Restaurant Leadership Podcast: Overcome Burnout, Embrace Freedom, and Drive Growth
Welcome to the Restaurant Leadership Podcast, the show that teaches you how to overcome burnout, embrace freedom, and drive growth
Your host, Christin Marvin, of Solutions by Christin.
With over two decades of extensive experience in hospitality leadership, Christin Marvin has successfully managed a diverse range of concepts, encompassing fine dining and high-volume brunch.
She has now established her own coaching and consulting firm, collaborating with organizations to accelerate internal leadership development to increase retention and thrive.
Each week, Christin brings you content and conversation to make you a more effective leader.
This includes tips, tricks and REAL stories from REAL people that have inspired her-discussing their successes, challenges and personal transformation.
This podcast is a community of support to inspire YOU on YOUR unique leadership journey.
This podcast will help you answer the following questions:
1. How do I increase my confidence?
2. How do I accelerate my leadership?
3. How do I lower my stress as a leader?
4. How do I prevent burnout?
5. How do I improve my mental health?
So join the conversation and listen in each week on spotify and apple podcasts and follow Christin on LinkedIn.
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Restaurant Leadership Podcast: Overcome Burnout, Embrace Freedom, and Drive Growth
85: From Comfort Zone to Growth Zone: Tackling Restaurant Sales with Consistency and Strategy
Send me a Text Message. I'd love to hear from you.
What happens when a successful restaurant operator with stellar operations faces the uncomfortable challenge of driving sales growth? Jesse Hanson, Area Manager for Crust Pizza Company in Texas, bravely steps into the coaching spotlight to tackle this common industry hurdle head-on.
Jesse oversees three locations with impeccable operational standards—perfect corporate audits, excellent food safety records, and strong Google reviews. Yet despite this operational excellence, he struggles to consistently achieve his target of 3–5% sales growth. The coaching session reveals a fascinating tension between his comfort zone (operations) and his growth zone (marketing and sales initiatives).
As restaurant leaders seek to grow sustainably, operational tools that support consistency, reduce risk, and free up time are more critical than ever. That’s where Restaurant Technologies comes in. Their automated solutions—from oil management to hood cleaning—help independent restaurants streamline the back of house, so leaders like Jesse can shift their focus toward top-line growth and team development.
The conversation takes an illuminating turn when Jesse shares a recent success story—a Monday promotion that added approximately $1,000 in weekly sales at two locations. This simple tactical change demonstrates how targeted value offerings can dramatically increase guest traffic without compromising quality positioning. As Jesse puts it, "Top line cures all," acknowledging how increased sales make everything easier from staffing to guest experience.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is Jesse's candid self-reflection about consistency being his primary obstacle. "I just need to be more consistent with those sales-building activities," he admits, highlighting how even the best marketing ideas require persistent execution. We explore his planned apartment complex tasting events as a way to introduce new customers to Crust's quality ingredients and brand story through direct engagement.
The session also delves into leadership evolution as Jesse prepares for significant company expansion over the next five years. His journey from people-pleasing to more direct, accountable communication reflects the growth many restaurant leaders must navigate as their responsibilities increase.
Ready to examine your own comfort zones and discover what might be holding your restaurant back from achieving its growth potential? Listen now and walk away with actionable insights to transform your approach to sales building.
Resources:
National Restaurant Association Show
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/
Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. This week I am doing a coaching session with Jesse Hansen. Jesse is an area manager down in Texas for Crest Pizza Company and I am so honored that he decided to jump in for the first time into coaching with me on the show, in front of everybody, and talk about one of his biggest challenges right now, which is a common challenge in the industry of how to grow sales. His target is three to 5% and we talk a lot about understanding what's been working for him in his business and what he feels really confident about understanding what's been working for him in his business and what he feels really confident about, and then also where he needs to get a little bit uncomfortable and lean into some different areas of the business that are going to be successful for him moving forward and some of the things that are getting in his way of potentially helping him get really uncomfortable. And we talk about what's on the horizon for him for the next five years, which is really, really exciting, and we talk about what's on the horizon for him for the next five years, which is really, really exciting. Again, as you're listening to these coaching episodes, the hope is that you're listening to the questions that are being asked and some of the responses, obviously, that Jesse is providing, but that you're also listening for your own moments of insight and shifts in perspective and things that you can immediately take and apply to your life or to specific areas of your business so that you can develop yourself professionally as a leader. I hope you enjoy.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Restaurant Leadership 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 through powerful one-on-one coaching, group coaching and leadership workshops. This show is complete with episodes around coaching, leadership development and interviews with powerful industry leaders. 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 you have. Simply click the link at the top of the show notes and I will give you a shout out on a future episode. Thanks so much for listening and I look forward to connecting.
Speaker 1:Running an independent restaurant is no joke. You're doing it all Managing your team, maintaining quality, keeping things safe, and the back of the house can sometimes feel like organized chaos. That's where Restaurant Technology steps in. They've created a system called Total Oil Management that helps take one big job off your plate managing cooking oil. No more lugging jugs of oil or dealing with dangerous spills. Their system does four things for you Delivers fresh oil, automatically, removes used oil safely no mess, no stress helps your team stay safe and your food consistent and even turns your used oil into biofuel, which is pretty cool. Thousands of independents across the country are already using it to cut costs, save time and make their kitchens run smoother. If you're curious about this and want to learn more about how it could work in your space, visit gorti-inccom. Dot com. Slash restaurant leadership podcast. Again, that's go dot r t I dash I n c dot com. Slash restaurant leadership podcast. Jesse, how can I make this an extraordinary conversation for you today?
Speaker 2:I need life changing advice, so it'll blow my mind In terms of what we need help with.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:I think we got operations down pretty well. I'd say our biggest, our biggest struggle has always been increasing sales. That's been the big struggle.
Speaker 1:Okay, say more.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Say more about that.
Speaker 2:Let's see, I feel like we've tried a lot, a lot of things in the book. We've done mailers, we've done outreach to schools, we set up spirit nights. Uh, we've done different types of promotions. We've done, uh, more recently we've done more text message marketing stuff with promotions and that seems to be kind of successful. Um, but I feel like trying to get more, more attention to the restaurant is is where we've struggled a little bit with that's what you're saying.
Speaker 1:So talk me through a little bit about your your your career history here and the time that you spent as a GM and the time that you spent as an area manager what, what are some things that you've seen that's worked really well for you in the past when it comes to driving sales.
Speaker 2:The best things. That, I think, is just obviously, and everybody knows this. It's just to create the best experience possible has been the number one thing, and training being in the GM role I always push is like trying to learn this customer's name. Everybody knows this. It's just to create the best experience possible has been the number one thing, and training being in the GM role I always push is like trying to learn this customer's name, so that are walking through the door so you can be like hey, frank, you're back for whatever their frequently ordered item is. That had a big impact on the restaurant. Even now, as an area manager, I'll step into those locations, or the location I was a GM at and they still, hey, jesse, how's it going? And I haven't been a GM for almost five years and they still know who I am.
Speaker 1:So obviously, made a big impact to those customers in that way. Love it. What else have you done?
Speaker 2:Um in terms of helping sales or yeah well, I think trying to be the best that we can be obviously is going to help the sales because we create the best experience. So it's creating as many processes as we can to guarantee they have a good experience. So initially I was the one that did a lot of the training and then, as we grew and had other management that come on, they helped with the training process.
Speaker 1:I would say that yeah, what's special about that training process?
Speaker 2:I would say just getting into the nitty gritty of things Like this is exactly what we want to say when a customer walks through the door. This is the process. We're going to repeat back the order. We're going to offer garlic knots or cheese bread. You know we're going to make three visits to the table. We're going to drop off that initial, the food items. We're going to follow up, make sure everything came out great. And then that last visit, we're going to make sure they don't need any boxes or we can clear off, you know, plates off the table. Like it's actionable, you know.
Speaker 2:I can walk up to any of our employees and be like hey, are we doing these three things? And if they're not, then I know that we can improve to provide that experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how many locations are you overseeing right now?
Speaker 2:A whole whopping three, okay, three locations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what does increasing sales look like to you with those three locations?
Speaker 2:As far as what?
Speaker 1:How would you define success in terms of increasing sales in your region?
Speaker 2:I mean, ideally, we're always growing, right? I'd say 2024 was a hard year for sales. We were growing, but there was definitely some months there that were not the best. So I'd say, if we can continue the year by doing, I would say, three to three to 5% growth every single month over last year, I would consider that a win. Um, but ideally more, ideally more, because 2024 was definitely a harder of a year for sales.
Speaker 1:And what would three to 5% growth do for the company?
Speaker 2:growth do for the company. I mean we'd be, we'd make more money, That'd be great.
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Speaker 2:I just make everything easier. I mean three to 5% increase in sales consistently. We can keep that trend up and get closer to those numbers. We have more staff on. It just gets easier for the lower volume sales our stores that we have, cause we have to run tighter, tighter crews at those lower volumes.
Speaker 2:What does that mean for you? It just means that there's potentially going to be more times I'll have to step in because we have to run a tighter crews, which thankfully doesn't happen a lot. We do have pretty good, pretty good teams for the most part, but yeah, I'd say that's what it means. It's just I have to pay attention to a little bit more than the ones that have more employees.
Speaker 1:How would increasing sales by 3% to 5% impact your quality of life?
Speaker 2:Honestly, I feel like my quality of life is pretty good. I don't think it would dramatically improve my life. It would be more for them than it would be for me, because it means that they get hired more, which means that they are going to be less stressed if somebody calls out. So it's probably more of an impact for them than it would be for me.
Speaker 1:What's the impact for them beyond just being able to hire more teammates?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean it's just easier. I mean it's easier to manage labors. You know it's just easier. I mean it's easier to manage labors. You know it's less stressful. Um, obviously, with the restaurant being busier, the tips are going to go up. Employees are going to make more money. Um, it just gets sales helps. Everything just gets easier.
Speaker 1:It really does Top line cures all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for the most part.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what is standing in your way right now of reaching that goal of increasing your sales by 3% to 5%?
Speaker 2:Ignorance. I think, yeah, I feel like there's something that I don't know, I don't know to try I don't know what, I don't know and probably that, and just being a little bit more consistent with those sales building activities, like going out and talking to the businesses and making more frequent uh follow-ups on contacts that we already have, I think those are things that definitely could improve.
Speaker 1:What do you know?
Speaker 2:What do I know about what?
Speaker 1:About you said. You said ignorance. So let's talk about. Let's talk about the opposite of ignorance. What do you know about?
Speaker 2:about how to increase sales um, I mean, obviously operations is the number one thing to look at first before you try to go bring more people to the restaurant, and I think, operationally, our stores do phenomenal I think they do really really well super clean, um, so I think that that box is definitely checked. But aside from that, when I've asked other people, they have told me a lot of it has to do with the schools reaching out, trying to set up the spirit nights, going out to the local businesses and promoting catering, dropping off flyers, coupons to those businesses to come check us out, what else. I'm trying to remember all the things that we've done. We've done the mailers. We've done live music. We still do live music at Conroe, but we tried it at Katie. That didn't do too well.
Speaker 1:We've tried we tried a lot of things. Yeah, I remember them all, but we tried a lot of things. Which, of those things that you've tried, you remember being very successful?
Speaker 2:none of them have really done what I thought they would do. I. The thing with the mailers is that people came in with them, um, but it was. It seems like it was more of like a, a way to get the offer that we're offering, whether that be a free item or a discounted price. Then we don't really see them turning into consistent customers. It's more of like just getting that free food.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like we have kids eat free on Tuesday and we see a lot of those Tuesday customers only on Tuesday, not the rest of the week. That's kind of what it seems like.
Speaker 1:So, internally, you feel like you've got a really strong handle on operations. Sounds like you're super proud about what the team's doing. Is it consistent across all three of your locations?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd say it's fairly consistent. I mean we've got perfect or near-perfect corporate audits on all three stores, got really good Google reviews. Stores are clean, they get great food safety. I personally check those all the time. So I'd say, operationally, stores are in pretty good standing.
Speaker 1:How's the team?
Speaker 2:What do you mean?
Speaker 1:How's the quality of your team in each location?
Speaker 2:I say the quality of my management team or just the entire store.
Speaker 1:The entire store.
Speaker 2:The entire store. I think each store is unique. They're not all obviously going to be the same. I think that certain stores have certain strengths over the other. Do you want me to go into detail?
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's explore it.
Speaker 2:So I feel like Arcadia location, specifically the kitchen manager of that store she's got a really really good grasp of what she needs to do to get that store to maintain those standards because she stepped into a role, into that role, but the previous kitchen manager wasn't the strongest. So I feel like she has like a really she's really strong in that area. She's good at like delegating it out, whereas some of our other locations that kitchen manager may not be as willing to delegate things out. He gets more pushback though the source. Still the stuff gets done. It's just, it's just different. Um, but yeah, I feel like they're they're all slightly different.
Speaker 1:How does delegation contribute to an increase in sales? Hmm, yeah.
Speaker 2:I guess making sure if, if I can delegate that stuff out, my GMs can delegate you know certain things out, they have more time to focus on those sales building activities.
Speaker 1:And what does that delegation do to the hourly employee? How does that impact them?
Speaker 2:Um, I mean I. I guess what I mean by delegating is, like you know, with with the, it's just making sure that we're providing that good experience. So making sure that like they're like, for example, the the GM is like, their job is to make sure they go, walk around and interact with those customers and make sure for sure that they're getting a good experience. But if that GM is the only one that's walking around checking on it and the front of house is not, then like, obviously the front of house is lacking. You know the GM still needs to do that, but I guess what I'm saying is that it can't all rely on the GM being there for the experience to be good. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. When the GM is walking around and checking in with guests, are there opportunities there to drive more sales?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, absolutely, I mean for one. Invite them back. That's something that we could be better at. I mean, we'll thank them as they walk out the door, but I know that we had some free appetizer cards made and the intention was for the general manager to walk around check up on the experience. Invite it back by giving me that card. Hey, come back, see us. You know, that could be a way to get them back into the restaurant sooner. Or just looking for, you know, maybe they're wearing some sort of uniform. Ask them about you know, their job potential, catering stuff like that, yeah.
Speaker 1:Is there opportunity for the rest of the front of the house to do that? Do you think?
Speaker 2:Possibly. If it's slower, there is potential. If it's evening sales, I'd say no, okay, it's just it's too tight of a group.
Speaker 1:Is there opportunity to enhance the guest experience once the order or when, when the guest enters the building like? Is there an opportunity for front of house to elevate that experience even more than what they're doing right now?
Speaker 2:um, I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure there is like not every single customer is going to exactly exactly the same experience, though I think for the most part they all get a pretty good experience. I can't think of anything that we could really add to that experience to make it that much more.
Speaker 1:How's the menu? Knowledge of the team.
Speaker 2:They know the menu. They know the menu very well.
Speaker 1:How's upselling?
Speaker 2:upselling. I mean, we have a prompt that it pops up that it requires them to put an appetizer on there. Um, there's, and there's a way to hit no starter. So you continue the work. They don't want an appetizer, but it's a frequent reminder. We listen for it. Um, in the morning it's a little bit harder to upsell just because we have great lunch special that includes a drink and includes everything you'd want. So maybe dipping sauce you could upsell. But upselling should be pretty good.
Speaker 1:How are you measuring that?
Speaker 2:So what we used to do it where we could see how many garlic, knots and cheese beds were sold compared to how many orders were taken and we'd use that as an upsell percentage. Now we've kind of transitioned to we're just looking at average check as a whole and seeing if we're moving that in the right direction. But we've used both.
Speaker 1:And how is your average check performing compared to last year?
Speaker 2:Well, honestly, the past month it's gone down because we started a new promotion on mondays that is a lower average check promo. So I think overall the month it's gone down a little bit.
Speaker 1:Um, but before that it's probably about the same as it was and has that, even though it's lowered, your average check has it increased sales.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Because guest traffic is higher.
Speaker 2:Guest traffic is definitely higher on those days. So we probably increased or we definitely increased about $1,000 on the Monday sales at our Conroe and Arcadia locations. They've increased.
Speaker 1:We only run at those two locations.
Speaker 2:The other location we don't, because they do great.
Speaker 1:What are you um? What are you if you don't mind sharing what is a typical sales number look like on a Monday?
Speaker 2:Mondays are rough days. Um, it can vary. I would say at worst it can be like 17, 1800. Okay, um, or, or more normal could be like 22, 23 fluct, be like $1,700, $1,800. Okay, or more normal, it could be like $2,200, $2,300. It fluctuates in between there, but we're seeing it more consistently with this promo.
Speaker 1:So you've added $1,000 roughly with this promo yeah.
Speaker 2:If you look at it, yeah, it's about $1,000. It's on average. For the past five, six weeks it's been about $3,000. That's huge. Yeah, that's huge. It seems to go three weeks in a row. It'd be like good, and then it'll dip and then it goes back. It's like people are like all right, we've had enough cheap pizza or discounted pizza. I should say yeah.
Speaker 1:So you're offering more value and it's driving business on that day, yeah, okay, on that day yeah. Where else in the business could you see?
Speaker 2:that working. I'm afraid to offer that because we don't want to be a cheap pizza kind of place because we have such good quality ingredients and cheese that's from blocks we we make our dough every day. I'm very hesitant to do that too much and become the cheat piece place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100% yeah. Unlock the skills to transform your leadership with the Hospitality Leaders Roadmap Move from ordinary to extraordinary. Packed with practical strategies to lead with confidence and create lasting impact in your restaurant. Visit kristinmarvincom slash audio to download your free audio book today. Is there a way you could build on what you're already doing with those promos? Such as such as what Is there a way you can help spread the word more externally about that promo? Is there, do you have room to grow that on Mondays beyond where you're at right now?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I mean we could grow if I mean you could keep going up to like sales and we could just add more staff on potentially. But every Monday we send out a text for our loyalty program. So every Monday there's a link on there. You can order right online, pick it up. It's also on our table tents at the restaurant, our little acrylic signs, and we have it in a few other spots in stores so it's visible, people can see it. They're like, oh cool.
Speaker 1:We got a monday promo, so I feel like there's definitely a good attention on it. If you can, will you continue to run this?
Speaker 2:promo throughout the course of the year. Um, so the original plan was to do, I think, one month, because we're doing two different promos. We're doing one promo katie, one promo conroe. We wanted to see which one kind of did better, and then we're're going to kind of going to pick or maybe swap and test it out. But I think we're just going to leave it alone, at least through next month, possibly further. Yeah, okay. So, probably at some point.
Speaker 1:Okay, so kind of experimenting, waiting to see what happens, what works, and then and then you can build on that. I mean a thousand dollars a week added in sales over the course of the year if you continue. The promo is pretty significant.
Speaker 2:Yeah Right, $52,000.
Speaker 1:Yeah, would that help you reach the 3% to 5%?
Speaker 2:I mean probably not. Our sales volume is a little higher than that. Okay, okay, but we need more of those.
Speaker 1:Do you have decision-making over stuff like that?
Speaker 2:As far as like what promos we?
Speaker 1:could run Promos and stuff, uh-huh, I mean yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Ultimately, if I wanted to do it and the owner thought it was a good idea, he'd say go for it, he's pretty free on that stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the promo is working. You feel like operationally things are tight. You mentioned a few things externally that you could go do, but you haven't seen a ton of success in those in the past. Why?
Speaker 2:do you think they haven't been successful? It's probably just consistency on those things 's probably the the root cause of it. I just need to be more consistent. Those things, um, because we've seen the success in the restaurant, because that's that's what we say it comes down to is just consistency and systems and processes is the reason we're successful operationally. Like we don't do anything fancy, we just try to always do the basics, like always right, and I know that. I think it's hard for me too, because it's my comfort zone. You know, that's where I feel the best. Marketing is definitely not where I feel the most comfortable. And, uh, it's also just putting it down. That's what I'm doing today. I'm gonna go out talk to people instead of go be in the restaurant. What happens when you get uncomfortable? I'm doing today.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go out and talk to people instead of go be in the restaurant.
Speaker 2:What happens when you get uncomfortable. I think it depends on what it is Cause. Sometimes when I'm uncomfortable, it's exciting Cause I know that it's like oh, it's something new. Like, for example, many years ago, many, many years ago I did door to door sales and I knew it was going to be uncomfortable. I don't like door-to-door sales, but it was exciting because it was something new and it didn't end up working out, but it was exciting because it was just something new.
Speaker 1:So you know, when you get uncomfortable growth, happens yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you can't, you can't, you can't change unless you're uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can't, you can't, you can't change unless you're uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how would your leadership transform if you leaned a little bit more into marketing?
Speaker 2:Probably, it probably improved because I could give somebody I could train somebody below me to, if I was ever be replaced, or if I was to help the GMs take on more of that role as we continue to grow. I could give them something that I am confident in, like I am right now with the other stuff. So it would help them be confident if I'm in confident.
Speaker 1:What happens when more of your team builds their confidence and they take more ownership of the job? What happens? What's the impact on the business? And they take more ownership of the job, what happens? What's the?
Speaker 2:impact on the business. I feel like if more people took take ownership I mean to be to be fair, I think they do do a good job at taking ownership of the restaurant, but I think if they took more people took more ownership of the restaurant, they would look for every opportunity, whenever something is maybe not quite right, to get fixed, stuff like that. That way it's less of me pointing that stuff out which, like I said, to be fair, they take very good care of those restaurants.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very profitable. And how does that ownership impact the bottom line?
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess when people are more cautious, they're more aware about everything in the restaurant, they use it more sparingly, they take better care of the equipment, everything it all relates.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how does it impact the guest?
Speaker 2:experience by people taking more ownership.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because I know for sure whenever customers walk in there they're going to get treated and appreciated as customers, not just as a job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and how does that impact sales and repeat business?
Speaker 2:Because people are going to tell everybody about Crust, how great we are, yeah.
Speaker 1:How does that help your marketing efforts?
Speaker 2:I don't have to do less of it. I'm doing it for them. Word of mouth is so cold.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So if I was going to challenge you to get a little bit uncomfortable when it comes to marketing, what's one thing that you would like to explore and lean into a little bit?
Speaker 2:well, something we've already kind of been working on I just I've been putting it off is doing these kind of like tasting events at apartment complexes. So essentially what that would probably consist of I think I've got most of the details worked out is it'd be like a clamshell, so it'd have like a pizza, maybe it has two different flavors. It'd have a little thing of pasta, a little thing of salad, which has like a little bit of everything that we'd offer. It'd be about a two-hour window. We'd get some balloons, we'd get a little acrylic sign that says, hey, sign up for our rewards program so you can enjoy this free tasting event, something we've never done before. That's a little bit out of my comfort zone because I don't have a process for it yet. It makes me uncomfortable. But I know that it could be a good potential to introduce a lot of people to the Crest brand. So that's kind of the goal to get that in place, and I've already got a yes from a apartment complex. They're just waiting on me.
Speaker 1:Okay, what's been the reason for you putting it off?
Speaker 2:Past couple of weeks we just had some management turnover, just getting interviews, all that stuff, trying to make sure we get the right people in store.
Speaker 1:Okay, how would having a process in place help you execute this?
Speaker 2:It's just less thought, it's just easier. You just sign it up. This is how we're doing it. We're executing it. That's it, just like opening. You do this, you do this, you do this. You don't even think about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's the process you need to put into place?
Speaker 2:To make this happen, I need to do it first do it yourself yeah, I just need to do it. Then I know I'm like don't do this, do this, this worked, you know, and then slowly improve it over time, like we've done everything else.
Speaker 1:Okay what's the risk there?
Speaker 2:um, there isn't much risk, I'd say. It's just. I think I just want to create a good experience, even though it's outside the restaurant, and I don't. I don't want to not give it enough attention. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't know if I can say that on here or not, I don't half-ass it, basically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're welcome to cuss. I checked that explicit box.
Speaker 2:Okay, just making sure. But yeah, I don't want to half-ass it, I want to make sure that I, because I do that, I like to think through things, so I can make sure that the only I can minimize the amount of effects it has on other people if I can't with anything that we try to do or we need to release, so I can think through the problems first, just to make it smoother.
Speaker 1:It sounds like you're very protective of your team.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I would say protective is the right word. I just care. I care about people. That's one thing the owner has really taught me is that people are everything in this business. So like if we don't take care of the people that work for us, we don't give them the time of day that they need. I mean, we're selling pizza, but we're in the people of businesses. That's what he's always said and he's a hundred percent right Every single time. So definitely, definitely, appreciate and give people, our employees, attention.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love it. How do you want to create a good experience for this tasting event? What does, what does that good experience look like? How would you describe it?
Speaker 2:Um, I think a good experience is obviously the food being as hot as we possibly can, without it coming directly from the pizza oven at a restaurant. Um, making sure that you know we're not just saying here's your food, but we're saying, uh, a little bit about the brand with each, each person that's walked walking through explaining to them what they're getting. You know, with that clamshell pizza box when I was, hey, one side is going to be a big Don's, which is our meat lover style. The other side is going to be our Carl's King, which is kind of like a Supreme pizza that we offer. We've got our salad, you know, we've got the veggies on that fresh every day.
Speaker 2:Um, have you guys ever heard of crust before? You know, ask those questions. They're trying to create, uh, I guess, a profile of the, uh, the customer, um, and really get a chance to tell them about who crust is. You know about the unique dining experience for that type of restaurant it's fast, casual, fresh ingredients. Cheese comes from a block. We have proprietary mozzarella cheese, things like that. That, I think, was. It's exciting to tell a customer that, yeah, we don't freeze our dough or we don't pull our cheese out of the freezer and, just like, slap it on your pizza.
Speaker 2:It's like it's we care.
Speaker 1:Love it, what else?
Speaker 2:I think ultimately I mean I don't know if it's possibly going to be part of the experience is making sure you know they sign up for the rewards, they get something out of it. If we get something out of it, you know they get great food. They walk away thinking you know, man, that pizza was good. We definitely got to go check them out and get them ultimately to the store.
Speaker 2:Love it, yeah, so you show up with hot food, you engage them, you tell so you show up with hot food, you engage them, you tell the story, you find a way to bring them back, make sure they come back into the restaurant. Yeah, I want to give them something to go menu. Maybe not give them a coupon after I just gave them free food, but have them walk away or something. I want them to walk away, wanting to go to the restaurant? Okay, sounds like a pretty good process right there. Yeah, I've been thinking about it for a little while.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you've got what you need.
Speaker 2:I think so. Yeah, okay, I thought I was thinking about earlier this week. It's on my my to-do list or my bullet journal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. What is one thing that you're most excited about this year?
Speaker 2:Hmm, there's going to be try to say this as vaguely as possible we're gonna be opening new restaurants.
Speaker 1:Okay, we won't say where.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm very excited for that um, those, those things that are in the pipeline.
Speaker 1:I'm excited because it can create new opportunities for the people below me yeah so I think that's always exciting what are the opportunities it's going to give you um?
Speaker 2:more restaurants, more restaurants, more restaurants, different type of restaurants, different type of food. I think it's going to help me um get out of my comfort zone, so that's I think that's why I'm excited about it too, For sure.
Speaker 1:Sounds like um 2025 is a year of growth for you.
Speaker 2:Um, I I'd say the next five years is all going to be growth.
Speaker 1:Amazing, yeah, amazing, how Amazing. How do you want to show up if we, you know, you and I touch base five years from today? How are you showing up as a leader?
Speaker 2:Oh, as a leader. I was like maybe in a Lamborghini. No, I'm just kidding, you can be part of it as a leader. How do I show up? That's a good question. How do I show up? That's a good question. How do I show up? What do you mean exactly?
Speaker 1:What characteristics would you use to describe yourself if you and I are talking five years from today?
Speaker 2:I'd like to be able to say that he me Maybe that I care a little bit less about what people think maybe I'm a little bit more apt to take a little bit more action on something I see I the less less that like your podcast about people pleasing. I listened to that today and I was like, hmm, I've got some qualities in there. I like those to go away. I'd like to. Let's go away a little bit.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But overall, I mean, it's been a I think it's been a good, good growth path over these almost a decade now.
Speaker 1:How would letting go of some of those or changing some of those people pleasing habits help you be more effective in your role?
Speaker 2:Um, I think it would help me to articulate things with less fluff. Me to articulate things with less fluff, like getting rid of the uh, like the trying to validate why I'm telling somebody something right, trying to just be a little bit more direct, with the being in balance. Of course I don't want to be, I don't want to be an asshole, but uh, probably that just see something. A lot of people have more accountable to it yeah, where's the fluff coming from?
Speaker 1:what do you what? What are you? What's making you hold? Hold you back. What is holding you back?
Speaker 2:excuse me, um, I think it's just, I care about the people. I think that's why I I will like pad things a little bit too much, because, also, I think it's because, like I've never been really talked to in that manner, like I've always just been like, hey, this is what you need to do. I'm like, all right, cool, let's do it Like there's never been. Hey, I need you to work on this. Or I've noticed that you know your, your, your schedule's coming a little late. You know, what can we do to get your schedule to be done at the right time? Or it's like hey, we keep talking about this. It's not proving. You know, I never had to have those conversations, so I'm kind of like figuring that out during this time.
Speaker 1:What could having more of those honest conversations do for the company?
Speaker 2:Maybe it would help people get them to where they need to be. Faster is all, or make it seem more serious to them.
Speaker 1:What would it do to the relationship between you and the person that you're communicating with?
Speaker 2:Um, I mean, ideally it makes it better, but it could, it could be worse, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how can?
Speaker 2:it makes it better, but it could, it could be worse, I guess, yeah, how can it make it better? Um, maybe they did, they would just, uh, maybe they would just know that, like that, I, when I, when I bring these up, it's it's from a place like I really want them to improve and by me continuously following up on them, it's it's because I care about growth. I don't care about necessarily, I'm not trying to micromanage them just for the sake of micromanaging, micromanaging for results. But I think that there's some struggles in. That too is because it's been a balance this whole time of micromanaging and telling people, because when I was younger, I did the opposite. I told you right away and I learned oh, that doesn't always work. So I think I've done it on the side of like, let me pad it a little bit more, let me and I think I swung a little bit too far sometimes- I think I'm, I'm okay with it and I think some people would maybe be like.
Speaker 2:You know, I don't think you have that problem at all. It's all in your head, but in your head. But if you haven't tell I like a system, I like a process.
Speaker 1:So I sometimes tend to overthink things, it's true, yeah, yeah, I love it. What's one, what's one thing that you want to take away from this conversation today?
Speaker 2:Um, take away. I feel like the one thing I've taken away already is something that I already know is just and it's kind of been the goal this year is just for marketing is just take more, just take action, just be more consistent with it. I don't have to have a process to take action on it, you know, just do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's, business is all an experiment, right, and this is one of the toughest times the industry has ever seen, and so experimentation is just key, and getting uncomfortable is key, and trying to stay above, ahead of the competition and keep your name out there and build relationships is just so much more crucial than it's ever been before.
Speaker 2:Right, no, yeah, well, I mean, you're right, this has been hard, but it's cool to be able to say it's like, yeah, we were okay in the hard time and we're great in the great times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, jesse, I thank you so much for coming on. You are an incredible leader and it's been an honor to just get to know a little bit more of you today. We haven't spent time together before this, so I appreciate your, your bravery and I hope maybe this was a little uncomfortable for you coming on today and kind of talking about what you do, but we certainly wish you all the best and, you know, would love to stay connected over the next five years and continue to cheer on your journey. It's going to be really exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm curious where the next five years will go. I'm sure it'll be great. It's going to be great.
Speaker 1:Awesome. All right, everybody that's going to do it for us this week. Thank you so much for tuning in and please share this episode with anybody that you know in the restaurant industry that could benefit. We'll talk to you next week.
