1253: Taylor Swenning, Owner of Darlin's Diner

Summary

Restaurant Unstoppable #1253: Taylor Swinning, Owner of Darlin's Diner

Date: February 16, 2026
Host: Eric Cacciatore
Guest: Taylor Swinning, Darlin’s Diner, Flatonia, TX

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Main Theme Overview

This episode features an impromptu, in-depth conversation between Eric Cacciatore and young entrepreneur Taylor Swinning, owner of Darlin’s Diner in Flatonia, Texas. Taylor shares her journey from college food truck operator to small-town diner owner, breaking down the realities of entrepreneurship, lessons in business, leveraging small-town advantages, and building a thriving brand. The episode focuses on authentic leadership, learning through mistakes, and how restaurants can vitalize and transform communities — especially outside big cities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Serendipitous Beginnings & Small Town Opportunity

• Eric discovers Darlin’s Diner by chance while traveling, leading to this unscripted interview.
• Taylor is proud of thriving in Flatonia: "It’s tiny and you could miss it if you just kept on driving. But we’re so glad that you stopped." (04:10)
• Flatonia’s diner brings in outsiders, revitalizing the local economy.

2. The Business Snapshot

• Taylor operates three businesses: Darlin’s Diner (diner), Solid a Soul (boutique), Lula’s Loft (event/catering loft). (05:21)
• Annual revenue: $800,000 with 20% profit; prime cost: 50% (20% CoGS, 30% labor). (05:53-07:19)
• Eric expresses surprise at such strong numbers in a small town context.

3. Mantra & Motivation

• Taylor’s mantra: “Fleetwood Mac — You can go your own way.” (07:46)
  • To her, this means pursuing a career that doesn’t feel like work, with autonomy, agency, and freedom.
• Eric: "Success is freedom. That is the most valuable thing you could have." (09:51)

4. Taylor’s Entrepreneurial Origin Story

• Initially studied construction science at Texas A&M, influenced by parents’ history of building and renovations. (10:19-11:29)
• Left the construction field for hospitality, wanting to focus on branding and creativity.

5. The Food Truck Journey: "Donut Darling"

• At age 19, Taylor bought a food truck (“Holy Crepe”) but realized crepes weren’t profitable.
• Pivoted to donuts—specifically donut holes after a crisis involving a fire suppression mishap destroyed her German donut fryer. (18:20-29:33)
  • That “disaster” became a blessing: "It was a catastrophic day that made the business what it was." (29:07)
  • Unique donut holes set her apart, leading to catering weddings, major campus events, and working with Magnolia’s Chip and Joanna Gaines.
• Revenue: Up to $60K/month with 80–85% margins at peak. (37:41-37:54)

6. Lessons Learned the Hard Way

• Partnership mistake at Texas A&M stadium concessions: Didn’t have payment agreements in writing, resulting in a $40,000 loss. (34:36-36:44)
  • "Don’t have partners. Or if you do, make sure there’s an agreement clearly spelled out." (35:27)
• Advice from her father: “The biggest lessons you’ll ever learn are your most expensive ones.” (32:10)

7. Exiting & Evolving

• Sold the trailer business at ~23/24, but realized lack of proper bookkeeping meant a lower sale price. (50:01)
  • "That is an example of falling on your face—not having accurate books." (50:38)
• Advice: "Do it the honest way, in the right way" (50:01) for maximum value when selling.

8. Transition to Darlin’s Diner and Small Town Life

• Family connection brought her to Flatonia; she purchased and renovated a 7,000 sq ft historic building for $225K (+$260K reno), supported by a loan from her father. (55:41-59:10)
• Opened September 2020, coinciding with Texas reopening post-lockdown: "There was a line wrapped completely around the block." (58:46)
• First day chaos, overcame with regrouping and rapid operations improvement. (59:48-61:27)

9. Financial Operations

• Early struggles with cash flow and learning to allocate for payroll tax.
  • Outsourced bookkeeping and recommends reading “Profit First” (Mike Michalowicz) and “Profit First for Restaurants” (Casey Anton). (67:15-70:02)
• Tried software like Margin Edge, but found it better suited for multi-unit operations rather than her single location.

10. Leadership Style & Staff Culture

• Lead by example, support staff, but hold them accountable.
• "If a new employee walks in and he sees that the owner’s washing dishes, then he’s gonna wash dishes." (75:00)
• Emphasizes balancing friendliness and accountability: "Setting an example out of something that’s happened bad...otherwise staff think it’s acceptable." (76:17)
• Built a team that enjoys the work; the diner is a valued hub of the town’s social life.

11. Small Town Success: Growth, Profitability, and Community

• Last five years: best breakfast in the county year after year. (74:10)
• Owns the property; maintenance/rainy day fund needed for repairs ("historic buildings break a lot"). (80:33-81:17)
• Employs 18 people in a town of ~1,300.

12. Social Media, Branding, and Modern Marketing

• Social media is a team-building activity; leverages trends, humor, and authenticity. (88:43-91:46)
• Key insight: Make social media fun for you and your staff—authenticity translates to virality and brand engagement.
• "If you love what you’re doing, it’s going to show through the camera." (91:06)

13. Small Towns: America’s Next Big Opportunity?

• Taylor believes there’s growing opportunity in small-town America as people leave big cities for better quality of life.
• Eric: "There’s so much opportunity in these small towns where you can go and buy the building...and make a difference." (94:17-94:54)
• Taylor: "Everyone’s got to eat every day."—restaurants have power to transform towns, as a hub of community. (97:35)

14. Tactical Marketing: Harvest Host

• Harvest Host (platform for RV travelers) brings new visitors, expands word of mouth, and exemplifies innovative marketing for rural restaurants. (99:52-103:04)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Taylor on Mantra:
  "Fleetwood Mac. You can go your own way... Doing what you want to do for a career where it isn’t work anymore... We have bad days, we have hard days, but every one of them is so important." (07:46–08:58)
• Eric on Success:
  "Success is freedom. That is the most valuable thing you could have." (09:51)
• Taylor on Setbacks:
  "It was a catastrophic day that made the business what it was." [On the fryer disaster and pivot to donut holes] (29:07)
• Taylor’s Dad’s Advice:
  "The biggest lessons you’ll ever learn are your most expensive ones." (32:10)
• Taylor on Scaling:
  "Never been ready for these massive leaps within the business... Just wing it and hope for the best, prepare for the worst. And it’s worked." (33:18-33:51)
• Taylor on Selling the Business:
  "Do it the honest way, in the right way." (50:01)
• Taylor on Leadership:
  "If the owner’s washing dishes, then [the staff is] gonna wash dishes." (75:00)
• Eric on Restaurants as Anchors:
  "Restaurants are going to be the first ones to take a gamble on that space, to revitalize it, to bring life back to it, to bring community back to it. It starts with restaurants." (97:53)
• Taylor’s 3 Pieces of Wisdom: (105:42–107:00)
  1. “Love what you do… then you’re not at work at all.”
  2. “Treat everybody how you would want to be treated…empower those people.”
  3. “Go your own way. Just take a risk and do it.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introducing Taylor & Darlin's Diner: 03:28–05:37
• Business Performance and Ownership: 05:37–07:46
• Success Mantra & Philosophy: 07:46–10:19
• Food Truck Genesis & Pivot: 12:44–29:33
• Early Mistakes & Partnership Loss: 34:36–36:44
• Revenue/Margins at Food Truck Peak: 37:41–37:54
• Selling & Lessons in Bookkeeping: 50:01–51:58
• Darlin’s Diner Opening & Chaos: 58:46–61:27
• Financial Management Challenges: 64:12–70:02
• Leadership Evolution: 75:00–77:01
• Community Impact & Harvest Host: 99:05–103:04
• Taylor’s Wisdom: 105:42–107:20

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Flow & Style

The episode maintains an upbeat, candid, and relatable tone. Taylor is both self-deprecating and aspirational. Eric brings out tactical questions and pushes for real numbers, pitfalls, and wins—making it a highly actionable listen for current/prospective operators, especially those considering opportunities outside traditional big-city locations.

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Conclusion

Taylor Swinning’s story is a testament to the value of authenticity, community, learning by doing—and not being afraid to fail publicly. She models the “go your own way” mantra and demonstrates that great operations, strong branding, and care for both people and place can pave the way to sustainable success in even the smallest of towns.

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Find Taylor on Instagram: @darlinsdiner
Listen to more: restaurantunstoppable.com

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Recommended for any restaurateur dreaming big in a small market—or anyone seeking practical, honest advice on overcoming the inevitable hurdles of independent hospitality ownership.

Transcript

[Eric Cacciatore]

A couple things before we get started today. First, thank you so much for showing up week after week making my vision for restaurants Unstoppable come true. Your downloads are allowing me to do this show the way I've always wanted to do it. Boots on the ground, word of mouth, leaders, referring leaders, giving the industry an uncensored, no BS platform to share their perspectives and truth. That's on you. Thank you so much. And we're just getting started. So if you're enjoying what we're doing here and you want to help us do it even better, please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice. And if you do that, I promise to do everything in my power to continue to improve the show. I'll deliver the restaurant tours you want to hear from and we'll continue to make everything you love about this show better. Thank you. Welcome to restaurant unstoppable. For 10 years and over 1,000 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 made possible by US Foods Running a successful restaurant takes more than just great food. With US Foods, you can expect more high quality products, advanced tools and flexible deliveries to grow your business. Their industry leading moxy platform also does more than just place your US Foods order. It uses AI to help you take control, save time and increase profitability. Visit USfoods.com expect more to learn how to become a US Foods customer one more time, that is USfoods.com expect more 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 888-795-314 to get started. This episode is made possible by Restaurant Systems Pro and beginning in January 2026, Restaurant Systems Pro is going to be doing a 30 day mastery program. This is valued at $4,000 and if you head over to go.restantsystemspro.netprofits you can for a limited time get this for only 97. But there is an even better deal. If you sign up for a Restaurant Unstoppable network by heading to restaurantstoppable.com live. Get this 30 day mastery program for free when you join the community. And you also get access to this in perpetuity because they're going to be popping it off every month. Go into 2026 with all the knowledge and resources and tools you need to be unstoppable. In partnership with Restaurant Unstoppable and Restaurant Systems Pro. Again, Restaurant Unstoppable.com live. Join the community. Get access to this training with excitement.

Allow me to introduce to you today's guest owner of Darlin's Diner, Taylor Swinning. Taylor, are you feeling unstoppable today?

[Taylor Swinning]

I am so excited to be doing this today. Thank you so much.

[Eric Cacciatore]

This is the first time ever in Restaurant Unstoppable history that I've been driving down the street, pull over to a random town. I found it on Harvest Host got here last night like 6 o'. Clock. I was like, this is a cute ass town. Was walking around, walked up to Darlin's Diner when you were closed. I looked in the curb appeal. I looked and I was, that's a happening. Cool spot. No offense to Flat State. Is it Flat Station or Flat Tonia Platonia. Thank you very much. Between San Antonio and Houston. Random place would never know it's there.

[Taylor Swinning]

Halfway between each of them. And it is, it's tiny and you could miss it if you, if you just kept on driving. But we're so glad that you stopped.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. And you know, it's. I stopped in and I got breakfast this morning. Trying to support the local businesses. That's part of the deal with Harvest Host is you have a place to park and stay and in exchange you support whoever's hosting you. In this case, I feel like the town of Flatonia is hosting me. You did it right that time.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. Flatonia.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I feel like that's such like, is that right? And had breakfast this morning. You walked up and you introduced yourself and I had no idea. Like I didn't even notice those best of awards behind you on the wall. Like, and. And I was like, oh my God. I just stumbled into a great opportunity for an interview. And that was literally like not even like two hours ago. And here we are. Mics are set up. We're gonna tell your story. So I'm stoked.

[Taylor Swinning]

This is really, this is a fun one. I'm very excited. I love when we get to do or get to Even just share our story with, with anybody that comes through here and hopefully get them to come back in and eat with us again.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And real quick, before we have you share your success quote, give us a snapshot. You have three businesses, right?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So your, your primary, your, your first. Well, your first current business that you currently own is Darlin's Darling's Diner. Yeah. What else do you have?

[Taylor Swinning]

We have Solid a Soul, which is our boutique that we opened two years after opening the diner. And then one year after opening the diner, we opened up Lula's loft. It's named after my three year old daughter. And that is our catering space upstairs where we once used to live.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So, so all in. You own three businesses today you've sold a successful business. We're going to get into that and all like with, with your portfolio, what is the total revenue you're doing?

[Taylor Swinning]

Total revenue per year?

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. Or if you're more comfortable sharing percentages, that's fine too. Whatever you're comfortable with.

[Taylor Swinning]

Total revenue per year? 800.

[Eric Cacciatore]

800. And what is of that? 800. What is your percent profit?

[Taylor Swinning]

20.

[Eric Cacciatore]

20 profit. Congratulations. Thank you. I would honestly, when we first were talking and you're like, oh well, if you ever need guests, I was like, I don't know how you can do well in a small town like this. So I was like, yeah. And I want to be upfront with you. I'm like, I talk about numbers, like do you have good numbers? And not that I didn't think you did, but like, I just like to get that out into the universe before I put you on the spot. And I was really surprised not because of the work you're doing, but because of where you are in a very small town.

[Taylor Swinning]

And it is, it is concerning, I would say to, to some people and thinking that small towns maybe be more on the downside of profitability, but it's really just a smaller scale is all it is. And I, I promote, I absolutely love living in a small town. I've come from bigger cities and stuff. I wouldn't even say cities, but bigger towns. And I feel, I feel like here is where you're, you know, I'm meant to be and I think what we're doing here in this town is, is bringing so much people from outside in where this tiny little town needs that outside space of all the Houstons and.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Austin's and I'm sure that's going to come out in your story and I can't wait to get into it real quick. Percent profit. 20. What is your prime cost 50% cost?

[Taylor Swinning]

Cost of goods?

[Eric Cacciatore]

Cost of goods and labor.

[Taylor Swinning]

I think you said 50%. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And what is. How's that split up between cost of goods and labor?

[Taylor Swinning]

Cost of goods, 20 and labor, 30.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Awesome. So that's who we're talking to. Small town breakfast diner. And you would never know this town existed unless you were forced off of the track to something. Yeah, that's how I stumbled here last night. So this is totally impromptu and I'm stoked to get into it. Before we dive into more about 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?

[Taylor Swinning]

Success quote and mantra. Fleetwood Mac. You can go your own way.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You can go your own way. Get into it. Why is that? Why is that your. Oh, you're way better.

[Taylor Swinning]

Obviously I'm a huge Fleetwood Mac, huge Stevie Nicks fan, but whenever I was I owned a food truck. That was always the song that I thought, you know, to be able to inspire people to go do their own thing as opposed to even jumping into corporate world and stuff like that. Maybe it's not someone you know in the successful business or successful restaurant industry that may be saying that, but Stevie Nicks, that's my girl.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But what is. What is going your own way mean to you?

[Taylor Swinning]

Going my own way or going your own way? Doing what you want to do for a career where it isn't work anymore and you're doing what you absolutely love to do, and showing up every day to your career and it being nowhere near work, but so much fun and so wholesome. And there's not a single day that goes by we have. We have bad days, we have hard days, but every one of them is so important, you know, to have and we've enjoyed every single day here.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I. I hear going your own way. And what comes to my mind is freedom. Agency autonomy.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And that's our number one core value here at Restaurant Unstoppable is freedom. Freedom of purpose, freedom of relationships, freedom of time, freedom of money.

[Taylor Swinning]

That's everything about owning your own business, which is awesome.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And the cool thing is like, you know, it isn't going to be no work. All fun all the time.

[Taylor Swinning]

No.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But being able to have that autonomy.

[Taylor Swinning]

That.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, agency to choose to do. To choose to do what calls to you. If you have the right, why you can deal with any how right. And that is so powerful. It pulls you.

[Taylor Swinning]

It almost takes our bad days and makes them like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe that happened. And I can't believe we made it through that. And I can believe it because we've put the work in and. But the work really isn't work to us. I say us, you know, but really me at all. I really enjoy every single ounce of this.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And when we say, like, what is success? I think that is. Success is freedom.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That is the most valuable thing you could have.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's more than just the money for me. It is. It is absolutely the freedom to be. To do what I want to do on. On days that I'm not here, you know, to. With my family. It's also the freedom to get to visit with all these wonderful people that come in here and learn about other people's stories. It's a big deal to me.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you can go your own way.

[Taylor Swinning]

Go your own way.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I love it. Great way to get this thing started. So where does it make sense to start sharing your story?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I mean, really at the beginning. It's kind of a whirlwind. And it all happened so fast, I guess within the last six, seven years. I'm still young. I'm 29 years old. And it all started back when I was 18. I went to Texas A and M for construction science, and I was a freshman up in College Station and did a first year doing that. Started working.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You're 18 when you were. Okay, that makes sense.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I don't know why I was thinking.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. And then, you know, did the stuff where you, you know, got the job in the. The construction industry, and I. They put me in sales because I'm a girl. And I was like, this is horrible.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I think you do amazing at sales, though. You're so personal.

[Taylor Swinning]

I'm pretty good at sales, but selling tile was just like, not where I wanted to, you know, start a career path.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I want to, like, what was the thing that, like, got you into construction?

[Taylor Swinning]

My parents always built our. Their own houses growing up, and they build them for friends, and they're really good at it, and they're good at remodels and all that kind of stuff. My dad and I remodeled this entire building ourselves, definitely.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And you are talented.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. So I thought that was kind of the field. You know, I grew up in that field. I knew that, you know, I was. I was good at it. I could be good at it. And then when I got into it, I was like, man, this just isn't for me.

[Eric Cacciatore]

What wasn't for you?

[Taylor Swinning]

It just what I was selling I wasn't in love with.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So the sales wasn't for you?

[Taylor Swinning]

It's not even just sales, I guess just like construction. I mean, they made, they put me in this hard hat and I was like, I don't look cute in this thing. I mean, I don't know, just everything about it wasn't screaming like I could be passionate about this, you know, Even though I do love remodeling and building and that sort of stuff. Because we did that here.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Well, I mean, the cool thing about the hospitality restaurant industry is that it encompasses so much.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It's not just food and beverage service.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It's design. It is owning property and building out that.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's branding. And that's where I, I really wanted to be. Branding is like so important to me and creating this, this personality and something that you create and that's what I wanted to do here and let alone with even the food truck as well too. So.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, so let's go back to that. So you, you are growing into your womanhood. You're becoming more self aware. Your frontal lobe starting to round off.

[Taylor Swinning]

Barely.

[Eric Cacciatore]

At that point you're figuring out what you want. Yeah. When did you have the idea for the food truck?

[Taylor Swinning]

So it was my sophomore year and I remember my, I think it was my mom who had texted me a picture of this food truck that was for sale in New Braunfels, which is where I'm from.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Texas.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yep, New Braunfels, Texas. And it was by an old owner that I, I used to work for. I used to work in high school for this little boutique where we sold clothes and just cute stuff. It was awesome. Home decor, that kind of thing. And the, the owner of the town. Green. Green, Texas. Tiny little town. Yep, that's where I'm from.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Such a cool town. Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

Worked there my entire high school.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oldest line dancing bar.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oldest bar in Texas.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Bar in Texas.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, that's Green Hall. Yeah. Spent a lot of time there in high school, you know, growing up, really my whole childhood. And the lady that I was working for, she was selling this food truck. The owner of the town wouldn't let her sell food off of the property. So we, you know, my mom text.

[Eric Cacciatore]

The owner of the town.

[Taylor Swinning]

There's one owner of the town.

[Eric Cacciatore]

The person owns the town.

[Taylor Swinning]

There's one person that owns the town.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That's interesting.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, he's recently passed, but. But yeah, there's one person that owned the town.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Interesting. Yeah, but this person wouldn't let, wouldn't.

[Taylor Swinning]

Let the owner of the boutique Sell food off of. Off of that property. That owner of that town owned all of the buildings. So everyone that was in them was renting them.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But Green is in the greater New Braunfels.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, it's like a historic district of New Braunfels.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So it's this property that this person owned. Owned in New Braunfels that was. It's called Green.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, got it. Yep. That historical district area is what. But they. The girl, you know, she put it. Put up for sale. It was called, it was called Holy crepe.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay.

[Taylor Swinning]

And she put it up on Facebook, Marketplace. And my mom sent me a picture of it and I was like, that's so cool. And I remember I was at my. At the time I was at my boyfriend's fraternity house and she had sent me a picture of it and I stepped outside and I just stared at it and I was like, this could be so cool. And I don't know what it was, but I was like, I've got to do this. I mean, whatever it takes. Like this looks fun. This looks like me. This looks like something that I can do and I could have fun with and I can learn and grow and hopefully one day do something like what I'm doing right now.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And you're 19. Did you finish your career, major in construction?

[Taylor Swinning]

Construction science.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you stuck with it even though it wasn't really.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, yeah. I. If I. If I knew that I was going to be doing. Going my own way, you know, doing my own thing. Degree is just a degree and so I wasn't going to spend extra time in college whenever I could get out, you know, as fast as possible. I graduated within the four years and was out as. As soon as I could be. Won't say my GPA was very high, but there's reasons to. To why that happened.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Did we mention it was Texas A and M? Texas A. I mean you're. It's not an easy school to get into.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's not. It's not. My first year, my freshman year I went to Blinn, which is kind of like their like prep school. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's like the community college that's like in the town, you know, adjacent to it. And a lot of people go there to do their basics and then they get in, transfer in. And that's what I did cuz I didn't get in automatically.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you get this, this. It's trailer.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's a trailer. Yeah, yeah. It's a 8 by 5, 8 foot by 5 foot. This thing is Tiny, tiny, tiny. Okay, we get it in. And originally I'm thinking crepes. It's called holy crepe. I thought, how cool is that? And then I. You know, they've got these crepe. You know what crepes are?

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

Okay. It's like, I might be wrong. I wouldn't say this, but like a French pancake or whatever, it's really thin, and it's all about the inside.

[Eric Cacciatore]

They roll them up, though, right?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, they kind of roll them up or put them into, like, a little triangle. Some of them have, like, meats and cheeses, and some have, like, fruit, fruits and stuff. But whenever we're making it, I was like, this is so expensive to make. Why am.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Why was it expensive?

[Taylor Swinning]

Meats, cheeses, and all the fruits and everything that went inside of it. It cost astronomical for what a food truck item should cost. And to me, I was like, this doesn't necessarily seem profitable. When we ran numbers, we were like, I don't know about this.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So how long had you had owned it before you started coming to this realization?

[Taylor Swinning]

A week.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay. So the first week, you realize this isn't a good business.

[Taylor Swinning]

I never even. Yeah, I never even went out publicly with it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Did you have, like, business acumen? Like, did you have a mentor, or is this just instinct?

[Taylor Swinning]

So my dad. My parents have always owned their own businesses. Their parents have owned their own businesses. I think it's almost, like, ingrained in my soul a little bit.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But in your own way.

[Taylor Swinning]

In my. Yeah, I just think it's a little bit. I think it's ingrained. Yeah. But it was definitely an instinct of, like, this just. This doesn't feel right. Also, it wasn't something that I created, you know, and it was really big. And I would have a lot more pride in something that I created from the ground up, as opposed to taking someone else's idea and rolling with it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. So what were your biggest challenges getting started? Like, where'd you get the money to buy this thing? Where you put money away?

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no, no, I did. I took out a personal loan with my dad.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How much do you need?

[Taylor Swinning]

100,000.

[Eric Cacciatore]

He co signed 100,000 needed for a trailer.

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, that was all the ingredients. We had to. We had to prefab a. A fire suppression system onto this trailer. So this trailer, because it wasn't frying anything. Okay. But back. Back up a little bit. When we were thinking, what can we do that's not crepes, but can be something similar and cheaper. Donuts. You know, it's like, why would we not sell donuts?

[Eric Cacciatore]

So when you made the decision to not do crepes, it was one week after, had you already purchased it or.

[Taylor Swinning]

Already purchased the trailer? And we were just, like, in the driveway practicing making crepes.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay, so you're gonna do crepes and donuts?

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no. It was supposed to be holy crepe. And we're like this. They're. They're not cute. They're not. This just. This is someone else's idea. It's not even mine. It's not necessarily very profitable. Like, there was just, like, a bunch of things lining up that it just wasn't.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It.

[Taylor Swinning]

You know, it wasn't clicking.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You came to this realization after you had purchased it. So how did you know that you were going to need fire suppression?

[Taylor Swinning]

Okay. Yeah. So we went and. We went and put in. We're like, okay, what are we going to. You know, what am I going to sell? And. Because whatever. It's coming out of this trailer, and it doesn't matter what I'm selling, as long as, one, it is profitable, two, it's cute, and three, it's just, like, branded around myself and what I can do with it and donuts is what it came out to. So we went and we got the trailer. My mom helped me, like, build the logo, and it's called Donut Darling, and that's when we started that. So when we went and took the trailer and got it rewrapped with our new logo and all this stuff, you know, we pulled out the hot plates, sold them on Facebook marketplace, and put in this very expensive fryer that made mini donuts with the hole in the middle. And the funny story about this was it came from Germany and this, like, wooden crate, when we ordered it, and, like, all of the instructions were written in German on how to use this thing. And when we opened up, we put it in there. You literally put donut mix into a hopper, and it, like, you know, pushed out all these mini donuts, and they would float down this little line. They would flip it, and then it'd float down, and it'd pop them into.

[Eric Cacciatore]

All in the. The trailer.

[Taylor Swinning]

All in the trailer.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oh, wow.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, it was. It was small. It had. It was probably about yay big.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay. So you're traveling with this thing. You. You knew. I think it's smart that you got 100. Like, how much of the trailer with. Before doing anyone? 20,000. So you knew that you needed operational capital. I think that's where a lot of people go wrong when they're just getting started. They see, oh, I need to buy that. You know, what's the rent or what's like what do I have to, you know, put what money down do I need? And they don't think about the Runway thereafter.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Of what else they might need to get.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, there's so much more than just like the asset itself.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So are you thinking that like you just are going to. How much can I get? Like what's a reasonable loan? $100,000. That.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. Yeah. So when we totaled it all up. Well, towards the end. So I didn't necessarily have to. Between my, you know, my dad and I's agreement, I didn't necessarily have to pay it back until we knew what the total cost was going to be before I started operating. So he was really helpful in that. And I'm so blessed to have that kind of like support.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

You know, and that's not necessarily offered to everybody in the world.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So there's this weird stigma around privilege.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And it's like privilege is a beautiful thing. I think what when you have privilege and you choose not to use it, that's more of a shame than actually leveraging your privilege and using your privilege to create something and create opportunity for other ripples out.

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[Taylor Swinning]

And, and it wasn't a give me there's interest. I mean, I mean my dad is one of the most amazing people, one of my hugest inspirations and in my life and. But you know he's gonna do exactly what, what the bank would do.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right.

[Taylor Swinning]

And you know, he looks at my credit and he looks at all these things and says like really what? He helps me with is not being able to. Not having to put down that down payment, you know, but, but to be able to pay it back. And there's a really cool story with it is kind of fast forward six months into the business. I paid him back a hundred thousand dollars in $1 bills.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Six months in $1 bills. Was that all cash that you pulled.

[Taylor Swinning]

In for the business? I had to go to like six different banks.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That gets wild.

[Taylor Swinning]

$100,000 in one 19 years old.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That is awesome. So what were your biggest, like, challenges? What was the biggest hurdle in that first six months?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I have it. It is crazy. We just, I just posted this story on my social media because it's, it's such a funny one. And looking back, it's like if, if this did not at the time, it was catastrophic, but if it did not happen, it wouldn't have launched us to where we were. So that fryer was $4,500 from Germany. This thing was expensive. The entire business was riding on this fryer. We hook it up. I hook it up to my personal, you know, Jeep Grand Cherokee is what I started pulling this thing with. And so cute. It was, it was adorable. I can't wait to, I hope you like, post pictures of it because this thing was the coolest thing in the whole world. So we, you know, I'm doing donuts. Then you go to the city and you try to get the permit and they're like, yo, you need a fire suppression system. I'm like, what's that? Okay, So I start looking at it. Then I go to a prefab place who can put a fire suppression and really cram it into this tiny, tiny trailer. And they did it. Made it, you know, made it look the way it should. They did it. Right. So then I go to, back to the city of College Station. I'm like, yo, I need my permit because I've got, I've. I already have an event booked and I'm going to this event. So I'm getting this permit. And they said, okay, we just gotta discharge the fire suppression system in front of a fire marshal in order for you to receive your permit. And I remember I skipped a final to go and do this test, which.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Tells us where your priority is.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, no, absolutely. I skipped a final to go get my permit. And this, this fire marshal shows up. Well, the company who had installed the fire suppression system, I guess typically they're supposed to install a empty tank of ansel. That's, that's the green goo that puts out grease fires. They're supposed to install an empty tank for the test. They installed a full tank and didn't screw it on tightly because they thought, well, for the test, we're not going to screw this on completely tight, you know, unless you need to put an empty tank in to test. So there was a huge miscommunication. And I'm standing there outside the trailer, and. And this. The fire marshal goes in, clicks the system, and it explodes. And I'm not telling you, I'm. It didn't just, like, spray ansel all over every square inch. It shot 20ft into the air and covered like. Like, almost half a parking lot of ansel grease and ansel.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oh, my God. Keep going. Sorry.

[Taylor Swinning]

It flood. It flooded the fryer. Oh, it flooded the 4,500 fryer. It took out every doily. That's what we would serve these on. And that's kind of where we got the Darlin Steiner logo from. It's kind of part of the brand itself, but flooded the doilies, the. The donut mix, the coffee cups, the. The coffee makers, you know, all in.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How bad. What did it cost to get?

[Taylor Swinning]

I don't know, 10.

[Eric Cacciatore]

10,000?

[Taylor Swinning]

10,000? Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Did you have to replace anything?

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, okay. Well, so I'm like, yo, I've got an event tomorrow. I'm freaking out.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I'm in tears, needless to say. You did not make your event, did you?

[Taylor Swinning]

No, I did.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Wow.

[Taylor Swinning]

Okay, ready? Okay. So this is what made us donut, darlin'. And I was crying. I was freaking out. I wanted an apology from the entire fire department of College Station. It was the fire marshal came out to my house to apologize to me, you know, in person. And I felt so bad, and I felt bad for him because he didn't know. I didn't know. I'm obviously 19 years old, and I can't control my emotions, and so I am just mad.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

And so I'm crying to the city, and I'm like, how am I gonna do my event? They're like, we'll give you a temporary permit to do this event. You need to have these extinguishers, you know, and you can get them at Walmart.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Where do you get like. So you had the extinguishers. You didn't have the fire depression. You didn't get that result?

[Taylor Swinning]

I didn't get the fire suppression system resolved in time, obviously, but I had a K extinguisher, which is. Which is also another one you have to have for grease fires.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

And then you have, obviously, the amount abc, which is the, the red one. So we, the Walmart was a 24 hour Walmart. And we went and I'm like, how am I gonna make donuts for this event tomorrow? And I start looking in like the cooking aisle and there's this, there's these hot skillets and they're about 2 inches deep and they run off of 110 outlets. And I went and I got an ice cream scoop, a little 2 ounce ice cream scoop scoop. And we made donut holes. And from then on out we were a donut hole company. And what's so crazy about this is those fryers or really skillets, like skillet fryers, they cost $25. Whereas if I needed to go replace one, one burnt out or you know, one got messed up or something, I could replace it for 25 bucks. As opposed to a $4,500 machine that took three weeks to come in from Germany.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I'm looking at photos now. I'm trying to find. So you, you spent $4,500 on a donut machine. You canned that?

[Taylor Swinning]

Canned it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And then you became a donut hole.

[Taylor Swinning]

Canned it within 12 hours.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Wow. And I think that's what's cool about this is operationally less expensive and it's more niche where. How many donuts companies?

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, whenever you look out and you see these mini donut companies and everyone's using this little mini fryer that, that does the mini donuts for with a hole in the middle and then you set yourself apart to where you're doing donut holes. It doesn't necessarily seem from the outside world like that's not that big a deal, but it was because it launched us into weddings where we were making these huge towers of donut holes.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I'm looking at some of these towers now.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, it was, it set us apart drastically to where people knew what donut Darling was. And it was a catastrophic day that made the business what it was. So.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, that's so really cool. And I mean just like unique selling proposition. Like how for like every 100 donut company there might be one donut hole company.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, honestly, it's the first time I've heard of a donut hole company.

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, it wasn't meant to be that way, but it ended up that way, so.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But like, like a blessing in disguise.

[Taylor Swinning]

It was a blessing in disguise.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, that's so cool. Operational cost down. Unique selling proposition. Blue ocean effect immediately. So cute.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I know. These donuts are so fun. We did. So our best selling one was like Our mimosa donut. And what it was was like an orange infused donut hole with like a cream cheese icing on top and we put champagne in the icing itself and it was so good and it was like refreshing. Even though donut, you would never think of like a refreshing donut, but it was, and it was like our best seller. It was so much, it was so cool.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And then.

[Taylor Swinning]

Who was your target market at that time? It was. Well, when I first got started, I thought, you know, let's, let's go do these, these festivals and these events and that sort of thing. I never wanted to just set up on the side of the road and just sell to anybody that walked up. That didn't necessarily seem like a good use of my time.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, was there a type of event you were looking for? Like, was there a market that you were chasing at these events?

[Taylor Swinning]

Just weddings, birthdays. Well, private events would be weddings and birthdays, things along those lines. I, I got into a sorority at A and M and then we were doing bigger things. It was sorority and fraternity parties. It was huge philanthropy fundraisers. It was started getting into things for Texas A and M themselves, like for the school. And then it launched us into Chip and Joanna Gaines and we were up in Waco doing Magnolia silos events and we got invited.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How long did it take you to get into that circle?

[Taylor Swinning]

A year.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And who is Chip and Joanna?

[Taylor Swinning]

Chip and Joanna Gaines. They, they pretty much own Magnolia Network on Massive entrepreneurs. Massive, massive entrepreneurs. And they started with Fixer Upper, which was on, I guess what, not the home network or what they started on.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Was it travel or hng?

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Hgtv. Yeah, yeah. That's where they started with Fixer Upper and then they kind of got their own network off of it. They pretty much made Waco theirs and then, I mean, other than Baylor, you know, university. But they, they're huge, huge people in, in Waco area.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So in the country.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, everyone was. Yeah, yeah. And so then I got to know her personally.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That was after a year after year.

I want to get into that and how. I mean, I'm sure she kind of influenced and coached and maybe I don't make assumptions, but in that first six months you shared this story, this challenge, how it ended up being a blessing in disguise. What were the biggest struggles thereafter for you as a first time entrepreneur in the first six months?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I mean really just kind of learning, learning business itself and, and a lot of people, you know, say you could go to school for these things and learn these things, but I really don't think you can. Like.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And.

[Taylor Swinning]

And maybe I'm wrong in that, but I really think that learning with experience is pretty much the best way to do it. And my dad always said something that pretty stuck pretty well with me. And he always said that, you know, you're. The biggest lessons you'll ever learn are your most expensive ones.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

And it's been true to this day that that quote, best way to learn.

[Eric Cacciatore]

A lesson is to fall on your face.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes. Fall on your face. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Don't do that again.

[Taylor Swinning]

I know we've had quite a few of those and pretty thankful for each one of them.

[Eric Cacciatore]

What are some of the biggest face plants you've had in the first year before meeting.

[Taylor Swinning]

I would say that one in itself, another one being. Okay. So I got in to Texas A M, invited us to be a part of the. To have concession stands inside the stadium, which was huge. I never thought I would make it that big. I was like, yo, this is crazy. We're about to have concession stands inside the stadium.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You're 19 years old.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. I'm freaking out.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I think everyone listening to this is.

Pause for a second.

[Taylor Swinning]

I met. I think might have been 20 at that point. I. I don't know. I'd have to.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You're an old lady. Never mind.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, yeah. And. And I just couldn't believe it. And it was. It was going to scale us drastically. And I wasn't ready for it. Never have been ready for these people. Big massive leaps within the business or within my journey of owning a business. I'm never necessarily ready for the leap, but I take it anyway. And I'm gonna learn along the way. And just like wing it. Pretty much just wing it. And just like, hope for the best, prepare for the worst. And it's. It's worked out every single time. And I don't know why, but it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Just go and suck a little less every day.

[Taylor Swinning]

Suck a little less.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Go.

[Taylor Swinning]

Don't make excuses. Just do it. Wake up and work. But I got in to Texas A and M University's concession stands, and we had two of them inside the stadium. One of them was a trailer position outside where we. We would park the trailer during games. And what they had is their Pepsi fan zone. And basically it was just like where the band came in. Everyone's hooping and hollering, and we're right there selling donuts, like, smack dab. The line's like 100 people along. And then I had a third. I had a third one inside and this one was a partnership. Don't necessarily want to say like who.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But not to mention just. Just the lesson learned from.

[Taylor Swinning]

Lesson learned. This is. This is my first partnership and my last. And I've never been one for partnerships I thought might take a little risk, try, see what happens. But basically, for that concession in itself, we did kind of collab. A collab of both of our businesses to make one, you know, dish. That was pretty cool. It was. It was really cool what we were selling. But he was the one getting the checks from the school. The school. And I never got a check. Oh, yeah. So lots of inventory. I was the one who did all the payroll. I paid all the employees. So it was kind of a double loss. I paid all the staff as well as.

[Eric Cacciatore]

What was the lesson here?

[Taylor Swinning]

Don't have partners.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Or if you do, make sure that there's an agreement clearly spelled out that you do your due diligence to put things on paper.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, there needs to be things on paper because I, you know, me being so young, too, maybe I'm just like. I was naive of it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

You know, just trusting of. Of. Of people. And my husband's always told me that I. I trust too much in people, and I'm.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Well, I think trust is important.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right. Trust is. There's, like. There's a book out there, the Speed of Trust by the son of Stephen R. Covey. Stephen. Or maybe I don't know which one of them. They're both Stephen. Yeah, both Covey. I can't remember which one as they are, but his son, the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, wrote the Speed of Trust. And I think trust is super important because things happen fast when you have trust.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But you. You still have to protect yourself.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I never did that. Yeah. And I guess part of my way of doing what I've done is pretty much just. Just go for it and either, you know, thrive in the successes or. Or, you know, fumble underneath, you know, a huge mistake and just live the consequences, whether they're good or bad. Yeah, that one. That one was rough, but we're here.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How much of a hit was it for?

[Taylor Swinning]

It was a huge hit.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, can you share a number?

[Taylor Swinning]

40, 000.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Wow.

Wow.

And how long did this partnership last?

[Taylor Swinning]

One season. One football season.

[Eric Cacciatore]

One football season.

That's.

That's a. That's a hit.

[Taylor Swinning]

But for 20 years old, that was it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. You mentioned that you paid your dad off in the first six months. A hundred thousand dollars of singles a stack.

[Taylor Swinning]

I put it in A briefcase for Christmas.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That's cool.

[Taylor Swinning]

It was crazy.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Were you paying yourself, like. Or was that $100,000 worth of profit.

[Taylor Swinning]

At that time? I ne. I never necessarily wrote myself a check or anything.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Well, you were living at school. You didn't have any liabilities?

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no, no, I've been. But I had my car payment and stuff like that, so I'm sure there was a ton of. Of expenses that, like, you know, just personal expenses that came just straight off the top. But whenever I was able to count and. And I had it all.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How much kind of. What kind of revenue were you doing? Like, monthly revenue?

[Taylor Swinning]

Anywhere from 60,000, 60,000amonth.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And you're selling dough donuts?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes.

[Eric Cacciatore]

What was your. What were your margins on that?

[Taylor Swinning]

I have to know. In insane. They were sitting at, like, 80, 85%.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Profit on donuts and who.

[Taylor Swinning]

So if you want to open up a profitable business, get into donuts.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, it might not be the healthiest thing. There's trends moving away from people eating up tons of donuts. But, yeah, there is money in it.

[Taylor Swinning]

There's money in it, and it's. It was money in the events. You know, the. The festivals were something that. That got our name out there. That was more of like, hey, look at us.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Kind of a perfect storm, because you had this. These connections as a student. You know, it looks good on Texas A and M. Hey, look at us. Our students are, like, successful. Like, come here.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, there was that one time, you know, it got big enough. I think this was my. Maybe my junior senior year. And they called. You know, the university had called and said, hey, we want to do this. This entrepreneurial seminar. And I was like. They said, do you want to speak at it? And I said, of course. Like, you know, how many people? And they're like, I don't know. Sometimes we have anywhere from, like, I thought it was gonna be the size of a class, you know, and some. The classes I was in at construction, you know, in the construction science department. I mean, our classes were like, 30, 40 people. And I was like, easily easy. I can come speak at that for sure. And I'm hungover. And I show up.

[Eric Cacciatore]

The symposium. Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

I show up, and I look at the auditorium, and I'm like, no.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So where's my little breakoff session?

[Taylor Swinning]

300 people showed up to listen to me speak about entrepreneurship and. And starting a business and. And how to learn from my mistakes as well as give me some of their ideas, and pretty much asked my opinion on it, which I don't think I was qualified to give my opinion on anybody's ideas. But it was so interesting and so rewarding to know that people were inspired by what we had created there.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So that's so cool. So you're in. Are things scale how many years total were you with?

[Taylor Swinning]

Four.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Four years?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You're in. You're killing it. You meet. I don't know, what was this a mentor of yours? Would you call Joanna mentor?

[Taylor Swinning]

No.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay.

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no, no, no. She's busy.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

No, I, I would say the only mentor I've had in my life would be my dad.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, he's. He's just really good at business and he's pretty down to earth person when it comes to. To business and learning from mistakes and stuff. And I really take his word for pretty much anything that he's ever done, I would say. I mean, I call him a dad. He's not my mentor, he's my dad. But if I had to choose one in my life, it'd be him for sure.

[Eric Cacciatore]

What were the biggest lessons he taught you up to this point in your career? Not this point being today, but up to this point in your story that we're sharing?

[Taylor Swinning]

I mean, just doing things honestly and doing things with more purpose than the money themselves. And really, I mean, that, that quote that he always said that stuck with me was, you know, most expensive lessons are the ones you'll remember and you'll learn from, but doing things right the first time, as opposed to spending, you know, shit, tons of money to replace and fix and this and that. My parents have always done things very right the first time and it saved them a lot of money in the long run. And I think that's pretty important.

[Eric Cacciatore]

What's that quote? If you can't afford to do it right the first time, what makes you think you'll be able to afford to do it a second?

[Taylor Swinning]

That's pretty much it. Never heard that, but that's exactly right.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So how so about a year in you. You, I mean, you're discovered by Joanne. What's his name again?

[Taylor Swinning]

Chip.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Chips Gaines. What was that relationship like if it wasn't mentor Mentee, what was it?

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no, it was more so they would invite us up to do kind of like their, their festivals. And then towards the end of it, they asked us to be inside their. So in Waco, they have kind of like the magnolia silos and it's kind of this hub of a spot that they've created in this town, and it's around these silos and there's shopping and there's this kind of like massive food court with a bunch of fun games and stuff in the middle. And, and they invited us to be.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, a vendor.

[Taylor Swinning]

Not just a vendor, but like a, like stuck in there like a full time vendor.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay.

So like a, like a brick and mortar almost, but like a permanent spot.

[Taylor Swinning]

Permanent spot with still a trailer. It's still a trailer, yeah. Because there was probably five or six of them around the whole courtyard. And this courtyard's massive. This thing's big. I thought about it wasn't necessarily a huge fan of Waco itself. I don't know, it just didn't feel like me. And I also didn't want to coattail off of somebody.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. It's a good two and a half hour drive from New.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I just didn't want, I mean, that was her success. I, I didn't want my success to be writing off of someone else's. Right, so.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But you did it.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, I just did her events.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oh.

[Taylor Swinning]

They invited us to be there permanently.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Got it.

[Taylor Swinning]

Got it. And we, I, I said it. Love the idea, but different direction.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So four years. Take me to like a point of evolution for you, like at the next point of evolution. Evolution where you take it up a notch.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. So it was. We had just got invited to be a part of Formula one and that was a super fun event. Not necessarily the most profitable. They definitely take a huge chunk off the top. But something that I was said, you know, this will be an experience that, like, I have got to do. Whether it's, whether we make a ton of money or not. I think this would just be the coolest experience in the world. And we're gonna get to meet people not necessarily just from Texas or just from the surrounding areas or surrounding states. It would be like around the entire world. And we did and we went and it was loud and it was so fun. And I had a huge crew of staff that was, we were just cranking donuts for like year.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How far into the the operation was?

[Taylor Swinning]

That was my last year. That was. Yeah. So 20. Gosh. 20. 19.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So now you're like an old lady.

[Taylor Swinning]

I'm an old lady. I'm a senior in high school or a senior in college.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I'm sorry, you're still going to school.

While running a business. That is nuts. You're scaling the business.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. What's funny is I, I, my mom had mentioned, she goes, you know, you're doing all this business stuff. You should tack on a business minor.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Or like, you know, like Some type of, like, entrepreneurial thing.

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, so I tried it. I, you know, applied, you know, I got into some business minor classes, and then I failed because I didn't go because I was busy running the trailer, so.

[Eric Cacciatore]

School of hard knocks.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. So I ended up taking one class in construction science. I took it three separate times, three separate semesters. And I remember the dean. Not that. Not necessarily the dean, but like the president of our school, because the dean was over architecture and construction science and there was quite a few. A couple engineering programs in there as well, too. But the, you know, the president of construction science was like, Taylor, knock it off with this donut stuff. Like, go to. Go to class. Go get a real job. All of these things. And I remember just crying in her office because she was telling, like, just doubting me and all these things. And at the time, I was so hurt. I was like, how could she say that to me?

[Eric Cacciatore]

How much money were you making at this point?

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, man.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Was this conversation as a senior.

[Taylor Swinning]

Conversation was as. No, it was as a. As a junior, because there was quite. She was really upset with me for failing a class twice.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I mean, I'm surprised, honestly. What's going through my mind is like, why are you wasting your time and money in school when you found something you love, you're successful?

[Taylor Swinning]

My parents told me, I will go to school for four years.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. So it was a backup plan. Well, it wasn't.

[Taylor Swinning]

It sounds like school is a backup plan. But I will say, I have spoke to my parents, you know, since then, and they're like, you know, my daughter. I have a daughter now and a son. You know, are they gonna go off to college? You gonna send them to A and M? And it's like, at this point, I don't even know if college is gonna be a thing.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, the world's changing. In your parents defense.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That is what you did. That's. That was the path to success.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But the world has changed a lot.

[Taylor Swinning]

It has just even the last few years. And I totally understand college for, you know, things that need degrees, but, you know, I think it's freshman year that I realized that, like, I ain't working for nobody.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. You want to be a doctor? Go get a degree.

[Taylor Swinning]

Go get a degree. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Before you kill somebody.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. But I. I was. It just wasn't. It wasn't for me, but I stuck it out, you know, I had to. But. And I loved it. I loved college. College was like a fun experience, too.

[Eric Cacciatore]

What was your best year operationally with this concept?

[Taylor Swinning]

The last year we were, we were just getting. The last year I had about a year and a half of booked out events, of private events. So. And at that point I was like, man, I'm living in hotels. I barely got out of college with a. I remember it was the, the week before I graduated, I got the email from the school that said, if you don't get your GPA up, like, you're getting kicked out. And it was like I graduated with a 2.04.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I mean, I, I had a 1.18 my freshman year of college. I was able to turn it around to a 3.2 by the time I graduated.

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, it's just so funny because my husband, he's like this, he's so smart and you know, he graduated with like, if it wasn't a 3.9, it was a 4.0. But I, I guess my, my focus was just elsewhere. But after I did graduate, I ended up doing the, you know, donut truck for one year and decided that it was scaled up enough to where I was either going to have to franchise it out and sell the business model itself, which was an idea. It's something I put a lot of thought into. Another option would have been to just get more trailers. But then I thought, downside of that is having girls pulling trailers all over Texas. And that scared me tremendously as far as insurance purposes. I was like, this is, that's too much. Just too much risk involved for, for what it was. The third one was to open up a brick and mortar and it would have been like a drive through donut coffee shop kind of thing, like on the corner of Wellborn and University, like, which was like a top notch corner in College Station, which was going to be expensive. It's going to be up front, drastically expensive. And the fourth option was to sell. And I was living in hotels all across Texas and I was ready to settle down somewhere and so I decided to sell.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you could have settled if you chose the path of brick and mortar. But what was scary about that, what.

[Taylor Swinning]

Was scary about it was the cost of property in College Station itself, with it being literally smack dab next to the university. I mean, you're paying top dollar.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Talking about rent.

[Taylor Swinning]

No, because I wouldn't rent. I was looking at purchasing a corner.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. Which is smart. I mean, own the asset, right?

[Taylor Swinning]

I'm very big on owning the asset. I think if you're going to be paying towards something, make sure you're paying it towards yourself as opposed to throwing it, not necessarily throwing it out the window. I definitely don't disagree with anyone who is renting. I just think there, there needs to be some sort of payoff at the end of it, you know.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So at this point, when you're starting to try to figure out what your options are, how many total trailers do you have?

[Taylor Swinning]

One. That's it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

One trailer. How many people are working for you?

[Taylor Swinning]

There was like, well, when we were in the concessions, there was over 40.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay. And what were your annual revenues?

[Taylor Swinning]

We're doing 200 a year.

[Eric Cacciatore]

200 a year with 80% profit.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you're making $160,000 as a 24 year old with, you know, low liability, low overhead business.

[Taylor Swinning]

It was so low that it was almost funny. Like.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And what was it valued at? Like, how did you figure out how to sell it? The cost of selling it?

[Taylor Swinning]

So I, I will say it was a very big cash business. I sold it for less than it was worth.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Was there.

Did you realize that in hindsight or.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So what would you have done differently? Going, knowing what you know now, how would you have gotten maximum return on that?

[Taylor Swinning]

Do it the honest way, in the right way.

[Eric Cacciatore]

What way did you do it?

[Taylor Swinning]

Sometimes, you know, if you're selling a donut and it's. They're giving you $5.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

For donuts. Thing of donuts. Sometimes it didn't go in the register. So there's a lot of things that you can do and a lot of things that you have the ability to do as a business owner and a lot of things that you can, you know. Do you want the cash now or do you want the return on the investment?

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you were struggling proving the value.

[Taylor Swinning]

I was struggling to prove the value.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Because you weren't you, you fell on your face.

[Taylor Swinning]

I was hiding.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oh, well, I mean, that is kind of a lesson though. Like. Yeah, one of these. That is an example of falling. Your face is not having accurate books.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I didn't have accurate books because.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How do you prove the value of something?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, very true.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So that's a very hard lesson to learn.

[Taylor Swinning]

I didn't have accurate books with when I sold it. And so I was. I sold it for a hundred thousand. Lesson learned.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you could have done differently, you would have been better about tracking having accountants and treating it like.

[Taylor Swinning]

Absolutely, yeah. I was also in college and just blowing it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, right.

[Taylor Swinning]

I was having a ball. I was having a ball.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, you're young. When you're in your 20s, like the average female, her frontal lobe doesn't round off until like 25 years old. And for those wondering, what the hell does that mean? Like, the frontal lobe is where your executive lives. It's where the person that like overrides the.

[Taylor Swinning]

I don't even know if she's there. I don't know if she's there at this point.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But like, it's like where we have forethought and planning and we can control our emotions and we can choose to do the hard thing. Like that thing doesn't really start to round off until later for men. It's like 29, you know, like, it's like so, like you're still young. Yeah. You're still young at this point. You're successful and you don't learn these things until later. Like less through living.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, yeah. And so I, I sold it for less than what it was worth, for sure.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But still 24, 23 years old, graduating college, not in debt, but, you know, $100,000 of money that you earned. Like, how many 23, 24 year olds can say that?

[Taylor Swinning]

I don't know.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Not many.

[Taylor Swinning]

I hope there can be because I just, I want that for everyone. And I think it just, it just takes like a lot of, just like excitement for risk and, and just like a drive of, of absolutely Failure, like, is not an option.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right, right. But the cool thing about starting at 18, 17 years old is you can fall on your face repetitively.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And mom and dad are going to be there for, not for everyone, but for a lot of people. Like the time to fail is when you're young.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. And I did have supportive parents, you know, and I still do. They're still, still like, you know, able to give advice and stuff like that whenever I'm, I'm struggling with something, business or personal, whatever. But a lot of the lessons, you know, is like my dad would even ask me, so what are you going to do? And it's like, let me remember, this is my problem and my business and my thing, you know, so just like keep pushing forward on it. So.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. So you sell the business. What year is this?

[Taylor Swinning]

20. End of 2019.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay. What's going on in your life? Where are you in your life at this point?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I was. Kind of overlapped a little bit. I knew I was gonna sell and I had already sold the business, but I was in a contract with the lady that I owner financed the business to. I owner finance to a woman who was going to take the trailer down to like Corpus or South Padre island area, which is South Texas on the coast. And I had like two months of events with her to show her, you know, the ins and outs, you know, a good, you know, transition from ownership. So I was helping her do that. Meanwhile, you know, I guess after the fact, my parents before then had. Had said, like, hey, come look at this. This building down here. This is when I knew I was going to sell.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So your parents were now living in flat.

[Taylor Swinning]

They were. They were living in. In like Lockhart area, which is right outside of Austin. And they were looking around all these tiny towns in this area, looking to open up a. Because they were pretty much semi retired at that point. So my mom always wanted to own a. A wedding venue. And so they were looking at all these historic buildings in these little towns around us, and they stumbled upon this one across the street from us here, and they bought it and renovated it and made it into a wedding venue. And they said, hey, Taylor, like, I know you're traveling all over, you know, the state doing, you know, your stuff, but why don't you come down and look at this building across from us? And I remember I was at an event and I was with the trailer, and I drove down here after. After the event, and I drove Donut Darling down and I pulled up in the. The building was called the Darling Emporium. And I got chills and I had tears, and I was like, I don't know what this is, but something says that, like, I have got to be here. Like, this is my building.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. So we're going back seven years ago now.

[Taylor Swinning]

Five. Five.

[Eric Cacciatore]

This is not 2019, but 2021.

[Taylor Swinning]

I opened this in 2020.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay, got it.

[Taylor Swinning]

So it was end of 2019.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So going into six or just Eclipse five.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, yeah. So we coveted. Had not hit yet.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right.

When did you sign on this property?

[Taylor Swinning]

It. I signed on this in February of 2020 is right before COVID Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Ouch.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, but you say that. But here's what amazing happened. Like, so we sign on this field.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Well, you own the building.

[Taylor Swinning]

Own the building.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you. You purchased this or did you do you again?

[Taylor Swinning]

Dad said. He goes, you paid me back for the first one.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Now you have a credit with the bank.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yep. And. Yeah, and I did. But I. I said, look, I don't want the down payment. Can we do this again? Can we make another business deal? Can I borrow the money? And I borrowed. Well, we purchased the building for 225. This is like a 7,000 square foot building. Historical old purchase building. 225. And he said. He said, yeah. I mean, you did the first time you can do it again.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Was his name on it?

[Taylor Swinning]

This one.

[Eric Cacciatore]

These are very personal questions, and I want to recognize that. I appreciate you being vulnerable.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, of course. Yeah. His name. Oh, gosh, I'm trying to think. No, I'm gonna say. No, I want to say he gave me the money and I wrote the check to the.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So he gave you a loan.

[Taylor Swinning]

A loan. It's a personal loan is what it is. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And then you use that money to pay the bank or to.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, yeah. To. Well, first purchase the building. And then secondly was that extra money that, you know, the. The total loan amount that I had took out from my dad was also to not only renovate this place, I also. He added on the cost of his labor as well, too. So it wasn't necessarily like, hey, honey, here's 500,000. Like, it's just. I mean, there's a lot that went.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Into it, kind of like vertical integrations. Like, he's investing in you as the operator and then you're contracting out his business.

[Taylor Swinning]

I contracted out him to help me.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right.

[Taylor Swinning]

And so, yeah, February hits, we buy the building. Covid hits.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Wow.

[Taylor Swinning]

And in. We have seven months to renovate this place.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Well, yeah, I was gonna say, at least in that first seven months, the. Everything shut down.

[Taylor Swinning]

Everything shut down.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You're not losing money.

[Taylor Swinning]

And we. We turned the entire downstairs into a restaurant. Turned the upstairs into where I was going to be living.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Where we're currently sitting downstairs.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, currently sitting downstairs upstairs is a loft. So we turned it into this, like New York style, 2500 square foot, beautiful, historic loft.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That's cool.

[Taylor Swinning]

And I lived there for. For two. Two full years. But then we opened the. Or I opened the restaurant in September of 2020.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay. So at that point, things had opened.

[Taylor Swinning]

Up the day before Governor Abbott, which is, you know, Texas governor, opened restaurants to 75%.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So.

Yeah.

And that's more than most states at the time.

[Taylor Swinning]

That's Texas.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

I'm sure everyone's chomping at the bit to get back to, like, seeing people and. Yeah, there's this brand new spot in.

[Taylor Swinning]

Town that's at this point, everyone in this area was like, dying for something to do. So. Yeah, I remember there was. It was a Monday morning and the line was wrapped completely around the block.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And you own it, so there's not like you're burning money on rent, you know, so two. We said $223,000 is what.

[Taylor Swinning]

225 is what we purchased the building for.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How much did you need to Put into it to get it open.

[Taylor Swinning]

The total loan amount was 485.

[Eric Cacciatore]

485. So all in about 600, 700.

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no, no. That the 485 included the. The building itself.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay.

[Taylor Swinning]

So it was what got it? 250.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So 260 worth of renovations.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So what did it look like before?

[Taylor Swinning]

It was pretty empty. So the bar over there is. We. Dad and I built that. We had to pull out that wall and put in bathrooms. It was pretty much a shell. It wasn't. There wasn't a whole lot to.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It wasn't here before.

[Taylor Swinning]

It was a furniture store.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay.

[Taylor Swinning]

More of like a antique. I don't even call it a storage because what it was was there was a phone number on the door and it was like, hey, if you want to come in and look at these antiques and purchase something, give us a call. Kind of like a holding space that you could shop if you called the number.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Got it. What were your biggest challenges? I mean, this is the first time.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh my God. This was the. This was. This was so scary. I have never been so. So terrified. I remember the night before I opened and I didn't sleep an ounce. I was so scared whether it was going to be busy or slow. Are we going to perform? Are we not? We had still had no idea what we were doing. The cooks I hired were like straight out of high school. I was really good at the menu, really good at the back ended stuff. And I know I'm good at selling, but like, were we going to perform that day? And we did not.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I'm not surprised, not to say, but nobody ever does really kill it on the first day.

[Taylor Swinning]

No. First day was an utter disaster. It was two hour wait times. It was. Every one of my staff members was in tears. Like, we had a good 40 tickets, 50 tickets on the board in the kitchen. And I have. My cook is huddled in a ball and he's just bawling.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Trauma.

[Taylor Swinning]

No. So much drama. And I wasn't helping because I'm crying too. And. And it was just. It was so bad. People were making pancakes in the shapes of like squares and rectangles.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Go your own way.

[Taylor Swinning]

It was.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I want to turn around.

[Taylor Swinning]

It was so bad. It was so bad. I remember, you know, now we're way better at what we do here. But we're out of here by. We. Our hours are eight to two. We're out of here by 2:30, 3:00 clock at the late four hours. Yeah. And we were that day. It was midnight and we were still washing dishes. Yeah, just. Just no systems. No. As prepared as you could have been, but not knowing what to expect whatsoever.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So I like to use this analogy of like shifting gears in a car. Was your Jeep an automatic or standard?

[Taylor Swinning]

Automatic.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Automatic. So standard.

[Taylor Swinning]

Not that I can't drive a standard.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you're in first gear, right? You're get open. You're in first gear.

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What have been the second, third, fourth, you know, like, how did you overcome these?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, yeah. So there was. There was another challenge about, like, two weeks or. No, no, Maybe two months after that, I had a bookkeeper here in town who was doing our books, because that was something that I just was very not familiar with. Obviously, I had just sold my business.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Good on you for outsourcing that immediately.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. And. Okay. So the next day, we regrouped. We said, okay, this is how we're gonna do this. I mean, I was up all night long, you know, sending out messages of like, okay, everyone be here. We're have a team meeting. And at 6:00am you know, and we're gonna. I'm gonna walk us through every single one of these, you know, problems that we're having, and we're just gonna. It was just day two was. I wouldn't say a full 180, but astronomically better than the day before. Two months later, I'm, you know, I'm paying my dues with my. My food vendors. I'm. I'm paying my employees. Of course, they're always the first to get paid.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So two months was how long it took you to kind of, like, really two months?

[Taylor Swinning]

I would say two months would be. Get it out. So then second hurdle comes. My bookkeeper calls, and he's like, hey, just want to let you know I'm about to take out the money for your payroll tax deposit. I said. I said, what is that? What are you talking about? I don't have any money in there. What are you talking about? And I'm crying, of course, in the backyard here. And I'm like, no, no, David, you can't. Can't do that. Can't do that. And he's like, taylor, you have to. I'm like, what do you mean no one told me?

[Eric Cacciatore]

It's not your money.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's not mine. It's not mine. Anyway, yeah, he took it. You took it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So where did you take it from if you didn't have it?

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no, I had it. It's all I had.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oh, okay.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's all I had.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

Which was about.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That was two months in.

[Taylor Swinning]

Two months in.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So that's not a huge amount of money. No, it wasn't. Hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no, no. It was like, three grand.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right. But when you're A first time restaurant tour, three grand. A lot of money when you're just.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of upfront costs and stuff. And I remember I was sitting over here at table two crying again and talking to my dad. Like, I just, I just didn't know, like, I don't know if I'm gonna make it. I, I had no idea this cost. Like, I had no idea that payroll tax deposits was.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Well, here's the thing. If you didn't have a bookkeeper, if you didn't have a CPA or whatever, right away, you wouldn't have figured that out.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Until the IRS came a knocking.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And it would have been months. Months or a year in.

[Taylor Swinning]

And then you're owe hundreds.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Exactly.

[Taylor Swinning]

No, no, I'm very happy it happened. But I remember it was a, it was like a Thursday that I had about a thousand dollars in the bank account.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

And I was like, oh my God, if we, if we don't. It was going into the weekend. I said, if we don't have a huge amount of customers this weekend, I don't know where, what I'm gonna do. And we did and we had a great weekend. And the staff killed it and slowly started building the account. You know, was able to pay the staff, pay the payroll tax deposits and pay the sales tax.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Have you ever heard of profit first? Mike McCallowicz. So Mike McAll, Mike Michalowitz wrote this book Profit first. And it's basically this cash. It's a cash flow management system where you take your profit first. First. So whatever. Like what is the like 10, you want to make 10 profit. So on every dollar you spend or earn, you take 10 cents of that and you put it in a profit account.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And then you also have accounts for tax. You have accounts for owners pay.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You have accounts for operational expense.

[Taylor Swinning]

That'd be good. It's more like, like budgeting really for all of this.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you have a. So the way it works is you have the, this income account. So you go to the bank, you say, I want to open up five checking accounts.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And you have an income account where all the money that comes in goes into that account. And then twice a month you take money from that income account and you allocate it.

[Taylor Swinning]

Separate it out.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yep.

You allocate it to your profit first. You take that profit and then you put it into tax because that's not yours. You put 10 or whatever plus you know, sales tax, plus like, you know, what is the other one? Tips or whatever. Like all the different, different. What's the.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, there's so many of them.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Tax.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, so you allocate whatever that is and you put that there. And then owners pay and operational expense. And operational expense. Basically you just say, what are my averages? And then you just put that money there. It's not going to be 100 every time in terms of accuracy, but you're allocating cash so that, like, you're not robbing yourself. You know, like you're. It's. It's such an easy way to manage your cash flow. It's the envelope system. But you're using checking accounts.

[Taylor Swinning]

I would say I probably need to do something more along those lines. I. I downloaded a app of help me budget in more of a business term. But the way that I look at it, which is not the healthiest way, do not take my advice on this, is if the bank account is growing, we're chilling. If it's going the opposite direction, we got to fix something.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right.

[Taylor Swinning]

And that. And I know that's very type B of me to say, but that's just the way that I'm able to handle my finances as well as run the business and run the business boutique and all these things. So finances aren't necessarily my favorite part of the business portion. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Not. I'm right there with you, sister.

[Taylor Swinning]

So to me, I'm like, as long as the numbers going up by at the end of each month, you know, all expenses out, then I'm chilling.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So I'm gonna recommend this book not to you, but to anybody who wants to hear this. So Casey Anton, Spark Business Consulting. She is a prospect, profit first professional, meaning she has the blessings from Mike McCallow. It's to teach profit first.

[Taylor Swinning]

Okay.

[Eric Cacciatore]

She wrote the book Profit first for Restaurants.

[Taylor Swinning]

Okay.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It's an awesome. Listen. She's a very smart lady. She's in my network.

[Taylor Swinning]

If anybody's leaving audiobook because I don't.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Read, I'm the same way. And I do think that she recorded the audiobook. Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

Okay.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So it's phenomenal. I think it's. And I think the best way to do it is to outsource to a fractional CFO or a CFO if you have the money to like use like a enterprise solution like Restaurant Systems Pro or Restaurant 3365 and have somebody who knows how to use those systems onboard it and do all the work for you. But that's not necessarily an option for everybody.

It's not.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's expensive. I actually, I actually got into One of them, and it's more like a menu cost analysis program. I loved the idea of was it's more of a program that really helps you pull up that bottom line a little bit. It's called Margin Edge.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oh yeah. Margin Edge. Past sponsor of the show.

[Taylor Swinning]

Really?

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

I really enjoyed the program. But it was, I noticed it being better for bigger companies. Something. It wasn't necessarily something for us, you know, small guys, us, one location kind of type people down here. Expensive. And it did what you needed it to do. But to me it was more for like a corporation, someone who owns, you know, 10, 15, 20 locations as opposed to. To one location. Why do you think that there was a lot of work and a lot of time needed to go into it. It wasn't something that you could just like set up and then walk away from, you know, and it was going to do the work for you. You know, it was something that you had to constantly keep up with. So it would have taken somebody to do the job of inventory and Margin Edges as well as making sure training. I mean there's a whole sector of it where we're training staff members to use two tomatoes at this width as opposed to four tomatoes. Because now we just threw off the entire algorithm of what Margin Edge is trying to create.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right. Well, what, what Margin Edge is trying to do is to figure out what are your actual versus theoretical costs. So in, you have to be able to measure and be consistent.

[Taylor Swinning]

And you know, there, the consistency just wasn't here.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right.

It's challenge.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's a challenge. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And tools like that really put pressure on you to nail down those consistencies.

[Taylor Swinning]

They do. And, and I loved the pressure of it. I more so was finding myself not, not having the time to put the work in for the program itself, which it deserved. Like I saw great things about that. I just knew that I couldn't keep up with that portion.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I will say good on you for not paying for a tool that you're not going to use.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Because if you're not using it, then it's not going to help you. It's going to be increase your operational costs.

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, it's expensive and I really wanted, I really wanted to invest into it and kind of invest in myself and, and know that, okay, if I'm paying this much a month for Margin Edge, then I can probably be saving that much a month in the amount of food costs that I am wasting and, or over, you know, over portioning.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right.

[Taylor Swinning]

You know, it will pay for itself.

[Eric Cacciatore]

If you use it. Religious.

[Taylor Swinning]

If you. If you do what is what it's meant to do, it'll pay for itself. Perfect world, right? Yes. In reality, it. For us, it wasn't that, you know, we weren't able to keep up.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I appreciate the vulnerability.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Vulnerability. So I guess. So where are we today? Four years in, you're talking about, you know, evolving. You took you about two months to figure it out. You learned your hard lessons of not allocating cash flow to pay your taxes.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You had a bookkeeper to catch that.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yep.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You outsourceable bookkeeper early on.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That's where we kind of left off. Take us along this path of evolution reflecting back to that person three years ago.

[Taylor Swinning]

She was a mess.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Who are you today? Like, how. What has that. Like, what was the next point of evolution and growth for you?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. So every year, you know, the rest of that year, we got better and better. And then towards the end of our first year, we're coming up on our year one, and all of a sudden, this lady walks in the door and she hands us a plaque that says that we won best breakfast in Fayette County.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Were you aware that you were in the running? Nope.

[Taylor Swinning]

I had no idea what it was.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And that's right behind you, right?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. 2023, 2021.

[Taylor Swinning]

It had been 2021. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you got 2021-2022-2023-2024, 2025. Five years running. Is that all Best breakfast?

[Taylor Swinning]

All best breakfast. Some of them are best brunch, some are best unique restaurants, but definitely best breakfast every year.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Wow.

[Taylor Swinning]

So. And I just. I had no idea that was a thing. I remember. I was like, this is so cool. And I can't believe we made it this far. Just even get best breakfast. That's just wonderful. And I'd say the most lessons that I've learned along the way, too, and the most growth really comes from employees learning how to manage employees and how to treat people differently and, you know, cater to different personalities as well as still get the same outcome from what you're needing from them.

[Eric Cacciatore]

How did you lead then?

[Taylor Swinning]

I've always thought my best way is to lead by example. So if a new employee walks in and he sees that the owner's washing dishes, like, then he's gonna wash dishes, you know, and me supporting them, giving them leash, giving them some. What's it called? Like, some rope, you know, but just in the backhand. Just, like, knowing that if I'm willing to do it, then they should be willing to do it. And if. If she's this supported. If this owner is this supportive of me as an employee and, and understands whenever I need a break or I had a bad day or something, and not to hold it against them, but we've, we've been through some employees, for sure. We've had some good and bad experiences.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Welcome to the restaurant industry.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. And restaurant industry is no joke when it comes to staffing. It's pretty funny when other, other people from different industries ask me, you know, like, how many employees have you had? When I tell them, they're like, holy.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

I'm like, I swear it's not me.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, I swear, I swear you're pretty pleasant. So that's how you. When I said, how did you lead then?

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, lead then. I just said them.

[Eric Cacciatore]

No, how did you lead then? So, like, how have, I guess, how have you grown as a leader?

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, that's a great question. I was saying just, just having more patience and understanding as well as, As well, I would say I've always led by example. Having more patience and understanding, but also being true to like a disciplinary thing. So it's kind of just like setting an example out of something that, that, that's happened bad. And I could, you know, give an example of like an employee, you know, not showing up for work. And instead of me letting that slide, I have to make that an example. Otherwise other staff members will say, like, this is, this is acceptable and I can do this as well.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Culture isn't what you say it is. It's what happens.

[Taylor Swinning]

No. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So if you're letting it happen, that's your culture.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. And I, I think, you know, it's so cliche when you say, like, we're a family here and stuff. But it's, it's so fun when, when customers come in and go, everyone here is having such a good time and everyone here is smiling, cleaning tables and laughing, taking out the trash, and they're all on their hands and knees cleaning booths and they have their booty popping music on after work and everyone's just dancing and cleaning. And it is. When you take a step back and look at that and it's like, we've created an environment here where we do want to go have a drink together after work. We do want to invite them to my kids birthdays party parties because they are my employees. But there is a fine line between an employee and friends and I, I do walk that line quite a bit. But man, I have such a good staff here and they're so cool and I appreciate it. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, we're really. These are relationships. You can't do it without them. They are your community.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, my gosh. And they, they do wonderful. And, and yeah, I couldn't thank them enough.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I think when you're in a city and there's hundreds of thousands of, if not millions of people that you can pull from to come work for you, like, you know, and you're. And if you're scaling and you, like, there's this line, as you scale, there's more liability. But in a small town. How many people live in this town?

[Taylor Swinning]

So 12. Well, 1300 was. Our last census was 13.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, like, these are the people that, like, it's much smaller, it's much more intimate and it's much more human.

It is.

[Taylor Swinning]

And like, you know, everybody. And I would say a few of the weekend. I call my weekend girls because they're all in high school that like, half of them are all related somehow. And I don't even know that they're related until like two weeks in and they're like, oh, yeah, that's my mom's sister's cousin. Like, it's just, you know, and everyone's related and it's just, it's, it's, it's a fun community and everyone knows that when they walk in the door too. Like, oh, we're going to Darlin's today. Like, it's going to be not just a good breakfast. It's going to be a fun time. We're gonna have a great, great morning.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

You know.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, I love that. So you, when we started today, you said you're doing 20 profit. You have a. I think it was a 20 cost goods and 30 labor cost. Are you at the. Have you peaked in terms of hitting those numbers? Have you gotten better and better and better or has it. Have you hit those numbers a while ago and now you're kind of flatlined?

[Taylor Swinning]

I feel like we're kind of flatlining a little bit at the moment. I, Whenever I look at the numbers and I see that, you know, over three years, it's kind of. We've kind of made the same amount. I don't necessarily think that's bad, but also stagnant is. Is to me is not growth. It's. It's. Sometimes I want to account it to a. Labor cost has gotten higher over, Over.

[Eric Cacciatore]

The cost of business is going up.

[Taylor Swinning]

Cost of business is ridiculously higher than it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So your profit margins going to be low.

[Taylor Swinning]

Profit margins are a little bit lower. And so I wouldn't necessarily when we look at the sales, like gross sales, it's. It's better every year. So it's not the sales themselves. It's the bottom line of goods, cost of labor.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Good thing that you have. You own this property. So I think you said you're doing 20% profit. If you're in any average market with average rent, you would want to be doing a 7%. Is the. The target to hit for the occupanc. Occupancy cost. So you have that 7% that can go to your bottom line.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Which, you know, was putting you at 20 profit.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And it's only going to continue to go up. The costs are only going to continue to go up.

[Taylor Swinning]

And I will say, you know, there is a downside of owning your own. You know, right now I'm paying for a new route, a new roof repair.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So how do you manage that? Do you allocate cash for improvements?

[Taylor Swinning]

There's always a nest egg or. What do you call that, like a rainy day fund, Right? Absolutely. Yeah, there is a rainy day fund for sure. And it can be a lot there. I mean, there's. There's. Everything in here is expensive as far as replacing goes. We've replaced an oven. We. I've replaced the roof. Well, not replaced the roof. I've had the roof repaired. This will be my third time now.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Five years.

[Taylor Swinning]

In five years. It's historic building and it's just. It's just old. Everything here's old and it's cool from an outside perspective, from a customer. And then when you own one, you're.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, oh, my God. Good thing you know somebody, right?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes, I know someone.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Background?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes. Have the background. And I. I contract out all the work myself as well, too, so.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But when you say contract the work out yourself, what does that mean?

[Taylor Swinning]

Hiring the.

[Eric Cacciatore]

The.

[Taylor Swinning]

Trades, you know? Yeah, yeah. So that's what I went to school for, is basically general contract skill to.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Have in this industry.

[Taylor Swinning]

That seems like normal. It seems like, I don't know, you got to know who to call, like, you know, if your AC goes out, you know. But we have everyone out here there. I mean, this is a small Texas town. I mean, there's trades all over the place and so. And they're all on speed dial because there's things breaking down all the time.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So where are you today? How many employees do you have?

[Taylor Swinning]

18.

[Eric Cacciatore]

18 total employees. How many of that is back of house?

[Taylor Swinning]

It's about half and half.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And are you included in that number? No. So nine and nine. What is your Organizational structure. Do you have, like, titles and roles?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I've got one. I hired my first chef in five years, and I usually just hired line cooks. And I said, you know, this. This wonderful guy came. Came through and he, you know, he said, I am a chef, and I wanted to interview for the position, for the line cook position. And I said, okay, man, I've never hired chef before. I know it's going to be expensive, but it's going to take a weight off my shoulders that I need so bad with mainly being front of house, Me, myself being front of house, as well as pretty much the sole person in the boutique doing all the inventory and the retail and the sales and the. All of it. So I took a chance and I hired a chef. And I will say that was one of the best decisions I've made in a very long time. I'm telling you, it. There's a true, distinct difference between somebody who does this for a living and knows what they're doing and loves it, and then someone who is. Has. Had. Never had the experience before but, you know, is willing to try.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Where did you go to learn all these things and how to run a restaurant? Because you were doing a food trailer before, but it's not quite the same.

[Taylor Swinning]

Definitely not the same.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Where. Where did you go to learn? Did you hire consultants? Did you have trade resources? Like, how did you know about inventory and costing and purchasing? Where did that come from?

[Taylor Swinning]

That just makes sense, right?

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, I guess.

[Taylor Swinning]

But I never learned it from anywhere.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, systems, processes, procedures. Like, did you. Like, how did you know what to charge a pancake?

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, I took the cost of what I was gonna.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You'd be surprised. That's not. Like, a lot of people don't know that. To do that.

[Taylor Swinning]

I have, like, a whole. So I went on Excel and I went through everything that I purchased, and I created, like, a cost analysis margin sheet. So I, you know, and I do this every year. So we were coming out with a new menu. So what I do is I go through and I say, what is, you know, 2 ounces of cheese plus an ounce of lettuce, plus, you know, 2 ounces of tomato. Add all that up. What does it cost me? Oh, it cost me $3 to make this. This plate.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

Okay. So I need to.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right.

I guess I was just curious, like, what was your. Like, where'd you go to learn this stuff? To see if there's a coach or.

[Taylor Swinning]

I didn't know there was anyone that taught it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oh, yeah, tons. I mean, a lot of People. I mean, I'll.

[Taylor Swinning]

I'll.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Not to throw my parents under the bus.

Right.

But back in 1988, they didn't have a lot of resources to go learn this stuff. My dad went to the breakfast restaurant down the. And then the next town over to see what are they charging for a burger. I'll just charge a dollar or less, you know, and I think a lot of people.

[Taylor Swinning]

Interesting.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. They get in trouble because they don't know what the true cost.

Cost is.

They just make numbers up.

[Taylor Swinning]

No, you definitely have to know the true cost of it. And that's kind of like the fun of it, you know, just knowing that what you're putting on a plate and selling somebody, you know, that you're making money off of it. I mean, you have. You have to. Otherwise, what's the point of this whole thing?

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. You know, so you're staying across table. We've been talking almost about an hour and a half. Almost. What do I need to ask you if I'm getting the most out of this conversation? Like, what is the thing you want to talk about? What do you think, you know, that you can add the most value to our listeners? Hmm.

[Taylor Swinning]

My biggest thing in owning a restaurant, and I guess the thing that I get the most kind of gratitude and, like, satisfaction out of this is when people do message me. Our social media has gotten bigger over the last few months, and we're pretty much kind of capitalizing on that. And. And I really like to use the platform not only for entertainment, but for an educational purpose. And I've told a couple of these stories on my social media that I've spoken with you today as well. And it's really cool when people message me and they ask me, what should I do when it comes to this? Or what do you think about this idea? The thing that makes me the happiest in the world is inspiring others to. To do something that they truly love to do, because then our life is so purposeful, and we're not just going to work to pay for the things that we love to do outside of work. Going to work is a vacation. Like, it is fun. It is.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So people are asking you business advice.

[Taylor Swinning]

Business advice on social media. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Where do you go to learn how to do social media better? Like, what's your inspiration there?

[Taylor Swinning]

I don't know. I think I'm just really good at marketing.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I think you are.

You.

You definitely have an eye. This place is beautiful. The branding is really spot on your website. I was on your Instagram page earlier. I Don't know if this is completely random. Maybe it's a trend. That one Instagram reel where you have. You're training somebody on how to. To, you know, do the latte. Were you the first one to do that or did you see somebody else do that and you, like, so.

[Taylor Swinning]

And. Okay. I don't know if you even see, like, I. I guess it's the same in a ton of industries or whatever, but whenever you get on, like, Tick Tock or something, that there's. There's trends. Ye. One person do it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Okay.

[Taylor Swinning]

And I think we were the second ones to do it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I wonder, because I literally saw it like a week ago or maybe more us.

I don't know.

That's the thing I'm trying to figure out. I was like, what are the odds?

[Taylor Swinning]

But whenever you look at it, it had like 7, almost 8 million views or something on it. I don't know if it was that one or another one, but it literally blew up. And. And I had seen one other person do it. And to me, when I see another person do it, I'm automatically thinking it's a trend. And so sometimes when we. When we make content, we do things that are our own stuff. And then other times the staff will send me, like, hey, let's do this today. And usually it's a trend that they saw on Tick Tock or something. And I'll say, okay, we'll post it. Because a lot of our followers that are out here in the small town Texas, don't necessarily have Tick Tocks. So whatever we post is brand new to them. They have no idea what's going on.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah, I mean, I just. I just thought to myself, like. Like, what are the odds that I see this random reel?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And at the time, I would have been like, in Massachusetts that.

[Taylor Swinning]

I bet you was. I mean, that thing blew up.

[Eric Cacciatore]

When did you post this? Gosh, you have it pinned? Two weeks ago.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, I have it pinned. It's that middle.

[Eric Cacciatore]

January 17th.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So that was around the time I hit the road on, like, the 20th. And I think I. Yeah, I think I saw this. I don't know if it's. It's. What are the odds that I stumble, literally stumble into.

[Taylor Swinning]

Look at that first pin.

[Eric Cacciatore]

The diner, not realizing. Yeah, I didn't look at your Instagram until I was sitting here having breakfast.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's crazy. It's crazy. It blew up. And what I've noticed on social media, which is pretty funny, is people like things that are aggressive and shocking, like.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Getting a coffee thrown into your face.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes. Those are the ones that have exploded are ones that are like pretty much shock value.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you started getting into your philosophy or your approach to social media. It's not just you, your team gets in on it.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, it's a whole bonding thing for all of us. We love making content together.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like your process and how you approach social media.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. So one of those things where, you know, you see something stagnant or, you know, the bottom line, you're looking at sales and you're like, okay, well maybe we can get, I mean, our, our customers on the weekends, Saturdays and Sundays, it's packed. Sundays is about an hour long wait for a table. So I know we can't seat any more people in here, so it's not necessarily that. But hey, Monday through Friday we got some empty seats. We could probably fill those if we just spread our social media a little bit further. And instead of. Then I think, what do I like seeing on social media? Well, I like scrolling entertainment. Whether it's, it's restaurant, whatever, you know, just entertainment. Not necessarily like, hey, try our new coffee. It's good. Like or not.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You want to laugh.

[Taylor Swinning]

A picture of. Yeah, I want to laugh. I, I love come. I love entertaining and comedy and hosting and those things. And that's what we, the route we went and it worked.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I mean, I think a lot of people struggle with the right. Getting into the right mindset when it comes to social media. I'm guilty of this.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I don't enjoy creating social media.

[Taylor Swinning]

Social media, really?

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. I think part of my issue is that I'm a solo act.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, I don't have people I can bounce ideas off of. You hold the camera like, like, let's, you know, it's a, it's like, it's always fun with a partner. You know, it's always more fun with a partner. So like, I think part of my issue is like, I'm just being a solo act. I'm like, it's a chore. It's like, what am I gonna like do?

[Taylor Swinning]

It definitely can be that by myself. And it was a chore before the entertainment. So before the entertainment route that we went before, it was like, you know, posting pictures of girls, you know, wearing our new outfits or, you know, a new hat or like some inventory or whatever. And that, that was a chore. It was just like exhausting and like, oh my God, I have to post something today.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So how do we follow. How do we avoid that trap of it being exhausting and being work? How do we make it fun?

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, if it's exhausting, then no one's gonna enjoy it anyway.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right.

[Taylor Swinning]

You know, so. No, it's not gonna get that. You're just doing it because you feel like society says you have to do. And the, the workplace says that if you don't post this many times a week, then your social media is not going to be doing well. If you are having a blast doing it, it is going to show through the camera.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

Which I see, you know, you loving this.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I love like the, like talking real, you know.

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, that's why this is so successful.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. I do feel like sometimes with social media, like, I don't want to dance in front of the camera like that. To me, like, no offense to people who do like to dance, but I don't like to dance.

[Taylor Swinning]

No.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So don't make me dance.

[Taylor Swinning]

No. We like, we like doing pretty aggressive.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Stuff and it's fun. Then more power to you.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. But it shows through the camera and people are like, oh my God, what is this place doing? Like, this is wild. Which I think is important.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

I think that, that, that authenticity of having fun.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And it's not forced. It's not a checklist.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Really, you know, it shows. You guys have a blast. And, and you're, you're having fun. It's clear that you're having fun. Anything that you want to make sure we talk about today before we start to shift gears and talk about the future.

[Taylor Swinning]

I think we've kind of covered it. I mean, personally, I mean, along with, you know, Sala de Sol, which is our boutique here in the Darlin's Diner. And then Lula's loft upstairs, which is our catering and event business. I have a daughter and a son, a three year old and a one year old. I've got a husband, he's the fire chief in our town here. He owns his business, his own business as well. He is a freight broker. And I'm on our economic development corporation board here in town as well as we're in a band together, which is pretty fun.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I can practice today in less than an hour.

[Taylor Swinning]

That's fine.

[Eric Cacciatore]

We'll break down pretty fast when we wrap this up. But I gotta be honest, like, it's all kind of serendipitous that I'm here right now.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I literally just yesterday was like, where am I sleeping? Tonight I open up the Harvest Host app. And again, if any of you don't know what Harvest Host is, it's a great program. It's so Cool. And I just found this one spot in between Houston and San Antonio. And I was like, oh, it's in a little like old dusty town.

[Taylor Swinning]

Like, cool.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, let me go check that out. Got here. This town is adorable.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's cute.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It's a really cool old bones town.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You can tell there's history here. I was walking around, I saw this place. I was like, this place. I wouldn't expect to see this here.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, it's. It's definitely something you would think you'd see. Well, I guess. Yeah. Not into a tiny Texas town.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

It looks a little bit more urban.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And I was thinking to myself, there's so many of these towns.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Across America. And I see them when I drive. Honestly, I've probably driven past most of them. Them.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Because the highways make us bypass these towns.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, it does.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You don't know they're there. That's a big issue in part of our, you know, the Route 66 was a happening road and then they built the highways and all these, these stops along the way, these small towns started to struggle. But the thing is, there's so many great bones in this country of towns just waiting. And our mission statement is to inspire and you've inspired us with your story, to empower with, you know, sharing mindset and lessons learned and don't do this, do this. And then there's the transform, which is like, where are we going?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And I think there's so much opportunity in these small towns where you can go and buy the building for $235,000.

[Taylor Swinning]

I think I got so lucky with that because it wouldn't. It's not that anymore, you know.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right. But there's other markets.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, across America in the Midwest. Like the Midwest is on fire right now. And there are so many places and Everybody. Like post second industrial age, going into the 20th century, everyone had to leave their small towns to go to the big cities because that's where the opportunity was. And the pendulum has swung in that direction and I think it's swinging back.

[Taylor Swinning]

It is because we have so many people, mostly like middle aged people that, that are coming out and you know, they'll walk in the diner and they'll say, we just moved here. We had to get out of Houston or we had to get out of San Antonio or Austin, you know, and we love this area. We just bought some property out here. We're gonna build or we just bought this little house and we're gonna sell that after we build on this property. And we're looking at land and all this stuff out here, and it's just. It's a different way of life that I've tried to convince some of my girlfriends to invest in, and I haven't been quite lucky enough yet, yet to convince them to move to a small town. But once you do, it is just. It is so cool.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It's so weird because if you're alive today, all you know is that cities have always existed.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

But the truth is, like, they're relatively like a new invention. Like. Like cities as we know them today.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

New York's, you know, Los Angeles. Like, never before in history have so many people live so close to each other, on top of each other, literally.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's just too much. I feel like it's. You're kind of in the, like, hustle and bustle and like the grind, and you're working for the man. And to me, it's just like all of that just doesn't even coexist with what my beliefs are. And mine is just, like, going at my own pace. And even though my pace is really fast, it's still in my own bubble, you know, that I don't have to worry about, you know, know, traffic and just all the things that, that people are normally adjusted to. I drive to Austin and as soon as the roads start crossing over each other, I'm freaking out.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, right.

[Taylor Swinning]

I cannot go. My husband, he's like, pull over. I need to drive before we all die in this car. So I just. It's just different. Very different. And I. I would suggest small town over city living any day.

[Eric Cacciatore]

This pace of life is much more aligned with how we evolved over time. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, million years of how we evolve to exist with smaller communities, closer relationships.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's pretty awesome.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It's. I think it's. I think there, it's the. There's so much space in this country and it's empty.

[Taylor Swinning]

It is empty. And everyone wants to live on where everyone else is. And, And I get it. Some people are different. You know, some people may love the city, but I wanted out of the biggest town I've ever lived in, being College Station. I wanted out out as fast as possible. And I'm so happy I did small town life instead.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So you're sitting here on the board.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So get into that. I think, like, what for anybody listening to this is in small town, like, how do I truly do believe that the restaurant industry is going to change the world? And I, and I, and I, you know, that's my mission, is to change the world through inspiring, empowering, transforming the industry.

[Taylor Swinning]

Everyone's got to eat every day.

[Eric Cacciatore]

If you transform restaurant owners, owners. Restaurant owners transform communities. And that is literally happening in this community. I can tell the market across the street, you know what you're doing here. Restaurants are going to be the first ones to take a gamble on that space, to revitalize it, to bring life back to it, to bring community back to it.

It starts with restaurants.

Do you know that when we were colonizing the. I know that's a very sensitive word right now, colonization, but when we were colonizing America, the first thing you needed to do to start a business or. Sorry, sorry. The first thing you need to do to start a town was to establish a public house.

Pub.

[Taylor Swinning]

Pub. Food.

[Eric Cacciatore]

That was the center of everything. Not a church.

[Taylor Swinning]

This is the center of town. And. And I say that humbly, like, the diner is like, everyone says that is the hub. If you want to know the gossip. If you want to know, that's where.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I grew up in.

My parents owned a breakfast place.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yes. And my latest. One of my latest posts, it said, you know, we're pretty much therapists. It's so true. Like, and we just get to just listen to all the stuff and just make friends. And everyone that comes in here on the weekdays, you've seen 90% of the faces and, you know, everybody coming through those doors on the weekends, you don't know a single face because they're all travelers. They're all off. I10. They're all people like you.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. You know, and I think that's kind of what I'm curious about before we wrap up is, like, what advice do you have for people trying to transform their community? And I think we transform these communities, we can change the world. But how do we do it?

[Taylor Swinning]

Get involved, take risks. I. I love being as. I mean, we put. Me and my husband both put a ton on our plates as far as what we're involved in in our community, but just the more connections you make and the more, I guess you could say networking, even though I don't necessarily love that word, but just the more connections you can make with people and the more friends that. That you can establish, just the more support that you have in doing something that you absolutely love to do. And I feel like that's what we've created here. When we first got here, we were kind of like the outsiders. Like, who does she think she is coming in our town and building some restaurant? And now it's like those same people come in and they're like, I'm so happy you're here, and I'm so thankful that. That you came in and did this, because this place is a blast.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. So I am kind of curious a little more. I think Harvest Host could be a great marketing tool that not a lot of people are. Is that even on their radar? Like, again, like highways span across this country.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I would have never known Flatation. Am I saying Platonia. I would have never known Flat Tony existed if not for Harvest Hosts pulling me off the highway.

[Taylor Swinning]

Literally.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Literally less than a mile off the highway into this cute little town.

[Taylor Swinning]

Well, that's honestly what we do at EDC on our economic development corporation board is. Is. Is how do we get people off the highway? And that's our. Pretty much our biggest topic all the time, is that we need to get these people off the highway because this place is worth it when you get in here. Harvest Host is. Is a really good example of. Of doing just that.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I didn't even know I was talking to your mom when I requested to stay in your parking lot across the street over there. So your mom was. It was her idea.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yep.

[Eric Cacciatore]

To list Platonia.

[Taylor Swinning]

Platonia. Well, because they. They travel a lot too. They. They've traveled, you know, the whole US.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And the camper thing.

[Taylor Swinning]

They did the camper thing and they. They've stayed at the Harvest Host was. Was such a fun thing for them to. To do. And they got to see all these small towns across America. So when mom, you know, got back from. It was like a six month. No, the two month trip that they had gone on. They were gone for a while. Seemed like forever. And she said Flat Tonia's got to do Harvest Hosts. That's how it's one of the ways that we can get people off the highway. And I will say every Harvest Host that we've had. So I guess my mom and I are both hosts on the Harvest Host. She does all the communication. But I've got to meet every single one of them that come in the diner. And man, it is so cool to meet people from just the other side of the country. Just doing, you know, how much revenue.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Would you say that has brought into your business?

[Taylor Swinning]

It's fairly new. I don't necessarily know how long Harvest Host has been around or if it's a couple years. Okay. It's still fairly new, though. I mean, like, we only have. I would say it's like one a week.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swinning]

It's not necessarily something we've had two this week, you being one of them, and the other one being this awesome couple from Virginia. And I sat and I talked to them for hours, and the freeze had just come in, and so we had just opened on Monday, and. And they came in. They're like, thank God. We were stuck in that trailer for, like, two days.

[Eric Cacciatore]

It spreads the word.

And then they get out and they talk to people. If you're ever going through, you know, if you're driving from Houston to San Antonio, make sure you stop in flat. Tonia.

[Taylor Swinning]

There you go. You got it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Did I get it right that time? And, like, now I'm the second person this week, but I'm. You're on a podcast now.

[Taylor Swinning]

I know it's crazy.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And you're getting all this. You know, my target market is restaurant, but still, you know, it's amplifying and.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I just think that there's so many cool things out there, and. And I just thought this was a really. How do we start today's conversation? You can go your own way.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And I hope you think about going in the direction of small towns across.

[Taylor Swinning]

Please do. Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Because there is, I think, a movement happening.

[Taylor Swinning]

Don't forget about us, because it's way cooler down here. I promise.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah.

And there's tools that we can use with the Internet to be discovered. I think Harvest Host is an untapped resource source.

[Taylor Swinning]

It is pretty awesome. And I've met some of the coolest people through Harvest Hosts. Yeah. Yeah. And I. I will welcome every single one of them that come through.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And it's honestly just freaking cool.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

To know that I can, you know, go to a community, go to a farm, go to a winery and support local business.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Like, I need to go feed myself. I might as well. Or I could pay to go park someplace. You might as well kill two birds with one stone and give that money back to a local business. Yeah. So I think it's just really cool what that platform is doing, and I just saw this as an opportunity.

[Taylor Swinning]

And it's all free.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yeah. You know, and it gives back, and it's. It's so cool. So, anyway, this has been so much fun.

[Taylor Swinning]

Thank you.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I have a couple questions before we wrap it up officially. What is one thing about your business? A value, a process, a system that's truly, you know, unique and makes you unstoppable?

[Taylor Swinning]

I would say the. The energy it puts off. I know that seems different, maybe of, like, you know, people are more so focused on the food. I know our food's good. Our Food's good. It's. It's a staple. We're in small town Texas. We're not necessarily trying to make some, like, culinary revolution here. We're just trying to serve great food and, but in great service. But the energy that we serve our food with, with, and the lasting impressions that we make on people, not hopefully just keep them to come back to eat. I. I feel like it's so much more than eating for us. It's an experience and it's inspiring, and that's what I want to do.

[Eric Cacciatore]

The mission statement is to change the world through inspiring, empowering, and transforming the industry. How have you personally transformed for transforming people across the country? We want to know, like, how are you a better woman today than the woman you were?

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, my gosh. I've learned from so many good days and bad days. And really the experience alone is, is. Is what it takes and like, pushing through, like, just some really hard times and times that we think it's all going to be, you know, over and we'll have bad days to come as well, too, but just kind of like pushing through those as well as every day choosing to suck a little less mess, you know, like you said, I.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Can'T take credit for that was actually Pete Mora from Pedro or Pete Pete's Fajita. For Fajita Pete's. He said that was his opening quote.

[Taylor Swinning]

Suck a little. I love it. I'm gonna start using it.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Here's the last question before I have you call somebody out. If you got the news 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 can leave behind for the good of humanity and your legacy. What would those three pieces of wisdom be? It's heavy.

[Taylor Swinning]

That is heavy.

[Eric Cacciatore]

While you think about that, I'm gonna do a selfie.

[Taylor Swinning]

Love what you do. Because if you are, if you love what you do when you're working, then you're not at work at all. And we spend most of our time on this earth working. So why not make it just the most pleasurable experience? Struggling over here, that's pretty bad.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I need a longer thumb. I'm trying to hit your face.

[Taylor Swinning]

You're on. You're recording.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Oh, my God. We'll do this later.

That was one.

What's number two?

[Taylor Swinning]

Two would be treat everybody with how you would want to be treated and get and give that kind of respect to staff, whether it's like, you know, subordinate or, you know, People that work for you and just empowering those people to have a great outlook and try to have the same love for your business as you would.

[Eric Cacciatore]

So what's number three?

[Taylor Swinning]

Number three. You should only have two of these. This is hard. This is a deep one. This is all revolving around owning a restaurant, right?

[Eric Cacciatore]

Yes.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, God. Okay.

[Eric Cacciatore]

No, it doesn't have to be just round like any life advice that ripples throughout life. All parts of life. Go your own way.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. End it there.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Go your own way.

[Taylor Swinning]

Go your own way. No, just for real. Just take a risk and do it. If you believe that you can do it, then you can absolutely win in every single aspect of your life. And I think it takes a lot of guts and a lot of risk. And that's honestly the fun part of it. It though, it's just like risking no reward.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You don't take a risk. Absolutely. This has been a lot of fun. I. I broke my rules today. I usually try to stick with journalistic referral based interviews, but I. Sometimes a good opportunity lands in my lap and trying to be more open to. I appreciate you doing the universe and, and I think it's really cool what's happening here and I think I was meant to land here.

[Taylor Swinning]

Oh, thank you.

[Eric Cacciatore]

You know, to share your story and to make an example of what you're doing in a small town. I think success is relative.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I think American culture, like we think of success is how big can you get, how much money can you make, how much power can you have? But I think when you go your own way and you value things like relationships and balance and there's a lot.

[Taylor Swinning]

More to it than the money. I mean, if I want. Wanted to, we could go open another restaurant. We could scale it if you wanted to. But like there's more to it than that, you know. And I think true success lies in. In the absolute passion that you have for what you're doing.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Right. 100. So who do you respect and admire? Who is somebody that you look up to in the industry? Somebody that, you know, if you could get into their head, understand how they run their business.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Who is that?

[Taylor Swinning]

I have it for you. His name is Marty Bryan and he owns Marty B. And it's up in the Dallas Fort Worth area. That guy is so inspiring. He is an old friend of my parents and he used to be a manager of Outback. Whenever I was a kid, he was a general manager of an Outback and then he moved over and was a general manager or maybe he owned Cotton Patch one or Like a franchise owner of Cotton Patch. And then he went out on his own and he opened up Marty B's, and it is one of the most successful empires I have ever seen.

[Eric Cacciatore]

And that's Marty B. Marty Bryan.

[Taylor Swinning]

Marty Bryan Bryant. B R Y A N. B R.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Y A N. Look up Marty. Brian, I am coming after you. I'd love to get you on the show. And how can we connect with you? Whether, you know, we listen to this episode and we have questions or we want to come or follow you on social media. Inspiration. Like, what's the best way to connect and follow?

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah, really. Our Instagram is Darlins Diner. I have Tik Tok as well as Facebook as well.

[Eric Cacciatore]

All the same handle.

[Taylor Swinning]

Instagram's the only one that's different. I don't know why I messed up when I first opened the restaurant.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Here's a lesson. Make all of your handles. Exactly.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Sometimes you can't.

[Taylor Swinning]

Yeah. Instagram is Darlin's Diner. The rest of them are at Darlin's Diner.

[Eric Cacciatore]

Got it. And we'll link to that. This is episode 1,200. As long as nothing changed. So you can hit. If you want to find today's episode, look at the show notes right there and we'll have those links there. And I cannot do what I do without people like you opening up, getting vulnerable, sharing information. There is no questioning. You are unstoppable.

[Taylor Swinning]

Thank you so much. This was a really fun and a huge surprise for me today, so I appreciate surprise for me too.

[Eric Cacciatore]

I'm happy we did. Thank you. You. Cheers.

[Taylor Swinning]

Thanks.

[Eric Cacciatore]

There's another episode wrapped up here at Restaurant Unstoppable.

Taylor Swinning. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Total inspiration. No clue.

Had no clue.

I was going to be stopping in.

Flatonia, Texas for an interview, but I. I couldn't resist. This was just awesome. Not just because of the badass that.

Taylor is in her story starting in.

College and crushing it and taking her.

Passion to a small town where there's opportunity. Just injecting life into the small town.

This gets me excited for the future.

Of the restaurant industry. And I thought this was a really cool angle. Again, thank you, Taylor.

And if you want to connect with.

Taylor, she agreed to join us for.

Coffee with Eric on March 16th. That's 11am Eastern. Head over to restaurantunstoppable.com c w e if you want to be a part of this conversation. But we encourage you to join all future conversations. If you're enjoying the podcast, get involved with the community. You are the average of those you surround yourself with. And at Restaurant Unstoppable, I'm doing my darndest to get you access to the best in the biz. And to go further together. Head over to restaurantunstoppable.com live to join these live conversations. And if you're not interested in joining the community but you still want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel. You can subscribe to our email. You can leave a review on Spotify or itunes. Those reviews go such a long way. Thank you in advance if you do. And thank you for listening to today's episode.

We'll catch you next time.