Patrick Terry | It’s Never Too Late… He Started At 47 And Beat McDonald’s Out

Summary

School of Hard Knocks Podcast

Episode: Patrick Terry | It’s Never Too Late… He Started At 47 And Beat McDonald’s Out
Date: May 21, 2026
Guest: Patrick Terry, Co-Founder of P. Terry’s
Hosts: James, Jack, Josh

---

Episode Overview

This episode features Patrick Terry, the co-founder of P. Terry’s, the beloved Texas-based burger chain. The hosts dive deep into Patrick’s entrepreneurial journey, his philosophy for business and life, the power of simplicity and quality, the importance of company culture, and how he managed to outperform major fast-food giants—all after starting his iconic burger business at age 47. Listeners gain nuanced insights into company growth, branding, social media’s impact, and balancing professional ambition with personal values.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origin Story and Inspiration Behind P. Terry’s

• Patrick started P. Terry’s at age 47, inspired by a deep, longstanding love for the burger stand concept.
• He credits his wife Kathy as co-founder, highlighting her essential role in design and operations.
  "We share a bed together, so I want to make that very clear that she was right there." — Patrick Terry [01:35]
• Early influences include Mack Epeland in Abilene: a local restaurateur obsessed with quality and from-scratch preparation.

Notable Quotes

• "The simple idea of burgers, fries, and milkshakes, I just am attracted to that." — Patrick Terry [00:07]
• "It almost wasn’t a fair fight... My wife and I lived at the first location for the first couple of years." — Patrick Terry [10:08]

2. Beating Out the Competition (McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Etc.)

• P. Terry’s first location faced stiff competition—directly across from iconic fast food chains. All were eventually outlasted and outperformed.
• Freshness, quality, and a flexible, owner-driven model proved decisive.
• Patrick describes being hands-on: knowing customers, overseeing daily operations, building relationships with produce suppliers.

Memorable Moment

• "Across the street the day we opened was McDonald's, Jack in the Box, Wendy's, Taco Cabana, Taco Bell, and Schlotsky's. They're all gone." — Patrick Terry [09:17, 09:40]

3. The Importance of Focus and Simplicity

• P. Terry’s keeps its menu intentionally limited. Patrick dislikes bloated menus, arguing that simplicity drives both quality and efficiency.
• Prices remain constant across locations to ensure fairness, even in wealthier neighborhoods.

Quote

• "I hate big menus… I’d probably have a stroke [at Cheesecake Factory]." — Patrick Terry [14:06]
• "My prices don’t vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. I just don't think that's okay." — Patrick Terry [14:57]

4. Expansion Philosophy: Culture Over Ego

• P. Terry’s operates exclusively in Texas with 38 locations as of the episode’s recording.
• Patrick focuses on depth of quality and sustaining company culture over rapid (and risky) expansion.
• Culture is king:
  "The one killer in our business and in most businesses is losing your culture... To go into Denver, I'd have to send two or three people to live there and never leave." — Patrick Terry [07:32, 08:55]

Discussion

• Refuses national expansion or franchising if it risks quality or brand integrity:
  "The biggest mistake you can make in running a business is bringing your ego with you. So we leave our ego at home." — Patrick Terry [06:19]

5. Company Culture, Employee Loyalty, and Customer Love

• Initiatives like interest-free loans for employees, personal gestures (birthday cakes based on each employee’s favorite), and genuine concern for team welfare.
• Patrick believes taking care of employees is the foundation for great customer service.
• The “Maggie rule”: never disrespecting team members, especially long-term employees who exemplify the culture.
• Giving back: Nearly $3 million donated over four annual “Days of Giving.”

Memorable Quotes

• "If you work for me and you need a loan, I'll give you an interest-free loan for as long as you need the money." — Patrick Terry [18:44]
• "The Maggie rule is that you never do anything to disrespect Maggie...when you know what your people are going through...your company becomes different." — Patrick Terry [44:36, 46:16]

6. Keeping P. Terry’s Private and Lean

• No franchising: ensures quality control and maintains the brand’s DNA.
• Turned down a major acquisition offer after serious consideration, realizing fulfillment lay in running the business, not just in a buyout windfall.
  "The minute I got the offer...my wife got off the plane, she said, you can't sell it...and I said, I agree." — Patrick Terry [37:43]

7. Social Media and Modern Branding

• Patrick shares the story of his viral “founder-eats-their-own-food” video (over 26 million views), learning the scale and power of social media for brand reach.
• P. Terry’s branding draws on ‘Googie’ architecture—retro-modern, inviting, and rooted in “better days.”
• Monthly shake flavors developed for fun—engagement driven organically by customer enthusiasm.

Highlights

• "I've never seen anything so powerful in my whole life [as social media]." — Patrick Terry [52:23]
• "Our stores have all the little painted signs...I'm trying to give you an experience even through the drive-thru." — Patrick Terry [54:14]
• "We just have fun with it...people are actually waiting to hear what the next [shake flavor] is." — Patrick Terry [58:30]

8. Advice for Aspiring Restaurateurs

On Getting Started:

• Start small (trailers are today’s “first burger stand”).
• Simplicity is key: "Build it around a singular item where you can kind of build off of that."
• Begin with accessible capital (SBA loans, friends and family) and scale based on proven demand.

On Customer Feedback:

• Be proactive in seeking it—postcards, printed phone numbers, direct engagement.
• Social media both empowers and holds accountable.

On Success:

• Outwork the problems:
  "To really succeed, you gotta show up every day. You can outwork a lot of problems." — Patrick Terry [62:23]

On Legacy:

• Strive to be fair—in every interaction, with staff and customers alike.
  "He was fair with his staff, he was fair with his customers...Let’s just be fair." — Patrick Terry [63:10]

---

Timestamps for Notable Segments

• 00:07 – Patrick’s love for simple menus
• 02:57/09:17/09:40 – Facing (and outlasting) national fast food giants
• 06:19–08:55 – On why P. Terry’s won't expand out of Texas
• 14:57–15:23 – Pricing philosophy and supply chain control
• 18:44–21:08 – Employee-first culture and unique benefits
• 23:33–25:09 – Learning from mistakes, and stories from the front lines
• 32:14–34:45 – Starting at 47: life experience and missed early risk
• 35:13–37:43 – On refusing franchising and buyouts
• 44:36–46:37 – The Maggie Rule: respect and institutional loyalty
• 47:11–52:23 – Founder's viral social media moment
• 54:14–57:00 – Branding and Googie architecture
• 58:45–61:17 – Practical advice for new restaurateurs
• 62:23 – The power of showing up daily
• 63:10 – On being remembered as “the fair guy”

---

Quotes & Memorable Moments

“We beat them. I love it...I was going to say kick their ass, but I’m trying to be nice. No, we really did.” — Patrick Terry [10:00–10:08]

“If you want to live in business forever, the customer has to love you. Liking you is not enough... I'm trying to get you to love me. That's the whole point.” — Patrick Terry [16:40–17:10]

“You can outwork a lot of problems. You have to have a decent idea, but, man, if you show up every day, your odds increase.” — Patrick Terry [62:23]

“The Maggie rule is that you never do anything to disrespect Maggie.” — Patrick Terry [44:36]

---

Summary & Takeaways

Patrick Terry’s story stands as proof that it’s never too late to take entrepreneurial risks and build something lasting, meaningful, and loved. His relentless focus on simplicity, fairness, quality, and human connection forged a brand that outlasted giants and created “raving fans.” Personal integrity, hyperlocal roots, a refusal to chase growth at the expense of culture, and hands-on, day-to-day grit shaped P. Terry’s from a single 500-square-foot stand into a Texas institution. The episode leaves listeners with actionable insights on company culture, the power of staying lean, how to “be fair,” and why—no matter what—you should keep showing up.

---

Transcript

[James]

The founder of Peterry's. I'm gonna put it out there. Full transparency. I got Pete Terry's over in n out Whataburger. It's true. These are some damn good hamburgers.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah. The simple idea of burgers, fries, and milkshakes, I just am attracted to that.

[James]

So you started P. Terry's in your late 40s?

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah. Across the street the day we opened was McDonald's, Jack in the Box, Wendy's, Taco Cabana, Taco Bell, and Schlotsky's.

[James]

Not a single one of those. They're still there.

[Jack]

They're all gone.

[James]

Why did all those places go or.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah, I mean, we beat him. I love it.

[Jack]

You went into an area where there was some of the biggest change in the country all around you.

[Patrick Terry]

The secret to all of this is

[James]

if me and you died tomorrow and you had one more message to leave with the younger generation, what would that be to what's going on, everyone? Welcome back to the School of Hard Knocks podcast. I'm James. I'm here with Jack and Josh, and we have an incredible guest for you all today. Friend from our hometown. In our hometown of Austin, Texas. We are with Patrick Terry, the hamburger mogul, the founder of P. Terry's. And for those of you watching right now, if you're not from Texas, you got to come out to Texas to try these hamburgers. We were having the discussion in the car, and I'm going to put it out there, full transparency. I got P. Terry's over in n out. I got P. Terry's over Whataburger. And I know these are some of the competitors, and I know that you're.

[Patrick Terry]

No, no, I'm going to put it out there.

[James]

These are true. These are some damn good hamburgers.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah. No, seriously.

[James]

And, you know, we're just super happy to be here with you, my friend. So it means a lot. And we're going to dive into really how you got into this business. And, you know, you built. Baby, you've built Pteries into what's the name brand to a lot of households and whatnot.

[Patrick Terry]

So thank you.

[James]

Congratulations on your success.

[Patrick Terry]

I appreciate that. I have one correction. I am the co founder. My wife Kathy was very involved and we'll talk about that later. But, you know, I. We share a bed together, so I want to make that very clear that she was right there.

[James]

How long have you been married for?

[Patrick Terry]

I think it's been 21 years.

[James]

21 years.

[Patrick Terry]

So we dated for a few before that.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Patrick Terry]

And the interesting part of all that Is that I talked incessantly about opening a hamburger stand for years.

[James]

At what age did you come up with that idea?

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, my God. Well, I love the restaurant business. And. And the trick with the restaurant business is you.

[James]

You.

[Patrick Terry]

When you. You have to every once in a while, like, take a break and. And forget how hard it is, and then you get back in it because you forgot how hard it was. So I. I always had an inkling for the business, and my favorite was the simple idea of burgers, fries, and milkshakes. I just. I just am attracted to that as most people are attracted to eating that. I love that side of it. And so I talked about it forever. And then I got married late. I was 45 when I got married. And like eight months into our marriage, I just said, oh, by the way, you know how I always talk about it? Well, I just secured a lease on a 527 square foot building at Lamar and Barton Springs.

[James]

So you started viters in your late 40s?

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah, yeah. And. And. And I decided there was a psychological thing I knew I was. I was kind of. I always think of myself as being an entrepreneur. And. And I think that's also the ultimate compliment of a business guy is because it means you can do multiple things. So I'm not really sure if I deserve the title, but that was my goal. And I knew when I started this that this was going to be it. This was the last hurrah. I was sticking with it. I wasn't going to sell it in three years or move on to something else. That this was going to be what I wanted to do until, you know, I dropped.

[James]

Was there another company that had inspired you? Like you mentioned that you kind of always thought about that burger stand. Was there a particular brand or a restaurant that inspired you? And maybe you took some inspiration from before?

[Patrick Terry]

Absolutely. I don't think whether it's consciously or subconsciously anyone creates something all by themselves. Right. I think you have history behind you and great memories or sometimes bad memories that affect you as you grow up. And so I grew up in west Texas, in Abilene. My wife grew up in Midland. And there is a west Texas thing that goes on. It really is. It's different than other parts of Texas. And. And so my idol when growing up was a guy named Mack Epeland. And he had all these restaurants in Abilene and Abilene, just 100,000 people. It's not a particularly wealthy community at all, but this guy owned it. He had the cafeteria, the steakhouse, the diner, the Coffee shop. I mean, he had it all. And even in that environment, he still insisted on the quality. He baked his own hamburger buns. He had his own commissary where he, he ground his own meat. He baked his own pies and cakes. I mean, everything was from scratch. And of course, he ran the town because nobody else was willing to do that. And his prices were always affordable. And so I just never forgot that. And subconsciously, so many of those things have kind of come back. And now we have a commissary. We do our own banana bread, our own cookies, our own veggie burgers. We do our own chicken. Hell, 99% of our customers don't know that we serve salsa. We make our own salsa. So, you know, nothing. We're not opening jars around here, you know, and, and for a fast food restaurant. And that's really what we are. I mean, the, the industry is, is renamed it quick service because fast food got this negative, you know, thing, but that's what we are. You go through the line, you get it in and out as fast as you can. You grab your burger, you grab your fries for the fast food. To, to do this in the fast food industry, to have this commissary where, you know, the veggie burger, the cremini mushrooms, are cooking in cream right now with the fresh parsley and the grated cheese that are going to go into it, and we're going to wrap this thing up and sell it for under five bucks. I mean, for anybody to do that, it just is unheard of. And so, but it, but Mac was my commitment to quality. And, and, man. Yeah, it got me to this point. I think it really did.

[Josh]

How many ptery's locations are there today?

[Patrick Terry]

So we just opened number 38.

[Josh]

Wow.

[Patrick Terry]

Congratulations. Thank you.

[Josh]

All here in Texas.

[Patrick Terry]

All in Texas. You know, it's an interesting thing because that's the first question people ask, are they all in Texas? And the truth is, the biggest mistake you can make in running a business, I think, is, is bringing your ego with you. So we leave our ego at home. Yeah. My name's on the cup. It's on the bag. I get it. But the truth of the matter is, there's no reason for me to go outside of Texas. There just isn't. I can. There are 185 Whataburgers in the Houston area. I have four burger stands in the Houston area. Why would I go to Denver? I mean, really, There's a market. Yeah, I, I, I, you know, I've got plenty of Locations in Houston to open up. I don't even want to go to Dallas right now.

[James]

Why would I. I challenge you on that, though, because you know how much people love your product here. Don't you think that expansion nationally, though, like, do you think that more people would be, like, bought into it at the national level? I'm curious if.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah.

[Josh]

Because I feel like a lot of people, like, when they expand, like, they're worried about the quality.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah.

[Josh]

Diminishing. And maybe that. That's a big part of it. But I. I'd be interested.

[Patrick Terry]

You're both. You're both right. That's exactly right. Yes. We're leaving it on the table that. That, you know, we have got a presence because Austin has become such a hub for activities. And, you know, ACL draws hundreds of thousands of people south by draws, and they all leave and they all have had a pter, or hopefully most of them, thank goodness. And they're talking about it in their other towns. But I have a commissary to look after, and I have quality that concerns me. And the one killer in our business and in most businesses is losing your culture. And so that's the killer, because the minute you lose your culture, which is why when you see companies expand and you walk in and you don't have the event that you used to have, it's not this. The biggest nightmare I can have is, oh, it's not like it used to be. Oh, my God, you know, kill me. Right. And so that's based on culture. And so to. To go into Denver, I'd have to send, you know, two or three people to live there and never leave because they have to provide that culture that, you know, that everyone else needs to have. And so you start to spread yourself really thin and. And, yeah, I can't do that. I can't do that.

[Josh]

So I'm curious. So you're at 38 locations now. For you, what was that process? Like, how long did you have the first location and just the first location. And when did you decide, hey, I want to open up that second location? And what was that process like?

[Patrick Terry]

So the first location, we were open for almost three years before we opened the second one.

[James]

And where was it, by the way?

[Patrick Terry]

It was a. Yeah, it was a Lamar and Barton Springs here, down from Zilker park. That little 527 square foot building. Yeah. And by the way, let me just say across the street the day we opened was McDonald's, Jack in the Box, Wendy's Taco Cabana, Taco Bell and Schlotsky's.

[James]

Not a single one of those are still there today.

[Patrick Terry]

They're all gone. They're all gone.

[Josh]

I want everybody watching this to realize this because we know that intersection very, very well. Like, I think McDonald's was the last one.

[Patrick Terry]

The last McDonald's was the last one

[Josh]

across from the Terriers. And. And that one's gone.

[Patrick Terry]

That's it. And it's a 500 square foot building with two drive throughs in a patio. Right.

[James]

Why did all those places go? Do you know or.

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, I do know. Yeah, I mean, we beat them.

[Jack]

I love it.

[Patrick Terry]

I was going to say kick their ass, but I'm trying to be nice. No, we really did. And it almost wasn't a fair fight because every one of those I mentioned to you are all large franchise based companies, right? They follow a set of rules. I had no rules. This was like fighting in the jungle. And so my wife and I lived at the first location for the first couple of years. I can tell you, seven in the morning I would walk in, grab the money from the safe, make the deposit from the day before, and if I got home at midnight, it was a good day. And I did that forever. Two things happened. One is I saw. Well, three things happen. The first is I saw the competition every day and I would see the 18 wheeler pull up for the Jack in the box guy and the doors would open and the frost would come out and everything would be unloaded and it's all frozen. And you know, there's a. There's. They're rules here, right? They're following the way they do their business. My building was so small that I had to find a produce guy that would deliver six days a week because I couldn't take a Friday delivery of produce for Saturday and Sunday. I didn't have the room. So everything I had was coming in almost daily. So everything was fresh. So right there I have this edge. So I learned about the competition. And the second thing I did is I learned about the customer because I'm there every day. So now I start to see customers. I know all the kids that are coming through at Austin High, you know, sneaking off campus. I see the kids from Westlake coming over. I know everybody and that's really valuable because it helped pick my second location because I saw who was coming over on the weekends, but they weren't coming over on the weekdays and they were over on the other side of further down on Lamar, in older neighborhoods, Tarrytown, old Enfield, stuff like that. And so I Knew if we opened a second store, I'd get those people more often than once a week, which is what happened. The third thing is I got to know our employees, and knowing what your employees are going through on a daily basis is about the most important thing you can do. And so we were just tuned in, and, you know, the franchise guy across the street, he's got 15 stores, you know, or whatever he's got. These are numbers. And I'm giving out cookies, I'm giving out lemonade, I'm giving out T shirts, I'm giving out. I'm doing whatever it takes. And that guy that managed across the street, he's just following the rules. You don't do any of that. So, yeah, we just kind of took them out.

[Jack]

When you look at, like, McDonald's when they were early on, when they were kind of franchising out and doing that rapid expansion, there was. It was a mess. I mean, one store was selling cheeseburgers, the next store was selling quesadillas, the next one selling burritos. It was just a mess. You went into an area where there was some of the biggest change in the country all around you. Do you think a big portion of that comes down to your menu? And, like, how did you ultimately come up with, like, your menu? Because there's not a thousand things on the menu like, there is, like, at Sonic. Oh, how did that happen? How did that kind of come about?

[Patrick Terry]

No, it's a great question. And first of it, part of it is, you know, this was my idea. I wanted to open a burger stand. My wife was great. She came along. She was indisposable. I mean, the things that she helped out in and created, you know, it's the reason we're open today. But this was my vision. It something I always wanted to do. I hate big menus. I mean, if you took me into Cheesecake Factory, I just. I'd probably have a stroke. And I don't have anything against Cheesecake Factory.

[Josh]

That menu is hard to navigate.

[Patrick Terry]

I just can't. I don't like anything that much. I mean, there's nothing that's worth it to me. And so I love the simplicity. The other thing it does is it keeps our cost down. We have no waste. I mean, if they cook a burger on the grill too long, that patty needs to be disposed of. But we don't waste anything. And I think we don't. I think it also slows places down that the menu's too big. Especially in my business, where you have a drive through People don't want to wait, you know, they want to keep it going. So if, you know, I. I just want to sell hamburgers. Kathy is the one that said, we got to sell veggie burger, and we got to sell chicken burger. And I'm like, oh, okay, okay. Turned out to be a good idea. But, yes.

[Jack]

Across the different locations you have in Texas, do you switch up the menu at all, or is it still. Everyone has the same thing?

[Patrick Terry]

I'll tell you that. The other thing is all the price same. So my prices don't vary from one neighborhood to another. And there's some neighborhoods that could afford to pay more. I just don't think that's okay. I. I think we're all. We can all cover it.

[Jack]

How does. How do you do that, though? Because if you look at, like, you know, a Five Guys or a McDonald's, what used to be, you know, a $3 burger is now a $12 burger. And I feel like Peter's is, like, it's incredibly reasonable.

[Patrick Terry]

Right.

[Jack]

Is a big portion of how you're able to do that is because you own the supply chain.

[Patrick Terry]

Well, the truth is, they got greedy and they thought. I don't know if it was because of COVID I don't know what happened. But the last four or five years, things have just gotten really weird. And I think there was this sense of, how much can the consumer, how much pain can they take? How much can we keep going up on their prices? And that's exactly what happened. I mean, that happened with McDonald's, and, hell, it happened with Doritos. All of a sudden, a bag of Doritos was $7. Guess what? People stopped buying it. And so we never got. We never, ever look at something and go, how much could we get for this? I could. You know, I described that veggie burger. We go to great lengths for that. The labor on that is intense. But there's also just accepting a fair profit and going with that. I don't say, oh, my gosh, you know, our oatmeal chocolate chip cookies made with all butter and real chocolate chips and oatmeal. And, you know, we make it fresh every. Every afternoon. You know, it's all that stuff. I want to sell it for a dollar. I. I want the customer to have that experience. And. And there is this. It's really easy to just say, oh, we'll go up another nickel or a quarter or a dime. The other thing is, is the playbook, the old playbook really needs to go. And. And that is we used to have better margins. Our cost of goods were, you know, acceptable in my, you know, my view. I wanted it to be in the high 20s as a percentage of, of my cost. Those days are gone. Beef is crazy. They're. The cattle herd is the lowest it's been in 50 years. I mean, I can go on and on. And so what we do is we accept less profit. We take it as the world has changed and if we are going to continue at the success that we've had, then we're just going to pull back a little bit and say, well, yeah, that was great. We used to make that. We're not going to make that anymore. So we'll hopefully make it up on volume. By the way, the secret to all of this is the customer has to love you. If you want to live in a business forever, the customer has to love you. Liking you is not enough. You can like me all day long, but if a new guy across the street opens up with a new shiny object, well, I like him. But let me go check that out. You love me. You may not go over there. I'm trying to get you to love me. That's the whole point. Excuse me? That's the whole point.

[James]

It reminds me about how I recently did an interview with Arthur Blank, the founder of Home Depot, and he talks about how, you know, the greatest thing that he can see is his customers putting on that, you know, Home Depot apron. Not literally, but in the sense where, like if they were to go to a Lowe's or something like that, then they would feel, you know, bad about themselves because you want those raving fans. When you talk about getting the customer to love you, what goes into that? Is it just making sure that they're experiencing the store? Is it just the quality of the food or what are some things that you do to ensure that, hey, your customer leaves for that type of experience?

[Patrick Terry]

No, absolutely. Well, the first thing we do is we take care of the customer. But by doing that, we've actually taken care of the employee first. So we treat our employees differently. And early on I couldn't pay. In some instances, I couldn't pay as well as some of my competitors. So it was very easy to lose an employee. We were just starting out. But what we could do the simple things, the things that, that nobody else does, and I don't know why. The first thing we do is, if you work for me and you need a loan, I'll give you an interest free loan for as long as you need the money. So if you've wrecked your car or you've had an argument with your roommate. Now you need a deposit for an apartment or you have a sick one, a sick loved one somewhere. So here's the 500 bucks. Here's the 700 bucks. Pay me back when you can. 25 bucks a paycheck, $10 a paycheck, $100. I don't care. I'm not making any money from the bank anyway. I mean, what the hell, what's the difference? I'd rather give it to my employee, let them take care of themselves and also retain somebody because nobody else does it. So then we have a. We've always done this. You get a birthday cake on your birthday and when you fill out your application, one of the questions is what's your favorite birthday cake? Or what's your favorite cake? And you check off chocolate or cheesecake or tres leches or whatever and we deliver your birthday cake to you at the store and we sing Happy Birthday to you. Seems like a little thing. We got 1800 employees, not so easy. But to the employee, you know where we take a break out of the day and sing Happy Birthday and the phones come out and people snap the pictures. It means a lot. So there is this. We're going to take care of the employee first and then they're going to take care of the customer. That's the idea. It's got to be a two way street. We're running a business here. This is not a charity. It's got to be a two way street. Second thing is we're going to, we're going to give back to the community and we are going to be a part of this community. The community has allowed us to grow. The community has given us a, a viable business. How do we not give back to the community?

[James]

Guys, we're going to be right back to the episode with Patrick from Peterry's. I want to point out something that he has said in this episode. The number one most important thing is taking care of your customer. And here's why that matters. The cheapest customer to acquire is an existing customer that already knows and loves your brand. And that's why I want to talk about one of the most powerful tools for entrepreneurs that every level in business today Go High Level. GoHighLevel is a business CRM. It's a software that you can use for your business that automates your entire follow up process. Not just with new customers, for existing customers that you've already had in the past. You can set up actual sequences to talk to your previous customers. So that way you notify them of anything new coming to your business. Any special offers that are coming, you're able to send them announcements, emails, DMS messages. Thanks to go high level. We use it in all of our businesses at the school of hard knocks. The most successful business owners that I know use GoHighLevel in their company. So if you guys want access to GoHighLevel, click the link in the description of this video to start your free trial using GoHighLevel today and watch your business change forever. With that being said, let's get back to the interview.

[Patrick Terry]

And so that's where the days of giving started. And we do it four times a year and we're approaching $3 million and giving stuff back, giving money back to and little charities. It also ties you in with the community. You run into the most amazing people in this town. I'll give you a quick example. There's a woman who just saw the need for giving diapers, disposable diapers, to parents who could not afford to buy something. Just the simplest thing in the whole world goes to Walmart, buys diapers and starts a little thing, Ask a few friends for donations, the whole thing. Well, we did this years ago. This is like 15 years ago. So we give her a check for $10,000. That's a lot of diapers. She's never gotten a check for $10,000. Right. And so now we're a part of this. Right. So it's a multitude of things. But you know what you have to come from? You have to come from a sense of, of doing. Right. And you can't fake it. I can't fake this for 20 years. I mean, at some point it's like, okay, there's a con going on. Right. You're really not that guy or this really isn't that business. It has to come. It has to come from a different place.

[James]

Yeah. You know, our first job that we both ever worked was actually we worked at Chick Fil A. Oh, yeah. So that was our first job ever. We were team members at Chick Fil A.

[Patrick Terry]

They, they're a great company.

[James]

Yeah, they are a great company. And you know, you said something there that, you know, the greatest expense that any business owner will have is employee churn.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah.

[James]

Right. So the idea of taking care of the employees and then taking care of the customers is important. And I know that that's one of the things that they really emphas emphasize a lot in their business. Was there ever a Time in one of your restaurants over the 20 years or so where, you know, you waited maybe unannounced or so, and you kind of. You kind of had to air it out in there because there was just, you know, something. Something going on between the staff or whatnot. And you were just like, guys, what the hell is going on?

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, I've lost my shit. Yeah. More than once.

[James]

Tell us the story.

[Patrick Terry]

There's a time. Well, there's a joke in the office. The. The time Patrick jumped the counter. I mean, that is a well known story. I can tell you where I was and I tell you how I did it, and I can tell you everyone's eyes when I did it, that this old man cleared the counter and went right to somebody and went, that is not how you do it. You know, that's not how you do it. And you knew that he was. I mean, oh, my God. The second time was. And I had to give myself a kind of a break because I really lost it. And I was asking employee a question and she rolled her eyes. And it just triggered me because I'm too old. I've been doing this too long. You don't get to roll your eyes. I can turn around, you can flip me off. You do whatever you want when I'm not looking, but you can't do it. So, yeah, it has happened. But I can tell you in all honesty, those are really. Those are really the only two times and it happened. But.

[Josh]

But that's the thing of a, you know, of a great founder and somebody that really, really cares about their business and their product, that, like, those little things matter so much. Like, I remember we interviewed Steve Madden. You know, he has giant shoe company, shoe company, right. When we did the interview with him, he, like, stopped a woman on this, on the street and asked her, hey, where did you get those shoes?

[Patrick Terry]

Right.

[Josh]

I want to know where you got those shoes and, like, stop the whole production. Just. Just to, like, have a conversation with this woman about five minutes about where and why she bought her shoes.

[Patrick Terry]

Yep.

[Josh]

And I was just like, that's why

[Patrick Terry]

it never leaves you.

[Josh]

That's why he built a massive company.

[Patrick Terry]

I've said before that that the minute I get out of the car, walking into one of those burger stands that I don't bend over and pick up a piece of trash is the day I can't run the company. It just goes with the territory I

[Josh]

want to talk about, though, because, like, you obviously were the founder and then CEO and running the company for a long time. When was that decision for you to bring somebody else in to be the CEO of the company.

[Patrick Terry]

We had decided. Kathy and I go through these. We have lots of conversations, and. And at one point, we decided that we were not going to grow outside of Central Texas. And then we decided we were going to grow out of Central Texas. And there is a term, and it's. It's escaped me where, you know, the guy running the company doesn't feel like he has the. Doesn't have the confidence that he needs to go to the next level. And I had never gone to. I'd only done what I had done. And. And I was worried about going to another city like San Antonio or Houston was a bigger hill to climb that I could handle. And I. Very protective. We call. We call our business the mothership, and we protect the mothership at all cost. And I got to tell you, at all cost.

[Jack]

Brand equity is everything.

[Patrick Terry]

It is. I can't do a thing if the mothership's not protected. I can't. All these great things I've been telling you about, they all go away. And so when you are. When you're focused on. On protecting the mothership, then you. You go, okay, maybe I'm not the guy. And so we had a series of interviews. Hired. Hired a guy, good guy, great guy. And. And what I found was that as important as it was to have somebody with that experience and knowledge, it was more important to have the guy who understood the culture and what you were trying to achieve, because it was his culture and what he was trying to achieve. And I found it was very hard to duplicate that. That to ask somebody to mimic me, because so much of what I do at this level, at this point in my 20 years of running, it is instinctive. I can't explain to you why I just did what I did, but I did. And I've got a lot of guys around me that are really good and very smart and capable, and every once in a while I'll crack the coat on something and they go, oh, he hadn't lost it. Okay, we need them. We still could use them. So it was. It was more of the. The ship just starting to drift. And I instinctively, I mean, I. I just knew this was. This was not the direction it needed to go.

[James]

Yeah, yeah. You. You've been married 21 years.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah.

[James]

And you guys started the company together.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah.

[James]

Talk to us about how you've been able to balance building the business out to where you've got nearly 40 locations and then also having a healthy and happy marriage. Where you guys are still sl. Getting in the same bed.

[Patrick Terry]

No, it's. It's real quick.

[Jack]

One thing I want to touch on there as well is when we first started the conversation, you said that right after you got married as well. You kind of just presented to your wife that I just put a lease down.

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, yeah. Surprise.

[Jack]

You didn't even. What was that conversation like as well?

[Patrick Terry]

Thank God my memory's crap. It was. Well, I will tell you, Kathy has always been 100% supportive of this. And, And I mean, you talk about a yeoman. I mean, she's right in there with me. Part of that West Texas thing. I'm talking. You, you grow up in west Texas where you need your neighbor, you're used to helping out. There's not crap. There's nothing in West Texas. It really is. It's windy, it's sand, there's no water, there are no trees. West Texas is tough. I mean, I love it, and I had a wonderful life there, but environmentally, it's just tough. And so you need your neighbor. There's not a lot of money. You help out. And Kathy did just that. And so when we were going through all of this, if she had not been 100% from the beginning, the marriage couldn't have lasted. There's no way. It was so stressful, it was so strenuous. And I've actually, I hit a certain age in my life and we've hit this 20 year milestone where you start thinking about the past. And I really don't know how we survived the first two years, why it was that hard. It was. It was day in and day out. I tell this story that Fleming Steakhouse had a location over by the convention center downtown in Austin. And our one treat in seven days a week. Our one treat was Friday night. One hour at Fleming's, splitting a steak and having a glass of wine and maybe a scotch. And I went back to work. Our one treat was that hour. And I got through the week thinking about Friday night. I get to have steak. I mean, that was the excitement of the week. And so can you imagine, you have this wife that you've been married to for a year that didn't sign on for this. And all of a sudden she's thrown into this. But she was there and, you know, set up the accounting system, set up hell, she designed the second kitchen, 30 second level bars, Kathy's design for the kitchen. So. So the answer to your question is, had we not been on the same page, it would never have lasted. It would not have worked. And so picking your partner, pretty darn important. And, and, and so, yeah, it has been. There's been a lot going on. It was, and don't forget, I didn't, I said about. I didn't know what I was doing when we opened. I really didn't know what I was doing. I'd never opened a burger stand. I had had a couple of pizza restaurants in my past. I had an idea. I could see exactly where everything was going to go and, you know, having an idea of something and visualizing it and then watching it happen.

[Jack]

Yeah, because. Let's talk about that. Actually. It's like most people, when they talk about taking that risk, people talk about take the risk early on. You know, when you're in your 20s or early 30s. Like, you started this business in your mid to late 40s.

[James]

Right.

[Jack]

Why? Like, why, like, what finally changed for you is, like, I'm gonna go all in on this. Like, now is the right time to start. I understand that there never really is a perfect time, but why then?

[Patrick Terry]

Well, I've been on my own. I started, I graduated from University of Texas and, and I got a job in advertising in Dallas and went to work for a good agency.

[James]

What did you study at ut?

[Patrick Terry]

I was studying advertising. Rudy Stan Richards. Yeah. Yeah, same here. Yeah, there you go. There you go. And anything to avoid those accounting classes.

[Josh]

I was sitting in those. Oh, God.

[James]

My thing is, I didn't want to take calculus in college. The communication school.

[Patrick Terry]

You were good at that. I was right there with you. Definitely. I was right there with you. So you have a nice, you had a nicer school than I did back then. It was smaller, but it was all right. It's really cool. And so I, I went to work at an ad agency and Tracy, like bbdo. I had, I, I, I got my, my MBA there. I worked on Ben Hogan Golf and Frito Lay and, and Phillips Petroleum and, and kind of, you know, did that for three years and learned a lot. And from that moment on, I, I, since I'm 25, I've been out on my own. I've, I've just, I've, I've done consulting gigs. I've done, you know, I bought some real estate. I did some rental stuff. I, but I've been on my own. And so it was always going to be that way. I was always going to be on my own. I, I just, that's just my deal. And, and so, you know, I was willing to do the burger thing earlier. I missed the lease on that location. That I was telling you about. I missed it by five years. I missed it by a week, and it cost. So that location sat there for five years with a lease on it, and the minute it was available, I jumped. So I would have done it sooner. But there's a thing. And you guys have done this, and you know as well as I do, you take a leap of faith when you sign a contract or you sign a lease, or you sign a. Or you start buying things or you go in debt. This is a leap of faith that it's going to work. And a lot of it is just the confidence that you have in yourself. And so by then I. I knew I just could. I could see it. I could visualize it.

[Jack]

Out of the 38 locations you have, how many are franchised?

[Patrick Terry]

None.

[James]

Why?

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, God, I'd kill them and they'd kill me. We. We are. We are so. Man, we're just anal. We just.

[Jack]

People would argue, like, from the outside in, like, you know, you look at. I'll just make the example. McDonald's, for example. You're probably able to expand at a much faster pace if you do it that way.

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, absolutely.

[Jack]

So I'm just kind of curious. Was it just for you? Is it just maintaining the quality of the control, or what is it for you?

[Patrick Terry]

Well, at some point in your life, in your career, money's secondary. You look around, you go, okay, I got a nice house, I drive a nice car. My kids will never starve. What am I going to get out of that? Right? So, you know, we. We've had opportunities to sell the business. We've had, you know, VCs knock on our door and, you know, private equity and.

[James]

Did you ever entertain those conversations?

[Patrick Terry]

I had a really serious conversation 10 years ago. I was. I had been doing it for 10 years, and I was exhausted. And I had an. I had a number one guy with me, and we weren't particularly getting along at the time. And by then, Kathy. We had two kids, and Kathy wasn't spending near as much time as she should not have been at the business. And so a lot of it was on me. And I was just burned out. And I just had my ass kicked because I did a lot of stuff on my own back then. Our office forever had four people in it. And if you wanted. It was smaller in the studio. And if you wanted to make a call, you went out in the parking lot because somebody's standing right next to you. And so, I mean, we were just lean and we were kicking, you know, and I Was just exhausted, and so. I'm sorry. Sorry.

[Josh]

It was just funny.

[Patrick Terry]

He said you weren't gonna get caught. Step outside.

[Josh]

Oh, yeah, it's funny. Cause it's relatable.

[James]

Yeah.

[Patrick Terry]

Nobody.

[James]

Yeah.

[Jack]

So that's not talked about enough is stay lean. Comes with a cost.

[Patrick Terry]

Okay.

[Jack]

Because it's like, damn, everything comes back to me.

[Patrick Terry]

Well, that's why you're here.

[Jack]

You know that new project everyone's talking about? Well, like, who the fuck's gonna do it?

[James]

Yeah, me.

[Patrick Terry]

Of course you are. Yeah. Yeah. I've got a guy in my office, we call him Monty.

[Josh]

So.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah, no, I get it.

[James]

Continue there. Sorry about that.

[Patrick Terry]

So, yeah. Yeah, I'll have this bright idea, and Monty will look at me go, oh, you mean I'm gonna do that? So anyway, what were we talking about? I can't even remember you.

[James]

Yeah, it was a story about 10 years ago, and you and your partner.

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, yeah. So. So we entertained. So I hired an outside guy and we did a deck and. And did the whole thing. And we got a. We got a. A very good offer from a very reputable company. It was real. It was enough money for me to go live on an island. It was. And the minute I got the offer, well, Kathy called me. She was on a flight, and I said, we got this offer. And she got off the plane, she said, you can't sell it. And I said, I agree, I agree. I agree, you're right. And I had gone through the whole bit because, hey, I'm not different than most people. You show me a big check, and I start thinking, okay, boat, car, maybe a plane. I mean, I get it, right? I'm there. And then you look and you go, okay, well, then what do I do? Then what do I do? And where am I going to go? Where am I fly to? Where and where, you know, I got a house, you know? So what I found was what I needed was someone to tell me what I had accomplished because I'd been doing it for 10 years nonstop. I don't go to conferences. I don't network. I don't know anybody in this restaurant town. I. I know three or four guys, but I don't. I don't really know.

[James]

Do you just kind of keep your head down and do your thing?

[Patrick Terry]

I still do it. And.

[James]

And so do you not enjoy that aspect either, of all the schmoozing? And I know what you're feeling,

[Patrick Terry]

and I don't, you know, And I. I get it. I get it, but it's just never been my deal and part of being. And I don't recommend it, but, you know, part of my journey has been I'm just going to do it on my own. I. I'm going to figure it out on my own. I may make mistake. I'll listen to you over there because, oh, you're clearly smarter than me. I mean, if somebody's whispering in my ear. But what I needed after that 10 years was somebody to say, wow, this is what your business is worth, because you've done this. And until that happened, I had no idea. I didn't know what my restaurant, EBITDA, was supposed to be. I didn't know what my profit was supposed to be. Hell, I was taking. When I needed money to pay a mortgage or whatever, I go over to Sharon, who, God bless her, is still working. Sharon, can you just come and check for a couple of grand? I got to go pay some bills. I mean, that was my salary. Finally, the accountant goes, this is not going to be okay with the irs. You're going to have to have a salary, and you're going to have to. It has to be commensurable to what you're earning, what the business is earning, because I just didn't take anything out. It was all about putting it back in. The biggest compliment I've gotten in 20 years. A guy has given me a ride. I get my car fixed, and he's giving me a ride home. And I said, if you pull into this P. Terry's, I'll buy you coffee. Because it was early morning, and he figures out Patrick Terry. P. Terry's. It was a long time ago. And he goes, are you P. Terry? And I said, yeah. And he goes, oh, my God. A bunch of guys were just talking about you the other day, and that's like 13 years ago. And I said, what were they saying? He said, well, they said that you work your ass off and your office is crap. And I said, that's it. My office is crap and I work my ass off. And if you want to put down on my tombstone, because I don't need that ego. I don't need. You know, our office is right over here. And you're in this. In this development. That's where our office and commissary were for years. We just moved a few years ago. We were in the front.

[Jack]

That's cool. Yeah.

[Patrick Terry]

So. So we, we just. Not that this is crap. Didn't mean that. No, no, no, no. But. But the point is that. The point is that you. You have to pick what's important. To you. And, and so I would rather be remembered as the guy who had 50 burger stands that were great, that you had a great experience than to have and be average. I just, I don't want to be remembered for that.

[Jack]

You know what I think is really funny about what you said about like the, you work your ass off and the office is crap. Is. I feel like in the day and age of especially like the social media, you see like the new VC funded company, they got the massive office with the big glass doors and it's like, but they have no product that they've sold, right? There's no revenue being generated.

[Josh]

Just keep raising money.

[Jack]

They keep raising money. I'm like, where's all the money going? You know, I'd rather have a dirty office where I'm actually going to war every day than, hey, look great from the outside. But I'm not, you know, creating anything.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah, no, it, it, it's, it's a facade, right? I mean, it's just kind of where it's kind of like pretend. So I, I, and I'm not putting people down to get their NBA, but I've got, I've got my Ivy League mba, and now I'm gonna go start a little thing and I'm gonna do this, and this is all gonna look good and we'll have a secretary up front.

[Josh]

It's called playing business.

[Patrick Terry]

It is.

[Josh]

They're playing business.

[Patrick Terry]

They're playing business. They're not, they're not actually doing business. They're playing business. And, and you know, I look back and the, the two things that have gotten me into this chair, by the way, you. You've had some hellacious guests. Congratulations. I feel kind of silly. I'm sorry. I should be just sitting on the floor. I don't think I should deserve this chair. No, no, no, but I, but, but the two things that have gotten me here is, the first thing is I know my capabilities. I know exactly what I can do and what I can't do and what I can't do. I go find somebody that can, and I'm not the least bit proud about it. I'm just, Nope, I can't do that. You can. I need you. The second thing is I'm the first guy to admit I made a mistake. Nobody has to point and tell me I made a mistake. I'll admit it before. Because if you're not honest with yourself, if you're not honest about the decisions you make, whether they're good or not, how can you be honest about how Your business is doing or how you treat people or where you're going to go. And how did the people that work for me look at me if. Oh, God. He can't. Jesus. He's pretending like that's okay. I mean, I don't know how they come to work. Right? I don't know. And so what I do is I give them license to say, oh, I screwed up. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Okay, well, remember, I screwed up before you. So you and I got something in common. So when you give the people around you and I forget because, you know, for most of the people that I encounter that work for me, you know, I'm Patrick, I'm not Pete, Terry, and I'm not the guy that they saw on Instagram. I'm just the guy that was running that milkshake machine, you know, not that long ago. I forget that there are people that work for me that look at me differently, that haven't been around as, you know, as long as some of these people. The proudest thing we've ever accomplished. Excuse me, is called the Maggie rule. So Maggie started with us the second day we opened. Right. Twenty and a half years ago. Maggie still works for us.

[Jack]

Awesome.

[Patrick Terry]

She's working the grill right now at William Cannon. And the Maggie rule is that you never do anything to disrespect Maggie. So I'll give you a perfect example. When I wasn't running the company, the last. The last guy took the office, rented a bus and took the office on a wine tour around Fredericksburg. They spent the day drinking wine and having lunch. They got home, they posted their pictures, they had a great day. Maggie pulled a double that day. Pulling a double on the grill is like digging ditches. It's really hard. So here's this 50 year old woman, been working for me 20 years, gets home, takes her shoes off, sits on the couch, opens up her phone and sees her office drinking wine on a workday. You don't disrespect Maggie. And so, and I get. I'm sorry to get emotional, but you have to understand when you know what your people are going through, when you know how hard they work in the stands and the guys in the office got it made, AC chairs, you know, the whole bit. We are a very democratic lowercase D company. We're all toeing the line. We're all, you know, if. If I've got five people in that office that can work in a burger stand right now, if something is happening in a burger stand and they need help, I expect one of Those five to get off their ass and run to that burger stand and help out. It's just part of it. It's just part of it. So when you look at your people in that regard and with that respect, then. But your company becomes different. It just does.

[Josh]

It goes to the testament of, like, how much you care about, you know, not only your customers and the brand, but also your employees as well. Yeah, I think what's been really cool recently on, on, like, you know, we're a media company on social media. And so, like, what's came as of recent is a trend of, you know, many leaders and CEOs of different companies have, you know, kind of expressing, you know, how they feel about their product and things like that. And so as a media company, I can't be, you know, I have to ask, you know, to see the video of yourself, get millions of views online, trying your product.

[Patrick Terry]

Right.

[Josh]

What was that like? Like. And you know, for us maybe speaking to just like, how do you kind of see, like the power of social media and what that's maybe done for. For your brand and. And how. Just tell us the story real quick of like, yeah, maybe how your team approached you with that. Because, I mean, for those that don't know, like, obviously there's a trend of, you know, CEOs of different, you know, fast food companies and things like that trying their product. And of course there was a bunch of controversy with the McDonald's CEO with that one. And so, you know, Patrick, you did that video and it was, it was an awesome video.

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, thank you.

[Josh]

It genuinely was. Thank you. And I just. Yeah, I just want to hear you tell that story.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah, so it's actually a pretty good story. So we have two media people, marketing people, and they're both named Devin, man and a woman, mid-20s. And so they're into it. Right. Social media. Know everything. Excuse me. I don't know anything about it. I'm really, really. That guy. And they walk into the office on a Wednesday and they say, this is a thing going on. And it started with the McDonald's guy and the Burger King guy had jumped in to mock the McDonald's guy, which Burger King's gonna do, and so we want you to do it tomorrow. And I said, okay. And I kind of had heard about it, but not really. So I go home and excuse me. And I'm. And no one's at home there. Everybody's out of town and I'm scrolling and I'm watching all these people take a bite of their burger and go, oh, this is delicious. And I think it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I'm shocked how these guys. Well, of course you're going to say your burger's great. What? What the hell? What's wrong? What are you even posting it? So I started to get pissed off and I sent. I sent one of the Devins a text and I said, you know, every Tom, Dick, and Harry is doing this. I think it's ridiculous. I'm not going to do it. And you got to understand, I'm handled at work every day. Everyone knows how to. They're all handling me. They know how to. They know what I'm. What. What to say and how to handle me. And I got handled. And Devin said, do this. You just do it in the morning. If you don't like it, we don't have to post it. And I'm like, okay, okay, I'm being handled. That's fine. That's not a bad answer. Sorry, I'm having a little tantrum. So we hang up the phone, and then the next guy I watch has a mouthful of food and he's trying to talk and he's crammed some of it on one side of his cheek. And I'm like, you posted this? This is unbo. This is. You're a look like an idiot. This is the damnedest thing. So I immediately said, well, I'm not. I'm not biting the burger. I'll do the post, but I refuse to bite the burger. Eat into the hamburger. So then I'm sitting there on the couch by myself, and I go, well, if you're not going to bite in the burger, why are you doing it? Well, you could talk about the burger. And I go, I know. I'll invite 10 of our customers to have lunch with. And it just like that. And, And I knew the minute I said it, I'm like, oh, that's a really good idea. 10's a good number. I didn't. It's not five. That's not enough. 20. It's too many. 10's perfect. So we get to the office and I'm sitting at the desk and I. And I. I rehearsed it in my head a hundred times. And they walk in, they. They just went to one of the stands, they just ordered a double with cheese fries in a strawberry shake. They didn't know there was no food preparation. None. I promise you. I opened up the wrapper. I'm one of these things guys that I just like to be honest, right that's. Kitchens are always open. That's why they're windows. I want you to see everything. I don't like tricks. And so I just opened the bag, and the only thing I would let him do, and I said, well, I'm just going to do this how I eat every day at my desk. And I put some fries down, I put some ketchup down. The only thing I let him do is he got to move the cup so that you could see the pizzeries. That's the only thing I let him touch. And we did it. One take. And I. And I just said, I'm not going to. I'm not comfortable eating in front of you. And I'm thinking, I don't know why you want to watch me eat it. And he didn't. One take, and he walked out. And I said, are you good? And he goes, yeah. And I said, because I'm about to eat, and when I eat this, we're not doing it again. He said, no, no, it's good. It's good. Ten minutes later, the phone rings. Friend of mine in San Antonio, she says, I want to have lunch with you. I said, what are you talking about? She said, that thing has been posted. It was only 10 minutes later, and it. 26.7 million views or some crazy 120,000 comments. I have to say this stat because it's unbelievable to me. At one point in time, the term Pete Terry's locations was the number one search on Google.

[Jack]

Wow, that is awesome.

[Patrick Terry]

Because nobody knew who the hell we were. You know, it went all over the world and people were like, pete Terry's where? And they hit locations.

[Josh]

Yeah. The top, top comment on Tick Tock is, man, I'm finding burger, burger places I've never heard of before.

[Patrick Terry]

Exactly.

[Josh]

Exactly.

[Patrick Terry]

And so it was. So it was just a really fun thing. And, and. And once it, you know. So to answer your question, I never seen anything so powerful in my whole life.

[James]

Guys, we're gonna get right back to the episode with Patrick in just a second. But before we do that, I want to point out something that he just said. He has never seen something so powerful like social media. Even people like Logan Paul will tell you that if you master this skill of content creation, you will always be successful in business. However, one of the most common things that I see among all business owners and entrepreneurs is that they know they need content. They know they need to be building a personal brand, but they just don't have the time and bandwidth. And that's why I want to talk about Opus Clip today and their new tool, Agent Opus. Guys, with Agent Opus, you can publish a polished video all created by AI, and all you have to do is give it a simple script, a unique voice and your brand assets. And we gave Agent Opus a simple prompt, which is James eating a hamburger. And look at what it created. What Agent Opus does is it creates content, so that way you can't tell whether the edits were done by AI or not. If you guys are ready to take your brand, your business, your content to the next level, go down right now. Click the link in the description of this video to sign up and use Agent Opus today and. And watch your business and content go to the next level. With that being said, let's get back to the interview.

[Patrick Terry]

And I grew up, you know, with. With when there were three TV networks and there was Johnny Carson and, you know, I grew up in that world and my dad actually ran a TV station. And so I used to think that that was powerful. Nothing like this. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

[James]

I want to talk about something else. Right. So one of the things that I love about Pete Terry's is the branding seems like super modern as well. Right. Especially some of the locations that come to mind.

[Josh]

It's modern, but it kind of has that, like. Classic.

[James]

Yeah, classic.

[Patrick Terry]

Right.

[James]

What went into the branding and was any of it maybe at all inspired from, you know, the background in advertising that you have?

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah, there was. There was some inspiration from that. But it. You guys are right to point it out. It's called Googie Architecture. G W O G I E. Do

[James]

you have a rebrand at all or have you ever rebranded or like, has it been consistent ever since?

[Patrick Terry]

It's always been. Yeah, it's always going to be. That was the one stipulation. And I went, I. The architect that we found, Michael Shu, who is, you know, infamous in this town these days. Michael. And this was 20 years ago when he was as talented as he is today, but just wasn't as well known. My. I got tired of telling. When I would interview architects, I got tired of saying Googie Architecture. And they never heard it, so I stopped saying it. It. And I so. And what I love about it, and it's. It's really Southern California, 50s and 60s. And there's an innocence about it because of the time it comes from. So it's straight lines, stone, lots of glass, natural lighting, plants, our stores. Right. And what I love about it is that I do see it as timeless. I see you walking into a Pete Terry's 20 years from now and feeling like, like this feels right and, and, and it's really become the key to our marketing and, and you know, people will see one being built and know what it is before the sign gets up. But it's a very important part of it, what I'm trying to sell you. When you walk in or even go through the drive through, you know, we have all the little signs painted, signs posted, you know, with all of our, you know, lemonade, you know, everything. I'm trying to give you an experience even through the drive thru and where I can. I want to add plants and, and, and landscaping. I want it to be a night, I want it to be nice. But I'm really trying to take you back to when we were a more innocent country. And, and as terrible as it sounds, pre JFK assassination, because when John Kennedy was assassinated, we. There was an innocence that was lost in the country that that could happen in our country. And before that, there was a lot of Leave it to Beaver and Wally and it was simple Andy Griffin. I mean, I'm naming TV shows, but those TV shows reflected society. And so I'm really trying to take you back to a different time. And that's why the employees, my hope is my employees are, are a part of that. Right? I mean, I've had customers tell me that employees have come around the counter to hug them because they've had a bad day. I mean, so, so that's really. But the Googie architecture and the look of it is as important as anything that we do.

[Jack]

You guys launch a new milkshake every single month?

[Patrick Terry]

We do.

[Jack]

Wow. Like, what's the, what's the strategy behind that? And how long has that kind of been a thing? Has that always been a thing? Since inception.

[Patrick Terry]

It grew on its own.

[James]

Nutella.

[Patrick Terry]

Oh, I know it's coming. It's coming.

[James]

I'm the Nutella man.

[Patrick Terry]

I know it's coming. No, it's absolutely coming. It's, it's one of our top sellers. Reese's is the top seller, but Nutella is right there behind it. No, it comes back every year, I promise.

[Josh]

I like the orange one. The orange, the, the Creamsicle. Like that, that one is so good.

[Patrick Terry]

So interesting you said that because I've been catching so much crap on social media to bring it back. That wasn't you, was it?

[Josh]

No, no, no, no.

[Patrick Terry]

So

[Josh]

look, look, I love it.

[Patrick Terry]

Well, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I've gotten so much heat the last couple weeks that you will see it again. I promise you what we did, we were just trying to have fun. You know, we were just. I don't want to expand. I didn't want to expand the menu. I didn't want to add anything. We're just trying to make it fun. And so it kind of gave a little. Our. Our folks some creativity to come up with something. So we have a, you know, we have a. A.

[James]

The.

[Patrick Terry]

The commissary is run by a guy named Frankie. In fact, if you buy our chicken bites, one of the sauces is Frankie sauce, and that's Frankie because he created it. But Frankie's. Frankie's the real deal. And in fact, I have a. When I finish here, I have a s' mores shake that I'm supposed to test that'll be on the menu soon. So we're. We just have fun with it.

[James]

We.

[Patrick Terry]

It got to be a real thing. And, you know, it's like so much you don't realize the momentum that people are actually waiting to hear what the next one is or when it's going to be or when this is coming back. It just kind of grew organically. It's become a big deal for us, though.

[James]

I wanted to ask you, and this is for all the. We call them young people, people that aspire to one day be a restaurateer, that want to open up their own restaurant.

[Patrick Terry]

In.

[Jack]

In.

[James]

In today's world, you know, you hear all the time that it is incredibly hard to get a loan from a bank for a restaurant.

[Patrick Terry]

Right.

[James]

I want to just ask you for that young person that's watching that maybe hopes to open up a restaurant of their own one day, what do you think is the best way to go about getting the money to start and open up a restaurant? Because we know that it can be capital intensive, and in the beginning, it may not be super profitable at first. Do you have any advice for them? As somebody who's been in the game for a long time, I think, you

[Patrick Terry]

know, our original 500 square foot building is really today's trailer. And as you've seen living in Austin, you know, some of the best food in Austin is through trailers. Right. I mean, Franklin Barbecue started as a trailer. Torchy started as a trailer.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Patrick Terry]

So that's a real beginning. I know. I had a nice conversation the other day with Ben, who runs Bessame Ice Cream. Incredible ice cream. I mean, like, oh, my God. And he's out of a trailer. So I really think if you don't have the financing up front, if you don't have A friends and family that will pitch in. And frankly, you have to have pretty good experience to open something up. You can't just do it on a whim, because catastrophe is written all over opening up a restaurant. I think a trailer is a great way to go, and I think you can do it at a reasonable cost. We were still. And I had money because I was in my 40s, and I had done a bunch of stuff, so. But we still did SBA loans. You know, you could still apply through a bank to get an SBA loan. I don't know what that's like today, but I would start in a trailer, and I would start with a really simple menu, and I would get. You know, I would be known for my one sandwich or my one taco or whatever it is. You got to build around that. But that's what I would do. And if you can, and I promise you. And I've seen this because I've talked to years ago, very successful pizza guy was working out of a trailer, and one of his customers was a banker that went, you know, every week and one day he just said, hey, I want to loan you some money to get you in a brick and mortar. So I think the trailer's the way to go.

[James]

I love it.

[Patrick Terry]

Yeah.

[Jack]

One of the things you just said is that you kind of want to build it around, like, a singular item where you can kind of build off of that. How do you go about getting that. That customer feedback of, like, hey, what I'm building or this product that I have is actually good, and people are going to want it?

[Patrick Terry]

Well, social media is going to come right back, and they could also bite you in the ass. But most customers, we ask for our feedback. You know, I put in postcards and put the stamp on it, and I put it in the bag for months and months. Tell us how we're doing, you know, what's going on. We put our phone number. To this day, the phone number's on the bag, you know, and customers will tell you. They will absolutely clue you in as to how you're doing. They're pretty tough. God, I love it.

[James]

Well, Patrick, we'd like to end these podcasts off with two questions for our guest. I'm going to start, and then Jack will finish this up here. So my one for you, Patrick, is that, you know, you built an incredible company. If me and you died tomorrow and you had one more message to leave with the younger generation, what would that be?

[Patrick Terry]

To succeed, to really succeed, you got to show up every day. You can outwork a lot of problems. You have to have a decent idea. But, man, if you show up every day, your odds, and it's a game of odds, right? Everything we've talked about today, it's all, how do you increase your odds of success? How do you increase your odds for everything that you're trying to achieve in life? If you show up every day, your odds increase. And I can tell you, of all my faults, that is not one of them. I show up every day.

[Josh]

I love that. And Patrick, for you, the company that you've built, the relationships you have, the legacy you're looking to leave for you, how do you want to be remembered?

[Patrick Terry]

I want to be the guy that just was fair, you know, fair from a standpoint of he was fair with his, with his staff, he was fair with his customers. He was you. The word fair isn't really used very often, but the truth is, it's the most simple way I can just say, you know, he did it right. He was fair. It was always fair. If I invested in him and this was my return, it was a fair return. If I was a customer and I got a burger and fries and it cost me eight bucks, it was a fair. I think it's underused, but I love it for its simplicity. Let's just be fair. Yeah, let's start with that.

[James]

Love it. Well, Patrick, this was an amazing conversation. Thank you.

[Patrick Terry]

I had a lot of fun. You guys have an energy. I mean that. There's an energy that you feel in the room. And I felt it. It was really fun to be here to do this.

[James]

I appreciate that. For everybody watching right now, be sure to like and subscribe for amazing content and amazing guests. Amazing business owners coming every week to the Hard Knocks podcast. Be sure if you haven't done so, like I said, you got to hit up Pete Terry's whenever you're in Texas. Look, I'm an advocate. I vouch for it. And everybody, you know, everybody that's, that's in, in here, even aside from the founder, can also vouch for that as well. But, guys, we're going to put down all the links in the description for you guys to check out. Patrick and his company along with. We're going to put a link down in the description to join the school of Mentorship, which is the number one community for entrepreneurs in the entire world, where we host live calls every single week with the eight, nine and ten figure entrepreneurs that we interview on the school of Hard knock. So we can't wait to see you on the inside. With that being said, we'll see you in the next episode.