Lyle Richardson

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01:01And it is that time of year. Again, you need to call Lauren Demaine right now. Her number is 615-319-9200. Again, call Lauren Demaine with net checks at 615-319-9200. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now, here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City. And welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host. We'll be joined with Caroline Galzin shortly while we have a conversation with Lyle Richardson, who is the COO of A Marshall Hospitality, which includes Puckets, Americana Tap House, Deacon's New South, Burger Dandy, Scouts Pub.

02:05I think he has 14 restaurants, all in all. This is a really good episode if you are in operations or you run a restaurant, because that's what we're talking about today. This is really a inside baseball restaurant operational conversation, and we just geek out, and it is so much fun, so I cannot wait to get to that. I do wanna tell you that this Tuesday, we have a big episode. It's gonna be live on YouTube. It's gonna be a roundup episode, and our guest host is going to be Andrew Little. He is the chef and partner over at Josephine. He's a James Beard nominee, and we're gonna talk about all the things. One of the topics is gonna be Noma and the closing of Noma and what that means and his opinion on that. We're gonna get his opinion on a lot of things, so if you want to be a part of that conversation, go right now, press pause, and go subscribe to our YouTube channel, because then you will get a notification when we go live Tuesday morning at 9.30, and you can chat in, you can comment.

03:05Let us know. You can be actually a part of this conversation. I'm super excited about that, and then coming up Monday, we are going to have, so that's Tuesday. That episode will air on Friday on the National Restaurant Radio Network, and then Monday, we're gonna have our conversation with Kerry Bringle, and you know that's gonna be a lively one. He has opinions, and I cannot wait to get into that conversation, but first, I wanna jump in real quick. We know that we've been doing the Bon Me project over at Eastside Bon Me, and we're gonna jump in real quick with Chad Newton, who's the owner of Eastside Bon Me, and he's gonna let us know who the people's choice, the final Bon Me, who it's gonna be. Let's jump in. Okay, so we've got Chad Newton on the line right now, and they've been doing the Bon Me project, where they bring in different chefs, and they create Bon Me's, and how's that been going? Yeah, it's been going really good. This is our second season, and we've had a great chef lined up both seasons, and yeah, it's going awesome.

04:06We are so thrilled to be able to raise some money for the National Food Project. That's what it does. So it does $1 from every sandwich sold, goes to the National Food Project, and like you said, we work with chefs around the city to kind of come up with their take on a Bon Me. A lot of time, it's a little far off from a Bon Me, but hey, it's all about bracing your spread and making a really good sandwich and kind of having fun with it. That's what we've been doing. They've been so good. You had Harant from Lyra, you had Michael Hanna, Julio Hernandez, I think, did one too. Oh yeah, yeah, Josh Haberger from Bastion, yeah. So you're Barbecue, or Kisser, yeah. Kisser, that was an amazing one also. Yeah, I've tried to make it in there every single week for these, but you, at the end of this, have a surprise guest chef who's gonna create your last Bon Me, and I talked to you and I said, hey man, I'd love for you to announce this on the podcast, and you were like, heck yeah, dude. So here we are, you're on the podcast.

05:06Who's gonna be your final chef? Who's the surprise guest everybody's waiting for? Well, we do have two more. We've had to kind of rearrange calendars just a little bit because the holidays kind of got in the way there, and we wanted to get the maximum engagement we could so we could be successful as possible for the food project. But we have two more. We do have our People's Choice Award, and this year, or this season, for season two of the National Bon Me project, we wanted to do a People's Choice so everyone could be heard, and so we opened up voting a couple months ago, and it was a pretty resounding pick for some pretty awesome folks that are actually here in East Nashville that are kind of legends themselves. So we have the People's Choice, which I'll announce in just a second, and then sometime in February, we're gonna finish off with Trevor Moran from Locust. Ooh. That's gonna be awesome. That's gonna be a big one. Scheduled a little bit. Trevor's a little busy, you know, winning Restaurant of the Year and stuff, so.

06:06That happens. That's how we feel, right? Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, so yeah, we're gonna get to it. Like, we're gonna conclude with the last two, and then, so our People's Choice is a legendary sandwich maker from East Nashville, which is Bill's Sandwich Palace. Oh, man. And I think it's so cool because I've always looked up their sandwiches. They have awesome photography. They do a great job with their brand. I think they just got a brick and mortar that they're gonna be moving into, so it's so cool. They do. And Aaron, yeah, and Aaron Clemens, who we're working with on this, is gonna come out with an amazing sandwich, obviously, because of their sandwich pedigree. So we're super stoked to announce that it's gonna be Bill's Sandwich Palace as the People's Choice winner for the National Bon Me project. Well, you can count me in. I'm very, very, very excited about that. That's just gonna be amazing. Yeah, and you know what's cool about it? Like, I think a lot of people in the community, and this just shows how national restaurant community and overall community is so strong.

07:07I think, like, a lot of people will be like, wait a second, that's like a competitor to yours, or we get that a lot, and it's like, it doesn't matter. They're doing great sandwiches, we do great sandwiches, let's all come together and have fun. Yeah. So that's what's all about, you know? So I also wanna say, I just bought reservations for Star Rover on February the 16th. Your wife is doing a pop-up, and it's gonna benefit the Giving Kitchen. Giving Kitchen, exactly, yep. Yeah, we are so excited about that one. I mean, let me just tell you this. Ford, Fry, and his restaurants are like our favorite restaurant group in the South, and they just do such a great job. Ford's from Houston, Grayson's from Houston. You know, we've been to all his restaurants in Atlanta and in Houston, and of course here in Nashville. You know, we love Super Rica, and you know, what's really cool is that we started hanging out at Star Rover and just loved it, like fell in love with it.

08:09Such a cool thing, and then also, obviously, you know, the Optimus is awesome, and Leloo, and everything they have going on in that building in Germantown is just a home run. So we kinda reached out to them, and this is under the, you know, Visit Music City diet month, and so we're just like super stoked to do it. So we reached out and talked to Ford and said, hey, we wanna really do a collab with you. I think it'd be a cool idea if we could do like a takeover at Star Rover, kind of doing a similar menu to what you would do there, but doing a Vietnamese style with Chef Gracie, and we'll throw in some live music and cocktail pairings by Kenneth, and I think it's gonna be an awesome, awesome night, and proceeds all go to the Giving Kitchen, which helps hospitality workers in need. So it's like a triple home run. Wow, well I'm excited to be there. We're doing it kind of as a date night. Oh yeah, that sounds like a party there. Yeah, it's gonna be great. Well, Chad, thank you for all of the things that you do, not only creating the best damn sandwiches in the world, but for all of your philanthropic opportunities that you're giving to the Nashville Food Project, for the Giving Kitchen, and just your time energy towards this community, you're an amazing guy, and you're my favorite restaurant in town, I had to tell ya.

09:24Oh, thank you so much. And we probably got some more cool news coming up for the next couple months with our You Are Here hospitality restaurant group. Well, let's do a full show. Let's bring you and Gracie and Emma and Chris and everybody in, and let's do a fun, full episode. Yeah, shout out to SS Guy and Chris and Emma. We got some exciting news coming soon, so. Yeah. Thanks, Brandon. All right, buddy. Have a good one. Talk to you soon, bye. Bye. Well, there you have it. Bill's Sandwich Palace will round out the Bon Me project as the people's choice. That is so exciting. Love our errands, love all of our bills. I'm a bill, really excited about that. Everybody who goes there is a bill, so you gotta be a bill. Amazing, amazing, amazing, just so much fun. All right, well, let's jump in. We've been talking for way too long. Let's jump in with Lyle Richardson of A Marshall Hospitality. There you go.

10:26Have you done a lot of podcasts? I haven't done a lot of podcasts, which I was very excited to do because this is really, I believe, my first podcast. No kidding? So I'm pretty stoked. Nice. And like I said, starting off with the description of getting here and seeing this cool space, I mean, it's just, it's making me even more excited, so I'm looking forward to the next hour with y'all. Are you a podcast listener? I am, I am. What do you listen to? It's such a diverse variety of things. I'm a pretty staunch Christian, so I listen to a lot of Christian leadership podcasts, a lot of military. I was in the Navy for a little while. I love Andy Stanley. Oh, nice. Andy Stanley's great. I listen to a lot of military inspiration and influence. Don't go down the road too much of the business. Kind of like a little bit of the lifestyle. I've been really focusing on a lot of children's podcasts as well because I have young children as well, so it's been interesting. How many children do you have? I have two. I have a nine-year-old and a six-year-old. One of each.

11:27One of each, man. I have a nine. Can you turn me up a little bit? Yeah, I'm a nine and a seven-year-old of boys. Nine and a seven, that's awesome. Two boys. Two boys, nine and seven. You know, my wife and I talk about this all the time, and my son being nine, and kind of the phase he's going through right now, and we love him to pieces, but you look at that little girl and you go, ah, thank you. I don't have that. Sometimes I look at God and I go, why? Why? Not thank you, but why? And all tongue in cheek, obviously. Absolutely, absolutely. It's a special, do they play sports? Are they into that? Are you doing that? They do, you know, they both play soccer. My son is an amazing, amazing kid. Is he the nine or the seven? He's the nine-year-old. Does he play soccer right now? He plays soccer right now. Where does he play at? He plays for Club Nusa, so he does Nashville United Soccer Academy. Okay.

12:27So he does a club team, and then he also does Williamson County Rec. My son is a nine-year-old in Williamson County Rec right now. Really? At the indoor? Yeah, he plays in indoor. Yeah, is he U-10? Yeah. He probably played my son. When's your next game? Is it Saturday at nine? At eight. I'm there Saturday at nine, so I'll miss you. I'll high-five you. We'll meet at the bleachers. Small world. Okay, so are you the dad in there that is yelling the whole time? I was recently, yes. That was me, if you were there. So you were the yeller. I was. Well, no, there's two sets of bleachers, and this facility's beautiful. But kids on my team, my parents on my team, just watch the game. They just watch. And last week, we were playing as a team, and everybody's like, get him, Johnny, do this! Every single time the ball was touched, nine parents on the team were just screaming and yelling. I'm like, can we let the kids play? And I was just like, they're playing the game.

13:28They have coaches. I'm a parent, I'm a spectator at this point. I can coach them when I'm home. Sorry, I thought that's you, but I mean. It's not, it's interesting to watch. It's hard for you to get excited. Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm sure you get caught up in the moment, right? You do get caught up, because I think sometimes, as a parent, I played sports, my wife played sports, so we're competitive by nature. Yes. Then we have this offspring that is now playing sports. So it's a little bit of us out there, let's be honest, and we're going, go, go, go, go, oh, I wouldn't have done that. Come on, son, come on, and go. And you get the parents who are very passive and just very, Johnny, good job, you did great. And I'm looking, going, what? Are we watching the same game? I'm over there, pass, son, pass, pass! And they're like, why are you telling him to pass? Because he needs to pass, and I know he has coaches, but I get kind of excited about it, you know? And it's a positive, caught up feeling, you know? I, you know what, so that's funny, because I've always wondered behind that.

14:31I mean, because I'm a big after action, let's talk about it, because I'm the same way, I'm very competitive, and I was the kid's baseball coach, and I was the coach on the sidelines, who was that parent. I'm, catch the ball, Moodley! And I'm yelling the whole time, at one point I went to the whole parenting people, and I was like, if I'm yelling at the kids, because I love them, and I'm trying, it was an eight-u team, and I'm like, eight-u kids at baseball is like herding cats. And the center fielder's, you know, looking in the stars, and like, they're like, pay attention, just get him to pay attention, that's the hardest part. Soccer has been really fun, because it's so fast. It's fast. No out of bounds, like it just goes. It is, and you know, it's a funny thing, my son is such a smart kid, and he one time came to me, and usually the excitement is for more encouragement, you know, and a more kind of, you know, nice job, great pass, or trying to just confidently, you know, give him a little bit of a boost. He came to me one time and says, Dad, I can't hear you. There's acrylic all the way around the thing.

15:32He goes, I can't hear a word you're saying. So my son after the game, he goes, Dad, don't say my name. He goes, don't do it kids, because I heard you say, go William, and I thought my coach was calling me to come off, because they do subs, like middle of the game. They're like, he goes, William, come out, and William will go to the side, and then they'll put another kid in. He goes, you called my name, and I went to the side, and coach was like, what are you doing? He's like, you didn't call for me? He's like, just stop. So I was like, okay, I'll just, I'll just hang back. I just enjoy the game. I'm just gonna enjoy the game. He was goalie one day, and I couldn't handle that. Oh my goodness. Because I was like, dude, you got it. And I went and like stood behind the goal. And it was like, hey buddy, like, hey, get down, bend down, go to the left. And I'm like, slowly, because he was scared. I knew he was scared to death. He was like, I don't wanna be a goalie. And the coach said, we'd be the goalie. And he went out there, and I was like, oh no. Oh, here it is, here it is. And so that was the whole thing. We went up there, and yeah. So anyway, we could talk about this for a long time. I'll see you on Saturday. See you Saturday. I won't be dressed like this, but we'll have a good time.

16:33So we did, let's do a formal introduction. We're excited to introduce Lyle Richardson. He is the COO of A Marshall Hospitality. So people have been listening to this for a little while now going, who the hell are they talking to? They'll know it. But Lyle, you guys have 14 restaurants. 14, right? We do, we do, we have a few locations. So it's interesting to sit back and look at numbers and the number of locations because, you know, you're just in the mix and you're just grooving along. And all of a sudden you got two more opening up and popping up, you know, across the country. So it's been great. But yes, multiple locations, multiple concepts. Obviously probably the most well-known that we run and operate. We just opened most recently in Coleman, Alabama. So reason to the tumbler that I have here. Our Alabama native over here. Absolutely amazing people down there. And they've been so welcoming and just so supportive of us that, you know, I just, we couldn't ask for a better partnership. Where is Coleman? It's on the way to Huntsville, is that right?

17:34It is, it's between Huntsville and Birmingham. It's where exit 310. So 310 seems to be a pretty popular spot and Coleman just has such a great growth community there with industry and just with retail and hospitality and education. And it's just seemed like a great ripe spot for us to go to. So we made a good decision, you know. And like I said, the people there have just been absolutely incredible for us. So I'm very excited. So what is your decision-making process? Your growth strategy towards finding new locations? Coleman, Alabama isn't the hotbed you would, for me, I'm looking for a new location. It's like, well, what do you think about Coleman, Alabama? I mean, Northern Alabama is experiencing tremendous growth. Huntsville is on fire. And you know, Florence, Decatur, that whole Northern Alabama is amazing. I think it's, people there would want me to shut up right now because they're like, dude, we love it. Do not tell people about us because it's going to turn into Nashville, where it was like, don't come here, but don't move here. Yeah, it's a great kept secret there. You know, honestly, the story probably stems more from Andy and his relationship with a group of ladies called the Coleman girls, the Alabama girls.

18:40And they've been coming to Puckett's ever since Leprous Fork. So they've been coming to Puckett's 20 plus years and have been basically saying, hey, y'all need to come to Coleman. Y'all need to come to Coleman. Y'all need to come to Coleman. So it's been on the map for a long time. Okay. And you know, just recently, a few years ago is when we really started taking a real deep dive into it. And realized that, wow, this checks a lot of boxes. We were really surprised because like you said, when you look at a map and you go, where am I going? I don't know if that's necessarily the one that has the glowing light, so to speak, but it's got so many great points to it that, we said, let's give it a shot. Things started to line up. People started coming to our world and just really help us with information and data and analytics and support. And we said, let's give it a shot. And then the property game available. And that was probably one of the biggest things was finding the location specific that came available. And when it did, we said, hey, let's go with it.

19:42It's in God's hands now. You know, let's go and follow this road. It's interesting how that happens. Yeah, no, I was gonna say that something that Brandon and I have talked about a lot is kind of, you know, the boom that Nashville has experienced and how sustainable that is for the future of new restaurants opening here that aren't like, hey, a huge group from New York, a huge group from Chicago, something like that. Is that part of your decision making as well to say, hey, Nashville's a little too hot right now, a little too expensive. You know, we're looking into other markets where it's maybe a little more affordable and feels a little more sustainable for business? Yeah, if you look at the history of our concepts, we are very Main Street America. You know, we're in squares. We're in Franklin, Murfreesboro, Columbia. We're in a lot of squares. We're really that old Main Street feel. You know, and that's really what we're about. For the Puckett's brand. For the Puckett's brand. And you know what, this one at Coleman was a little different because it's not in that area of Coleman. It's actually where some of the chains are.

20:45And you know, that's not usually our business model, but we decided with evolution and looking differently, you gotta test your models sometimes and you gotta see what's gonna work. So we stepped out of our box a little bit and we were pleasantly surprised to see that still the Coleman community comes out and supports us because it's close enough. But then we get all those visitors that travel through Interstate 65, you know, going from our home of Williamson County all the way down to the beach a lot of times or traveling through Alabama or wherever they're going to Birmingham. And we've really been able to capture a lot of those people coming in too. So to answer the question about Nashville, yes, Nashville is dense. There's a lot in Nashville. And I think for us, you know, it would have to be the right spot for us to make that decision. And are they out there? Absolutely. But we've also really entrusted things to go organically. You know, we get brick and mortar propositions to us daily. Can imagine.

21:45And you know, for us it's figuring out is this a good community? Is this a good relationship? Is this something we feel we fit in that market? And we've been very selective, you know, we've been blessed to be able to be selective. But yeah, Nashville is not off the radar. I think there's still opportunities for us in Nashville. It's just the right one has to present itself. So Lyle, what is, how did you come to be a part of this group? Have you always worked in the restaurant industry? Did you have a different background that led you here? I love that question. Yes, I've always worked in the restaurant industry. Initially, when growing up, did I say I wanted to be a restaurant operator, an executive in a company? No, absolutely not. I want to be a firefighter. Like most kids, they want to be something like a hero. And then the other thing I wanted to do was architectural design. And I'm a little far off of that now. It comes into play when I have to read floor plans and business, you know, architectural drawings of new restaurants and things like that. But that's my mind, kind of how my mind works.

22:48And I was thinking about doing that at a young age, but I got my first job in Southern California. And I got my first job when I was 14 and a half. I'll never forget, my mother had assigned a little work paper that I can go to work for four hours a day. And it was at a private country club. And it was working at a private country club. Which one? It was called Friendly Hills Country Club. And it was in Whittier, California. Okay. And I became, I was a linen room. I washed the linens for the country club. So the tablecloths, the napkins, the aprons, you know, all the chef coats, all that stuff. So I worked down in the linen room with a group of ladies down there who were all my grandmother's age. And they were just amazing women and worked so hard. And, you know, being 14 and a half in there, they just treated me like their grandchild, you know, and helped me out. I can imagine that was a pretty good situation for you. It was a good situation. Except when anything heavy had to be lifted or moved, it was like, oh, get the boy to do it.

23:52So I learned quickly, you know, the respect and teamwork and, you know, work in that environment. But I was exposed to a different group of people, you know, being in school, you're exposed to kids your own age and, you know, kind of your own, you know, bracket of, you know, 14, 16 year olds. But you start hanging out in a room of the 60 year old women who've been working for years and just salt of the earth, great people, changes things, you know, it changes things and puts, instills things into you that are, you know, just different values and beliefs. That makes you look at things a little bit differently. So I had a great experience growing up in this business. But from there, I just, you know, I just continued in restaurants. I was in the military for a little while. I was in the United States Navy for a little while. I wanted to give that a shot because my grandfather, who was my mentor and my idol, was a military man. He passed away. And when he passed away, I said, you know, I'm going to give it a shot as an ode to him. Maybe this is my calling. And I think it was strictly emotional. I think it was basically not thought through.

24:56It was, hey, I'm going to do it. Next thing you know, I'm on a bus going away, getting a haircut. Did you go to the military right out of high school? No, no, it was a little after high school. Okay. And it was, again, it was not a planned event. It was just something that I kind of made a left hand turn. Next thing you know, I had short hair and I was getting screamed at and told when to wake up and told what to clean and what to do and what to say and how to march and all those good things, which was great. And I spent some time, spent my time. I served my time and it was amazing. And I learned a lot of things in that as well. And I came back out and went back to restaurants. So I've been with restaurants ever since. So a little about 30 years in the restaurant industry now. Did you take anything from that experience in the military? Oh, my goodness. Because there's a certain style of operation that is very similar to military style. Absolutely. It's a massive turn off for some and it's a massive turn on for others just because shit gets done. It does.

25:57Without question. But I mean, the question part is the hard part. We're going to take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors. The WineView app is a new sponsor to Nashville Restaurant Radio and we couldn't be more excited. This is a sommelier in the pocket of every server in your restaurant. Hiring a sommelier is expensive and not every restaurant has the capability of doing it until now. The WineView app is a somme in the pocket of every single server. Let's talk about how it works. First, download the free app. Sign up your restaurant and the app will pair all of your menu items with wine from your list. Servers, bartenders and managers will have access to menu pairings at their fingertips. WineView is also accessible to your guests to help them make more decisions on their own. You know, 80% of guests say they would order more wine if it was recommended or paired with menu items. WineView is the only app guaranteed to increase wine sales in only two months. Contact Nicole Massillo to learn more about this guarantee at 615-969-5337.

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28:07Yes, her father started the company 36 years ago and Erin took it over five years ago and it is doing amazing things. I have so many guests that come in the studio that are like, I love Sharpier's, they save me so much time and the bread is so good. So we've got round buns, specialty round buns, dinner rolls, hoagies, baguettes. They do cheesecake, they do flourless chocolate, tortes. They do specialty loaf breads and regular loaf breads and bullies. Bullies? B-O-U-L-E-S? Sourdough, long tuscan, wheat, multigrain. They got everything. You should go check them out at Sharpier's.com. That is Sharpier's, C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com. Or you should give them a call at 615-356-0872. Supporting local is so damn important. And Erin Mosso and all of our friends over at Sharpier's Bakery do that daily. Give her a call right now. Massive turn off for some and it's a massive turn on for others, just because shit gets done.

29:10It does, without question. But I mean, the question part is the hard part. What do you take from that, like with what you do today? Like, do you do any of these? Absolutely. I'm using a lot of it today in a lot of the programs that we're doing with the company. You know, part of is the development program of our management team and our teams and our staff. You know, I think the one thing, the great part about the military is they take away so much of the individuality of you and make you a team. It's a little more forceful than we do, obviously. It's different, but at the crux of it all, it's a great idea to say, hey, we need to strip down the differences. The color, the creed, the race, the sex, the everything, and just say you are all midshipmen or you are all seamen. You are all Navy enlisted members of the team. And that's what the great thing is, is that they don't care what you've done before. They don't care who you were before.

30:11What they care about is who are you going to be? And I take some of that in some of our training programs we develop to where we try to get people to understand that it's okay to have a past and a history and experience, but learn us and understand us. And then you can add in your own touches. And that's a little bit of what I took from the learning part of the military. And then obviously, the big piece of it is the teamwork. I mean, you know, we're all individuals, but man, you get a team together. What can you do? And the military is proof of that. What is the us? You said whatever your history is, when you learn a little bit of us, what is some of that secret sauce? What is some of the, what makes it unique? What is the differentiator at a martial hospitality that is that us that people would have to learn to be able to put their own spin on that? Sure. I think the us is, you know, when you talk about culture and people talk about culture. And culture is a very interesting word in itself, you know?

31:12And I think it gets thrown around a little too much. We all have a culture, good or bad. Absolutely. I mean, everybody has a culture. And that's what we do. And that's what we try to do is define it through what kind of behaviors that looks like. What are the specific tasks and specific actions that you perform that reflect on our culture, right? And the biggest thing for us is the biggest thing is when we talk about values is we hire people and we bring people in who have that over anything else. So part of the piece of the military as well is it's not based upon your experience. It's based upon who you are and your values. So for us is, you know, we look for people who, number one, they have a servant's heart. They want to serve others. That's what we want is people who want to serve others. And, you know, I don't think there's a bigger servant's heart than people who join our military in a lot of respects because that's what they're doing. It's a selfish act and they're going out there to defend the country and they want to serve others. And that's really what we look for is those type of people as well as who really enjoys serving others.

32:12And it's interesting when you ask people those questions because sometimes it's hard for people to give examples of what that looks like. But we try to define that when we get people in and we start training them as we try to clearly define what that looks like. How does servant's heart look to you? How does it look to us? What makes you successful with it? And then tying into our other core values, you know, integrity and excellence and growth and entrepreneurial spirit. You know, those type of things are what we look for in people. We don't look for 20-year servers. We look for people who have a servant's heart. You know, you could have been serving for 20 years without a servant's heart and been an order taker and that's not going to work in our environment. So we try to start off with people who have similar values that we have and then we just enhance it through our training programs and through our quote unquote culture of what we present. So we've been pretty successful at it and I do think it's a differentiator of ourselves versus a lot of other companies. We have about 700 associates right now. So it gets tougher as the days go by, as we grow.

33:17You know, as you get bigger and bigger, it's very hard to keep that feeling. Yeah, I was going to ask. So how does that kind of, you know, recruiting the right kind of people, you know, how does that shift or change or kind of, pardon me. I'm so sorry. With the kind of labor market that we're dealing. I am so sorry. How does that? You know what I'm asking. I can't talk this morning. Right now the labor market's difficult. How are you, how are you, how's that working out for you? Yes, how's that working out for you now that I have my voice back? When you're hiring a servant's heart, right now there's a lot of people that just need a job or they don't typically care. There's a lot of workers who are, hey man, what are you going to do for me? And are you creating an environment that's going to be something that's going to be all-inclusive? And are you creating an environment that is going to help me progress in my career, my life? And I know you guys have a leadership development program. I'd love to hear more about.

34:18Absolutely. And that's a great question. So you're right. And it's interesting. And I'm sure you've had other individuals who have been asked a similar question. And I think the labor market has been interesting for us in the industry, right? Interesting is a good word. And I use that word for a reason because different people have different opinions of what have happened. But for us, I think culturally, we did have a very strong foundation. So when the great resignation, quote unquote, occurred, we didn't feel too much of it. So for us, we already had a good foundation and we were able to carry over with that. What that enabled us to do is obviously to be very selective. And I think when you come supply and demand of labor force, we're looking at 100 jobs and one person available. I foresee, and this is my opinion, in the next year or so, I think that's going to flip a little bit.

35:18I think restaurants are in trouble right now. A lot of independent restaurants are in trouble right now. How so? I think we've gone through a lot of the assistance that we received from government. I think that the cost of commodities, supply chain, labor, everything that has gone up is killing restaurants' profitability. And I think just in general, independent operators, I would safely say two-thirds of them out there are struggling paying bills. They may not say it, but I'm pretty confident in saying that that's happening right now. And unfortunately, with not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel, I don't foresee a lot of these businesses lasting. And I think what that does is that puts a lot of qualified, great people back into the labor market. And what we're going to see is a surplus in labor and not enough jobs. Interesting. And I really stand behind that. And I could be way off base, but I see the writing on the wall and I've talked to enough people to feel that that is something that is coming.

36:25And it goes back to the old recession. When it goes up, it comes down. It's the same thing. We've gone through that bad. We've off-kiltered by increasing wages. We're paying people way more than they've ever been made. In our company alone, we were probably paying over 22% higher than we've paid in the past in a lot of positions. Is that because of the labor marketing or is that because of an internal we're sitting down and we need to pay our people more? It's probably three-quarters. We want to pay our people more to take care of them because of our development program and process that enables them to do that, to become better operators and better associates for us. And then there's a small portion, of course, when we did have any holes to fill, we did have to bring them in at a much higher rate than we probably would have in the past. So it's not 100% either way. It was a mix, but I think majority of the mix is we wanted to get ahead of it as well and offer our people this leadership development program to enable them to kind of create their own path and figure out where they're going to go in their careers.

37:31I think most companies do a really good job of hiring and training. You hire, you go through eight weeks of training, 16 weeks of training, you learn everything ins and outs. After that, what happens? Not a lot. Then they work. And then they work and they just kind of stay working. And, oh, you've been here for four years. You're thinking about moving up and you've been around for a while. So let's move you up. Well, you know, what we took the approach of was almost on a collegiate level, you know, 100 through 400 level validations of things that are responsibilities in the restaurants. And we broke them down. We put cash value to them that are attached to your salary. So when you go through a program or a process and you validate on a 100 level facility area responsibility, so to speak, you have a cash bonus that goes to your salary. So your salary is increased as well. So we try to create, you know, better leaders for our restaurants. You know, it's it's common knowledge that if someone has more technical abilities and more assets, they are more value.

38:38So we've tried to do is create that ability for our teams to do that. And it's been working out real well for us. That's great. I have a similar program. I'm the director of operations for both Maribor and Green Hills Grill. And so I have a leadership development plan, but mine really centered from the last time I needed a general manager. I interviewed 24 people and I didn't. And I had to bring somebody and teach them. I didn't want to hire somebody from the outside. And I decided that I have so many amazing people inside this building that care. And so I have started a leadership development team where I have people from both restaurants that we meet once a month and we read books together and we discuss it. And I've let them in on a lot of the numbers. And they I really feel like people that have stake in the game, kind of like you're saying that know what they're doing can be kind of torchbearers. They can take that into the restaurant and go, hey, when I've got a bunch of people who are leading from within the building, it really helps my overall culture in driving our core values. But also when we expand, the hardest thing is you're probably know we're experiencing when you expand, keeping that culture intact, especially when you expand rapidly.

39:45Do you have enough people that can keep that thing going? So as we expand, as we're looking into a third location and a fourth location, I want to be able to pull people that are in our system who have the leadership ability that can just step right in. And it works. And I think as a leader, the thing that I want the most is whether or not you leave here. And every leadership team has a goal that they've set. Like, what do you want to do in 1020? And I want to help them achieve that. If it's with this company for five years and you do this and then you go open your own place, great. I want to teach them all the things I possibly can to get them there. And so it's just a, I think it makes for a better environment and a better culture all together. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm so glad you said that because that's when we speak about growing organically, we grow organically within. So our goal is if I have GMs and chefs ready and they need a store, then we'll go find them a store. I would much rather do that than open a store and then try to find somebody to plug in to those locations. 100%. And you know as an operator, you know how much of a strain it puts on training someone, developing someone and doing a new store opening, right?

40:51So having that culture, that person who's got all the technical abilities, the policies and procedures down, they've got the right fit and they're going, I'm ready for a store. I'm ready to go. Now it's time for us to go get brick and mortar and get them in there. And that's our organic growth that we talk about. So we will grow when we are ready in that respects. When I have a GM knocking on the door, a chef knocking on the door, and now we say, okay, let's go find this guy a location. Let's go find this girl a location to run. That's awesome. Yeah, I love that. Okay. Yeah, no, I think that's great. You know, I'm just kind of, as you're saying all of this, thinking about some of the challenges that I feel like I have in my business in terms of the culture of restaurants that I grew up in, talking about culture, that I assume that you grew up in, I know Brandon grew up in is so different than kind of the expectations that people have today.

41:53And it's hard to walk that line sometimes of thinking, wow, I feel like I'm giving people so much more than I ever had, which is great. I want people to have more than I ever had in terms of resources and being treated respectfully and all of these things. There's also that other side of the coin where sometimes they think that people have unrealistic expectations about what you really can do as a business owner, what you really can provide as a business owner, and kind of what your experience is like as a business owner, you know? Absolutely. You know, and it's funny you said that because we just had a conversation about this the other day. We had someone bring up and I'll never forget it. He's yelling at me. And I said, well, yelling, and again, to your point, well, yelling back in my day was usually followed by a pan coming at you, you know, coming hot and heavy at you. And I think there has been some changes on some of those pieces.

42:57So a stern conversation now might be warranted as yelling. And that's kind of what was happening. So what we've been trying to do is I don't feel like, I guess you're right about it's different, it's not different in that we're not receiving or we received nothing and now they want more. I think we demanded something different back then. And I think for me, I felt like I had a lot of great mentors. I feel like the mentorship isn't as prevalent as it used to be. You know, in this industry back in the day, it was always kind of a hand down process is you had the old timer who gave you a little insight and wisdom and we don't have a lot of that anymore. And I think that's what we're trying to continue to keep in our heart is having that mentorship ability. But I think that the way we've changed the generations is people are just looking at things a little bit differently. And I think the number one thing is the word why.

44:00And I think that's the thing that I've seen change the most through the years is I get people ask why more often now than ever. And I would say versus got it done right through that wall. Now it's why do you want me to do that? I feel like I have interactions sometimes with people that they're not negative interactions, but someone will say something to me or ask me a question that I have to think about it and react to it. And I'm just like, I would never imagine asking that my boss out or saying that to my boss. And that makes me feel good. Hopefully I'm not as scary as some of the bosses that I had. But it's just yeah. But if you but if you preface it with and you know the other thing we're teaching our leadership team is to give them the why. You know, who's that author? Simon Sinek. Yeah, Simon Sinek, the why. Yeah, find your why. Find your why. But we try to preface it or include it in the conversation of the explanation. You know, and the one thing that I ask my directors and my department heads are always you were were you clear in defining the goal?

45:01Were you clear in defining the task? Were you clear in defining the expectations? What questions arose? How did you answer them? And where did we leave it? You know, so those type of things are the very important things for me. I just put a TikTok out the other day of me talking about the staffing issue. And everybody's like, there's no more workers. There's no more this. There's no more that. We can't find anybody. We it's so hard to find people. And I went, I I'm not having that problem. And I'm and I'm not saying it doesn't exist. I don't want to get a bunch of people going. No, you're you're listen. I think it's a leadership problem. I think that we in this industry have a toxic leadership problem. And it's been OK because mom, pop business forever. The drunk uncle who was also the fry cook would go get this. And he would start swearing at somebody. But there was no check and balance there. And it just people just dealt with it. And that's just what it was. And now that doesn't fly like that's not OK. And I it's it's really the one minute manager. It's Ken Blanchard's one minute goal setting.

46:03It's it's clearly identifying exactly what the expectations are. It's me looking at you saying these. This is the requirements to be employed here. Is this OK with you clearly setting that this is what we're going to do here. This is what we want the response to be. This is your job. This is everything. Are you good with that? And I'm saying, yes, I'm good with that. And then putting them through training, being very specific and saying today, this is what we're working on today. This is what our goal is going to be today. And then when people do the things that you clearly ask them to do and they have said, yes, I'll do those things. You go back and you say, hey, great job today. Thank you for doing the things we ask you to do. I appreciate you. I value you. Thank you for doing that. And if they don't do it, then you redirect them. You come back and you say, hey, we talked about this today. We clearly you shook your head and said, yes, we can do it. You're not doing it. Can we get back on track and can we get those are. It's so easy. But when people don't clearly communicate what the expectations are and you have these expectations in your own head and then the people don't do the things you didn't communicate to them and then you yell at them for them, that's terrible leadership.

47:14And that's, I think, a problem that that's why people are pissed off. That's why people have this industry as a bad name is that people are saying, I work for terrible leaders and this guy's an asshole. It's like, well, you're not working for the right people, the right company. And as leaders in this industry, with this podcast, with everything we're doing, we've got to like shout from the rooftops, like be better, constantly learn, grow yourself, go find Simon Sinek's Find Your Why. It's a great book to read. I just read Will Gadara's Unreasonable Hospitality. The best books I've ever read in my life. He outlines every single aspect of what being hospitable means. It's incredible. It's my new Brandon's book club book of the month. You got to read it. But it's but it's it's based on the do for others what you don't have to do. Go above and beyond, but genuinely want to serve people. But I think as leaders, we have to when you when you clearly communicate your expectations, you appreciate people doing their jobs, you tell them, thank you, you pay them a fair wage.

48:16I don't think you have a staffing problem. No, you don't. And I think one of the big things and most people will probably not necessarily admit to this, but I think a lot of fear has been put in people about, I can't do that because I'm going to lose them. And I don't want to lose employees because I'm in a situation where I am understaffed as it is. Can I tell this person to do their side work? Are they going to get upset and say, no, I'm going to leave and go get another job because there's jobs everywhere. Again, you could not do something worse than that. Self-fulfilling prophecy, right? Because it happens once doesn't mean it's going to happen all the time. And that is what I've I experienced this in the first year that Nicky's was open. We went from my husband and I have worked in restaurants our entire lives. But, you know, owning a restaurant, I think, is like how people talk about having kids. You don't really know until you do it. So we went from our first restaurant, which was a 40 seat restaurant to our current restaurant, which is 130 seat restaurant, a completely different animal. And we, I think, started out leading with fear and thinking, oh, my gosh, what if these people leave? What if these people quit? We're so busy. What are we going to do?

49:26And we created a culture where certain people felt like they had us over a barrel. And it turned out horribly. And I promise you, we've never made that mistake again. But that does turn into the culture of, oh, my gosh, if we're short staffed, what if this person quits because they didn't like that I asked them to do the thing that they're getting paid to do, you know, I just I think that there's couldn't be a bigger mistake. Absolutely. You know, and it's interesting because we we tried to figure out. So we started a program called the AMH committee. And what? AMH committee. AMH? Committee. So a martial hospitality committee. And where it stemmed from was Andy and I are, Andy's on many boards of directors. I'm on a few. And I wanted to see if I could get my associates involved with some of these topics that we're discussing. So we sent out an invite, requested nominations from the management team and the general managers.

50:27We also asked for volunteers, obviously, to submit why it's a solutions based committee that meets every month. And what we do is we talk about different topics. So the first topic we brought up was, you know, what did you enjoy culturally that we used to do? What do you enjoy now? And what would you like to see in the future? And we let them give us the responses and kind of leave the discussion. And I just moderated and we've had three of those meetings and out of it came great information, number one, but so well aligned to what we think we should do as well. And the three things that they came out of it as far as kind of the circles that encompass other actions were they want to feel appreciated. So they want to figure out how they can feel appreciated in the restaurants. They want to be educated. So they want to learn and they want to continue to grow. And they want to be motivated and they want to be motivated to go out there and to represent the brand and sell and do a good job.

51:33So we challenge them to identify tasks that we do now or that we want to do in the future that can accomplish those goals. They came up with the list. We made a little Venn diagram. We overlapped a few things. And at the crux at all, the middle of that whole thing was pre-shift. And pre-shift, all of us operators know that it's an important thing. But sometimes when you put it into this perspective and you realize, wow, if I make my pre-shift appreciative, educational, and motivational, what kind of team would I have when they left that pre-shift, right? And the last thing they asked for, they said, with all of this, we want to be held accountable. And that's when it blew my socks off. I said, what? You want to be held accountable? No way. This is staff telling me this? So again, having 700 staff members, multiple locations, we have a representative from every location. And they're the ones who brought that to us. So now, 2023 Initiative, that's our initiative.

52:35That's what we're focusing in on. And we're going to execute that from the committee. And we're going to give them that accountability, that responsibility, that ownership. And we're going to give them what they asked for. So, win-win. And they have buy-in because we wanted this. Like, it's not something that you came down from the mountains and your stone tablets and said, this is what we're doing in 2023. You said, this is what you've asked for. Correct, correct. And now there's buy-in. That's a mistake I think we make as leaders in a lot of situations is we have the idea and we're out there on the rooftop screaming, but no one's listening. Or we have the idea and we kill the planning process, but then it kind of just falls off. Or we have the idea and find problems, but we don't really find what the root of the problem is because we don't involve our people. So we really try to involve our people and get them to buy-in. And now I've got representation from every location bought into this. And they're going back to their restaurants and they're preaching now.

53:37Guess what I did? That's probably one of my biggest problems I do. I don't, I have all these ideas and I don't communicate, but I've been in lineups where you hear the managers and they're talking at the employees. I need you to have full hands in, full hands out tonight. And I need you, I need you, I need you. And you can, one of the things I like to do in lineups is watch the server's eyes and everybody's like eyes and you can just watch them. And there's like, God, again, I got to hear this. This is the fourth line up where I've heard that I don't pre-bus my tables well. I get it, dude. Can we move on? Thank you. I feel like I've been beaten over the head all week with this weekly line up topic. Sure. And it's almost like, you know, office space. Have you seen it? Oh my gosh, scream at me. It's almost like, all right, it's Lumberg's birthday and here we go. And everybody's just like, now Milton, here's the kid. It's just like this boring. And I'm like, guys, let's do it in a different room. Yeah. Go over here and do line up, like make it fun, make it interactive. Yeah. Ask a server to host line up today.

54:38Them go in and think about the ideas and make it fun and interesting. Like, let's make this do these things. But then I have these ideas and then it's me with an idea that they're like, this asshole has the idea over here. Like forcing it down their throat. Eat it, eat it, eat it. I feel like I'm doing the same thing to them that they're doing to them. And I'm like, yeah, when does this cycle stop? Just do that. Just do the stuff that's in my brain innately without me having to tell you. And then it will be your idea. Yeah. Sorry. Thank you. I'm going to step down. I have exercised the demons. No, but you know, the tools, you know. So what we did is we even we created a template for Precious, but we also explained each section, you know, so what the expectations are in each section too. And I think it's great. So appreciation is, you know, we put examples of read a good review and call somebody out to read it. We don't read it. Have Sally the server read it about John the server. Right. And it's that great peer to peer. I like that. You know, it's like, man, nice job, John. How did you do that? High fives, whatever it may be education.

55:38Same thing. You know, we talk about what's called Dish of the Week. So we focus on a dish every week. So maybe it's the Country Cobb salad this week. We don't talk about it as managers. The server presents it or I bring the line cook out from the kitchen go, hey, let's work together. I want you to explain this dish to everybody. And then we ask questions. How would you upsell that? What are some of the allergens in that? How could you get more money for this? How do you package it to go? You ask all those little questions, right? You get them involved. You're making me miss being a server. Yeah. So I just I'm reminiscing of my days in pre-shift. That's awesome. Well, I waited tables. I waited tables last weekend. And I'm going to tell you all about that right after these words from our sponsors. When you hear that sound, it's probably too late. You need a guy. I want to be your guy. I'm Kevin with Course in Fire and Security. And I'm a restaurant territory account manager. Do you know who's doing your inspections at your restaurant? Please reach out to me at 615-974-2932.

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57:50Robins Insurance is the go-to agency for hospitality professionals in Nashville. Listen, Robins knows how hard industry professionals work every single day. They also know how devastating accidents can be. Be it a grease fire that damages the kitchen, a severe storm that cuts off power, or a customer slip and fall incident. Both the extensive experience and the savvy to create a policy that protects your business from accidents like those, you can rest easy knowing that the work you've put in will not be for nothing. Visit Robins' website at robinsins.com to request a consultation or call Matthew Clements directly. His number is 863-409-9372. Protection you can trust. That's Robins. I showed up. Is it crazy that I'm jealous of that? No, and this will get there in the book. And Reese Moss-Pegg goes, I like to wait tables once every six months just because I lose the feel. So I was like, you know, I'm going to do it.

58:51I've got the whole uniform on. I showed up for lineup. I told the managers, hey, give me a section. And then I showed up in lineup and everybody's like, what are you doing? I'm waiting tables tonight. And it was just like a fun thing. But the chef came out and he's like, all right, guys, we've got a black sea bass tonight. It's going to be served with this, this and this. And he's like, any questions? And I go, I got questions. And I go, is black sea bass different than a Chilean sea bass? What is the difference and why is it black? Like, what is this? And he's like, well, the black sea bass is an Atlantic sea bass. It's line caught. And I was like, cool. And he goes, it's sauteed. I go, is it sauteed in olive oil or butter? And he's like, oil. I go, what are you seasoning it with? Salt and pepper. But I had like 40 questions. And at the end of the, but it was like, as a server, like we, they don't get that. We need this information. And we just, it was funny standing on the other side from where the managers stand. And I tell the managers stand over here sometimes. It makes you not seem like you're on this tower. But like, it was so fun to just be one of the team that night and get out there and talk to guests and be excited.

59:53Like, and nobody knew that. I didn't say I'm normally the director of operation. Let me tell you, but I just went out there and had fun. I'm the same way. I never tell people that I'm the owner unless they ask me directly. I mostly work, you know, during the day. I really don't work services anymore. However, because we're so busy this month, I am there literally every single night working service. And the other night I was busing and running the door and doing all of the things. And Tony and I had a conversation last night. He's like, Hey, listen, I really think that you should be on expo. I don't think everybody needs to, you don't need to be out there busing tables. And I was like, no, I love it. I actually want to be the person. I want to do that job. He's like, well, whatever you want to do. Do you know why we like doing me a favor? It's the same reason I like to mow the yard. And the same reason that I like to wash my car. It's because I need instant gratification because things that you're thinking about and I'm thinking about as a leader go into your brain and then you have to ideate them with people and then you have to write down what it is.

01:00:57Then you have to communicate it. And then that person has to communicate it six months down the road. That idea that you had actually comes to fruition. And by then four other people are like, look what I did. And you're like, that was a good idea. I like it. I'm going to take that. But you're already on to seven other things by then. When you're out on the floor working and you're busy, you feel it's I don't I'm not saying this that it's easy, but like you're out there and you get to immediate. I had a table. They were happy and they left and I did that. Oh, definitely. I win. I had a win right there and you can you can see it. You can feel it. And it's not like absolutely. I was like, everybody loved me so much tonight. I was so friendly. They loved it. I can take a dirty table and clean a table in 30 seconds and go, I did that. I had their little wins that you get all throughout the night. You're like, fine. That's the playing restaurant part that it's like the fun part. You're like, isn't it hard? I'm like, oh, no. Friday night in the middle of it is the that's the easiest. That's the funnest time of the week. And I just love to. I love to for the team who, you know, we have people who started six months ago have seen me at service once or twice, maybe just to kind of check in or greet a VIP, something like that to now see me busting my ass every night or, you know, I think it's good for them to see that we're really busy.

01:02:16Caroline is the type of owner who's willing to come in and, you know, do whatever needs to be done. My favorite, actually, though, is when I have to jump on the pizza line. It happens maybe once or twice a year and it blows people's minds. You throw the dough and do the whole thing. I don't throw it, but I can work the pizza line. I can stretch the dough. I can build the pizzas. I can I mean, I can do every job in the restaurant. Brandon kind of a rock star, but I don't know if you know this about me. Kind of a big deal over here, but just like my my team members who have been with us for a shorter time are always like, oh, my God. Well, that night was funny because that night I waited tables. We had a new service or second night and she was there. And and I was like, this is pretty cool. You're new to I'm like, oh, I'm new to and stop it. And so I didn't I never told her ever throughout the night like, oh, I have a different job here. Nobody said anything because I just was just playing, just having a good time. And then I was doing an orientation for all new employees because I like to do all the orientations.

01:03:18It was a Wednesday. She was there. She's like, what are you? I was like, oh, no, no, I'm not. I was just there that night doing the server thing. And she she could not. She was just the moment. She's like, OK, this is weird. I'm like, no, it's OK. It was a lot of fun. Do you ever do these things, Lyle? Do you ever get in the restaurant? Absolutely. You know, it's interesting. You know, go back to you talked about that instant gratification, you know, that's such a big piece for us to to realize that that's what our staff lives in. That's where associates live in is that world, you know, and we live in this world of, like you said, it's longevity. It's long term. It's six months out for gratification. It's different. And you got to remember that that's the people that we're working with is, you know, again, 700 associates who think that way. It's all about instant dopamine dump gratification. I'm going to wake up and check my phone, right, and see who Facebooked me. It's that instant gratification. Right. And we as leaders think differently. And then there's that disconnect in communication. Like, why don't you get it? Oh, that's right.

01:04:18You want it right now, right away. And I'm asking you to do something that's going to take two weeks to get implemented. So how do I figure out that connection and tight? And so anyways, I wanted to address that real quick. Yeah. But what's funny, you said that is I love doing that because first of all, I'm rusty and I love being rusty because, you know, I like to get in there and go, man, I don't know what I'm doing. You know, where's this button? You know, hey, I need a manager over here. I love doing that. You know, there are some things like on Expo. I love to Expo. And I think I'm a pretty good, I think I'm pretty good Expo. But it's always cool to see the staff because the same way, a lot of times they don't really know who you are yet. So at our new restaurant in Coleman, I showed up on a Saturday and it literally looked like Saigon. You know, it's like, oh my gosh, where do we go? I'm going to go to Expo. I got to get food out. You know, we got to get this taken care of. So we go back to Expo and I'm on Expo and we have a KVS system we're using, which by the way, we can talk about technology here in a little bit. I want to do that. So we get the system and of course it's the beginning.

01:05:21So every bug and, you know, doesn't work and doesn't turn pages and everything is happening. So I'm on Expo now and everybody's looking at me like, who's this guy? And where's my food? And I'm like, I'm trying, I'm getting it out, guys, let's go. And I'm trying to pump them up and get them going and everything. And we get through the shift and I have so many servers coming up. That was the best shift I've ever had here. That was so smooth. Are you going to Expo for us all the time? I'm like, I would love to if I could do it virtually. But I do have other responsibilities, but, you know, we'll get you set up and we'll get you going. And it makes you feel so good and rewarded to be able to help your team out that day and that instant like, man, it's like, it brings you back to when you were in the fire and you were in the trenches, you know, and it kind of just brings you back. And it's that gratification. And I left there feeling so good because my team felt good about their shift, you know, and that was what was so important. So I do things like that often. But then the guilt sits in for me. Then I leave them to go back to like what I do every single day.

01:06:24And I'm like, but then the next shift is the Expo better? Like, how do I follow through with that? And then are they are they like, who is this guy that came in and helped? And now he left. He doesn't care about us. Oh, back to his ivory tower, I guess. No, I think it's I actually think it's the opposite because I think that it's good for the staff to see I'm never going to ask you to do something that I wouldn't be willing to do myself. You know, the things that I'm asking you to do, it's not just because, you know, I'm your boss. I'm I'm part of the team. Also, you know, if if I'm in the building and somebody threw up and the bathroom needs to be cleaned, I'm going to go do it before I ask somebody else to do that. You know, sure. And I think, you know, as an as an operator and in a leadership position, you know, I'm kind of similar with Brandon saying there. I think about when I leave, especially when people say, don't go. You're like, what do you mean? Don't go. What's it like? What's it like when we're not around? You know, we think about that. Oh, that's the thing that hits me the most. I'm like, well, exactly. I got we got it.

01:07:26We got a lot of work to do. And then I get anxiety because I'm like, I've got these other places I have high priorities at. But this seems like an immediate hot stove need that I got to jump in because it's a major role. That's like the whole flow of the kitchen when that thing doesn't work. And everybody's like, that was a great shift. And they feel that they know it. Like, were the rest of the shifts bad shifts? Sure. Is this like, what are we doing here? Yeah. And you know, I've tried to do is when I explained to the staff, I try to tell them, well, I have the luxury of coming in for a quick moment and jumping out. I don't I'm not here all day long. So you get to see the best part of me. I'm not entering invoices. I'm not writing a schedule. I'm not doing the administrative functions. I'm not doing the nitty gritty. I literally have just come here to play. So you got all of me when I'm playing, right? But I have complete trust in my general manager. When I leave, I can communicate to the general manager. Hey, this was my situation on expo. I need you to focus on that position for the time being. And I can go and I can trust that he's going to do that.

01:08:27Absolutely. That's the process that we have in play. That doesn't stop my brain from going there. Bingo. Briefly. But like, I have to trust that, hey, this GM, he's got it. I've got the right person in the right seat. Right. So you mentioned technology. And I want to talk about technology. And then I'm going to give a teaser because we're going to finish the interview after this. And then we're going to do a special episode about the state of the industry. And I want to have you stay to answer a couple of questions for that episode. Yeah, absolutely. Coming up. Yeah. Right. Exciting. So technology went to FS Tech in Dallas a few months ago. It's amazing. The technology that is out there is amazing. You guys opened a ghost kitchen during the pandemic. Burger Dandy. And that is now a brick and mortar. Mm-hmm. Right. Yes, it is. Yeah. So technology is everywhere. Probably part of your job is to identify the best technology. What are you guys currently using?

01:09:28What's the piece of technology that you are like, holy cow, I could not live without? And what are you seeing that's coming down the pike for the future? What do you think the future is? Sure. You know, in technology, you know, when you think about it, there's so much out there. You know, and I think you said it yourself, you at FS Tech, and it's just mind blowing with the amount of... Have you been? I have. And it's mind blowing. And it's almost overwhelming. But it reminds me of when you go, I don't know, shopping for a new motorcycle. Everything looks great and awesome. But do I really need that? Do I really need that? So what I try to do is, you know, I work a lot with my team. And kind of the same thing we do with the committee is we try to talk to people to find out what we really need. And I'll give you an example. So we went to tablets for all of our recipes. So everything was stored on a cloud. We were able to our culinary directors and everyone were able to upload and update recipes.

01:10:30And, you know, so we had consistency because the problem we had was we had old outdated recipes in the restaurants. And, oh, you had version one and we're on version six of the grits, you know, we're still making them the wrong way. So but what happened was this was an idea that was spawned from the top. And what we noticed was it was a great idea. And in theory, it worked great for us. I like to look at a tablet for a recipe and, you know, kind of use electronic piece. But my prep cooks who have a tough time understanding English at times or really aren't technically savvy are afraid of the tablet and go, oh, it's dead. I don't know where the cord is. It's always dead, isn't it? The screen's broken, you know, whatever it may be. So then again, I've got version one grits and I'm going, well, we're on version seven now. What's going on? So we felt that, you know, with that, we had to just felt that so hard. I just felt that.

01:11:32That hurt hurt you describing that. I was just like, you feel it. You feel it, don't you? I just felt that moment of like, but we're on version seven now. It's not my fault, man. Yeah, your technology. It's not my fault. It's your fault. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, going back to that problem of, you know, the planning and we over plan or we assume we know what's needed or, you know, if it's a problem, it's not our fault. It's their fault. You know, all those thinking, those pitfalls of strategy, so to speak, play into technology nowadays. So just recently, it's funny because a memo went out from our directors and it said rolling out new program recipe books and I'm like on paper and they said, yes, I said in 2022. Yes, because when speaking to the teams, they all wanted paper and they said, I just want to look at a piece of paper and I want to know what's in the item and I want to be able to flip the page and go to the next one.

01:12:35I don't want to figure out how to scroll and updates going on or they didn't charge the battery or whatever it was. So some technology is great, but the application might not be right. Okay, I'm going to challenge you on this because you just said that the team wanted these things and they wanted accountability. Is this front of the house? Because back of the house, accountability means everything works, but the future is not paper. Correct. Everybody is going to go to the tablet. So if we listen to the team now and say, hey, like everybody likes paper, nobody likes QR codes, but that's going to be the future and a lot of circumstances like for prep cooks, the ability for you to go in one system and update everything and it be there. The level of consistency you can gain from that and the extra coaching and accountability through making sure it's plugged and making sure that the training involved probably would be easier than let's revert back to paper. The amount of work you're costing yourself to train to go back to paper when eventually it's going to go to digital.

01:13:43I feel like is it. Yeah, you're right. But the thing is, is that it's the content of the employee is a little different. All is not fitting the puzzle piece. So we have paper. We kept the tablets for those who enjoy using the tablets because we do have people in the locations who use the tablet. So we didn't remove the tablets and say we're not utilizing these anymore. But what we've done is given them another avenue to utilize for those who will use it because at the end of the day, I need to be on grits version 7.0. I don't care how we get there. Paper, plastic, computer, whatever it needs to be, right? At the end of the day, it's version 1.0. The product has to go out. Correct. So what we did was again, I was laughing at the memo because I said, man, this is 2022. And I'm like, no, we're going to digitally. What are we doing? Twenty three. We're doing going right for twenty three. I were twenty three. What are we doing with paper? What are we doing with these binders? But if I've got a group of people in my organization that that's what works for them, then I have to give them the tools to consider that.

01:14:46And again, it goes back to yes, I would love everybody to be trained up and to be able to use the tablet and to be able to understand the process and embrace it and love it and just think it's the greatest thing. We're just not there yet. We're just not there yet. I don't know. I'm kind of in the I'm in the opposite side of not on the opposite side of that. But I'm in the once you have when I go to FSTech, I see all these people. I really feel like there's an old guard of people who used to work in restaurants who have a good feel and a good gut. I can walk in and go, I know what's going on, but there is data points for every single thing that we do. The second a guest walks in that door, data is just generating how long before they get greeted, how long after they got seated, they get their first drinks. How long do they get this? How long? What did they order? When did they order appetizers, drinks, alcoholic drinks? What kind of alcohol? There's just data everywhere. Yet we still refer to, I think that's a good server.

01:15:46Is it a good server? Well, I like him because he comes to work on time. But every table gets his drinks late and every table gets greeted late. There's data forever. Billy Bean proved this with the Oakland A's. And I just feel like the future is these things and everybody hates change. Sure. Once they, once you stand hard on that and you go, this is the future, we got to do it. Once that adoption time is over, people get it and they go, oh, I would never go back. People didn't want to go to smartphones. Oh, like my flip phone, I don't want this. And now once they figured out the operating system, they go, oh, I would never go back to that. So I almost feel like giving somebody a paper version is like it's holding them back from being their best and being less consistent. I think I kind of land somewhere in between on this issue because we use the good old fashioned binder, station binder system. We do have everything saved in the cloud, of course, that all the managers can access and it's easy to update. But you can print.

01:16:47But we can also print. And I think that we certainly have adapted to new technologies. Continue to change with the times over the years. But I think that some of these technologies, particularly when you go to these big shows, are just not necessary at this point. I personally don't see the value of having recipes on a tablet. It seems to me an expense. And why do I have an expensive computer in the kitchen where it could spill or break or this or that? And just when I could have a good old fashioned binder from Dollar General, I have a printer. It takes five, if somebody doesn't have five seconds to print a recipe and our recipes, I assume that you're probably similar, our recipes don't change all the time. Well, I'm just thinking more along as of consistency amongst 14 locations. And when you're trying to on a cloud, everything is done one certain way for a small restaurant that's 140 seater that you're doing on a binder. When you're talking about 700 employees communication that is consistent and key across everything, it's like, well, they get paid, but they don't.

01:17:51Hey, if we complain enough, we can revert back to like change management is so freaking hard. And at that level, it's even more difficult. Changement leading through change, I've learned the part that kills you the most is during that, when you go, you take steps backwards, it takes twice as many steps to get back to where you were initially trying to go. Like staying through it is difficult. Yeah, it is. And I think when you talk about technology, that being a small fraction of what's out there, I think we pick and choose what's important. So when you're talking about data points, we do heavily focus on that. So we do. How do you harvest that data? We utilize a lot of Wi-Fi analytics. So we get a lot of data points from individuals who visit the restaurant with their phones. Everybody's got a phone. So you're able to see. When they sign up to your Wi-Fi? Well, yeah, when it notices and picks up. And actually, you're even eligible to sign up to our Wi-Fi.

01:18:52There's a signal, obviously, that's connected. So you can have walk-bys. So you know who's walking by and not coming in. You know who's walking by and coming in. You know who's getting on. You know where they're from. You know what. You do that? The time that they're there. We'll talk about it later. Yeah. I'm on this now. Some black ops stuff going on out there. Well, I mean, this is good stuff to let people know about. Absolutely. So there are analytics out there that you can use. Now, again, you can use to do what you feel is important for your business. So again, back to technology is what's important for your business. We talk about QR codes. We really didn't do QR codes a lot in our full service establishments. We do QR codes in our counter service establishments because it works better. And we skip the line and go over to the table and pay. And it works great. Full service? Not so much. They're not as interested. They want to see a menu. And so we made sure we kept that dining aspect to it. We did integrate pay at the table. So now pay at the table has been great. And mobile pay has been fantastic.

01:19:53Who do you use for your POS system? Aloha. Aloha? Yeah. What's going on with the legacy system? Yeah. We'll start with the legacy system. And what we've noticed is anything that we need to add on has been great integration. So reporting and insight from Aloha has been pretty good for us. And it dives pretty deep and gets pretty granular. So we've kept that. And then we've just tried to work with companies that are able to integrate seamlessly as possible with Aloha. So delivery, for example, we don't have tablets. They just come straight to the kitchen printer. Fires, off it goes. We're making that adjustment this week. And I feel like I've never been so excited for anything. And it's great. And it's great. We did have a system that we started with that the 86ing process was a little odd. So when you 86ed it in one area, you had to go to another area and 86 it, right? And you guys know what 86ing means. So we're out of the item. This new system that we're looking at now to integrate will actually talk. So what it does is if you pull it out of Aloha, it also pulls out of all your delivery platforms as well.

01:20:58So there's not that extra step of, hey, I need you to go under Uber Eats and pull this out where it's not available. Because as you all know, with that happens, you're out of Brussels sprouts. Someone orders an item that has it, it fails the order. And then now a customer's like, what happened to my order? Well, we're out of Brussels sprouts, but they don't know about it. So there is technology out there like that that we are digging into and we find impactful for us. So when you're talking about technology at a restaurant, I think there's a level of technology that can help out the business. The technology we're looking at as well as to benefit the associates from a benefit standpoint. We're looking at, I know there's programs out there that are cash on demand. So what we do is all of our tips are on a check and you get every two weeks you get a check and it's a good size check. Only one of our locations pull. The other locations do not. That's the Deakin's new South brand, the prime steakhouse that we have downtown. The other locations do not. So they're all individualized. But we've been looking at, you know, a lot of our associates have said, I'd like to have my money in my account when I make it, you know, back in the day when, you know, I used to walk with cash, right?

01:22:08You'd leave and like, I got under three bucks, you know. Go blow it all across the street. Meet you at TGI Fridays, you know, go down to Fridays and blow it. Yeah, I did that every night. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, I think everybody has their own reasons for it. There's benefits to have, you know, your paycheck, but I think there's reasons for it. So again, we're looking at from the standpoint of what the associates like to see as well from that integration. And then, you know, learning management software, we've really put a lot of emphasis on our application process and our onboarding process to make it very streamlined and very easy. So where we've looked at technology is to remove some of the choke points or the time points, but also to benefit our staff, our associates and our guests. And, you know, making grits version 7.0 from a tablet or a binder, to me, as long as the results the same, it's, you know, it's kind of personal preference at that time. Fair enough, fair enough. Would I like to go to tablets? Absolutely, because I think that is the future. But I think about tablets and I go, do I want a tablet or do I want a 55 inch touch screen on the on the wall in the back that actually everybody can see?

01:23:15And I know what you're working on and you can go through and scroll through and you can actually see the rest because a tablet, sometimes when you're in a kitchen, you're squinting and leaning forward. Who has the tablet? Where is the tablet? Where's the tablet? We use toast. And we have in our prep kitchen, like literally through the floor is a mounted thing on each side of the prep table is a screen that's, you know, 24 inches tall and 12 inches wide. And every morning Chef does an on hand and he figures out his on hand and he creates the prepless and sends it to those screens. And so they start working and they can look on a pretty decent screen right there that's hardwired into the, and it uploads every day their entire prepless. They just start number one, go and it's in list of priority and they just start going until that sheet is done. But it's a, there's no mess, there's no fuss. It is just a, it's a touch screen. They hit done, next thing and it pulls up the exact recipe, how much they need to make, it does all the conversions, let's go. Yeah. But it's super easy, super consistent.

01:24:16You know, I think that kind of these systems and these technologies, I think that historically have been groups like yours, you know, groups like yours, Brandon, I think have always been the first to kind of take on and use and, you know, adapt to these new technologies. I think that for whatever reason, independent businesses have been slower to do that. I think that, you know, maybe it's a cost issue, maybe it's a, hey, it's an unnecessary technology. But I really do think kind of to go back to one of the first things that you said when you sat down today talking about a lot of independent businesses are out of the PPP money, struggling with cash flow, are we going to close, you know? And I think that as an independent business owner, that has been a key to success for us is being willing to make big changes, being willing to adapt to the times, take on new technologies. And I think that that is going to be such a critical part of everyone's success moving forward.

01:25:17And I think the people who are resistant to that change are the ones who, you know, that I really felt that it was like, oh, God, is that me? Am I that independent business? And I don't think so. Oh, I will tell you that the differences that companies that have a brand in Orlisle, that's the differentiator and not us. But the luxury of having a director of operations whose job is to identify ways to independent restaurateurs, chef owners that are in the kitchen working every day, don't get to go to Dallas and spend three days at FSTech and talk to GoTab and Toast and maintain IQ and all these things like, oh, this is a digital checklist that you can have on your phone that I can streamline everything that I do in my building. And I can, oh, yeah, well, let me learn about that. And let me do some demos. Let me implement these things and I can bring that stuff. You know, I think there's a stat that I learned a while, it's probably 10 years ago, but it was chain restaurants make between 12 and 15% profit in independently-owned and operated restaurants made between four and five cents on the dollar.

01:26:21And you go, why the hell do chain restaurants make 15% and independents make 5%? Because chain restaurants have a guy that negotiates your vendor deals and he has the buying power. They have a guy that goes to FSTech and stream, they utilize technology to their advantage and they have data points. They're learning how to use this data and they do strategic marketing and they bring people back and you go, I wish I had that. And so that's one of the things I've kind of said with this thing, the Nashville Restaurant Alliance was, let's figure out a way to share this information with all, at the beginning of, I went to the restaurant leadership conference and he said the pandemic is the best thing that's happened to the restaurant industry because it's burned off the dead wood. To a degree, something you said earlier was mom and pop restaurants, some of these restaurants are going to go away and then the labor market is going to be higher, but that's going to come to the detriment to a lot of people's dreams. I mean, it's really sad in lives and dreams. Maybe we say that like the labor market is going to change, but there's so many people in this industry, they're going to lose everything they had because then maybe they didn't have these luxuries and they don't have the, they were fully leveraged right now and they're going to lose.

01:27:30And that is incredibly sad. It's incredibly sad for this industry because that's the heart and soul of this industry, is the independence. Absolutely. Well, and you mentioned it earlier too, is managing the change. You know, a lot of people are not comfortable with the change, right? And that to some people is a big change. And, you know, we utilize checklists like that as well through another program, but it's exactly everything is on your phone from uploading your invoices to your scheduling, to your checklist, to your accounting issues, to dig it into everything is there on an app. It's so easy to manage your business, but I think a lot of it is, like we said, it's that change and, you know, having that level of management or personnel that can go out there and spend their time doing that versus, you know, I had my own restaurant back in early 2000 and you're just on the grind. You're just in the grind.

01:28:31It was in Seattle, Washington at a couple of restaurants in Seattle, Washington. So back in the day, late 90s, early 2000. So I know that feeling and I respect it. And I think it gave me another level of understanding of things. One of them I sold off and it was open for 17 years. The other one is still open. So it's going on 21 years. That's amazing. So they're doing well. But, you know, until you've been in that position, it's hard to understand what you go through as an owner operator, where a lot of chains, like Brandon said, have, you know, quality assurance managers, supply change managers, all these different positions that that's all they focus on is what's the next great thing that's going to help us out and make our jobs better and more effective. So, yeah, it all does come down to the bottom line, you know, and it's true. It was 12 to 15 cents on the dollar versus the last report I read due to all the increases. Restaurants are lucky to make a penny or balance out and just pay for everything.

01:29:36I just did an insurance audit yesterday and he's like, wow, your sales are really great. And I said, I mean, they would be if this was 2019, but, you know, basically, we're kind of, you know, in the same place because I raised my prices because this is more expensive and that's very expensive. You know, it's kind of offset. Yeah. And then you got to watch your raising of prices because there's a threshold to which you raise too high and people stop coming in. Oh, I feel like that's that's a whole other episode we could go. I feel like I could I could chat with you about this stuff for another hour. It's pretty fun. We're an hour and 15 minutes in. So we have. Lyle, I know there's a million things we could talk about Scouts Hub. You had a grand opening. We have so many amazing things going on with you. This is the this is the funnest part about doing this podcast is you get in here and you just start talking. I mean, you had Scouts Pub Midtown. You guys do so much with the community engagement. Boys and Girls Club 4-H. You have your the 20 year legacy of Puckett's live music.

01:30:38I mean, gosh, we're Music City and what Puckett's has done for the live music scene and local musicians. I could you could do an hour based upon that alone. I think we did. I want to talk about post pandemic consumer trends, delivery services. We got so much that you can see we can just get into. But we're going to save some of that for next time. Sounds good. So now you've done your first podcast. Sounds great. This is pretty easy. And this was a blast. Well, and the great thing about it is, you know, it's it's really driven by y'all, you know, because I can sit here and fire back and talk about whatever. And like we said, we can talk for hours on so many topics of this industry, which we just love so much, obviously. But when you have great hosts, so I appreciate y'all for being such great hosts. Because I mean, you're right. But I didn't realize I didn't realize it was an hour and 15 minutes. How fast that went by quick. So nice job. I tell people I go you get in the studio and you get these headphones on and you just start talking. There's no other sounds. And it's like what you can do with no distractions. And I've got a guy here to fix my walk.

01:31:39My water heater went out and he's at my house messaging me like I met you. I'm like, God, you're doing something so hard about that. But let's do this again. Absolutely. Happy New Year. Do you have any big New Year's resolutions? You know what? I usually wait until about Christmas to let them hit me. This is going to come out after the New Year. So because I think about it quite often. But I think if my New Year's resolution had to be anything is, I've gotten rid of a lot of vices. So I don't do a lot of things that as you get older, I'm almost 50. As you get older, you learn a few things. So you get rid of those things. But I think I guess in my New Year's resolution would be is just to continue to evolve as a leader and be someone who's approachable for my team and someone who people can feel comfortable with talking to, you know, asking questions of and just someone who maybe inspires one person in our organization. So that would be my New Year's resolution. I love that. I had a girl the other day at the new server and she had all her cash.

01:32:44We do tip pull. She had all of her cash and every check was wrapped around the cash. And she had like 10. We don't do a lot of cash, but she had 10 different things that were all wrapped around those like that is the most organized I've ever seen a server book my entire life. I'll bet you write down your check register. You write down your check register and she goes, I don't, but everything I'm regimented on everything. And I looked at her and I go, will you do me a favor? And she goes, what's that? And I go, will you meet with me next week? And we write down every time you see something that isn't organized that you feel like needs to be organized better in this restaurant. Can we meet next week? And can you tell me what you come up with? And she looked at me, she goes, really? Like there's a ton of things, but why would you want to go? No, this is a hundred percent. This is your wheelhouse. Please tell me like, I'm not unapproachable. Like you can anybody in the buildings. That's a good one. Like guys, it's all the ideas. I want all the ideas. These are good. Absolutely. Good stuff.

01:33:44Good stuff. Thank you so much for coming in today. Thanks, Lyle. Appreciate it. Thank you. Great to get to know you. Absolutely. We look forward to spending some more time in the future as well. Happy new year. Happy new year. All right. Wow. Thank you so much, Lyle Richardson, for joining us on Nashville Restaurant Radio. That was such a fun interview. And I just, I love to geek out. Love to geek out on that stuff and changing the format a little bit. We're going to have a little more of a conversation, a little more opinions here and there. And I'm excited where this is going. Again, stay tuned Tuesday live on YouTube for Andy Little. And then stay tuned next Monday for Kerry Bringle. Super excited about that interview. Also, I want to tell you real quick, we had a really cool pop-up the other day. Thank you for everybody who showed up for the Killjoy pop-up. Lots of fun. Go follow them at Killjoy Club if you're looking for really cool pop-ups. We're doing another one in two weeks where it's a non-alcoholic. The last one for dry January. And I want to say thank you to Becca Gardner for showing up. Her and her husband Rodrigo. And we made a bunch of cocktails with the Naked Lady products.

01:34:47And people loved, I mean, they were really, really good. We had so many, they sold so many bottles to people. Really, they're distributed through Lipman Brothers. If you're looking to make a really good non-alcoholic spirit with a real brand that's going to make your drink taste like a cocktail with no alcohol in it, check them out. Contact your local Lipman Brothers person. They're not a sponsor. They're just really good people. And I love sharing really good people's stories. So thank you guys for listening. Again, hope you have a wonderful week. Love to hear your comments on Tuesday. If you're joining Brandon's Book Club, remember February the 8th, we're going to be doing that live show. Unreasonable Hospitality with Will Godera. You definitely want to read the book if you haven't yet. And then join us. Join us for the conversation. Hope you guys are being safe out there. Love you guys. Bye.