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Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
1242: Leonard Botello, Pit Master and Owner at Truth BBQ
01:31:42
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- [00:00]
A
What up Unstoppables?
- [00:01]
B
I just quickly want to say thank.
- [00:03]
A
You for making this show and our mission possible to inspire, empower and transform the industry. It's crazy to think it's been 13 years, but I honestly think we're just getting started and you are making it possible. And if you are enjoying this podcast and you want to support our mission, the best way to support us is to help us support you by joining the conversation in Restaurant Unstoppable Network. If you enjoy today's episode, be sure to stick around to find out how you can connect with our guest. 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 guest and so many others and get one step closer to becoming unstoppable. This episode is brought to you by Restaurant Technologies, the leader in automated cooking oil management. Their total Oil management solution is an end to end closed loop automated system that delivers, monitors, filters, collects and recycles your cooking oil, eliminating one of the dirtiest jobs in the kitchen. Restaurant technologies services over 45,000 customers nationwide. Automate your oil and elevate your kitchen by visiting RTI Inc.com or call 888-779-5314 to get started. This episode is made possible by Sir Bony 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 book keeping late? Sir Bony handled 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 Bony can streamline your operations and boost your bottom line. Limited Time Offer an exclusive to Restaurant Unstoppable listeners. Mention this Message and get 20 off your first month of services. 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 provides resources designed to make running your food service operation easier and more efficient. From the all in one Food Service app Moxie, which goes beyond order placement to help 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 operations and support your success. To learn more, visit www.usfoods.com.
- [03:12]
B
More with excitement, allow me to introduce.
- [03:14]
A
You today's guest pit master and owner.
- [03:16]
B
At Truth Barbecue, Leonard Botello. My man. Leonard, are you feeling unstoppable today?
- [03:22]
C
Some days.
- [03:22]
A
Some days.
- [03:23]
C
Some days.
- [03:23]
B
Is today a rough day, my man?
- [03:25]
C
No, no. Rough day. Well, I'm happy you're always, always expecting.
- [03:28]
B
Something, you know, I'm happy you're here with me. I want to give a shout out to one of our listeners, Keith Peterson, who said, hey, man, if you're in Houston, you got to get Truth Barbecue on the show. Apparently you have a big fan out there. Keith Peterson, Sugar Shack barbecue in Florida just opened. I hope you're killing it, man. This one's for you. And before we dive into who you are and how you got to where you are today, let's get that motivational, inspirational ball rolling with a success quote or mantra. What do you got for us.
- [03:54]
C
Man? What did we just talk about?
- [03:57]
B
You lose it already?
- [03:58]
C
Less is more.
- [03:59]
B
Less is more.
- [04:00]
C
Less is more. I had to think about that for a long time.
- [04:02]
B
Why does that apply to you?
- [04:04]
C
I don't know. I think it just, it started off a barbecue and I love food that I love food where you the expect there's no expectations, where you're just blown away. I feel like it's like that experience is very, very hard to recreate. And with barbecue, I had that, that emotion and that, that, that I had that the first time that I had craft barbecue. And I was like, man, like, what is this? How do I recreate this? Like, how this is, this is so special. And it's like, it's, it's a, it's a piece of meat. Like, that's it. Like.
- [04:44]
B
Yeah. When you say less and more, are you talking about ingredients? You're talking about business, you're talking about all the above?
- [04:49]
C
All the above. I think, I don't know, I just get wowed by like the simplicity of like a small, intimate place where, you know, like a restaurant that's in a house, like in an old bungalow. Very simple menu. 12 bangers on the menu that are executed just very, very well. Very simple. But they, you're just not expecting it. Yeah. And I think a lot of people think that you got to do a lot to impress people. As long as you take a lot of time and passion into those little things and critique them day after day after day, they become something that you never thought that they were going to become.
- [05:25]
B
Yeah, I think when I hear less and more is more. I think of chefs in their approach to food today, just trying to not do a bunch of crazy stuff, but just get really good quality product and let it be what it wants to be. But I also think about past guests we've had on the show, like Kathleen woods, who says, what's your one thing?
- [05:42]
C
You know, do.
- [05:43]
B
Do your one thing. What is the one thing?
- [05:45]
C
That one thing creates so much discipline for yourself that'll live with you the rest of your life that you have no idea that, like, I just had this conversation with one of my guys the other day. He's like, why don't we do this? I'm like, we need to focus on this. And it creates discipline that, you know, that you will never understand. That I wish that I understand five, five years ago, 10 years ago, me focusing and disciplining myself to focus on this has brought so much because that is what I was chasing. Yeah.
- [06:17]
B
And I gotta give a shout out to Ed Doherty, too, who says one degree. Another person that, that, that. That's his shtick is one degree. And what they mean is just put all of your energy into doing a few things really well. Don't have a giant menu.
- [06:28]
C
Have a.
- [06:28]
B
A small menu. Crush that small menu. Own that one thing in your market and do one thing and you'll do it better than anybody else. And that. That's what I think of.
- [06:36]
C
I mean, for me, I've always thought about it like, there's a lot of people that do the one thing, and those ends up. They end up being the legacy spots. Like they're always going to be talked about for that item.
- [06:48]
B
Yep.
- [06:48]
C
Versus getting washed out. Not washed out. You might have a banger menu that's amazing from top to bottom, but there's always something that sticks out and it really sticks with you. And that. That's the one thing. Right.
- [06:59]
B
Not to mention, your training is easier because you don't have to train people to do a bunch of different things. Your cost of goods are usually less. Your marketing hits harder because you can put all of your energy into saying one thing. It all compounds and there's something to be said there. So great way to get this thing started before we dive into your story. Real pick, paint the picture. What is Truth Barbecue? How many locations? What kind of concept?
- [07:24]
C
Truth Barbecue's complex but very simple at the same time. Like, I always wanted it to be something that I. That I experienced as a. As a child. The places that never change, that'll be there for forever, that are iconic. There's a reason that they don't change. And there was a certain. After the first time that I had craft barbecue, there was a certain aspect that I saw where it became almost like an art form. And that art form had to be done very particular. So instead of putting my name, somebody else's name on the door, it was more about an idea, if that makes sense, of, like staying true to where barbecue started, where it's going, but also just respecting the people that did it, who still do it and how they started doing it. And I always wanted to stay true to that. I love that. Yeah, I love that.
- [08:21]
B
But it's today, it's two locations.
- [08:23]
C
Yeah.
- [08:23]
B
Original location was somewhere between Austin and Houston. The midway point.
- [08:28]
A
What was.
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B
I forgot the name of the town.
- [08:29]
C
Burnham. Burnham, Texas. About an hour, 15, hour and a half. About. It's like smack dab in the middle. Yeah.
- [08:35]
B
That was your first location. Counter service. How many seats?
- [08:39]
C
Originally? Two tables.
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B
Two tables, Eight seats.
- [08:41]
C
Yeah. And today it's eight seats, two tables inside. I mean, we've got to the same size and there's some picnic tables outside, but that one is like. I wanted that to be like. Like, kind of like diamond in the rough, hole in the wall, like raw. True gritty barbecue experience in the country. And there's a lot of places that I like, I will take people to get experiences similar to that because you. You just can't recreate it. And that was like my recreation, I would say. Like, I didn't want it too special. I wanted the. I wanted you to feel how simple it was. But I also wanted the food to be very vibrant and speak for itself.
- [09:25]
B
Second location, 2019, where we're sitting today.
- [09:27]
C
Yeah.
- [09:27]
B
About 150 seats, you said?
- [09:29]
C
Yeah.
- [09:29]
B
With the patio open still. Counter service, menu similar. Different there in Different.
- [09:33]
C
Similar. More options. Stuff like that we can crank out of the kitchen.
- [09:36]
B
Bigger kitchen.
- [09:37]
C
Yeah. Have more fun. Got it.
- [09:39]
B
What kind of. Are you cool talking about revenue?
- [09:42]
C
Yeah.
- [09:43]
B
What kind of total revenue are you hitting with your. Your new location here?
- [09:46]
C
Like here? Yeah. Overall sales? Yeah. Ballpark, pretty good.
- [09:53]
B
You don't have to say. I'm not gonna force you. Will you talk about percent profit?
- [09:58]
C
Usually around 10. 10, 11 is okay. Yeah. I mean, we were. This one's kind of hard because. Protein heavy.
- [10:05]
B
Right.
- [10:06]
C
Cost going up. Control costs going up.
- [10:08]
B
What was the best percent margins you hit before? Costs are going up.
- [10:14]
C
I would say anywhere. Probably like 5, 15. Got it. Yeah.
- [10:18]
B
And where are you Sitting with your prime cost, cost of goods, labor.
- [10:21]
C
I mean, like. Like to sit under 64. Okay. Yeah. I mean, how's that labor? We like to keep, like 20, 22. Okay.
- [10:29]
B
I mean, it's pretty good. I see a lot of people working here for counter service.
- [10:31]
C
Yeah, there's a lot of people flown around. We rotate them in and out, try to keep longevity, keep them here for a long time. It's hard to build a culture on this. The food cost is the hard part. 40% usually hovers around anywhere from 35 to 37, based off of strictly brisket. Brisket is my gift, and it is my absolute curse. Yeah. I mean, we do yield tests once a week on brisket. When it's coming out of the package, we weigh it, we trim it, we weigh it. We mustard it for the binder. We weigh it. We season it. We weigh it, throw it on the pit. We count the pieces of wood that goes into it, and then we weigh it on the block to see how much and it past two weeks, it's been about 58% yield.
- [11:15]
B
Okay.
- [11:15]
C
Yeah.
- [11:16]
B
Awesome. I think we got a snapshot of where you're at and what you're doing. So where does it make sense to start sharing your story? 2015 is when you open your first location. But this is a story. Go back further than that.
- [11:26]
C
Well, you know people in restaurants. Has anybody ever told you to go into restaurants?
- [11:34]
B
I grew up in the restaurant industry. My parents told me to get the. Out of it.
- [11:38]
C
Funny, I did the same thing. Yeah. Really?
- [11:40]
B
So what's.
- [11:40]
C
Where'd you. I went to. I grew up south of here. Okay. Grew up in restaurants. Whole family. Dad's side of the family, my side.
- [11:49]
B
What kind of restaurants we talking?
- [11:51]
C
Tex Mex. Kind of like new era, mixed American, like, fun stuff.
- [11:57]
B
So did you know when you were young that you wanted see to you stay in the business?
- [11:59]
C
I never wanted. I never. It's like I literally just had this conversation with my friend two days ago. I was like, just when you thought you were out, it just pulls you right back in. I went to a. M. I wanted to go get a real job, I guess.
- [12:14]
B
College station.
- [12:14]
C
Yeah.
- [12:15]
B
What would you focus on?
- [12:16]
C
Biology.
- [12:17]
B
Okay. What was the dream?
- [12:19]
C
Doctor, Pharmaceuticals. Anything around that. I always saw the pharmaceutical rep sitting at the restaurants, like, whining and dining the doctors. And I was like, man, a pretty good gig. Like, these are guys are having a good time. I never wanted. I. I like, listen, everybody in the restaurant industry knows, like, that's what you do. That's. That's it like? What do you mean?
- [12:39]
B
What? That is what you just.
- [12:41]
C
If you're in restaurants like that, it bleeds into every aspect of your life from start to finish. You know, you don't have weekends off for the most part. You got late nights, you got minimum vacations, you live, breathe, food service, expectations. It's a lot of pressure. Yeah.
- [13:00]
B
How do you deal with that?
- [13:01]
C
Pressure therapy?
- [13:04]
B
I mean, you joke, but I think that it's something that we can take more advantage of in the industry. For sure. It's. More and more people are talking about that as an option. It used to be something that, you know, the tough guys didn't do that. That's for people who are weak. But I think we're learning that that's not true.
- [13:19]
C
No, you gotta. You gotta understand, I think more so how you think and realize people aren't gonna think the same way that you do. The expectations and all that stuff. And that's really a hard thing for a lot of people in restaurants because they're like, how do you not understand this?
- [13:32]
B
Right?
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C
And to be able to unravel that, I mean, it's. It's a struggle. And then also balancing the stress, also balancing the pressure, thinking that you have to amount to something that you actually don't have to amount to. But I think that's what drives most of us for the most part. I mean, I got into barbecue because I loved. I love the culture of barbecue. I like the cooking aspect and I like the journey of it, but I have crippling social anxiety. You know what? I loved being Left alone from 1am until 7am not having to talk to anybody. And I could just be alone with my thoughts and. And music and just be very in tune with it. And it did. It flipped my world upside down. Yeah. And it's.
- [14:15]
B
It's interesting because I think we're. We're in the business of creating illusions.
- [14:18]
C
Yeah. Right.
- [14:19]
B
Where our job is to transport and to create this illusion for the guests, an unreal experience. You know, like, we're help.
- [14:26]
C
We're.
- [14:26]
B
We're here to help them escape from their reality. And meanwhile, we're. We're lying about our own reality in this facade that we create this. This image, this. This experience that we put up. Nobody knows what's going on behind the scenes.
- [14:38]
C
You know, you got to realize, like, when do people go to a bar or restaurant? They go. When they're sad, they go in there happy, they go in there angry. We're all trying to fix those emotions for them.
- [14:49]
B
Right.
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C
That's hard thing to put in perspective because that's what you're working for, to make those people happy.
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B
Right.
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C
And change, you know, their outlook on that day with what you're cooking. Yeah. And then all your stuff gets put on the back burner. Yeah.
- [15:04]
B
And I know we're still early in the conversation, and I'm going to get personal, but how's. How has therapy helped you?
- [15:09]
C
Helps me navigate some things, like, help understand things that I just. I'm very ocd, like, so when I look at something, I look at, I always believe that there's a formula.
- [15:17]
B
Okay.
- [15:20]
C
So it's very hard for me to understand somebody who does not look at something the same way that I do as a puzzle or as a challenge.
- [15:29]
B
It's human nature to put order in chaos.
- [15:32]
C
Yeah.
- [15:32]
B
You know?
- [15:32]
C
Yeah.
- [15:33]
B
In the restaurant industry there, I. I, when I started this podcast, the goal was to figure out what is the formula. And the more you learn, the more you realize they're like, it's. It's chaos.
- [15:43]
C
And I think that that's. It's hard with. I think it's like, you don't like the chaos, but you actually thrive off the chaos. Um, so when you're in a dull moment where you're not having to fix something, in reality, that's what you actually want to be doing, but it does not scratch that itch. So no matter how many times I complain about it, if I'm sitting at the house, I get so antsy. But I'll complain about coming to work all the time, because I'm like, I gotta come and do this, this, this, and this. But actually, I think I thrive off of it, and I think it's toxic. Yeah.
- [16:19]
B
When you say it being the chaos.
- [16:24]
C
I like creating chaos into something controllable. Like, I look at it as, like a puzzle. Like, one of my favorite things. And this might sound crazy or dumb, but one of my favorite positions in a restaurant is a dish pit. Because, like, if you walk in, if you walk in after, you know, prep has got it in there, and they been there for two hours, three hours before you. And everything's piled up, stuff's in all different order, and it is your job to clean it out as fast as humanly possible. But the most satisfying thing of it is that it started with chaos. But then once you get down to the last part where you're squeeging off the water and putting the stainless on there, and it's like, wow, this thing is spotless.
- [17:08]
B
Yeah. Everything's where it belongs. Everything is where I want.
- [17:10]
C
It's like all nice.
- [17:11]
B
Like one of the few things you have control over it is like.
- [17:14]
C
It is like dumping out a box of a puzzle and then seeing what you put together at the end. It's like so satisfying.
- [17:21]
B
Yeah, I can totally relate to that. So in 2015, what was going on the years prior to 2015 that sucked you back in when you just thought you were out, Were you? Did you graduate from college? Yeah, finished a degree in biology.
- [17:33]
C
I finished college and I went back and worked parents restaurants, bounced around and was right around craft barbecue, like the movement, like really taking him.
- [17:47]
B
What year is this?
- [17:48]
C
2012. Okay, 2012. 13. Who are the people that you.
- [17:51]
B
Were looking up to?
- [17:54]
C
Aaron Franklin, John Lewis, Wayne Mueller, Billy Durney, Pat Martin.
- [18:01]
B
Lewis is in Charleston now, right? Yeah, yeah. I've been trying to get him on the show. I think maybe this, this winter we might make it happen. We just keep on missing each other.
- [18:08]
C
He's travels a lot. He's a mad scientist. Yeah, he's a very mad scientist. He's. I think we're all kind of psycho when it comes to barbecue. And it just didn't make any sense to me. Like when craft barbecue started moving, you know, you hear about Aaron having lines for 3, 4, 4 hours at a time in 110 degree weather in Austin. John was at law barbecue at the time. Same thing, cranking it out of a trailer.
- [18:36]
B
And I had Ally on this though. She was awesome.
- [18:38]
C
Yeah, she's the best. Yeah, Ally's man, she's just down to earth sweetheart.
- [18:43]
B
Yeah, she was sweet.
- [18:44]
C
So passionate though, dude. Same day, both places, back to back, different experiences, same results. And I just remember having. It was, it was, it was, it was those places like during the peak of all that, that was like sitting down and having that meal from start to finish. Like walking through the lines, talking with people about barbecue, all the barbecue places that. It was something that I've never experienced before with barbecue. So it was foreign. So that culture and like being in introduced that culture in Austin and then going through and ordering at the. And then them giving you a bite and then going down and having it. And then it was like a flashback of all the barbecue meals that I has as a child. It was like back to the future, just like speed. And I was like, man, if this is, if this is what barbecue is, I don't know what the hell I was eating as a child. Because this is not the same category. It's not the same food group is. It's nothing and after that, I. Everybody. I feel like in barbecue has somebody in their family. That is the barbecue guy. That was my uncle. I asked him to borrow his pit. He let me borrow his pit. And I would go in the backyard and I would just burn up briskets.
- [20:03]
B
And this is 2012. So three years later, you're opening your own place.
- [20:06]
C
Yeah. I could feel excited on stuff like. Yeah, I go down a rabbit hole, and I think. I think this is what triggered the rabbit hole was. It was. It was very difficult to start. So there was nothing on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. There was no Reddit threads. It was. There was like, barbecue forums. Everybody was trying to still figure out what briskets. John, Ali, Leanne, all those guys were using all the seasonings that they were using. And I think Aaron had his book out by that time. Time a bunch of people have books out, and you go through the books and you do through. Go through all the motions, and you're like, man, this is not the same. And then you realize they're just guidelines. Right after you burn up a lot of meat.
- [20:46]
B
Yeah. You got to learn how to play with fire.
- [20:47]
C
Yeah. And then once you realize they're just guidelines, it becomes a Da Vinci Code. And then you're moving puzzle pieces around non stop.
- [20:55]
B
So when did you decide that you were going to open your first place?
- [20:59]
C
I actually can't pinpoint that. That memory. It was kind of like, just like, I think I want to do this. Like, I. I think I just fell so in love with the process of it. I was like, you know what? If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. But I do remember when it did open, I was. I. I was like, if I don't. I wasn't chasing accolades, but I made a mark for myself. I was like, if I don't get into the tops, the. Of the Texas Monthly top 10.
- [21:29]
B
So it's top 50 is the. The actual thing, but you want to get top 10.
- [21:32]
C
Yeah.
- [21:32]
B
Did you say this out loud? Did you make this be known because you made it happen, what, three, two years after opening?
- [21:37]
C
Yeah. People that were with me, and I got a guy here that's still on staff, and I was like, man, if I. If I don't, like, I'll just close the doors. Like, what's the point? Like, I'm not. I'm not gonna do it just to do it. Like, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna go after it. You know what I mean? It wasn't about chasing the accolades. It was about understanding the mechanics, improving every day, and setting a goal. And then, and then that was. That was it. And like, one person wrote about it, the next person wrote about it, and the water faucet kind of turned on.
- [22:08]
B
So was this a goal before you opened?
- [22:11]
C
Yeah, I think, I think. Because I thought that, I mean, I still think that those guys are rock stars.
- [22:16]
B
Those guys being Franklin.
- [22:18]
C
Yeah, I think Aaron. I think Aaron, Aaron, Aaron. John Lewis and I think Wayne Mueller. I'm probably leaving some other one. I think most those guys, like, pioneered the way they started that movement.
- [22:30]
A
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- [22:35]
B
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A
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B
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- [23:27]
B
Aaron was an interesting interview. His approach is really interesting. What he did to scale the brand, not necessarily the restaurant, but he developed such a brand that he just puts his brand on the way. He, like, with, with his books and the lessons, his YouTube channel, then his barbecues, like, his. His actual barbecues, the pits, and like all his seasonings. And like, he really is a master developing that brand and then putting that brand and scaling the brand. Like, I think that was the first time I ever spoke to somebody who really scaled the brand. And with only one location, he thinks.
- [23:59]
C
Way outside of the box. Yeah, like, I mean, I want to buy Aaron's books. Yeah, I have his books. You know, I mean, like, I got.
- [24:04]
B
Two of his books while I was there.
- [24:05]
C
I walk, I walk past him, I open them up. I'm like, man, this is a good book.
- [24:07]
B
I meant to get in the sign one.
- [24:08]
A
I totally forgot.
- [24:09]
B
I'm still kicking myself.
- [24:11]
C
I'm sure. I'm sure he can make that happen. It's pretty great. I. Those guys are like, there's not a lot of restaurants that have lines that long and like, to be able to see that and experience it's like, kind of mind blowing, especially during that time where there Was only a handful of barbecue restaurants like that.
- [24:28]
B
I think the timing was pretty clutch.
- [24:29]
C
Yeah, he.
- [24:30]
B
He got, he caught the wave.
- [24:31]
C
Yeah.
- [24:32]
B
You know, not to say that his barbecue isn't delicious, but his talent plus catching the wave.
- [24:36]
C
Yeah.
- [24:36]
B
It was like a perfect storm.
- [24:38]
C
Yeah.
- [24:39]
B
So this is only three years before you opened your, your first spot. So you kind of hit it hard. What did you need to get open?
- [24:49]
C
I don't know. It was like, it was like a field of dreams.
- [24:52]
B
Build a mail.
- [24:53]
C
I hope they show up.
- [24:54]
B
I'm assuming that your rent wasn't a.
- [24:56]
C
Lot where you were now. It was an old barbecue restaurant. The. It was for sale.
- [25:04]
B
Second generation.
- [25:06]
C
Nah, he'd been there. He's older.
- [25:08]
B
No, you were. So you were turnkey when you moved in. When you took over, was everything that you, you needed there?
- [25:13]
C
Oh, no, no, no. Okay. No, no. It was, it was like clean it out, tear it out. He cooked a lot different. It was barbecue restaurant. I guess the family, I don't know if family didn't want it or I don't blame, I don't blame them. Like if I was in the family, I'd be like, now I'm good. Like just in general with the restaurants.
- [25:30]
B
You committed to opening a barbecue place. How long were you looking before you found this place?
- [25:35]
C
Man, that just drove by. Like, it was just, it was just driving by sign on the window. My parents had a house out and they saw the house out in Kenney, Texas, which is right around there, and it was just like kind of like pass by it. Asked him, haven't had any bites. Thought about it. Would you own or finance it? Yeah. No credit. No.
- [25:57]
B
Wait. So he asked you would, you know, I finance.
- [26:00]
C
I, I asked to own or find out. No. Bank was.
- [26:02]
B
Oh, will you. Owner finance?
- [26:04]
C
Yeah. Bank wasn't going to give a 24 year old. I love that.
- [26:08]
B
I think that's an approach more people should take.
- [26:10]
C
Yeah.
- [26:10]
B
What is owner financing? Like, how did you guys set it up?
- [26:13]
C
I would just, I would just pay them. Pay him. And there's a balloon note at the end. So basically set up the rent, set up the. Or set up the mortgage. For the most part. No banks involved.
- [26:21]
B
He owned it outright?
- [26:22]
C
Yeah.
- [26:22]
B
And you came up with a price, the value of the business and your profit went towards paying him.
- [26:28]
C
Yeah.
- [26:29]
B
How long did it take you to pay him back?
- [26:32]
C
Four years.
- [26:32]
B
What was the price? Do you mind? Is that too much? I don't even remember, like more than 200,000.
- [26:38]
C
It was either two or three. I mean, it wasn't A lot. Okay. Yeah.
- [26:41]
B
This is so Corey Sanchez.
- [26:43]
C
Are you familiar? Yeah.
- [26:45]
B
So Main street millionaire. Awesome book. That's Corey Sanchez I'm talking about.
- [26:50]
A
Is that the same one?
- [26:51]
C
Yeah.
- [26:52]
B
This is how she talks. This is how she recommends purchasing businesses. There are people all over America, baby boomers who are retiring. Their kids don't want to take over. Maybe they didn't have kids. They don't have a retirement plan.
- [27:03]
C
Yeah.
- [27:03]
B
Their retirement plan is die.
- [27:04]
C
Yeah.
- [27:05]
B
And they want an exit.
- [27:06]
C
They're.
- [27:07]
B
They're tired. Approach them. Is it for sale? Don't even wait for them to put the sign up.
- [27:12]
C
Just go.
- [27:12]
B
If you, if there's a place that speaks to you that is perfect for your. Your vision, do you have nothing to lose?
- [27:18]
C
I mean, the worst thing to say is no. Right.
- [27:20]
B
Will you owner, finance this? And then you set up terms and you pay them from a percent of profit.
- [27:24]
C
Yeah.
- [27:25]
B
And boom.
- [27:26]
C
Yeah. It's looking back at that. I think rent or more like that mortgage or whatever on the business was like thousand bucks or twelve hundred bucks. And I was like sweating every month, sweating. And I always remember like all the struggles in that. And I was like, man, I just want to get to not feeling like this.
- [27:48]
B
Did that point ever happen?
- [27:50]
C
Yeah.
- [27:50]
B
When did that happen for you?
- [27:53]
C
Probably after I came to Houston for probably two years after that. But then you look back at it, I mean, I had another guy probably about a year ago, he reached out to me via Instagram. He was like, man, I. I want to go from a trailer and do what you did in Houston. And he was like, what would you tell me? I was like, the grass is not always greener on the other side, brother.
- [28:13]
B
What do you mean by that?
- [28:14]
C
I like my yellow patch of grass on the other side of the fence just as much, if not more on the greener side. I think you forget about all the things that made you and developed you and made you unique. You thought that they were burdens and you, and you thought it was gonna. You always think that the next big thing is gonna be better, but the next big thing always brings more stress, more responsibility, more, you know, more financial responsibility, more. More important. It's. It, it. The laundry list goes on. So you're like chasing this thing, which was actually so simple that the time. But realize you thought it was so hard, but then you go to something that is actually much harder. And I think a lot of people, I won't say that I have friends that used to do pop ups and I made. I do anything, anything to do pop ups instead of having these eight burger joints right now. Right. And I've always dwelled on that. Like, now when I look back at it, I was like, all the times that I complain, I actually miss all of that stuff. Yeah.
- [29:16]
B
What do you. What's new today that you never thought of? Like, the things you didn't predict, the things you couldn't have foreseen, that makes it greener on the other side or greener where you came from?
- [29:32]
C
Greener on the backside or on the front side?
- [29:34]
B
Yeah, the, the, the, the backside.
- [29:37]
C
All the special moments, all the chase, like the chasing. The, like being so aggressive, like, of hope and a wish.
- [29:43]
B
Yeah.
- [29:45]
C
And like praying that somebody, like the struggle, like the things that you, like, maybe not being able to pay a bill. Maybe not, you know, maybe nobody showing up. Maybe, you know, that, that thing that. I believe that that thing molds you and you don't really appreciate it because it hurts at the time.
- [30:06]
B
I think this is a really important conversation. You know, I, I think of a lot of who the media holds up, the. All the, the celebrities, chefs, you know, the people out there. And we, we look to these people. We think, like, that's what we're going after. That's what we need.
- [30:20]
C
That's.
- [30:20]
B
That, that's making it right. And you, you wonder what they had to do to get there and what they had a sacrifice to get there, or what kind of extreme OCD they have or what kind of extreme narcissism they must have had to be able to. To make that happen. Whatever you like. I'm not saying this is a blanketed statement and everyone that gets there is like this.
- [30:40]
C
No, I think it's true. I think it's a thousand percent true.
- [30:42]
B
A lot of them are mentally ill, and that's why they are where they are, you know, like, they aren't. They are obsessed.
- [30:47]
C
Yeah.
- [30:48]
B
And I don't know if it's necessarily something that we should pursue sometimes.
- [30:52]
C
Sometimes. But, I mean, what do they say? Diamond makes diamond or diamond molds diamond? Diamond cuts diamond. I think that those struggles and those pushes actually make you better. Yeah, that makes sense. Like, and then you, you look at them in the moment, you're like, man, this sucks, dude. Like, is it ever going to change or. It's always going to be like that.
- [31:14]
B
Yeah.
- [31:15]
C
Then you don't realize how much it sets you up for the next thing. Right. There's always a next thing. You know what I mean?
- [31:20]
B
Yeah.
- [31:20]
C
But you're not cherishing the previous ones in the moment and realizing all the things you learned because usually in those biggest struggles, you're worrying about if you can pay the bills, you're not realizing all the things that you're actually discipline, like the discipline you're learning and all the things you're learning off of the struggle.
- [31:38]
B
So in the, the early years, 2017 is when you got your first, you actually hit your goal, your first goal to get top 10.
- [31:46]
C
Yeah.
- [31:46]
B
You were number 10. Texas monthly barbecue best top 50, number 10. How did that change business.
- [31:56]
C
Upside down?
- [31:57]
B
What do you mean?
- [31:58]
C
Like, I don't know, it's kind of hard. Like one person starts writing about it and you're just like always waiting for that faucet. And I'm kind of the person like you, you want something, but there's always another thing, you know? You know what I mean? Like, you want the line to get bigger, you want more notoriety and. But there's always another one. So you're never satisfying with one, satisfied with one thing. And I never got to really celebrate six people in line to 12 people in line to not being able to cook enough food because there's always the next thing. That's one thing I look back and kind of regret of not being able.
- [32:35]
B
To turn the slow, the, the fossil on slowly.
- [32:37]
C
It just kind of not slowly, just appreciating the fossil and like leaning into just was always like, go, go, go. Like, how much more can we do? Like, what can I do to get better instead of like celebrating the little wins? I think a lot of people and a lot of us psychopaths, like, you know, that's just, that's just part, that's just part of it. I always tell my wife, like, it's like that in the dark night, I'm like, like a dog that's chasing its tail. I have no idea what I would do if I caught it. And that's the way I look at, at cooking barbecue. Like I'm, I've had to satisfy, I've had to understand and be satisfied after realizing and talking about this in therapy that there's not one time that I remember the feeling, the emotion, the weather, the, the, you know, the day, the date, the time of an accolade, a write up, any of those things. And I realized that I wasn't chasing those things. I realized that they became checkboxes along the way because I was chasing the mechanics and the fundamental of how something worked. And I realized that something that I've struggled with a long time, what I believe that's made truth better is I don't cook the same barbecue or food that I did six years ago now. And I don't think I will six years from now because I think that there's. I'm looking for. For perfection. But I know perfection doesn't exist because there's always a next thing. Yeah. And so for me it's always hard. People think that I'm down in the dumps because I wasn't happy with an accolade or wasn't happy with a write up. I'm always thrilled. But it's always. I realized that's not, that's not what's solidifying what I'm doing. I'm actually me doing what I'm doing and trying to get myself better solidifies. That's what makes me sleep at night. But I did realize that picture perfect smell, time, place, weather. I remember all the times that I fucked something up. And that's where I had to realize what I was chasing and understand it and how to channel it, if that makes sense.
- [34:53]
B
So if I'm hearing you correctly, what you're chasing is just a better version of yourself today than yesterday or how to do the thing better, how to tweak it, just that slight edge.
- [35:03]
C
Every day I get uncomfortable with simplicity and like stagnant. It just makes me feel uncomfortable because I always feel like there's a way to tweak. Like is this chair too loose? Like, like it could be a little tighter. Is it comfortable enough? Like, you know what I mean? Yeah.
- [35:17]
B
You said you can remember the fuck ups. Are there at least two or three fuck ups that come to mind when you reflect back?
- [35:24]
C
Yeah. What's the top one going from Brenham to Houston?
- [35:30]
B
2019.
- [35:31]
C
And I could cook and some of my guys could cook with a blindfold on with one hand tied behind their back and pull some make some great barbecue.
- [35:41]
B
Yeah.
- [35:41]
C
Like it just become repetition you're comfortable with.
- [35:43]
B
Right.
- [35:44]
C
And for me and my thought process was like I know how to do.
- [35:47]
B
It where you started, but a whole.
- [35:51]
C
New bar, a whole new pail place. Yeah.
- [35:55]
B
Especially with barbecues. It's so dialed in.
- [35:56]
C
And that's when I really started to appreciate barbecue. Yeah. Because it goes down to the science and that what the biggest challenge was is the city of Houston made me go into room that's enclosed. There's no airflow and they want ventilation above the pits. Those pits are made to breathe outside. So the way that I would cook out in the country outside fighting the exterior environments was amplified in that room because everything was so controlled. So it cooked like a lab so 250 would cook like 300. The briskets would react different. They would get color faster, slower. Like, everything would change. So I was freaking out, right? Because everything that I knew had gone out the window.
- [36:38]
B
Start all over again.
- [36:39]
C
And then you realize that these are just puzzle pieces and these thermometers are just gauging. They're not gauging a true ambient temperature, and they're not gauging the flow of smoke. They're not gauging any of that stuff. When I started to become good is when I started to stop listening to music when I was cooking barbecue. And I noticed every little aspect of what was happening in the cook by feel, touch, and noise. Like, all the way down to. If you walk through the pit room and you hear a popping noise, you understand that it's the metal contracting and expanding in the hotel pans that are holding the water because they're drying out. So you know, without opening the pit, that the water pans are out of water. You know that you need to add a log because you can hear the fire crumble at a certain extent. And you can feel. And stand around the firebox and put your hand around the pit and notice what it feels like when you cook a really, really good brisket. You don't realize you're picking up all.
- [37:39]
B
These low road subconscious.
- [37:41]
C
Yeah, you just, like, you feel it, and it's. That's what I love about that. And like, certain. Certain. I mean, a lot of people do that with a lot of cooking, but I didn't realize I was picking up on those things until I was like.
- [37:55]
B
Until you didn't have it?
- [37:56]
C
No, no. I didn't even realize that I was doing those things. And then I would go to, like, a, you know, a food and wine event or anything, and I'd be, like, walking around the pit and, like, looking at everything and, like, holding my hand out, you know, in front of the pit and standing in front of the fire, and they'd be like, what are you doing? And until I started using your gauges, I was, like, talking about what I was doing. I was like, holy. I didn't realize I learned all this.
- [38:19]
B
I mean, you can look at gauges or you can use your senses.
- [38:22]
C
Yeah.
- [38:22]
B
And those are your gauges. You know, your. Your sense of heat, your sense of smell, your sense of. Of, you know, hearing the.
- [38:29]
C
The.
- [38:29]
B
Like you said, hearing the.
- [38:30]
C
The. The.
- [38:30]
B
The wood pot.
- [38:31]
C
Yeah. And I think that's one thing that I wish I knew five years ago, eight years ago, last week, that, you know, the things that people are. So go, go, go, go, go. All the time. It's got to be done like this, this, this. They don't realize all the steps and all the things that you can notice in between that can get you 1% better every day. Yeah.
- [38:50]
B
Is it easier or. I mean, I guess more controlled. You have this closed environment now. So, like cooking in the country, you know, cooking barbecue in August isn't going to be the same as cooking barbecue in January.
- [39:01]
C
No.
- [39:01]
B
You know, you got a lot of different outside variables. Humidity, heat, window, you know, like. But this is a closed environment. Does that help you with more consistent cooking?
- [39:11]
C
No. Everything's amplified. Everything's either sped up, slow down, and it's very dramatic. So you have to be, like, 10 times more in tune. Because the exterior environment those pits are. Build wood is, you know, fire is a major element of the earth. It wants to be fed oxygen. It wants to fight the environment. It's going to do whatever it wants to do. And there is a lot more control. And it's harder to actually control in there because you have not just one fire, but you have five. So they're all sucking in the oxygen, and they're all putting off radiant heat from each individual pit. And then if the weather is 110 degrees outside, that also affects the interior of the room. And then all the other parts. I mean, all the pits. Burning affects the interior of the room. And then all the way down to the oxygen that is in the room, how much is being sucked and used for fuel for the fire outside. You get all the airflow, you get all the wind, you get all whatever you need that actually makes those cooks better. Yeah.
- [40:11]
B
That makes sense.
- [40:12]
C
Yeah.
- [40:13]
B
Do you think you would have had the success you have today if you didn't get that first Texas number 10 listing, Texas Monthly. What would happen if you didn't have the lists? You ever think about that?
- [40:26]
C
Didn't. I'd still be obsessed. Like, I just. For some reason, barbecues turned a switch on me to where it was hard. But then once you understand that there's a formula for it. You're just moving stuff around. Yeah. And then you understand it. And then it just became, like I said, chasing my own tail. Yeah. And I think that once you get into that mindset on literally anything, then the rest of the stuff kind of comes. Yeah. But you got to be at peace with never getting to where you want to be. Got it.
- [41:02]
B
Your wife, Abby.
- [41:02]
A
Correct.
- [41:03]
C
Abby. Abby.
- [41:04]
B
Abby. I was talking to an Abby and an Addie this week. Got My wires crossed. Abby, were you married to her when you opened?
- [41:10]
C
No.
- [41:11]
B
Was she in your life at this point?
- [41:12]
C
She was not.
- [41:13]
B
When did she come into your life?
- [41:14]
C
No, no, no. Before I was open. That's why. Yeah.
- [41:17]
B
Is she a business partner today?
- [41:19]
C
She is my partner in crime and partner in life. And she is gonna ride until the.
- [41:24]
B
Wheels fall off because I wasn't. I. I didn't realize when I first started engaging you that Abby was your, your life partner. I saw that she was helping you. Then I realized afterwards after doing a little research that she was your partner in life. So I guess what I'm curious about is like, how have you evolved that A restaurant tour. We've gotten really into the barbecue. But in terms of running a business, in terms of the challenges, the, the. I mean, you talked about your biggest up, which was moving here.
- [41:50]
C
Yeah. The learning curve in here. Because the briskets were just like all the cooks were. They were good. Don't get me wrong, they were good. Like if I put them next to each other, you'd be like, I don't like, what are you looking at? But they weren't where it was. It was mind boggling to me because it wasn't the same result. Everything was different. And I wouldn't call it a fuck up. It was more of another, Another challenge. But I saw it as a, as a fuck up.
- [42:10]
B
Yeah, but you had no control over that. Yeah. Relative to business and scale and evolving as a business owner trying to get better, trying to do better numbers. Like what. What have been the biggest lessons for.
- [42:23]
C
You in the restaurant or people around me?
- [42:27]
B
I mean, I think business is relationships.
- [42:29]
C
Is it not relationships? Probably my wife would be the first one. We met in New York. She was a VP at Samsung for nine years. Or she was up in New York for nine years. I forgot how long she was at Samsung for a good, good time. So she was from the corporate environment. We had a mutual friend. It was me and a couple guys that were just up after college, wanted to go to New York. We went up there. Her best friend was out of town, which was a mutual friend of one of our friends. So she called Abby and she was like, hey, guys are in from Texas. Younger guys, just take them to the bar, let him buy you some drinks. Me, I don't talk. I sit at the bar by myself the entire time. She very type A comes up and was like, what is your problem? And I was like, just mind my own business over here. Long story short, go to the bathroom, she goes the bathroom. And I Waited outside for her outside of the bathroom. And she was like. She literally asked me. She was like, what the fuck are you doing? And I was like, just making sure you. While I was gonna walk you back to the bar. I was like, like, southern gem.
- [43:42]
B
I might be quiet, but I'm not an asshole.
- [43:43]
C
Yeah. She was like, but why? And I was like, just. I. That's how I was raised like you. We went over there together. I wasn't gonna just, like, leave you hanging. And I guess that triggered her. And I had a girlfriend at the time. She had a boyfriend at the time, and she just hit me point blank. Are you gonna marry that girl at the bar? Buzzkill. Immediately. And I was just like, you know, I never thought about this. And we didn't talk for probably four to six months after that. And I randomly shot her a text, and she answered, and we stayed in contact ever since.
- [44:25]
B
That girl didn't mirror.
- [44:27]
C
Yeah, but she. Going back on that story. We butted heads a lot at the beginning. She's six years older than me. She was in the corporate environment. I grew up around restaurants. Her mentality from the corporate environment, bringing it into this and thinking of, like, a bigger company of, like, how to take care of employees.
- [44:46]
B
What year did she come in?
- [44:48]
C
2,014, I want to say. Yeah.
- [44:51]
B
Okay.
- [44:51]
C
Yeah, 2014.
- [44:53]
B
This is before you.
- [44:55]
C
It was right. Right before. Yeah.
- [44:56]
B
So you're. Did you go anywhere to apprentice, to learn?
- [44:59]
C
No, just all soft up. When briskets would go on sale at Kroger and Heb, I would go and buy them and burn both. Yeah, just burn them up.
- [45:07]
B
So she. She was here early on in. In the process. How did she help you?
- [45:12]
C
Getting out of this is the way that it needs to be done. Mindset of a bigger, faster, stronger. You need a team to do this. You need just more. I would say more of a structure, like, looking at it as a big company, even though we had, like, four employees. But how do we look at this like this? How do we be more efficient? Every day would be like, you know, down to, should we pour out these pickles and onions? Do we know how many? Should we run a P mix? You know, things that I wasn't thinking about. I was like, let me cook the best barbecue.
- [45:40]
B
She helped you standardize everything.
- [45:41]
C
Yeah, yeah. And create a lot more structure. I mean, she was around that discipline life that I was not. During college, I was worried about buying 30 pack of Keystone.
- [45:52]
B
So what was the biggest point of growth from you beyond the. The accolades, the new recognition that drove business? How did you get better at what you do?
- [46:02]
C
From a business perspective, respect for my peers that I looked up to. I can't really pinpoint it, but I would say no matter where I was, if I was here doing an event, if I was. Was in California, if I was in New York, if I was in, you know, South Carolina, if I started to cook, I would finish it no matter what. And people are like, you got staff to do it. Why are you doing? I'm like, yeah, but I want them to be able to experience what I can provide without them having to come to Texas. Yeah. The only person paying for me to.
- [46:45]
B
Be here, not just my name.
- [46:46]
C
Yeah. And I think it was more. I didn't realize it was discipline at that time, but they. You know, some of the guys that I consider mentors or big brothers for me were like, this guy's pretty young, and I don't know why he's not out getting blasted with the rest of the chefs or, like, doing whatever. He's just staying here, and he's not leaving. Yeah. Until it's done. And then I would come back and serve the next day. And I think that's. That was probably the thing that meant most to me, and that's where I started to learn a lot more.
- [47:20]
B
How did.
- [47:20]
C
Yeah. How did that.
- [47:21]
B
When did this happen? Did you say the year it was approximately when you started getting that?
- [47:25]
C
I would say, I don't know. There's a picture hanging up somewhere around here with the date on it. I just kind of got, you know, before.
- [47:38]
B
After 19.
- [47:41]
C
Before. Because they were. They visited the restaurant in Burning before it even turned into Houston. They saw that. I think they saw that.
- [47:47]
B
How did this change you from a business perspective? Respect from your peers?
- [47:51]
C
I wanted to be like them.
- [47:53]
B
But how did that give you confidence to operate in a different level?
- [47:55]
C
No.
- [47:55]
B
So how did it change things?
- [47:58]
C
I wanted to understand how they got to where they were, and I wanted to understand. I don't even want to say this. I wanted to understand how to do it better.
- [48:08]
B
So you think by having their respect, by being able to get their ear to be around them, you'd be able to absorb some of that?
- [48:16]
C
Yeah, I wanted to. I wanted to ask the questions, and they. They let me ask the questions. They were open book to me, and that's. To this day, those are two people I go to.
- [48:25]
B
Was this better relative to how to cook brisket and how to barbecue or what? Better on how to be better at business?
- [48:31]
C
Business discipline, husband, everything.
- [48:36]
B
What did they teach you about business?
- [48:42]
C
All the things not to do. What not to do.
- [48:44]
B
What did they teach you not to do?
- [48:46]
C
What not to sacrifice, what not to chase.
- [48:49]
B
What don't you sacrifice?
- [48:50]
C
Quality, consistency.
- [48:52]
B
How do you not sacrifice that?
- [48:54]
C
Chasing accolades with ego is that chasing dollars, chasing financial gain, Chasing so margins.
- [49:03]
B
Trying to buy, you know, like, sacrifice quality.
- [49:07]
C
They told. They taught me don't sacrifice quality. But there's a way to balance the quality and consistency with margins and not to be reckless.
- [49:15]
B
How do you do that?
- [49:17]
C
Still trying to figure it out. Yeah, it's. It's. It's tough. Like you want to be able to provide. And barbecue is even harder because we yield our yield. And the time and labored wood that goes into it is not like putting a steak on a plate that you're cutting up a primal. You're getting an exact amount on the steak of the weight, and then it takes 20 minutes to cook, and then you got two sides, whatever. A la carte. Barbecue's got so many other factors into it. You have to understand where you can sacrifice what you can do. And is there a way, if you sacrifice something, can you improve something else?
- [49:52]
B
They taught you what not to chase. What. What don't you chase in this industry?
- [49:58]
C
Lists, Accolades, notoriety.
- [50:04]
B
Well, it's hard because you can't argue that those lists and accolades don't drive business.
- [50:09]
C
They help. But if they drive you, you lose your vision. Those things actually come if you focus on your vision. That's what they taught me.
- [50:19]
B
100%.
- [50:19]
C
Yeah.
- [50:20]
B
It's not from putting your energy out and chasing. It's from putting your energy in and doing what you're already doing.
- [50:25]
C
And if you're chasing that, what do you do after that? Right. You're capped. Yeah. Yeah.
- [50:30]
B
So what's your vision? What was your vision once they made this obvious to you?
- [50:37]
C
Teaching, educating, sharing information like this, the way that they did with me, realizing that there's people out here that want that knowledge and you don't. Actually. They're not really competition. You want the. The everybody in the restaurant community wants everybody to succeed because it's such a hard, toxic community. You know what I mean?
- [50:58]
B
Like, for the longest time, it wasn't like that. You know, I think I. When I started this podcast, I was afraid.
- [51:03]
C
Yeah.
- [51:03]
B
To approach successful people and say, share your secrets.
- [51:07]
C
And I think. I mean, one person that taught me. I mean, the best advice that I ever got was in 2015. Wayne Mueller told me temperatures. He was cooking at seasonings. He used rotations, he did pits, he used why he did xyz And I was just taking mental note and then I finally asked him, why are you telling me this? And he was like, if Jimi Hendrix shows you how to play the guitar for five years, you're still never going to sound like him.
- [51:32]
B
Yeah, you're still not going to have the same passion, the same discipline.
- [51:34]
C
And once I realized that all this stuff that should have been secrets and all that stuff, they're never going to look at a fire the way that I do. They're never going to look at a piece of meat that I do, a piece of wood, anything like that. And his thing was, why take this to the grave? I'd rather have people talking about me for the rest of my life. Little spawns everywhere. I was like, yeah, I had a lot of respect for that. Yep. Yeah, I love that.
- [51:57]
B
Did things ever what relative to your vision? This vision of making it about sharing and making the people around you better, paying it forward. Where are you in pursuit of that, would you say?
- [52:12]
C
I think now growth for the people within, giving them to be something, you know, be a part of something. You know, they might have started on sides, they might start on bus. Can we get them here? Can we get them here? Can we get them here? Level them up. Give them something that they might have never thought was even an option for them.
- [52:31]
B
Tap into that need for growth.
- [52:32]
C
Yeah. Push them a little bit more.
- [52:36]
B
How do you provide opportunity and growth here? How is truth barbecue an outlet for that? Give me some examples.
- [52:43]
C
I don't know. I always think that you don't have to be stuck in a position. I think that if you want to go somewhere, if you tell me you want a three week growth program of one month growth program, a six month. Let's talk about it. Let me see. Because if you help me, I'll definitely help you. I can't do it all. You know what I mean? So. And it's not fun. What I've realized is like this, this, this place here takes an absolute team, if not an army. And I can't do it without them. And it's hard to create this culture of this, like for them to look at barbecue and food and experience the way that I do. I don't expect them to ever understand it or get close to it. I expect them to respect it and want to get to that. So if they can, you know, we're, we want to take them along for the ride. It's not fun to celebrate by yourself. So that. And like being able to be, I would say, part of the community. However, we can get back to the community.
- [53:44]
B
How do you get back to the community?
- [53:46]
C
I mean, we work with different charities. We work with one called the Beacon, where we get people that have been incarcerated or, you know, not had a home for a while, can't get a job. They've. They vet them, send them over for an interview and give them an opportunity that nobody else gives them. And honestly, we've found some of the hardest working people that some people would never bat an eye at. So I like that. And we're that. And then she works for Sky High for kids. I work with no kid hungry. Anything that has to do with children, children with illness, cancer, anything like that.
- [54:31]
B
Do you have children?
- [54:32]
C
No, no. But I always. Once I started working with Billy Harris and no kid hungry and then going to like the Institute of health in D.C. and then walking through there and seeing these people from all over the world with kids that are 1 year old to 12 years old, you never think about a kid being sick and then seeing, like, seeing it is rough, like, because these kids, they've never done anything bad in their life, so why would they get dealt this shit hand of cards? So what we do is we started this thing called Meals on Wheels of the hospital. We have a pretty big pediatric cancer center over there. And the company or the foundation she works with, we're like, man, we can. You know, people get tired of eating hospital food. Definitely kids. Why don't you let us bring meals to them during the holidays that doesn't put a huge, you know, hit on.
- [55:31]
B
Our margins or keep them unhealthy.
- [55:34]
C
Yeah.
- [55:35]
B
Have you ever eaten at a hospital cafeteria?
- [55:38]
C
It's like, that's rough.
- [55:39]
B
No wonder why people are sick.
- [55:42]
C
You would think that to get them happy, it would get them in a better. They have a. So we started that, and everybody thinks that was one thing that I realized over the years. My wife was always like, we need to get back. We need to donate. We need to donate. And I was like, man, we don't have any money to donate. I didn't realize how much my time and my effort is actually worth more money than it is. If I donate, I can go and cook somewhere, get a group of friends together, cook somewhere, go pack up food, donate it. Than it is me giving, like, it showing up and going and going through the motions or auctioning it off. It actually does more than I thought I could ever do.
- [56:19]
B
How does it do more?
- [56:23]
C
Some of the auctions that we. I mean, some of the dinners that we've auctioned off have definitely raised more Money that I could ever.
- [56:28]
B
That you could ever pull out.
- [56:29]
C
Pull out of my pocket. And it just. Everybody thinks it's such a hard lift, but it's me doing what I do on a daily basis and it's actually fun for me and it's. I get to get more out of it than I would with just a normal customer. It's going to not only make people excited that bought the dinner, but also going to fund, you know, pediatric cancer or going and funding new meals for them or anything like that. I didn't realize like me just showing up and doing what I do is actually going to provide that. Yeah, yeah. That really put it in perspective for me too. Yeah. Yeah.
- [57:05]
A
So where is your business today?
- [57:06]
B
If we're getting into like the nitty gritty of how you organize your business, you are the at the top of the hierarchy. If we're talking hierarchies, how many people do you have employed?
- [57:19]
C
75. 80.
- [57:20]
B
75, 80. How many of those are management? So who's like your direct reports?
- [57:27]
C
Seven.
- [57:28]
A
Seven.
- [57:28]
B
And what are those titles?
- [57:30]
C
We got AG or we got our general manager.
- [57:33]
B
One.
- [57:33]
C
General manager one. One GM, four AGMs. We got marketing training, development. We got.
- [57:43]
B
Is that one title or two?
- [57:44]
C
Yeah, one title. Director of finance. I got. I guess if you count my wife and I, we're still in here pretty much all the time.
- [57:55]
B
And how do you and your wife split it up in terms of lanes?
- [58:02]
C
She's a people person. I can start fires. Really good.
- [58:05]
A
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 1,200 by Mama Betty's founder Jason Carrier. You got to hear what Jason had to say about Siboney. 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 Bony can streamline your operations and boost your bottom line. Limited time offer and this is exclusive.
- [59:10]
B
To restaurant Unstoppable listeners.
- [59:12]
A
Mention this Message and get 20% off your first month of services. 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 you manage every part of your operation 247 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 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 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.
- [60:28]
B
In terms of your leadership, it's like 10 people. Approximately 10 people and 75 are like frontline slash AGMs or AGMs were AGMs.
- [60:41]
C
Up there and then the rest are just on rotation here. Brenham. Yeah.
- [60:47]
B
What percentage that is? Hourly versus salary.
- [60:50]
C
Oh 90% hourly. Yeah got it.
- [60:55]
B
I'm assuming your GMs and your like HR development or your director of finance or salary in terms of like tech stack. What is. What does that look like? I saw you're using Toast pos. Are you using any other technology in the back end that links to that?
- [61:13]
C
Yeah, Toast Restaurant 365. We use Paycom for payroll pay comp. Yeah. A lot of HR stuff involved in there where everything goes up in the cloud, log everything. Way too many reports than what we need. But it's still very detail oriented. You can categorize everybody by department, by area. Like very specific restaurant 365.
- [61:41]
B
Are you using all the tools in the suite of our 365? Inventory, scheduling, all that?
- [61:46]
C
Yeah, I got a lot of buddies that use Margin Edge. They love it. I think whatever works with your POS system for the most part to give you like live data for that? Yeah, it's good.
- [61:55]
B
What was it? How long have you been using restaurant365?
- [61:58]
C
Just finish it building it. It took like 10 months. Yeah 11 months like developing all the rest.
- [62:05]
B
It's a big lift. Did you have to get help doing that or did you outsource a Little bit.
- [62:10]
C
But no, everybody, that Restaurant365 or like Margin Edge or like any of those companies like that, even the third party people that help it, they, they could do it for other restaurants with brisket ribs. Like what we do is a lot more complex. Complex because we trim the brisket, no matter what weight it comes in at, we got to get it down to about 12 to 15 pounds. We have the excess trim that goes into sausage and then all the ingredients and all the labor and all the food that goes. Or the fuel wood that goes into brisket. Our raw food cost would be $4.78 a pound. But it's not really.
- [62:52]
B
Yeah.
- [62:52]
C
If that makes sense. So being able to like explain that to a third party or somebody else, they're like, no, your food cost is this. I'm like, yes, it is. But I need to reallocate that to actually show what brisket cost needs to be and where our margins are at. Because there's so much more that goes into it than just the brisket. Like, yeah, we can, we can get a raw food cost on it, but it's gonna look fucking amazing, right? Yeah.
- [63:14]
B
The actual yield. Actual versus theoretical.
- [63:17]
C
Yeah, yeah, you gotta calculate that. And that was very hard. And I had to get with my guy to like, who's your guy? Alex. I had to really get with him.
- [63:26]
B
Director of finance.
- [63:26]
C
Yeah. To break that down. And he came from another restaurant group and he was like, did other people do this? I was like, I don't know anybody. But I'm trying to figure, I'm trying to do it because this is what, this is what makes sense to me to like get it as close as humanly possible. Because you know, with all these people talk about these, these systems like that, it's only. That system is only going to be as smart as the data that you feed. It feeds off of all of that data. So for me, I'm thinking out of it as like, how detailed can we get it to get it. Feeding me what I want to see.
- [64:02]
B
I refer to platforms like Restaurant365 as enterprise solutions.
- [64:06]
C
Yeah.
- [64:07]
B
Because they're a one stop shop, fully integrated in, integrates with your pos. And then there's a general ledger designed for the restaurant industry.
- [64:13]
C
Yeah.
- [64:14]
B
Tied to that. Another one is Restaurant Systems Pro.
- [64:17]
C
They're heavy. I mean, don't be around. They're heavy lifts. It's a big time investment, biggest challenge. It's, it's discouraging. But once I would say there was like a breakthrough where I was like, oh, wow. I'm almost there. Yeah. And that's where I was, like, just could not stop.
- [64:32]
B
How did you rationalize the, the, the investment?
- [64:35]
C
Did.
- [64:35]
B
Were you aware of the lift? Did you, did you know, everybody told.
- [64:39]
C
Me, but I actually didn't know. So, like, even though I'm talking to you and telling you about the lift, like, you don't actually know.
- [64:44]
B
Like, like opening a restaurant's easy.
- [64:47]
C
Yeah, yeah, that.
- [64:48]
B
But just, just buy the building and you're open. Right.
- [64:50]
C
Honestly, you know, off the record, I think opening a restaurant's easier than putting in margin edge and restaurant365 into place because it's so detail oriented.
- [64:58]
B
Seriously, off the record, or can we.
- [64:59]
C
Keep that in there? No, you can keep that on.
- [65:00]
B
Okay.
- [65:01]
C
I'm just like, every, like, I don't think anybody, like, unless you've done it, you don't know how much, how difficult it is.
- [65:06]
B
It's, it's, you know, it's weird because like, my whole thing with this podcast is trying to figure, try to get the truth.
- [65:11]
C
Yeah.
- [65:12]
B
And you start to realize that truth is relative and truth is complex. My truth might not be your truth. And the truth is like, I, I would learn about these tools, these enterprise solutions and realize that like, man, if you're a single unit, two unit operator, three unit operator, and you're, you're still kind of in it all the time, you already have like your place already full, and then you gotta get this enterprise solution, and that is another five hours of work a week at least.
- [65:39]
C
I, if you would have told me to start this a year ago, two years ago. I wish that, I hope that anybody that's listening, whether they're getting started or they're already been in the business for 10, 15 years, like, I wish I would have done it on year two.
- [65:56]
B
Yeah, I, I do. And I think sometimes people disagree with me on the statement that if I'm, if I'm opening a restaurant tomorrow, I'm taking tens of thousands of dollars away from design and build out because that stuff will come. Yeah, but you're having your guts, right? Your systems right. Your financials, right.
- [66:11]
C
If you have that, then you don't have to worry about any of the other stuff. The, the other stuff shows up.
- [66:15]
B
Exactly. That other stuff can come with time.
- [66:17]
C
Yeah.
- [66:18]
B
The, the amount of money people put on new floors or like, like fancy decor. Tens of thousands of dollars. Put that into what? Like, I guess it depends on your scale. You're looking at what, $800 a month? I don't know what you're you're paying?
- [66:36]
C
I don't even think it's that much.
- [66:37]
B
Maybe 600.
- [66:38]
C
I think it's like five or six. Yeah, yeah. For like the accounting, like all the things. Yeah.
- [66:42]
A
You're saying $6,000 a year.
- [66:44]
B
Right. Allocate that cash flow. And then I would even argue that they should.
- [66:48]
C
Honestly, for a marketing thing, they should be like, this is how much you paid. This is how much you saved.
- [66:53]
A
That's the thing. When you start, when you get that.
- [66:55]
B
Level of data and you're tracking everything and you get your actual versus your theoretical. And you know where your money's going. And plus you, like, you know, when I. When I say scorecard, you can literally keep score of how you're doing. And that scorecard, that becomes the game of business. And you need to know how you're performing. You need to know the score before you can start getting better at the game.
- [67:14]
C
I said, like, I mean, I did it too. Like, you know, you'd be cranking out amazing food and then you'd look at your report card and you're like, oh, man, that's. Yeah, that sucks. And then it gets discouraging, like. But if you're balancing the two out parallel, it's a really good feeling. Right?
- [67:28]
B
But it wasn't until I had a Jason Carrier from Mama Betty's on the show. Do you know Jason Awesome?
- [67:33]
C
Not personally.
- [67:34]
B
Driver and Austin.
- [67:35]
C
Check out my Betty's.
- [67:36]
B
He's doing some really cool stuff there. You might have heard of some of his restaurants. Chugging monkey.
- [67:40]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [67:40]
B
He was like, oh, like, like OG Bar operator on fifth Street.
- [67:45]
C
Yeah, a lot. Like, they've got some really cool concepts anyways for that. Those platforms, they can turn a bar into an empire. Yeah, for sure. Alcohol margins are nice.
- [67:55]
B
So he got out of the bar game. I think he still owns, like, he still has equity in some of the. The concepts. Concepts that he. I can't remember all the concepts he had. Like, all.
- [68:03]
C
All in.
- [68:04]
B
I think he has opened 12. And then at one point he had five going at one time. But anyway, I digress. He opened Mama Betty's and he out of the gates. He outsourced his finance, his financial.
- [68:13]
C
Wow.
- [68:14]
B
He outsourced his financials to Sir Boni. And I was like, I don't know if everybody can do that. But then I started looking into the numbers and you know, the thing is that lift that you're talking about, not everybody's wired for that kind of work.
- [68:27]
A
I know. I'm not.
- [68:28]
B
Yeah, most people are right Brain kind of people who get into this industry, they're creative, they're in the moment, they're chaos.
- [68:34]
C
Right.
- [68:36]
B
If you have somebody whose job it is, is to manage those technologically. Pat. Like, that's what they do. The financial technology platforms. And you outsource. Like you have a director of finance.
- [68:46]
C
Yeah, we've only had them for three weeks.
- [68:48]
B
Right.
- [68:49]
C
But the reason that I did was because started working on Restaurant 365, started realizing how much data it could pull for me, realized that I had a great cpa, but it does me no good to get my numbers 12 days, 15 days into the next month. I can't pivot right. And this guy's. He's. This guy, he's telling me, if we structure this right based off of xyz, he was like, I can give you live the day of or the week of. He was like, you tell me what, as long as we're feeding the data. And I'm like, so as detailed as we break this down, you're telling me if I want to categorize paper goods and I know that cheese is costing me a lot, instead of putting dairy. Cheese under dairy, we can separate and categorize that, and you can just feed it to my GM to tell her where to pivot the day or the week of. He's like, yeah, we can structure it like that if you want.
- [69:35]
B
So to your point earlier, you said, you can't afford to not do this. How is it. How have you just. How. How have you been able to rationalize and just specify the expense? How is that manifested?
- [69:46]
C
I think you got to look at it as. Like we talked about earlier. Like you surround yourself with people that are smarter than you. And I. I know that I'm not good at those things.
- [69:56]
B
Right.
- [69:57]
C
I try to make myself good at, but I can only get myself so far, and I can only do that plus this, plus that, plus that, plus that. I need some people around me. And I learned that from Pat Martin and Billy Dernie Martin's Barbecue, and then Billy Dernigott Red Hook Tavern and Hometown Barbecue in New York. You gotta have your people that are better than you at a lot of stuff.
- [70:21]
B
You gotta know your Lane estate. What is the 10% of things that only you should be doing do those things.
- [70:26]
C
I could tell you what it is. It's lighting a fire. Yeah.
- [70:28]
B
But that's also what you love.
- [70:29]
C
Yeah.
- [70:30]
B
And that's what makes you happy. And that's. And that's the thing that drives you. You know? That's what Sparks you.
- [70:35]
C
And if you try to juggle all of them, and I'll tell you, I've been there, like, I've gone through it even recently. Like, you. You try to juggle it. You want to touch everything. You can't. And then once you realize that it started to slip away, you blame it on yourself. And you realize one thing's getting neglected. That thing's getting neglected. And a lot of people think, man, I just can't afford to do it. But it's like running a race, and you can see the finish line, but you're realizing your shoes are untied, you're leg is cramped, you know, you're falling apart, but you just want to get there. But there's so many things that are stopping you, and you think that if you just keep going that it's going to make it better, but it's actually not.
- [71:08]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [71:10]
C
You. You.
- [71:11]
B
One of my models is. We go further together.
- [71:13]
C
Yeah.
- [71:13]
B
You have to choose to go further together. And we are tribal animals. We literally evolved to coexist in a tribe where every member of that tribe brought something special, you know, and it's when we. We're in the tribe, when we're in the pack, that we. We take down the mammoth.
- [71:28]
C
Yeah.
- [71:29]
B
You know.
- [71:29]
C
No, it's true. I think one of my biggest things is I'm always scared, like, in everybody. I think to a certain extent, you know, it's. It makes you uncomfortable. You feel very vulnerable. When there's somebody that's smarter than you in your business, that's ego. You know what I mean? But you have to put that passion, be like, realize that they are actually better at this than you are. Right. And they're going to help you, make you be better. And the only person that taught me that was my wife. I mean, that was just me being stubborn. I mean, I just thought that we couldn't afford it, couldn't do it, or I would just put it off because I thought I could handle it. But in reality, the only way for you to be really good at that one thing is if you have other people that are really focused on their things that they're really good at. Right.
- [72:17]
B
You got to be able to focus on the one thing.
- [72:19]
C
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- [72:22]
B
What are some other examples of the things that you've outsourced to or the other people you've surrounded yourself with?
- [72:33]
C
Not a lot. I mean, we just try to take as much off. It's hard because my wife and I especially are very strategic. Strategic about the brand and like being able to like build the relationships and like we always want to be in conversations that we shouldn't be in. So we mend and tend and take care of all those relationships. Whether it's going back to somebody's restaurant that I cooked at an event with them and like touching them and like, that's very hard to put into somebody. But we do need somebody that can show it up to these events and do those things. It's very hard to find replications of you, but all you can do is get a as close as humanly possible because you can't do it all. I can't go to all the events, I can't do like, you know what I mean? But we still want to build and mend those relationships and that's always been a very important. I feel like all the relationships that I've built from coast to coast with chefs or restaurant owners, those are the things that have opened so many doors for me. So I will always open those doors for those people. And I feel like those are the people that have not just pushed me, but helped me get to where I'm at.
- [73:38]
B
Yeah, I know you're a big advocate of supporting local businesses and collaborating with companies that are talented, like the people that make your grills. Are there any other companies that are coming to mind like that that you want to give a shout out? I'm always trying to help good people connect with good people and promote good companies.
- [73:53]
C
Job mill scale all day long. And what they do. Lockhart, Texas. I mean if you dream it, they can weld it together. If you got a fire apparatus or something that you want to build, like grill wise Santa Maria, you know, Argentinian style, like offset smoker, whatever that those Matt and Caleb and Annie, if you dream that they will make it into your dream and they will make it even prettier and they will turn it into art.
- [74:22]
B
What have they created for you?
- [74:26]
C
A number of grills that I would like to not admit. How many they are, how many there or how. Yeah, there's a lot of them. Why is that bad to admit running out of space? Those are the guys though. I mean they're, they're OCD like I am.
- [74:42]
B
How about I get a camera on some of those girls before I get out of here?
- [74:45]
C
Oh yeah, we got one in the back. There's a lot at the house.
- [74:50]
B
It's my dream to have an open fit, like an open fire pit, like live flame pit in my house, I gotta say.
- [74:57]
C
Oh yeah, that would be amazing with like a ventilation System. That would be beautiful.
- [75:01]
B
Oh, my God.
- [75:02]
C
That's like a dream come true.
- [75:03]
B
I want to be able to do a whole deer rotisserie in my kitchen.
- [75:06]
C
That would be. Yeah, I gotta. I wouldn't leave.
- [75:09]
B
I need more downloads before that happens.
- [75:10]
C
It's gonna be like a cabin in the woods, like in Montana or something.
- [75:14]
B
Like, you know, grills by Demont. No, they're out of Atlanta. Do similar work. This is the first time I've heard, hearing this company you're talking about.
- [75:21]
C
Check them out. Oh, yeah, man. They're at mill scale. They're great. But they are every detail, every measurement, every to the millimeter. Yeah. It actually. What's good about them is they take the feedback after. Guys like me or other guys, they what we like, what we don't like, what we think we. And they just put it into place. Like they're not too proud of what they do. They want to make it better.
- [75:44]
B
Any other companies you worked with here in Houston that help you build this vision that you have right now? Design. Hr.
- [75:54]
C
Hr? Oh, yeah. I mean, pr. Yeah. Public Content's done a great job in Houston. They've done fantastic. I would say the community more than, you know, than anything. Like, all the restaurants around us, like, being excited for us to come into town and then inviting to us to stuff that we shouldn't have been invited to and like opening the doors for us, putting us in those conversations. Yeah.
- [76:21]
B
What's the vision, man?
- [76:22]
C
Longevity. Where are you going?
- [76:24]
B
What's the dream? Do you have like a. A goal? A number of locations. More locations.
- [76:28]
C
I don't even know if I want more. I want a ton. I don't. I'm still searching for. Honestly, it's stupid. It's like I'm searching for the perfect cook. And that all comes down to when.
- [76:41]
B
You say cook, like the actual barbecue, like the cook of a cookie.
- [76:44]
C
Just a brisket, like any. Any of them. But mostly just brisket. But I mean, that's talking. All the stars align. Farmer raises the cattle perfectly. Feeds it at the same time every day. It's butchered at the right time. The wood is from the right tree. The source from the briskets. Yeah. Double R Ranch, Snake Rivers, Angus.
- [77:04]
B
What makes them special out of all the places you can source from?
- [77:06]
C
I always like boutique farms, like, small that when I say boutique, I'm still stocking like 2,000 heads a day, like, of cattle, like, but when you get up into the major ones that are 10 to 15,000 cattles or heads of cattle a day, the quality Is just not. Is not there. The smaller ones, the farmers are worried about the genetics. They're out there with an ultrasound on the cows daily to see the fat content. You know, they're taking them to the plant at the proper time. They're giving them, you know, good quality of life. They're normally finishing the cows on corn. Makes the beef taste a little bit different. And the guys that work at the packing plant, they're not running and churning and burning through the process. So the quality of the prepared product is actually much better. Yeah. Much more uniform.
- [77:56]
B
So are you paying attention to what some of these farms are doing? The vertical integration?
- [78:00]
C
No.
- [78:01]
B
Have you heard Dean and Peeler out of San Antonio? So they're an example of a farm that does vertical integration where they own the entire process.
- [78:09]
C
Yeah.
- [78:09]
B
From like the very, like from sourcing, like from literally like selecting the semen.
- [78:14]
C
Right. To. I'm pretty. I'm pretty sure Snake river does that too. Yeah. I didn't know the term.
- [78:19]
B
My hope is that vertical, it's. It's just like owning the entire chain from vertically or from selecting the spent into artificially inseminating. Growing the animal, you know, processing the animal or butchering them. Processing. Bringing it to a factory where they will work with companies to get their specific. Their specific, you know, like, how do you want to cut.
- [78:41]
C
Yeah. What.
- [78:41]
B
What marinades do you want? Then they'll ship it. And they're working with companies like US.
- [78:44]
C
Foods to do the distribution.
- [78:46]
B
That's like the only thing they don't touch is the distribution. Yeah, but I hope more farms do that.
- [78:51]
C
I mean, that's all. That's why I like the smaller farms like that. And then, you know, it's hard to. People are so used to going to the grocery store and just picking up a steak or ground beef off of the shelf. They have no idea how many people touch that piece of meat in the process before it even gets the grocery store. And then they don't understand why the price raised across the board on certain foods. And I just wish people shed more light of how much work went into the cattle before it even gets processed. Like, these farmers are getting paid pennies on the dollar and people are just so used to going on and just picking off shelf.
- [79:31]
B
Right.
- [79:31]
C
And it's like, dude, there's so much more that goes into it. I know.
- [79:35]
B
And I think, yeah. I mean, the consumer is so price. Price conscious, you know, and like how many streaming services the average consumer have. But if they're. They won't pay, you know, to support their local farm.
- [79:47]
C
Yeah.
- [79:47]
B
I know chickens, 20 chickens is hard. I get it. But at the same time it's like, where are our values, man?
- [79:55]
C
You know exactly where it's coming from. How is, you know, the person that's.
- [79:58]
B
Raising it, like you have a relationship with that person.
- [80:00]
C
You know, it's like they only stand when gas prices go up. But they don't understand when gas prices go up. It's more expensive to get the corn to the cattle. It's more expensive to transfer the cattle. Right. You know, like they understand when they go to the gas pump like, oh gosh, the economy, like, but they don't understand even how much that affects everything else.
- [80:16]
B
Right. Yeah, it's. I think so. The mission statement is to inspire, empower and transform the industry.
- [80:21]
C
I think. Yeah. I think to. Yeah. To that point, like from start to finish, there needs to be a lot more light shed on that area.
- [80:29]
B
100%.
- [80:30]
C
Cuz without that we none of us would be here.
- [80:32]
B
The consumer is ignorant. But they're not meant to know.
- [80:34]
C
Yeah.
- [80:34]
B
Then it was never designed for them to know how it works. But I think that if we're going to see change, if we're going to transform the industry, it has to be through conscious capitalism. And you can't be conscious if you don't know how the sausage is made.
- [80:46]
C
Yeah.
- [80:46]
B
How are you supposed to make better decisions with your money if you don't know the difference between good and bad? You're just looking like. It's like choosing a flight on kayak.
- [80:56]
C
Oh yeah.
- [80:56]
B
You know, or whatever. A hotel room. Like what's the cheapest? And that's how we're wired. But that doesn't support a conscious capitalistic society.
- [81:04]
C
Yeah. It's just not, I don't know, I always wreck my brain. It's just not strategic thinking like at all and understanding. But I mean that's. I'm a psychopath. Like I want to understand the mechanics of everything and like how, why, where. And I get it. Nobody else is going to think like that.
- [81:19]
B
Well, we're getting busy here and I want to make sure we respect this, the seating and I'm sure you guys fill up. So I'm going to try to get through some questions here. We'll wrap it up. What is one thing that you've recently done in your business that's really had an impact on moving the needle? Really getting points back to your bottom line.
- [81:37]
C
If, if at all repurposing it was after I went to the processing plants and saw the belly of the beast and saw how cows went through that line, how they were broken down, etc. I didn't eat beef for about probably four to five weeks after that. And I was like, you know what? I'm not gonna knock vegans and vegetarians anymore, because I've seen the process of what's going on here and then. But it took me doing that, realizing that and realizing, like, we want to make sure cows are obviously put on this earth for a reason. Chickens, like, everything was put on here for a reason. But there's a way to get them to a certain point for that reason. You know what I mean? So they need to be respected, taken care of, a good, healthy life. And then if all these people are touching this animal and doing all this work on this animal and taking all this time and care, when we get it to the restaurant, how can we use every aspect of it?
- [82:38]
B
Right. That's the best way to respect animals.
- [82:40]
C
Yeah.
- [82:41]
B
Use it. We forget that food is literally life.
- [82:44]
C
Yeah.
- [82:44]
B
Everything that we put into our bodies as we consume was once living with the exception of, like, minerals.
- [82:50]
C
Right.
- [82:51]
B
Like salt.
- [82:51]
C
Like.
- [82:52]
B
Like, we like. Food is literally listed as a commodity, a living thing, a life commodity. You know, it's kind of crazy how we categorize it like that.
- [83:02]
C
It's like nobody thinks about it like that.
- [83:04]
B
No, it's crazy. What is one conversation that you think restaurant owners need to have more often?
- [83:14]
C
That's a tough one. I would say one on, You know, one thing that I can think of the restaurant, not just that they need. Are you saying think or do a.
- [83:30]
B
Conversation that restaurant owners need to have with each other more often?
- [83:33]
C
There's one thing. There's one thing. Have you. Have you ever met Chris Shepherd?
- [83:40]
B
Yes.
- [83:40]
C
Well, no.
- [83:41]
B
I know of him. I would love to get him on the show.
- [83:43]
C
I need to get you with Chris. Chris is like big brother for the entire food community. Chris is. Chris and a couple other guys that I mentioned earlier all do this, and Chris is very consistent. He will call me randomly. He's like, I just called to make sure you're doing okay. That's it. No matter if you heard something he knew. He just. That's all he does. Calls check. I think a lot of people are just so, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. You forget that all your friends are still in the trenches with you. You. They're still going through the same thing with you, and sometimes they just want to vent with you and hear you and talk about it so they can feel normal for five minutes again, versus Having to take it home and talk about it with their wife. If they do understand, don't understand it. I think just making that phone call and checking up. Yeah.
- [84:34]
B
What's the thing? What's one thing about your business? A value, a process, a system that makes you truly unstoppable.
- [84:40]
C
Obsession.
- [84:42]
B
The mission statement is to change the world by inspiring, empowering, and transforming the industry. How have you personally transformed. How are you a better man today than the man you were in 2015 when you got started 10 years in? Congratulations, by the way.
- [84:52]
C
Thank you. Realizing what I could do with my time for somebody else and how much that can move the needle for somebody else, and, and just realizing that it's not just about food, it's not just about money. It's not just about, you know, like, what people think restaurants are about. There's, there's so much more outside of that that people look for and need.
- [85:19]
B
Like what?
- [85:23]
C
Just time, attention, Any way of. Any way of giving back. I would, I would say. And a lot of people don't realize that. And I think a lot of people think it's a time sucker. They don't have it. And it's, it's not a, it's not a heavy lift at all. And I don't realize, I never realized it, and I don't think a lot of people still realize that how much you can change somebody's day, life, output, you know, thought process with just an experience, like whether you're giving it at the restaurant or you're giving it, you know, at a private dinner or, or whatever, or you're just stopping somebody in passing at an event, you know what I mean?
- [86:03]
B
So along this vein of inspiring power and transform. Transform the industry. I believe we transform the industry, we change the world. I think the, the restaurant industry has transformative power. Yeah, I think your restaurant is an example of that. The, the second chances you give the, the opportunity. You lift people up and you provide that opportunity. What is a future? If we're going to go into the future consciously, intentionally, what does that future look like? How can we do better?
- [86:33]
C
Man, that's a tough one. I mean, I think like educating the consumer a little bit more, helping them understand. I think some of these shows are amazing to see, like somebody like Chris Bianco, the thought process and the love and passion that goes out to this guy going to a field picking out grains. I think more light needs to be shed on that stuff and how passionate some of these guys are. I mean, they sacrifice time, friends, family, marriages to create an Experience for somebody else.
- [87:07]
B
Perspective.
- [87:07]
C
Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? So I think the more light that's shed to the consumer on something like that, but it really helps you appreciate the food a little bit more.
- [87:17]
B
100.
- [87:17]
C
Yeah. Yeah.
- [87:19]
B
If you got the news, this is a big one, open your ears that you. You'd be leaving this world tomorrow. All the memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure, with the exception of three pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity and your legacy. What would those three pieces of wisdom be?
- [87:37]
C
Man, you shoved it off when I gave these. The. These before.
- [87:40]
B
I think you could just echo a lot of the sentiment today, man.
- [87:43]
C
It's not about.
- [87:43]
B
Well, I don't want to put words into your mouth, but I have some. Some takeaways. Want me to do the first one to see if that gets the ball rolling? Yeah, it's about, you know, the process. It's about doing one thing. It's about the passion, not about the accolades.
- [87:55]
C
Yeah, yeah. I would say pop. Process or mechanics. Passion and discipline and, like, throwing those all together.
- [88:08]
B
Is that one thing or three things?
- [88:09]
C
I would say three things. Three separate things. But they all kind of come one after the other. You kind of develop them all along the same way, but they all kind of trigger each other, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, for sure, man.
- [88:21]
B
You've been great. It's really been fun to sit here to share your story, to hear your perspective. I find 90% of my guests, through reference, referral, word of mouth, recommendation. So who do you respect and admire? Who's doing it right in the industry? Who deserves to be made an example of? Who's that person that's. That's making money and making a difference while they do it?
- [88:42]
C
Pat Martin, Billy D. And the one that is making the biggest change on the restaurant community is Chris shepherd, right up the street. And that would be that beer that you drink in there, right there. All the proceeds go to Southern Smoke foundation, and that is to support mental health for hospitality workers. And if they find themselves in a situation of disaster, it funds all that. People in the hospitality industry, whether you're waiting tables, you're busing tables, you're working back house, you put in an application. They raise money for it every year, and they fund it when you were in a bad situation.
- [89:26]
B
That is a roadhouse brewing company behind you. A special collaboration with Southern Smoke Foundation. It's a lager with coriander and sea salt. It's delicious.
- [89:36]
C
That was. That was Chris's he wanted a very easy drinker that you could drink all day. Nice pilsner.
- [89:44]
B
Yeah, that's my kind of beer. Billy, look out. I'm coming after you. Pat Martin. I've actually had on the show Martin's Whole Heart Barbecue.
- [89:52]
C
Right. Yeah.
- [89:52]
B
That was a lot fun. He's out of Nashville.
- [89:54]
C
Yeah.
- [89:54]
B
Really cool guy. Chris Shepard would be honored to get you on the show. I've been on my radar a long time and how can we connect with you if we enjoyed today's conversation? Maybe we just want to follow you online. What's the best way to follow you, connect with you if you want to put that information.
- [90:07]
C
Ah, man. If you got any barbecue questions, that's like my Da Vinci Code. I answer all of them on Instagram, answered mental health issues on Instagram. If you need just whatever restaurant stuff, Instagram, my email is on the website, anything like that, very easy to reach. Those are the things I'm passionate about. Yeah.
- [90:33]
B
Leonard, I can't do what I do without people like you making time to share your story, your knowledge, your perspective.
- [90:38]
C
My man.
- [90:38]
B
Thank you so much. There is no questioning. You are unstoppable.
- [90:41]
C
Thanks for having me.
- [90:42]
A
Cheers. There's another episode wrapped up here at Restaurant Unstoppable. If you enjoyed today's episode, then be sure to join Leonard and I. On February 9th at 11:00am Eastern, we're.
- [90:52]
B
Going to be live for Coffee with Eric. Coffee with Eric is just that. It's coffee. It's me. Past guests in the show, members of our community coming together to continue the.
- [91:01]
A
Conversation, to go deeper, ask the questions.
- [91:03]
B
You wish I did.
- [91:05]
A
Connect with people who are doing things similar to what you want to do across the country and go further together.
- [91:09]
B
That's what it's all about.
- [91:10]
A
And if you're not a member of Restaurant Unstoppable Network, head over to Restaurant Unstoppable.com CWE. We'll get you the link to this conversation on again February 9th at 11am.
- [91:23]
B
Again, head over to restaurant unstoppable.com CWE that stands for Coffee with Eric.
- [91:27]
A
And if you want to join this and all future online digital community events, then head over to restaurantstoppable.com live. When you join our community, you support this mission to inspire, empower and transform the industry.
- [91:39]
B
We'll see you there.