't want to trash talk them, but they were late on payments and I was constantly having to talk to vendors and it wasn't us that they.
- [117:55]
Eric Cacciatore
Were taking you away from what you're paying them to manage. You couldn't do what you wanted to do. You Right. Because you're too busy making sure.
- [118:03]
Addie Teague
Also, like I hate not having our vendors paid on time. To me that is huge.
- [118:07]
Dustin Teague
That is my reputation. That is my brand. Right. And you're messing with my people.
- [118:11]
Eric Cacciatore
And it's like it's leverage later as you scale to get the negotiating power. Like we have a good. I've always paid you on time.
- [118:18]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, exactly. So then when I call, you're going to treat me with the same respect that I've treated you. And you can't have an accounting group deteriorate those relationships when all you're doing is trying to build them. You know, this is a business and the books are when our. And I'll throw this number out there when our accounting group. Because we know it's not true. They told us that we made $137,000 in a month. I think we'd all be in the restaurant industry if we could make 137k a month. Yeah. The moment I saw that, I knew you are out. They are in. And we need a person that we can trust and give us the accurate true numbers. Because in the history of our business we've never made 137 in one location. In a small location looking at them going, something has to be wrong. Gut feeling as a business owner.
- [119:10]
Eric Cacciatore
And you need an accountant that specializes in the restaurant industry, not just an account like a CPA attack specialist who specializes in the restaurant industry, who knows restaurants software. Because that is a unique beast like day. The days of QuickBooks integrating to your POS are over. You need a built for the restaurant industry general ledger, I. E. A Restaurant Systems Pro or a Restaurant365 that is fully integrated and has soon to be overlay AI to streamline process. And, and you can't stay on top of all of that and know what the latest is and that that is where a, a CFO comes in. A operations person that is specifically focused on financial operations. And it needs to be fractional because you can't afford it at two locations.
- [120:04]
Dustin Teague
Absolutely.
- [120:05]
Eric Cacciatore
And they will bridge the gap. They will help you get there. I, I think that working with fractional chiefs is the one thing that will change and give the independent restaurant industry hope. Because you, you, you need the specialists.
- [120:18]
Addie Teague
Absolutely.
- [120:18]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah.
- [120:19]
Addie Teague
Absolutely.
- [120:20]
Eric Cacciatore
And I'll be transparent. Like Sir Bony made this introduction, but Sir Boni was also referred to me organically by somebody who I never heard of. Sir Boni before that. And what I'm doing right now, this is the future of restaurants. The whole where I'm going and I'm looking for clues and, you know, I'm fishing right when I get a bite, and if it's a big fish, I'm reeling that thing in and I'm. I'm putting it on the table. I'm cutting it up. I'm going deeper. I want to learn more. Right, right. Because I think that it's my job to look for the big fish. The thing with the game changers, and this is an intentional partnership, and they've put out some really great guests for me over the past couple days. So learn more. And I want to. I want to just, like you guys have your vendors that you have relationships with, the people I'm promoting, I want to believe in. And. And that's what's happening here.
- [121:09]
Addie Teague
Oh, totally.
- [121:10]
Dustin Teague
Thank you.
- [121:11]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, yeah, of course. Anything we haven't discussed today?
- [121:16]
Addie Teague
I mean, yeah, yes, but no, no.
- [121:18]
Eric Cacciatore
Anything you want to discuss that's important to you that didn't come out. Any advice that's coming into your head that now's the time to get it out?
- [121:27]
Addie Teague
Like, we really touched a lot. I mean, it's a really great industry, and I appreciate what you're doing for it.
- [121:35]
Dustin Teague
Yeah.
- [121:35]
Addie Teague
So, you know, I, like you said, it's not just restaurant tours and whatever, you know, it's a team of people, so.
- [121:44]
Dustin Teague
I know.
- [121:44]
Addie Teague
Yeah.
- [121:45]
Eric Cacciatore
I want that word behind you.
- [121:46]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, yeah.
- [121:47]
Eric Cacciatore
And I think the teamwork has to extend beyond your four walls.
- [121:50]
Addie Teague
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
- [121:52]
Dustin Teague
Yeah, yeah.
- [121:54]
Eric Cacciatore
Were you going to say something, Dustin?
- [121:56]
Dustin Teague
I mean, that was pretty much it.
- [121:58]
Eric Cacciatore
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I like to wrap up every conversation by what I say. Calling somebody up, but really giving recognition. Who is somebody in this industry, a restaurant owner who's doing it right, who's making money, but also making the world a better place as they do it, that you admire, that you aspire to be. Like, who is that for you? What name comes into your head? Shout them out so I can try to get them to be a guest on the show.
- [122:24]
Dustin Teague
I'm trying to. And I'm blanking his name, the Burger Chan guy and his wife.
- [122:29]
Eric Cacciatore
Oh, is it a school bus concept? No, no.
- [122:32]
Dustin Teague
He has brick and mortars now, but there's a concept, Burger Chan, that we love.
- [122:36]
Addie Teague
Yeah. Really great.
- [122:38]
Dustin Teague
And of course, they've. We've met him over the years. Yes, it is in Houston, one of the best burgers in town. Of course, you got to get them. There's a lot around, but it's Willie.
- [122:48]
Addie Teague
Well, will it. And Diane.
- [122:49]
Dustin Teague
Yes, will it. I once again, they run their business. Right. I see both of them back there just like my wife and myself trying to make them work. And they're really supportive of the industry and not just those that they like. I mean, they push the industry and they support everybody involved.
- [123:11]
Eric Cacciatore
So Burger Chan.
- [123:12]
Dustin Teague
Yes.
- [123:13]
Addie Teague
Really quality, really quality products.
- [123:15]
Dustin Teague
Great stuff. They were one of the first smash it here in Houston and make it unique and good. And there's been plenty to show up since. But they were one of the, you know, early birds to that. Yes. Yeah, yeah.
- [123:30]
Eric Cacciatore
Will it. And Diane, look out. I'm coming after you. I'd love to get you on the show. And how can we connect with you if we really enjoy today today's conversation? Maybe we're in Houston. We want to come check you out. Maybe we're looking for opportunities since you are creating them as we speak.
- [123:43]
Addie Teague
Absolutely. Well, first come in our doors. We'd love to see you. One of us is usually at one of the locations at all the time, but or you can check our website out www.relish houston.com or email at info.
- [123:58]
Dustin Teague
Relish houston.com social handles.
- [124:02]
Addie Teague
Our Instagram is Relish restaurant and bar and I our Facebook is the same.
- [124:09]
Eric Cacciatore
Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share two hours with me to to make time to share your stall, your story, your knowledge, your perspective, your mentorship. There is no questioning. You are unstoppable.
- [124:22]
Addie Teague
Well, thank you.
- [124:23]
Dustin Teague
Thank you. Pleasure to be here.
- [124:24]
Eric Cacciatore
Cheers. What up unstoppables? If you enjoyed today's episode with Dustin and Addie, well I got good news. You can meet them on December 15th. All you to do do is head over to Restaurant Unstoppable.com CWE that stands for coffee with Eric every other Monday at 11am Eastern. We are live in restaurant Unstoppable community. Just connecting, talking, making space for restaurant owners to share information to support one another. And I'm going to do my best to get every guest on the show in our community to join the conversation. And if you want to be a part of all these conversations, head over to restaurantsoppable.com live and join our community. But this first ones on us just head over to restaurantstoppable. Com CWE and we'll get you that zoom link so you can test it out. All right. We'll see you on Monday, December 11th at 11aM for conversation with Dustin and Addie. Until next time. Peace out.