Restaurant Leadership Podcast: Overcome Burnout, Embrace Freedom, and Drive Growth

62: Coaching Session: How to Prepare for a Restaurant Opening

• Christin Marvin

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This is how you prepare for a restaurant opening.

Rocco De Grazia, the passionate owner of Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria, brings his Chicago roots to Tucson as he shares his exciting plans to expand and relocate his beloved pizzeria after 26 years of success. Listen as Rocco opens up about his journey from a pizza-rich neighborhood in Chicago to becoming a local legend in Tucson. Discover how his unique culinary vision and lifelong experience in the restaurant industry are setting the stage for a thriving new chapter.

Chapters:
00:00:07 - Rocco's Pizzeria Expansion

00:11:15 - Preparing for Restaurant Opening Day

00:26:48 - Staffing Plan for Restaurant Expansion

00:32:27 - Planning Restaurant Opening and Training

00:42:52 - Restaurant Expansion Strategy

We promise you'll gain insights into the meticulous process of planning a restaurant's grand opening. From crafting a clear vision to navigating challenges with a backward planning approach, we break down the essential strategies that ensure success. Rocco’s hands-on leadership style comes to light as he prepares his team for the big day, focusing on comprehensive training and seamless operations across all facets of the restaurant. Get ready to learn the key role that effective management and server training play in creating an unforgettable dining experience.

Explore the strategic decisions behind Rocco's expansion, from staffing plans to menu enhancements designed to elevate service quality. Rocco shares how he plans to integrate new systems, adapt to layout changes, and maintain food quality, all while keeping his restaurant’s strong reputation intact. Join us in celebrating this milestone, as we discuss the excitement and potential that the new location holds for Rocco's Pizzeria and its cherished community of customers and employees.

Resources:
Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria
The Hospitality Leader's Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary

More from Christin:

Grab your free copy of my audiobook, The Hospitality Leader's Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary at christinmarvin.com/audio

Curious about one-on-one coaching or leadership workshops? Click this link to schedule a 15 minute strategy session.

Podcast Production: https://www.lconnorvoice.com/

Speaker 1:

Hey guys, if you are in the process of opening a restaurant, this is going to be a really great episode for you. I am honored today to spend the hour with Rocco De Grazia. He's got Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria in Tucson. He's been open for 26 years. He does killer business. He's got a killer cult following of guests and employees and he is getting ready to open a brand new location and move his existing business over about 200 yards and double the size of his space. So super, super exciting. We decided to take some time today to really kind of coach through what his opening process was going to look like so he can make sure that this opening is super, super successful. So you're going to see in this episode that we're really going to start with building a vision of what opening day looks like from each position in the restaurant so that we can get an idea of what success looks like for him, what the expectations are, and then create a path backwards from there of what success looks like for him, what the expectations are, and then create a path backwards from there of what he needs to do in order to be successful and get to that vision and some potential roadblocks that he needs to clear out. So you're going to see, I challenge him a little bit to really kind of put pen to paper here, get some dates on the calendar and really kind of write a schedule specifically for what he's going to need. You can tell he's kind of going off some gut, which is great, with his experience, but he's got a very tight timeline here. So super important that he's really really clear on how to go execute and he's got some tremendous resources available to him and he's already started the process and it's going to be just wildly successful. So if you're in town, go check out the restaurant, but otherwise, enjoy this episode.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the no Hesitations podcast, the show where restaurant leaders learn tools, tactics and habits from the world's greatest operators. I'm your host, kristen Marvin, with Solutions by Kristen. I've spent the last two decades in the restaurant industry and now partner with restaurant owners to develop their leaders and scale their businesses without wasting time and energy, so they can achieve work-life balance and make more money. Achieve work-life balance and make more money. You can now engage with me on the show and share topics you'd like to hear about leadership, lessons you want to learn and any feedback that you have. Simply click the link at the top of the show notes and I'll give you a shout out on a future episode. Thanks so much for listening and I look forward to connecting episode. Thanks so much for listening and I look forward to connecting.

Speaker 1:

All right, rocco, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for being here. It's a pleasure. I'm super excited we're going to change things up today and do something a little bit different. We are going to do some coaching around your new opening and talk a little bit about training today, which is awesome. So thanks for the opportunity. Can't wait to dive in and learn a little bit more about your business. But before we do that, would you give the listeners a little bit of background on who you are and talk a little bit about your business?

Speaker 2:

Sure, my name is Rocco De Grazia. I come from the southeast side of Chicago. At the time I grew up, it was still mostly Eastern European and a smattering of everything else in thereizzerias for everyone who had a job in the steel mills to eat and grab something on the way home. I think there was like like eight or nine independent pizzerias in my section of Chicago which I think only had like 35,000 people for that. Wow, that's insane. It's really crazy. And so I never I hadn't. I had Domino's for the first time when I was 18 and we sent our delivery driver from the pizzeria I worked at to go get Domino's, cause we were like, what's this Domino's? Let's get pepperoni. What's that? Like we, I hadn't had pepperoni ever on pizza either, cause everybody in Chicago eats sausage.

Speaker 1:

So right you know, yeah, or double sausage right here is the way to go so right. You know, yeah, or double sausage right here is the way to go.

Speaker 2:

Sure. So that's that's where I grew up and, like in Chicago, people have like a favorite pizzeria, you know, and they'll, they'll, you know, get in a fistfight to defend their favorite pizzeria, and like that was like conspicuously absent when I moved here. You know everybody's like, oh, it's pizza, and you know not, none of it was exactly what I, what I grew up eating um, zachary's was pretty close. In fact, dave from zachary's worked at the same pizzeria I worked at in champaign urbana called papa dell's for a while, but he's about 10 years older than I, so his, his pizza was, you know, tangentially similar, but also I was just missing it real hard, you know. So I started making it at home while I was working in all these other restaurants in town and I would bring my deep dish pan to the pizzeria I was working at and like make deep dish pizzas on the sly for people and stuff for just to try it.

Speaker 1:

I love it. I love it. That's great yeah.

Speaker 2:

So then I, you know, I opened it like everybody's, like you should open a pizzeria. So I did. So that's pretty much the story.

Speaker 1:

So and you've been open how long now?

Speaker 2:

Just under 26 years.

Speaker 1:

Incredible. Same location all 26 years. Yeah, Awesome. So you have an exciting new project coming up.

Speaker 2:

So you have an exciting new project coming up and the kitchen and just how things are going to flow and I'm crossing my fingers. We did it right. But it can't be worse than where we are now. The little place where we are now it grew organically. It was never set up to be a pizzeria. We just kind of shoehorned one in there and we do our best. But I think my employees don't even know how hard it is to work there. They have, you know, it's it's always been really hard training people for our procedures because it's it's somewhat counterintuitive and unique just because of the confines of the building and the styles of pizza we're trying to pull off in a conveyor oven, which is not the traditional Chicago pizza oven, you know.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, absolutely. You do significant volume out of that little space. How many square feet um is your current location?

Speaker 2:

I think it's 1400 inside, plus we have like a 600 square foot patio and so you know, you know, significant amount of our seating is on the patio, so we can't use it most of the or half the year I'd say totally.

Speaker 1:

And how how big is your kitchen?

Speaker 2:

Um, I don't know like a third of that maybe. Yeah, how many people can you fit?

Speaker 1:

in there at one time. Uh, employees or customers.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, well, employees, let's see, on a busy night we'll have, I think let's. Let's see, uh, six in the back of the house and like seven in the front of the house, or at least six, and that's like that's a lot of staff for a small place like that. Everybody's bouncing off each other and reaching past, you know so.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely so. What's it been like for you to be able to design this whole new space, knowing your business model?

Speaker 2:

It's a dream come true. You know, like we I worked with some some local chefs and stuff and that have been longtime customers and they know what we do, and then I said this is what I want to do. And we kind of like looked at the space and had a back and forth with our architect, who also has designed plenty of restaurants and stuff, and my kitchen designer, who's also designed plenty of back of the house, and we came up with something that we think is going to be good. I mean, it remains to be seen, but it can't be worse. Let's just say that, Kristen.

Speaker 1:

There's so many things that you just don't know. We were talking about this on Monday, when you you just don't know. You can design it well and then, once you put the space, put the people in the space, and you get the customers in there and the orders actually start to come through.

Speaker 2:

it's just, it's a it's a really fun part of opening. It's really, really exciting. I can't wait to see you. It sounds terrifying to me. I mean, I've been standing in the same spot making pizzas for a long time. But yeah, like we're, we're equal to the task and everybody's excited about doing it. You know, and also we're going to have to all of a sudden we need to do it before we can train a bunch more people that we're going to need to do it. So you know totally.

Speaker 1:

So, and it's difficult, when you've been doing something like you have for so long, to now take it and extract everything that you know and try to teach a whole new group of people how to do it so that it's really well executed. Right, because your customers are going to come in and expect the same quality of service and hospitality and food that you've been providing 200 yards away, right of service and hospitality and food that you've been providing 200 yards away, right, right, exactly.

Speaker 2:

I think, like you know, ultimately there's no way we can't improve on our previous location. It's just it's laid out so much better and has more logical and, you know, ergonomic features that it's just going to be a better system. But you're right, we have no idea how to implement this and it's going to probably take a number of weeks or even months to dial it in right. And we still change things 26 years later to get our place better. It's like we should do this, oh, okay. And most of the policies, like everyone else, most of the policies we have in place now are reflections of somebody's brainy idea of fixing something we did poorly in the past. So, you know, stay open, and you got to stay open to innovation. Otherwise you have to ask yourself why are we doing it this way? You know? Does that make sense?

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, I love that and, and you know, your empowerment of your team and your people is helping you innovate, helping you get better, and that's really going to be something that's so crucial and important on on day one of this and throughout your training day one, and then continuing to get that feedback on a daily basis for the first 90 days that you're open, cause like you're going to be changing things constantly, which is going to be really exciting and but it's. But it's taxing, it's the I always, every time I opened a restaurant, I told my husband I'll see you in 90 days, babe.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I don't. I don't feel like I'm leading up to the holidays. I think this there's no vacations or or downtime. I don't think that's okay. I'm excited to be as excited as I was when I first opened my restaurant let's just say that that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 3:

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Speaker 1:

So let's jump into the nitty gritty here. So let's start with um opening day you have. Do you have, a target date?

Speaker 2:

I know they always kind of move, but we're gonna try the 21st, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was a week after that, pending uh, permits being pulled and also, um, you know the the way that we need to familiarize ourselves with the new pos system system and everything too, you know.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and you're thinking October, october 21st.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's in October. We're still. It's a couple of weeks now, couple of weeks.

Speaker 1:

Okay, sounds good. So let's take ourselves into opening day. Let's kind of play around a little bit with some visualization. We're going to start front of house, heart of house, back of house, and then, as we move through this, we will kind of put a roadmap together of exactly what you want to see done over the next couple of weeks in order to get ready for this opening. Ooh, okay. Like I said, I'm here with you the whole way. I'll take notes, I'll send you a recap.

Speaker 2:

We're just going to challenge you. I need the roadmap.

Speaker 1:

You got it. Let's, let's create it.

Speaker 2:

So lots of balloon animals and arrows and stuff whatever you need to help you along the way.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Okay, cool. So opening day. So let's, let's plant yourself inside the restaurant. What do you want to be doing on opening day? Where do you want to be?

Speaker 2:

I need to and I've talked with my managers and they kind of expect me to kind of interface with the customers and welcome them into the new space. So I'm going to I'll be largely emceeing and busing tables, probably for the first week or two, in addition to doing a lot of prep and trying to make sure the line works well, but also all of my front of the house and back of the house managers they want to be able to do everything at this place just so that they can grok the whole thing in a timely manner.

Speaker 1:

What do you mean by doing everything?

Speaker 2:

Well, I've only got one manager who only does front of the house and one manager that only does back of the house, but all the rest of them do both and they want to have fluent facility in both before we have a grand opening or get really busy during the busy season.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so the front of house manager is going to need to be trained in the heart and the back of the house and then vice versa for your other manager. And everybody's going to need to train in the new space right To get everybody.

Speaker 2:

Cause, yeah, we're going to, we're, we're, we're getting a new POS system as well and we're just we're going to have to probably reconfigure that several times for what we need as well.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So, going back to opening day, you are greeting customers, you're busing tables, you're kind of emceeing the whole show, making yourself available for questions as they come up ready to put out fires, if need be right.

Speaker 2:

What's probably going to happen is that they're going to like policy is just going to be set all the times because we don't know what we're going to do. So they're like what do we do if we need this and somebody has to make a decision? And you know I'll have to probably do that on the fly, with some consult, but then write it down. This is what we're doing now.

Speaker 1:

Totally. Do you have servers at the new location or is it counter service?

Speaker 2:

No, we're doing servers. We were thinking that we might get away with counter service, but the pandemic has proven that people really want the servers. I know a lot of people tried to just move to bistro service and stuff like that. Now almost all of them are having waitress service because I think that's what the public is you both used to, finds familiar and wants in their dining experience, as dining out is as much um entertainment as anything else you know yeah, I've definitely noticed that in town for sure.

Speaker 1:

I think it depends on where you're at, but I've I think people, people love to slow down here. They love to enjoy their meals, right, like it's the locals or snowbirds or whatever they're here they're going out to really treat themselves and enjoy that full experience.

Speaker 2:

And we could meet them at what we're like more of a mid-tier restaurant, rather than, you know, fast casual, but we're definitely not like fancy schmancy. But people do want to be taken care of. They want you to fill their drinks, they want another cup of ranch right now and we're able to meet and greet that you know, yeah, and your servers are fantastic.

Speaker 1:

They're super hospitable, they're incredibly engaging, they love the food, which is amazing. So let's talk about what successful servers look like on day one. What are they doing? What's happening? What do they know? Lay all that out for me.

Speaker 2:

They need to know the menu because there's a lot of people these days with a lot of exceptions in their diet or restrictions, so they have to know if there's onions in something you know, and we've always struggled with that, but we're definitely gonna make sure that, especially when we bring in new servers, that they know the menu. And you especially need to know the menu because you're going to go to this new pos pos system and have to like type in, you know, vegan or whatever, no gluten, et cetera. You know, and uh that you have to be, uh, have some facility with with both the menu and how to use the system.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

What else? Um, just that we need the attitudes to be, um, you know, light and airy. I think we're going to have to be. We're going to have to go to food runners in addition to our servers on day one, just because it's such a larger space and, you know, since we're we're also doing tip sharing and stuff, so it's not like white tablecloth where your server is your dude. You know it's like the team is helping you out, you know there's a face to it, who's the person who's taking your order and they might bring your food out, but you know you shouldn't expect that, at least in a place of the caliber and speed that we need to do it you know.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so menu knowledge, comfortability on the POS system, positive attitudes, what else?

Speaker 2:

comfortability on the POS system, positive attitudes what else? I think that's good. And also, there's always the fine line between the hovering and the letting you have a pile of dirty plates at your table. You always want to break that balance where you're pre-busing as much as the customer wants you to pre-bus. You know.

Speaker 1:

Okay, perfect. So some steps of service or some sort of service expectation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Are you bringing over 100% of your old staff?

Speaker 2:

I think so far, one person got another job and her last day is the day that we're our last day of service. So everybody else is coming over as far as I know. Yeah, I don't expect that to everybody, to be able to hack it or or enjoy working at the new place, but as far as I know, yes, everybody's coming.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and then let's talk about the. Do you have a bar in this place? Yes, yeah. Okay, what do you need your bartender? What is a successful bartender look like on day one?

Speaker 2:

Well, I don't know, but I I've been talking today with a friend of mine who's opened several bars in town and is currently a bartender the head bartender at a fairly fancy place and we're going to sit down next week. Uh design, what a successful bar is supposed to have, since we just have an ad hoc kind of bar right now, like it exists and everybody can kind of make a drink, but we're gonna have to have it more granular at this place. So, you know, I need to know how to run a bar from before day one and, um, I'm, I'm already'm already made entries for a consultant on that front, great, and so some of the things are going to be very similar.

Speaker 1:

Right, your bartender is going to need POS knowledge. They're going to need the menu knowledge, they're going to need enhanced beverage knowledge, cocktail knowledge, right, as far as making the recipes, not just um knowing what the ingredients are like, your servers will okay, and then and positive attitude too, right yeah, which is important okay, love that you're getting some uh support on that.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome I'm also getting some. I'm also getting somebody who, um, he was the um, the maitre d of the kingfisher before they sold it for many years, and I'm having teddy give me a consult on how we should staff and to keep to keep the the positions appropriate for the size restaurant which is pretty much very close to what the kingfisher has, which is uh, if anybody doesn't know, is like a 30-year-old seafood restaurant here in town. It's the place where the chefs go after work to hang out at the bar and stuff. It's a great place, both casual and fancy at the same time.

Speaker 1:

I love it, so he's going to put together a schedule for you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, or at least an idea of how to schedule Once we get the space looking like a real restaurant, which is very soon.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and then are you going to have a host stand or kind of do what you do now.

Speaker 2:

Okay, a dedicated host to that or we're going to have a dedicated host host or hostess, maybe two like one, to seat people and stuff. And also, right at the front of the building we're going to have both a cold holding and a hot holding cabinet for all the takeout, so that it should be not, you shouldn't have to encroach on the kitchen to get that stuff now, like we have now. It should already either be in the cabinet or heading that way, uh, before the customers arrive, so there won't be as many steps.

Speaker 1:

Okay, perfect. So they're going to be managing seating the tables and taking to-go orders and managing online delivery. Takeout things like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm seeing two people doing that at least. And then also we're going to have a merchandiser in our foyer for takeout sauces and meals and stuff like that, and also a pile of our merchandise like t-shirts that people always ask for, and they'll be interfacing with the customers on that front as well.

Speaker 1:

Is that going to be a long-term position or just something for the opening?

Speaker 2:

Oh, long-term. Yeah, we're going to do that all the time, Okay perfect.

Speaker 1:

So what does a successful host look like day one?

Speaker 2:

Well, you have to have a good attitude and be able to smile. I mean some people you can get away with waiting busing tables and not be super affable, but a host or hostess has to meet and greet everybody and is your face. So you need folks who like people genuinely. You can't have folks who tolerate people, which you know. You can teach a good amount of customer service, but there's also an innate ability of you want to do this or not, you know. So that's what we look for for, stuff like that, you know.

Speaker 1:

And then are you going to be taking reservations or just first come, first serve?

Speaker 2:

I think we're going to have to take reservations, because we've already had some questions about oh, are you going to be able to take my 30 top now, like? One of the reasons we designed this restaurant with a bunch of movable tables is because we can't usually accommodate more than like like eight, ten people and at any tables now. But like people want to do that, they want to have their you know graduation party or their um, you know right before their wedding, the dinner or whatever you call it. I forgot, it's been a while since I got married, but people like to do stuff like that, and one of the reasons I'm moving and have configured the dining room as such is that we should be able to do at least one 30 top at once.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So do you have a reservation system or are you going to need to create one? Do?

Speaker 2:

you have a reservation system or are you going to need to create one? We're going to probably need to create one, although there is one within the Toast platform that we're dealing with and we're going to have. Yeah, one of the reasons I switched to this platform is it's very powerful and flexible, and also it's kind of ubiquitous in town that Toast is taking over the territory, so that means that a lot of my incoming employees are already familiar with the system.

Speaker 1:

Okay, how many people are you going to need to hire before opening day?

Speaker 2:

I don't know. I don't know, I'm going to shoot for a dozen.

Speaker 1:

Okay, have you sat down and kind of written a schedule out of each day of the week, what you're going to need for the kitchen, kind of what you're thinking for the front, if you'd want part-time? People full-time people.

Speaker 2:

We've just verbally the managers and I have verbally kind of like bandied that around, but we haven't really like sketched it out. So we're going to have to figure that out.

Speaker 1:

Do your managers write the schedule or do you do that?

Speaker 2:

One of the managers is the current schedule writer, but I think I'm going to take it over because I'm going to be doing less cooking and more managerial stuff, just because I think I'd need to and that would make more sense in this bigger space.

Speaker 1:

Okay, are you thinking that you're? I would definitely recommend having the team, having your manager you sketch out what a schedule is going to look like, because you're going to need one eventually, might as well. Kind of start now right Understanding how many shifts everybody that's currently on your team is working. So then you know, as you're interviewing and hiring people, how many shifts you have available, with the understanding that things are going to shift quite a bit over the first month or two. Are you thinking that your servers are going to rotate through? Maybe they serve one day, they host one day, they merchandise one day and keep it because you're in a tip pool?

Speaker 2:

That's kind of how it works. My front of house managers end up serving more because some people have have uh outlasted, have lasted in our employee since before there was tip pooling and they kind of have a residual. Well, I'm not serving because I don't get the big tips kind of attitude and uh, we make them do it anyway. But you know, we're going forward, we're gonna have to kind of uh quash that attitude and also I think it's important to rotate through, and we do that with the kitchen too. Nobody does the same stuff every day, although I I expect that to be more granular in this place too, because it's going to be busier and specializing is going to actually be a little bit more important.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so what does kitchen success look like on day one?

Speaker 2:

Just being able to make the food like we made it at the old place and the new place. That's fine. We're not monkeying with the menu yet. We have big plans, but the customers want the old standby and indeed the health department wants the same menu that I sent them be served on the first day. So that's fine, We'll do that. And then as long as we can make the food in the new kitchen and in a semi-organized fashion the first day, that's fine.

Speaker 1:

You know, okay, do you have? You said, a lot of your kitchen staff is going to come over. So do you envision day one? Rock star people in every single position and then somebody training next to them?

Speaker 2:

and each station. Yeah, we're going to have More people just watching and kind of figuring it out while we do service. Hopefully we'll have a few days of fake service or friends and family service to familiarize yourself with things. But we're bringing over a few of our key pieces of equipment and the new equipment I have is actually just vast improvements on what we have anyway. So it's not like we've changed our cooking process at all, so much as streamlined it a little bit. But just the different, just where everything is, is going to be befuddling to everyone until they get it. So I understand.

Speaker 1:

Okay. Do you have recipes in place for all of your items in the kitchen?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, they're. You know, I have recipes going back to our earliest days. I'm going to have to reconfigure some of them because, um, and instead of like doing single batches of dough that we triple or whatever, I want it to reflect one 50 pound bag of flour, you know, like that for dough and just to make things easier on everybody, and I think we're just going to have to scale things up, you know.

Speaker 1:

Okay, perfect. And then do you have opening and closing procedures in place for the front of the house and the kitchen.

Speaker 2:

Well, I do for the, for the old place.

Speaker 1:

we're going to have to rewrite those, obviously, okay good, you've got the framework, you just need to make some adjustments. Yeah, yeah, okay, great, okay. So October 21st opening day for Timeline.

Speaker 2:

When do you want to have all of your staff hired? It doesn't have to be right away, because I think we're going to close some sections and stuff. We'll probably keep it the same size as far as the number of seats as we have in our current location and just not seat some areas, because you know, I know we won't be able to accommodate everybody at once. And then, you know, no, nobody understands that when they go to a new restaurant. But that's not my problem. You want to do the best you can.

Speaker 2:

My girlfriend always likes to go. Oh, this place moved to a bigger location, let's check them out. I'm like, really, they've only been open three days, hon, but she wants to go and it's always like why aren't they seating everybody? I'm like, really, they've only been open three days, hon, but she wants to go and it's always like why aren't they seating everybody? I'm like, dude, just chill.

Speaker 1:

So when do you want to have your opening team hired?

Speaker 2:

Like for the entire, like fully staff hired.

Speaker 1:

No, because it sounds like what you're saying is you're going to have a team to get ready to open on the 21st and then you're probably going to continue to hire the next few weeks a month, depending on what you need.

Speaker 2:

Right by Thanksgiving week we need to have the place open fully and have all the staff in place. Okay, perfect, and I haven't really tried to hire yet. But a lot of people have approached me. They already know that we're expanding. We have an okay reputation as an employer and I've gotten some old employees that want to come back and do stuff already put in applications and stuff like that Amazing. I think we won't have as hard a time staffing as other places because we're both a known quantity and it's new and exciting at the same time, so it shouldn't be as hard as usual to staff up.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so when do you want to start? Well, let me ask you are you going to do any training in the old space, or is it going to be all the training in the new space?

Speaker 2:

all training in the new space.

Speaker 1:

Okay, when can you start doing that?

Speaker 2:

hopefully um a week from, say, tuesday next week, so 10 days from now. We're hoping to get, but I can't train anybody till I have um the health department's okay. I can't have any food in there until then, so what?

Speaker 1:

if you could, you have people in for a full meeting, kind of discuss the concepts, talk about service, talk about expectations, totally Do some POS training.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, we're going to have both new hires and old employees for an all-staff meeting at least once and uh, you know, I envision that happening and I've already, you know, written, written that on a schedule and stuff. So everybody should figure out that and they want to know what's going on. They keep asking all the managers what are we doing? And so I keep updating little notes and stuff and talking to people personally and, yeah, it should happen. But you're right, it's going to need some coordination.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, are you going to turn on online ordering day one? Are you going to wait on that?

Speaker 2:

I think we're going to wait. I think we're going to wait. Also, we're moving from we're doing Grubhub right now, and then I think we're moving to DoorDash, which seems to be a bit more professional and also their reputation is just much better than all the other online ordering systems. And you know, I, I know we live in a day and age when we can't completely escape the online ordering uh app, uh aficionado, let's say so you guys started this man carry out delivery.

Speaker 1:

The pizza plate pizza industry started all this yeah, and now we can't sustain it.

Speaker 2:

Now it's impossible to to staff for delivery yourself. It's just not, you know, and all of these online apps are, none of them have posted a profit yet? I don't think, and they're just burning money trying to be the last man standing and it looks like we're putting our you know, we're hooking up to the door dash cart.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you got to experiment a little bit and see what works. Okay, so all staff meeting. So you said your all staff meeting is going to be new hires and existing staff. When do you want to have those new hires hired, like day before the 13th, 12th?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, probably, maybe even before that, I thought on monday or tuesday I'll put it at, I'm like zip recruiter or something like that, and that way I could be somewhere to interview people at a, at a booth, at the new place where they're. They come to the new place and I can you to interview them one after another, et cetera, and and winnow through whatever chaff I get.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so you're going to be hiring next week.

Speaker 2:

You're going to be starting to train in the space the week after A lot of stuff next week, but I'm going to probably start by the end of the week. I'm going to start interviewing for for staff.

Speaker 1:

Yes, Okay, perfect. Do you have menu descriptions and menu tests?

Speaker 2:

yes okay, I mean our menu is pretty exhaustive. It says all of the items on the menu on each description, or on each description for each item it's a know, it says there's olives on it, you know, et cetera. But we may need to do a little more exhaustive descriptions for our staff so they know, yes, it has garlic in it or olive oil or something like that, but pretty much everything does. Sorry, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So true, is there anything that you want to do differently? I mean, I know you're doing a lot of things differently with just the new space in and of itself, but as you think about this new venture, is there anything that you want to do differently or kind of take to the next level at this new location?

Speaker 2:

What do you mean by that? I'm not sure what you're saying.

Speaker 1:

I mean, like, do you want to elevate menu knowledge? Do you want to elevate the engagement with your team and the guests? Do you want to enhance the food quality or decrease ticket times? Anything that you've been kind of scratching your head about in the old space, going, hey, I'm going to dream big here. This is what we're going to do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, kind of all of those and none of them at the same time. I think the way we interface with our staff and the way my attitudes of my servers, with some exceptions, is admirable and worth keeping in its current form and people like our slightly brusque but very friendly service and that's good. It gets things done and also people like it, so I don't see that as being a detriment. Ticket times for sure. I'm upgrading from one deep fryer to three deep fryers so that should decrease chicken wing times. We could sell as many chicken wings as we can fry, so the one fryer has been a detriment. We sell 25 tons a year, kristen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I know, you told me that and I tell everybody I know that you're going to with three fryers.

Speaker 2:

You're just going to like there's not going to be any more chicken left, right. I don't know when are the beaks, what happens to all the beaks, but I think two of the fryers we're we're keeping for chickens, chicken wings exclusively, and then the third one we're going to have all of our other things that we put in the fryer, that we have to wait for the chicken wings to be done to cook. And I'm getting French fries at this new place, which has been maybe the most asked for item on our menu since we opened, and there's great money in French fries.

Speaker 1:

So wise, I love it.

Speaker 1:

Well, I know you said earlier that you're not sure how this is all going to play out, but you've got a really awesome framework. It sounds like. You've got an incredible team. You've got a menu that has already been tested and proven. You've got a great customer base of people that love you. You've got all the foundation and all the bones. Now you just you just get to kind of revisit all that stuff with this group of people and give them a little bit of time in the space, do some soft openings, some friends and family, and let them go. Yeah, I think so too and I've been telling everybody.

Speaker 2:

I'm like, look, I don't know how to do this, any more than you do. If you, if you, if get in there and you've know a better way to do things, or or we're doing something dumb, let us know as soon as possible and we'll change it. You know, like they need buy-in to not like just cause I told you to do it, don't. It's not the right way necessarily. You know, I've already always rolled with. I want the food to look like this and taste like this when you're done. Like if you have a better way to roll out the dough than I do, or something, go for it, dude, if it's something you learned somewhere else, or but. But you know, here's the things that you can't compromise on, here's the things that you can, and just make sure it looks like this when it's done. You know, and yeah, that's awesome, that's confusing for people training each other. Yeah, I think yeah, cause everybody wants a specific thing, but it also has, um, resulted in a lot of good procedures too.

Speaker 1:

So totally yeah. That empowerment's incredible. You mentioned the other day that you wanted to rethink your position long-term and you've been on the line three days a week right, yeah, yeah. What do you see yourself doing in the restaurant a year down the road from opening?

Speaker 2:

Um, I'd like to do, if I'm in the kitchen I'd like to do a lot of prep because, um, I don't, I like doing that and also I like the hands-on stuff. I don't think I'm of an age where line work makes a lot of sense anymore. It's just a little too physical for me and I think I could work on new specials and then help with catering and stuff like that new specials and then help with catering and stuff like that and, and like I said, largely be more of a face of of the restaurant and more of an innovator where innovation is necessary, you know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love it. Totally. You get to spend time and energy where you want and um and be playful and strategize and creative, which is just going to continue to open more doors for you to be even more creative, which is great.

Speaker 2:

Right, exactly.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Well, Rocco, you're amazing. Can't wait for the new location to open up. I know there's going to be a killer playlist or music playing in the restaurant at all times. That's a given right.

Speaker 2:

Sure, it's going to have to be a little less illegal at the new place.

Speaker 1:

I love it. I love it. Well, anybody from Tucson that's that's listening to this, give him. Give him a, give him a week or two maybe and then go.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, don't come. Please don't come on opening day. I mean, you can, but yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm telling you Don, Please don't come on opening day. I mean you can, but I'm telling you, Don't expect anything. Don't expect to get in the door Right and if you're visiting from out of town, please check it out. It is our favorite pizza in town. It's some of the best pizza we've ever had. Seriously, I know it took us a few months to discover you when we moved to town and my husband I think I've told you, but Tyler wants this pizza once a week. That's exactly.

Speaker 2:

I know everybody. My theory is and hear me out everybody has and I do for sure has a half dozen places they go to all the time. Yeah, so our job is to kick one of the other places off and replace it. So our job is to kick one of the other places off and replace it.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think this new location is going to help build that excitement around it. So congratulations, can't wait to see it. Super exciting. Thanks for coming on the show and spending some time with me today. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Thanks to all your listeners and, I guess, watchers too.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely All right. Everybody that's going to do it for us. If you know anybody in the restaurant industry that is getting ready to open and you think would find this episode beneficial in our brainstorming session, coaching session, please feel free to forward this episode onto them and we will talk to you next week.

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Christin Marvin

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