The Creator Of America’s Best Burger Chain I Patrick Terry - AO 54 I

How do you scale a fast-growing brand without losing your soul?

In this episode of American Operator, we sit down with the team behind P. Terry’s Burger Stand to talk about building one of Texas’s most beloved food brands by doing the simple things the right way — every single day.

This conversation dives into what it really takes to grow a values-driven business, why restraint can be a competitive advantage, and how long-term thinking beats short-term hype.

This episode covers:

• The origin story of P. Terry’s
• Building a brand rooted in simplicity and quality
• Why company culture matters more than expansion speed
• Leadership lessons from the restaurant industry
• Staying disciplined as growth opportunities multiply
• What small businesses can learn from doing fewer things better

From burgers to business philosophy, this episode is a masterclass in intentional growth, operational excellence, and staying true to your principles as success follows.

If you care about brand building, local business, and creating something that lasts — this is one you won’t want to miss.

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• Newsletter: https://americanoperator.substack.com

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:05:08
Unknown
I said, sweetie, it's one day we got a one little burger stand and she because we can't give them that.

00:00:05:10 - 00:00:22:13
Unknown
I said, well, that's what we did. It's so. So then I started thinking, I'm like, well, wait a minute, if I'm the competition and I see we gave away this number that's going to really blow their minds. Yeah, that we made that kind of money. So I doubled the number

00:00:22:13 - 00:00:29:09
Unknown
All right. Team. Well, we are in studio today with a Texas, but an American staple here.

00:00:29:10 - 00:00:50:15
Unknown
Terry. Patrick. Terry. And if you haven't been through one of one of the P Terry Burger stands there, you're totally missing out. Not only in just, we were just chatting before this. Just kind of an American thing. Is an American menu item is a great cheeseburger. But more than anything, it's really just. I'm always reminded how great your people are, you know, and just kind of the entire culture you have around it.

00:00:50:15 - 00:00:54:13
Unknown
So thank you. Thank you, sir, for being in tonight. I appreciate it. It's my pleasure. I'm glad to be here

00:00:54:13 - 00:01:10:06
Unknown
We have, we have a ritual here that were on the show that got owners and folks that are, live tuning in and getting some words of wisdom from from folks like you who've operated own and continue moving through business. And so it gives them an opportunity to ask a question.

00:01:10:06 - 00:01:32:02
Unknown
The chairman and so this is, gentleman Bill Tindall. He runs a company actually here in town. It services technology, those kinds of things. Just a great all around human. And so he sent this one in. How do you manage through the valleys and maybe the sturdy story of the tightest needle you ever had to thread?

00:01:32:04 - 00:01:56:02
Unknown
Well, you managed through the valleys, by taking a really deep breath. And and just breathing in and out. And I mean that it's a physical and a mental thing. You you you you got you got to get Ahold of yourself and, and the first thought is, my first thought is, how did I how do I get out of this valley?

00:01:56:04 - 00:02:34:00
Unknown
And then my second thought is, how do I get in it? Because I want to do this again. And in many cases, you're just having to write it out. You're you're, it might be for us. It might be a bad quarter where our cost of goods, you know, after after Covid, there was a boomerang effect after, two years of Covid that, the supply chain issue, and all of a sudden, our food cost shot up, you know, like five points in a quarter, you know, making money and and so what you're thinking is, okay, how do I.

00:02:34:00 - 00:02:49:07
Unknown
I just got to write this out. I just got to write this out. I'm not going to make any money this quarter. I'm not making the next quarter. And in a I'm not making any money the third quarter. Now I'm going to have to make I got to figure something else out. I got now I got a problem that's not going away.

00:02:49:09 - 00:03:16:23
Unknown
But so many of the problems, if you're just trying to ride out the storm and really batten down the hatches, you know, I have this rule in the burger stand that if if you're getting crushed because you have all, you know, more customers that you were anticipating or people that didn't show up, you everyone gets together in and you focus on this one area and make your and make your room smaller.

00:03:17:00 - 00:03:44:14
Unknown
Smaller. Yeah. And so, you know, that's what I, that's how I think of how I think of the valley. How do I make this all smaller? Can we, can we all just hang out through this before I have to make any, any drastic changes? As far as the, the the really the threading, the needle on, on,

00:03:44:16 - 00:04:26:18
Unknown
I got to say, it would have been, it would have been the, the, it would had to have been at the beginning when I was just overwhelmed with, with the job that, that we were, you know, we were open every day and we're open till midnight back then or 11 whatever. And I, I felt like I had to be there all the time and, and so what I was threading was how much longer can I hold on and do this before I either collapse and or feel more comfortable that I don't have to be here.

00:04:26:20 - 00:04:50:14
Unknown
And and so it was it was that same. It was that mentality as I, you know, I just have to get through. And it was a day to day thing. And okay, this person that I've hired, he may or she may work out. So now I don't have to be here from, you know, 5 to 9, whatever. And and that was the hardest part.

00:04:50:16 - 00:05:15:18
Unknown
Just, you know, we were I know this sounds silly in the, in the scheme of things, but we didn't know how to do potatoes. We didn't know how to do a French fries and and everything. We were doing turned out to be wrong. And I would be on the phone. I kid you not. I would call the University of Idaho potatoes and and and talk to the potato department.

00:05:15:18 - 00:05:37:18
Unknown
I'm not even making this up. And who ever answered? I'm screaming, these potatoes suck. There's they're they're mushy. They're what am I doing wrong? And some poor son of a gun that answered the phone. And I figured, well, you, God, you you guys grow potatoes there. Somebody there has to know what the hell's. He's got a PhD.

00:05:37:20 - 00:06:12:00
Unknown
And somebody's got to know. And and that frantic. And I would drive around town to different produce companies and and try and figure out if their potato was. I can remember a Friday night we were out of potatoes. I'd thrown them all. I'd thrown out cases. It was just a disaster. And I'm standing on a I don't know why how they let me back there because I, I'm, I could have killed myself and but I'm, I'm standing going through boxes of potatoes like I own the place and frantically loading up my car.

00:06:12:00 - 00:06:41:02
Unknown
And it was just this. Because I always have this I, I run with my I run my business out of fear. It's running. It's fear of failure. And it and and so everything is based on that and it's what I put on myself. Nobody else has done. I just do it. And so I'm so getting through those days and, and then finally figuring out, oh, this is the proper soak in temp and all that.

00:06:41:04 - 00:06:54:08
Unknown
But that was that was really hard. The beginning was really hard. Yeah. It sounds like you eventually thread the needle. We did thread the needle. We did thread the needle. That is a tight one. It. Yeah, yeah. Thank you very is. Oh my pleasure,

00:06:54:08 - 00:07:14:12
Unknown
Hey, y'all. Quick break. Here at American Operator, we believe that small business is the backbone of this country. But more and more Main Street getting swallowed up by big corporations, wall Street or some of them are just shutting down. If you've ever thought about building something of your own, or just being a part of saving the American dream head on over to American operator.com.

00:07:14:14 - 00:07:24:18
Unknown
It's your one stop shop for inspiration stories, and you'll get to join this really great community of patriots that believe our country still worth fighting for. All right. Back to the show.

00:07:24:18 - 00:07:36:10
Unknown
before we kind of, like get into all the, you know, you build your version, the American dream and everything that comes along with it. Was burgers always in the in your mind of doing at some point in time?

00:07:36:11 - 00:08:02:06
Unknown
Yeah. It was always going to be burgers. It was always going to be really burgers. Yeah. From so it's one of those deals that, you know, I started this when I was mid 40s and, and when I finally, it finally happened, I cannot tell you how many people came up to me and said, well, I'm glad you finally have done this because you've been talking about it to me for so long.

00:08:02:06 - 00:08:23:03
Unknown
And I'm like, really? And they're like, oh my God, you talked into all you did was talk about burgers and and of course, I had really did not realize it. It is always going to be burgers and it's going to be burgers for, the simplest of reasons. There, there is nothing, more American than a cheeseburger.

00:08:23:04 - 00:08:55:06
Unknown
Fries in a shake. There is nothing more. That represents, how I grew up and, you know, living in West Texas, and the the ethics and the people and the kindness and the resolve, that I was surrounded with, you know, when West Texas is a lot different than than a lot of parts of the country and a lot of parts different than a lot of parts of Texas.

00:08:55:08 - 00:09:19:18
Unknown
East Texas has, you know, great rivers and timber. West Texas has none of that. They really just have a lot of wind, tumbleweeds, open space, you know, hot, dry summers, cold as hell winters, pump jacks everywhere. Yeah. And what you end up, what you. And of course, there's a little of this and land, man.

00:09:19:18 - 00:09:46:05
Unknown
But what you really end up doing is needing your neighbor, and. And so we grew up knowing our neighbors, and, and so there is a, there is a I am different because of it. And part of that experience was this wonderful burger stand in Abilene called Mackey Ponds. And this is called I get Mackey. Mackey blends in Mac.

00:09:46:06 - 00:10:10:15
Unknown
And then Evelyn's. And that was his name. His name was Mac. And Mac ran the town. You know, here's this Abilene. There's never had a lot of money, about 100,000 people. And at one time, Mac has long since gone. And all of his restaurants are long since gone. But at one time, Mac had like a dozen restaurants. He had the cafeteria, he had the steak house.

00:10:10:15 - 00:10:33:08
Unknown
He had the drive thru. The drive at, they called it a drive. The area, he just had everything. He had his own commissary. He made everything from scratch. And. And you just went to Mac's. And so, when I was creating this, I was going creating potteries. I was going back to my childhood. I was going back to Mac's.

00:10:33:10 - 00:11:02:07
Unknown
I spoke to his his, widow at the time, years ago. She was in her 90s. She's still driving, and and call and called her. And I said, you just want to let you know what influence you your husband had on my on me. And and now I'm doing this in Austin. And so I look back and realized, you know, we have a commissary now, our menu is retro early 60s.

00:11:02:09 - 00:11:24:16
Unknown
And we are trying to take you back to that time. You know what? I it's a it's a bit morbid, but, you know, the country was different before the Kennedy assassination, before John Kennedy was was assassinated in Dallas. There was an innocence about the country. And and I think from that moment on, things have just changed.

00:11:24:16 - 00:11:52:12
Unknown
And, and I'm trying to bring you back at least for an hour or the 15 minutes or the ten minutes you spend in line at hopefully not too long in line. You know, it's I'm trying to bring you back to that. That's why the architecture looks the way it does. That's why there's plants and trees and flowers and, and and and, you know, a respectful attendant that is there to get what you need.

00:11:52:14 - 00:12:14:19
Unknown
Not always, but God knows, we try and and so there is just a little bit of, I don't know, maybe just going back to where it used to be. Yeah, I love that. Well, I'll tell you when we made a pit stop today, talking about the way that your folks care, that just kind of old school American hospitality.

00:12:14:21 - 00:12:30:07
Unknown
I mean, it's it's on out of ten, out of, you know, out of a scale of ten, it's 11. I mean, they go up there to see Crockett, my dog, hanging out the back, right? They don't only they don't only offer a treat, but they asked me if it's okay if he gets one. And they spell it out just in case he knows what that word means.

00:12:30:13 - 00:12:43:19
Unknown
And they don't want to give him bothered and trouble. And it just like, again, you don't need to do that. But there's something about it. What do you say about, you know, why do you think it resonates for a guy like myself who didn't grow up in the 60s? Yeah. Why do you think it still feels like home?

00:12:43:19 - 00:13:05:11
Unknown
Why does it still feel like nostalgic, even if I don't have a concept of it? Well, I think I think there is, if you if you, if you don't recognize it because you weren't alive at the time or I think I think you do recognize some comfort in it that it's a, it's, it's a little bit different than other places.

00:13:05:13 - 00:13:47:13
Unknown
And, and I think what my hope is, what you're seeing is wow, this is better. I mean, I may not understand it all, but I like what I see. I like what I hear, I like what I feel like, what I taste and and you know, part of that whole thing is the fact that we don't put anything in our food, you know, there that you're not going to get that pit in your stomach even if you're eating a double a cheese, which is pretty good portion, and fries and a drink because there's there's just nothing in it that that, there are no preservatives, there's no fillers.

00:13:47:15 - 00:14:11:17
Unknown
You know, the buns are going to only last couple of days because there's no preservative in it, you know? And so, I think the whole thing is supposed to just come together and transform you into into something that is, at the very least, a good thing. And maybe at the very most while this is, this is the way it would be, wouldn't it be nice that this is the way we lived?

00:14:11:21 - 00:14:34:11
Unknown
Yeah. You talk kind of. You said some earlier about, you know, how to start. I think a lot of folks don't realize this because it does feel like it's one of those brands that just been around forever. Right. But you started it 45 and I talked to aspiring owners, you know, maybe a guy or gal sitting in a cubicle saying, hey, yeah, maybe one day I'll do my own thing, one day I'll start, and then at some point I'll meet them and they'll say, yeah, I might just be past those years, you know.

00:14:34:11 - 00:14:54:10
Unknown
Right. And they're not know what would you say? I mean, was being 45 a super power? Actually it's doing the business then. Yeah, I wasn't I don't think I was mature enough. I mean, I've had plenty of businesses. I've done things my whole life. But I knew when this came around and it was it was it was teed up.

00:14:54:14 - 00:15:14:21
Unknown
I finally had the opportunity to do it. I knew this was going to be the one thing I stuck with until, you know, the day I died, I knew that then that I had, tried this and that, and I'd had some success and other things, but this is what I really wanted to do. And it was a superpower.

00:15:14:21 - 00:15:45:20
Unknown
I took all the lessons I had learned. And, you know, the 20 something years that I had been working before this, that and, and put all of that information to this and knew exactly what I wanted and knew exactly what I wanted. And, you know, first and foremost, it's about the employee. It really is. The employee is going to take the customer, take care of the customer.

00:15:45:22 - 00:16:06:13
Unknown
But if I don't concentrate on the employee, then then I can't guarantee you good service. But if my concentration is on the employee, I'm feeling better. And a better that you're going to get good service. So. So yeah, but go back to what you were saying 45 years was I don't think I could have done the city center.

00:16:06:15 - 00:16:27:01
Unknown
What were the what were kind of some of those stepping stones or some of those chapters in your life early on, they kind of made you, appreciate the hard work of I think there's no secret that, I mean, at least from my perspective, that growing arteries and what it's become hard work, no doubt about it. But what were those things?

00:16:27:01 - 00:16:56:13
Unknown
Were there any kind of key moments along those along that journey to 45 before you started that gave you some solidarity and like, oh yeah, these are some important lessons learned and get me to where I'm at. Well, first of all, I'm tormented by the fact that I was always going to be do my own thing and, and and and there is a price to pay when you say you're going to do your own thing, because it does come with a lot more a lot of work and a lot of a lot of frustration and all those emotions.

00:16:56:14 - 00:17:26:22
Unknown
So I had that in my mind almost from day one, from when I was a teenager, or even younger. So, so from that moment on, I am I am looking for things to, to put in, you know, to, to remember. And so the touch points were there because I was paying attention. My first job out of, school was in advertising in Dallas, and it was a, a big firm at the time is Tracy Locke.

00:17:26:22 - 00:17:52:01
Unknown
And then they merged with BBDO and it became, you know, a big ad agency with, really good clients. And it was the real deal. I was lucky to get the job. But what I found was that, you know, the television shows that talk about it like Mad Men and all that, they're true. It was a really, tough environment, and I.

00:17:52:01 - 00:18:15:21
Unknown
I'm looking around and I'm thinking, why are we treating each other this way? We're all on the same team. Why is there so much backstabbing and backbiting and and fighting to get to the top? And I mean, it was it really just registered with me? It's like, well, this isn't the way to say this. Yeah. This isn't this isn't this isn't sustainable.

00:18:15:23 - 00:18:35:15
Unknown
Right. And, and and what you're trying to really do and you have a business is make it sustainable. The whole idea. Unless you're just going to flip it or whatever. But the whole idea is to is to have it around, you know, to create something and, and watch it grow and pass it on either to your employees or to your kids or to whomever.

00:18:35:17 - 00:19:03:04
Unknown
And so that was the first thing that I recognized. That said, well, that's just not how to do this. And it was a great lesson for me because I think you can pick up as many things on what not to do as what to do. So that was that was really helpful for me when you when you were, those days of, when you watch folks doing kind of some of the behaviors of backstabbing and those kinds of thing was to get ahead.

00:19:03:04 - 00:19:18:20
Unknown
I mean, what was your sense was the environment was created because it was very individualistic, or what do you think drove that? Well, it was to get ahead. But I also watched one guy and he did it to me. He was a senior guy. I wasn't nothing on the totem pole, but it was almost for sport. Oh, really?

00:19:18:21 - 00:19:33:21
Unknown
And and it was, you know, I, I had a meeting with him and I got back my time. I got back to the office, my boss called me and he said, why would you say that to him? And I said, you think I'm that stupid to say that to him? Are you crazy? He's a senior vice president. I'm an assistant county executive.

00:19:33:21 - 00:20:02:10
Unknown
I'm well aware of where I am. Why would I ever say that to him? Well, he said you said that. Oh, for God's sake. It's really like. Okay, well, I didn't say that. Okay? So everybody just needs to calm down. So what I saw was egos and and, well, I saw a lot of egos, but but what I didn't see was we're all here for, what's best for either the client or the agency or the end product.

00:20:02:12 - 00:20:30:08
Unknown
That's what I didn't see. And what it becomes is. And that's where my responsibility lies, is this is a reflection on the of the guy on top. So everything you see at Terry's is a reflection of me, and I'm well aware of it. So. So if somehow you've had a bad experience and that happens. But now what? Now what's supposed to come in is we're supposed to make good on.

00:20:30:11 - 00:20:50:07
Unknown
We're supposed to take care of it. We're supposed to apologize for what's happened. That's going to happen at a level. I've got 1400 employees that that's going to happen. I'm going to that. That just is the I can't control all of that. But the next level I do control the manager, the the area manager, the people who respond to criticism.

00:20:50:11 - 00:21:19:01
Unknown
So, so what I saw in that ad agency and what what came back to me was this is on me. And so I have to hold everyone accountable. But in the end, I have to be accountable. Give you a quick example, we had as you as you probably remember, in the summer, we had this incredible July 10th where we gave, all the proceeds to the flood victims, transformed our company.

00:21:19:01 - 00:21:44:11
Unknown
Well, we'll never be the same after July, 10th. Thousands of people showed up miles long drive. Everyone came to to make a donation to the terrible flood victims in Kerrville. And, I was at one of the stores, and I got there and they had not done what I thought they should be doing. I didn't have the whole story, but I lost it.

00:21:44:13 - 00:22:08:23
Unknown
I got really upset with the manager and when I get upset, as I like to say, my Irish gets up, which is a great excuse for saying I have a temper and I shouldn't do it, but I blame it on the Irish heritage and and so I laid into him and and he's tough enough guy where he, he didn't say a word and he went back to work and we worked for the next 4 or 5 hours together.

00:22:09:01 - 00:22:43:04
Unknown
And at the end of the day, the vice president of operations called me and said, you have to call so-and-so and apologize. The manager. He didn't ask me to. He told me to. And and that's the kind of environment I feel like I've created that you can be comfortable enough with your position and your knowledge of the situation, that you can tell me what to do.

00:22:43:06 - 00:23:05:22
Unknown
And I have enough faith in you because I. I'm the one that hired you, that you are right, and I was wrong. And I said, give me his number. And I called and apologized, no questions asked. And after I hung up the phone, I realized because I did it instinctively. I just said, okay, okay, give me this number.

00:23:06:00 - 00:23:27:20
Unknown
And I realized afterwards I think I was driving home and I'm like, damn, that wouldn't happen in a lot of places. My name is on. Yeah, it's on the car. That's me on the curb. And and yet I didn't hesitate. And so. And, you know, I thought about later how proud I was that that I clearly got the right guy in the right place.

00:23:27:22 - 00:23:50:17
Unknown
That that we have a relationship where he's comfortable enough with me that he can let me know. You screwed up without saying it. You just call and apologize. So that's that's the kind of stuff I took away and didn't take away from my previous jobs. What were the building blocks you think that that allowed the VP of Arts to be able to do that?

00:23:50:19 - 00:24:19:17
Unknown
Well, the first he's been with me for 13 years. Okay. The second, when I gave him the the position two years ago, I didn't give it to him. He earned it, but I but I told him he was now VP of operations. I told him that I. And these were my words. I have complete faith. And in you doing your job, you don't have to ask me for permission to do anything.

00:24:19:19 - 00:24:43:14
Unknown
You run this, you run operations. You can come to me and ask my opinion. You can come to me and ask me for resources. But if you need to make a decision about something or someone, you have total autonomy. You just do it. I'm. I'm always here, but don't feel like you have to come in. So when you begin the relationship, they way, which, by the way, doesn't happen automatically, it's.

00:24:43:16 - 00:25:11:02
Unknown
He's been with me 13 years. Then you've you've got, you've got a different business and, and you know, I brag there's a woman that's working at our William Candy store as we speak. She started the second day we opened Terry's 20.5 years ago, and, and, and Maggie's mom works for us. And at one point, her daughter worked for us.

00:25:11:02 - 00:25:43:04
Unknown
And when her daughter, when she. Her first her daughter was two. So, you know, they are the people that that are in the stands. They represent the culture. And the longer they've been with us, the better the chances are of your culture, not only surviving but thriving. And and by the way, there is nothing in second, in second place behind culture, cultures, everything, cultures everything.

00:25:43:06 - 00:26:05:05
Unknown
And and when you go to a restaurant that has expanded too fast or sold out to VC, or you know, that's been banker and you walk in, you go, wow, what happened to this place? Lost its culture period. Lost this culture. Does that define that part of being? The founder of it is kind of protecting that culture?

00:26:05:06 - 00:26:26:07
Unknown
Oh, it's already in the core. It is all it is. And it was. So I say, when, you know, my job is to look is to look after the employees, what I'm really saying is my job is look after the culture. And the only way you do that is look after the employees. And so when a new employee walks in, what you're counting on is that employee that's that's been in that restaurant for 5 or 6 years to walk over and go, okay, this is the way we do it.

00:26:26:09 - 00:26:46:15
Unknown
You can look at all that, you can read all the manuals which we have and all the training materials and everything. But I'm just telling you when when the customer does this, you got to take care of it. And so, that's it. Yeah. That's when you.

00:26:46:17 - 00:27:10:13
Unknown
What do you think is not culture, but people think it is. And they spend maybe too much time on it. Well, that's a great question. I have ping pong tables in my brain. You know, sometimes people fast ping pong tables, they're like this. It's all good. It's all good. I, I think I think there are, I think people overthink it.

00:27:10:15 - 00:27:53:07
Unknown
I think I think there is, they're going through, page 200 of the, the manual on, on on the business and, and what you do and, and how you make a drink and, and all that. But the truth is, the only thing that matters is pleasing the customer, and that's it. And so what what what I did on my end with the company, does the corporate side of the business on our end is we build, a two and a half to $3 million building.

00:27:53:09 - 00:28:18:07
Unknown
And I say that because we don't cut corners and, and what we're trying to do is give you an experience, take you to at that time. And we're doing it with, you know, decent lighting and chairs, and you know, wood and, you know, lots of glass. We're trying to keep the parking lot clean and plants in the flower beds.

00:28:18:09 - 00:28:48:04
Unknown
We're we're setting all of this experience up where our beef is shipped in, every week from Amarillo. It's all fresh. We never freeze it. You know, it's it's black Angus. It's, you know, it's all the right things. All natural, hormone free, antibiotic free. The buns don't have high fructose corn sirup. You know, I argued I tried 20 different kinds of pickles before we came up with the right pickle.

00:28:48:06 - 00:29:05:18
Unknown
I I'm not exaggerating. I mean, I I've set all of this up. I put it on on. You know, what we think are great looking menu boards, kind of a retro look. And then I put it at a price point that you're supposed to walk in and go, wow, I didn't know you could buy a hamburger for $3.10 in this in this country.

00:29:05:20 - 00:29:29:14
Unknown
So I did everything I was supposed to do. And the guy behind the counter now now it's on him. I passed the ball over to him. So when the customer comes in, the customer is not greeted properly. The customer is not respected. If the food's not, you know, cooked right. If it takes too long. We dropped the ball in the one yard line I put.

00:29:29:14 - 00:29:53:12
Unknown
I let it all there. But I've also given them the hardest task because you could be the 700th customer that day. Yeah, right. And and they can't think of you like that. They gotta think of you as the first customer's customer every time. And boy, is it easy. Easier said than done. I've worked, let me tell you, I when I, I hadn't been in the stand for a while, I work January 10th.

00:29:53:12 - 00:30:22:10
Unknown
I, I, I made milkshakes. There was more milkshake on me than in the cup. I made the I, I realized there's a line in bed that night. I'm like, damn, I think I forgot to put the sirup in that. You know, I just you just go. You don't realize how hard it is. I looked at the the woman that was making French fries and and you know, our potatoes are hand-cut and they're soaked in, in a solution to pull the sugar out.

00:30:22:10 - 00:30:39:00
Unknown
And we then we spin them dry. And, you know, I tell the, I tell the secret about the potatoes because it's not a secret, because nobody on earth would do it. We so arduous. No, no, no, I, I would bring a competitor in and sure what I'm doing, I'm not the least bit worried because he's going to do that for a day and go, well, this isn't where this is.

00:30:39:00 - 00:31:02:12
Unknown
Well, I'm not doing this. So I'm so it's that word. But I sat and watched, you know, cost, consequences, how hard it was, how physically straining it was slip to pass. You do this. I mean, it's just never ending. But that's their responsibility. And so what I have to do is provide an environment for them that says this is worth it.

00:31:02:14 - 00:31:39:12
Unknown
The Terry's are here for me. Which leads me, if I can ping pong right back at you. Which leads me to, what we try and do for our employees. And, you know, when we started out, we really were. You know, we were we were David. You know, the Goliath was all around us. The the very first Potteries that Lamar and Barton Springs across the street had, McDonald's Jack in the box, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Taco Cabana and Schlotzsky's, literally, they're all gone.

00:31:39:14 - 00:32:06:12
Unknown
Every one of them. That that was a that is a 527 square foot building with bathrooms as big as this chair and and that little building with those 7 or 8 people in it, literally put all of those businesses out to the point where it wasn't worth competing against us. And so, how we did that was, first of all, Kathy and I were in the store.

00:32:06:13 - 00:32:36:19
Unknown
My wife and I were in the store. I was she made she met lasted about two years and then decided it was easier to have a baby. It wasn't know it's a hard core job and, you know, so she, she, she got pregnant, had a baby, and I stayed in the stores and of course, she's been with me and worked the company all 20 years, but but we were in the stores and we worked side by side hours, not just dropping in for a quick kick.

00:32:36:20 - 00:33:11:01
Unknown
I mean, I was scheduled, and we learned what our employees were going to we, we, we knew when their, when they were having good times and bad times, we knew when they needed money, when you know, everything. And and so by being there, the culture was created because, Vinnie, who still works for us 18 years later, 19 I don't know, Vinnie, called in one day and he said, my truck's broken.

00:33:11:03 - 00:33:28:23
Unknown
I can't make it. And I said, Vinnie, I don't want to do fries tonight. I've worked all day on fries. It's tough. And I said, can't you come in? He goes, Patrick, my truck is broken. I can't get in. I said, okay, this how long ago was I should take a cab? Yellow cab. God bless him.

00:33:28:23 - 00:33:55:19
Unknown
I think there were three in this area. Yeah. And I'll pay the cab fare. And he got there, and I said, how much? Fix the car. Fix the truck? He said, there's $150. I wouldn't got $150. I said, okay, work tonight. Here's 150. Get the truck fixed. Pay me when you can. I don't care. And that became our no interest free loan to our employees, which we've done ever since.

00:33:55:20 - 00:34:16:11
Unknown
So you can literally say I need 400 bucks. I owe my rent to my car. Broke down. My mom's sick. I mean, well done. And here's here's the money. Pay us when you can. We take a little bit out of out of your paycheck. Nobody else does it. I talk about all the time. It's nuts. Why the hell would you?

00:34:16:11 - 00:34:38:23
Unknown
You know. Right? I mean, the bank gives me nothing and interest. You know, I can take care of an employee. Well, so we do that. And then one day, my wife was working burger prep next to Rosario. I remember all these people. Rosario. And she left. She her shift ended and somebody said, happy birthday. And Cathy looked at me and said, today's your birthday, and she's here.

00:34:38:23 - 00:34:56:02
Unknown
And she said, oh my God, I'm so embarrassed. So the next morning, Cathy had a birthday cake. Oh, she was working with her all day organizing dinner. And Cathy's like, well, I do the books. I know when everyone's birthday is, so now I know her. So now I kid you not, on your application they ask you to check what your favorite cake is.

00:34:56:04 - 00:35:15:23
Unknown
Get at it. Because to this day we deliver a birthday cake on your birthday. 1400 cakes. And is that a full time job? Well, it became more than that. Susie. Who's Susie? Who's still? Susie? Been with us. Was the first employee we hired outside of the burger store, and she counted our money. How? She came up to her and came to our house in the old days.

00:35:16:00 - 00:35:37:08
Unknown
Came up to stairs, did the books count the money? And then the business got bigger and bigger. So? So we said, okay, Cathy. So my wife did birthday cakes for years. I delivered them, many a night after working, I would show up at home and Cathy would hand me two cakes and say, you're not done. And I and I remember one.

00:35:37:08 - 00:36:03:21
Unknown
I'm like, I'm thinking, man, I've had a Scotch. I'm not sure this is such a good idea. And what happens is, and this is what's crazy, and this is why you are better when you know, when you're not sitting in a corporate office and you're and you're running a business that you don't really know anything about. So what happened was, I one day I went and I did not want to deliver these cakes.

00:36:04:01 - 00:36:30:11
Unknown
I was tired and I just want to go to bed. So I get there and we and back in the day we would sing Happy Birthday in about 15 seconds because the lines were growing, you know, but we would sing it, light a candle, they blow it out. And, the young lady pulled out her phone and took a picture of it, and I realized.

00:36:30:13 - 00:36:33:14
Unknown
That was her cake.

00:36:33:15 - 00:37:03:08
Unknown
There wasn't one at home that was her cake. And had I not gotten there, she wouldn't had a birthday cake changes everything. Everything changed that night. Because now you think, I'm responsible. These people. I mean, I promised everybody a birthday cake, so we still do it. 1400 employees. The commissary bakes the cakes because. And Suzy still delivers what she can.

00:37:03:10 - 00:37:23:23
Unknown
God love her. Let me. Let me tell you. Let me give you a hint. Susie drives is the only company car. It's a Subaru. We turn it in every three years. Do not buy that car. Susie smokes like a bandit. She's got to. I don't know where the marbles are. Virginia Slims and that that car is the most.

00:37:23:23 - 00:37:45:11
Unknown
Oh my God. I get in the car, I'm like, Susie, how can you even be in this hundreds of thousands of miles? Oh, my God, she's. I think Susie's in her. She's older than older than me. And she's driving around town delivering cakes. But but, you just realize how important the little things are. You just realize that, and I cannot.

00:37:45:11 - 00:38:14:23
Unknown
You know, I learned early on. Everyone. Everyone has my number. All my employees have my number. They're hesitant to call me. But back in the day, they weren't. I mean, everybody knew me. It wasn't a big deal. And the phone would ring at all hours. And my prayer was, you need money because I can give you money. I can take care of my of your money issue.

00:38:15:01 - 00:38:36:11
Unknown
If you tell me I'm in the hospital and I'm really sick, I can't do anything but just show up. Right? But but you you take you start to take this responsibility on that. These people are busting their ass for you every day. You better be able to bust your ass for them. And they have to know that you're willing to do that.

00:38:36:13 - 00:38:47:15
Unknown
The only way they know that it shown them. That's it being there. The only way. The only way. I had a guy tell me one night he had had a couple of drinks.

00:38:47:17 - 00:38:56:21
Unknown
We used to have a company party, Christmas party, and he said, you know why I work for you? And I said,

00:38:56:23 - 00:39:26:02
Unknown
Well, I hope it's because you like it. And he goes, well, I do, but I work for you because I called you in the middle night one night. And, my dog was we were at an emergency hospital, a vet, 24 hour thing. And they won't even look at the dog without a credit card. And the dog was dying, and I called you, and you gave me your credit card number over the phone, and the dog lived, and I said, well, I'm the easiest hit in town because I don't even remember it.

00:39:26:04 - 00:39:52:13
Unknown
I must have gone back to sleep and, and, and so that's the shit. That's the deal. That's the deal. And, and, you know, he still works for me. I mean, that's that's what you have to be able to provide if you want the business to just be special, if you want it to sustain, if you want it to grow, if you want, my damn name's on it.

00:39:52:13 - 00:40:12:05
Unknown
You know, it changes everything. Don't ever put your name. I was going to ask you. I mean, like, this is down the road. I was going to ask you, but like I've heard, you're slightly reluctant about it. Oh, God. Jeez. Well, we're out of that land, man. It landed because, my wife usually wins. It was her idea, and it was it.

00:40:12:05 - 00:40:33:00
Unknown
It was a good one. It was a good one. But you know, there is an additional responsibility, and now it's turned into after 20 years. You know, I said, this is really funny. I think, well, we can just get to a certain year. Every people feel differently about you because you've just lasted that long. Yeah. So it's pretty great to be Terry today.

00:40:33:02 - 00:40:52:20
Unknown
The first few years. Little rough, little rough, little rough. But but I'm glad, you know, it worked out. It's got to, you know, it's got a it's got a nice ring to it. We just could not, we just couldn't come up with the name that we could trademark, you know, that that we liked and that we, you know, we wanted it.

00:40:52:21 - 00:41:11:14
Unknown
We wanted to be legit from day one, and we wanted to trademark and, you know, we wanted all that stuff. And so we just fell on it, buddy. And what it is, do you remember Kathy's primary like argument for it, other than the trademarking? Well, it had a ring to it. So. So what happened was there's another, there's another a dear friend of mine.

00:41:11:15 - 00:41:34:20
Unknown
His name is Patrick. And when we would all get together, I went by Terry and he went by his last name. And because otherwise, if you said Patrick, we'd both look up. So I became P Terry. And and we walked out of their house one night and Cathy Tierney goes, you know, that's really the right name. It's got a ring.

00:41:35:01 - 00:41:58:06
Unknown
You ought to just be Terry's. And I'm like, oh God, no, no, no, I me and that no, no. But it did, it did. And it was great. It was great. 20 years later, here you are 20 years later, do you find going back to your your bird. Thanks, Patrick, for sharing the, the story about the cake and about just your people and helping folks out.

00:41:58:06 - 00:42:14:15
Unknown
The two things in my brain right now, one of them is, Why was that so easy for you to just say? Yes. I feel like a lot of owners, founders, just leaders. People like, for someone who's like, hey, I need your card. I mean, I don't that say I need your car. I got to say, my dog.

00:42:14:17 - 00:42:34:18
Unknown
It didn't seem like you hesitated about it. Oh, gosh. Is that you? For all your life you've been that way or. Yeah, I'm. I've always been the easiest. I've always been the easiest. I my I can't even imagine how much money somebody I've given who I've loaned away. I,

00:42:34:20 - 00:43:04:17
Unknown
You know, I kind of, I guess I go back to that. Those West Texas roots. My dad was, a good guy. My parents were good people. My dad ran a TV station, and, And I knew the employees, and I knew everybody. It was a kind of a family thing. You know, my wife says it is as simple as it can be.

00:43:04:19 - 00:43:26:13
Unknown
It's just do the right thing. And. And that was the right thing. What am I just saying? You know, I had my dog sleeping with me that night. And she was healthy, you know, but we didn't have that worry that night. You know, how could I not take care of somebody who had that that that issue that.

00:43:26:14 - 00:43:50:15
Unknown
No, it didn't hesitate. Like I said, you know, if it's a money thing and I've got money then, then that's the answer. Then, then then that's a good thing. Then let's make it happen. Yeah, yeah. On the side of now, the 1400 folks, tens of locations. Do you feel like that's been. I have a feeling you know the answer to this, but do you feel like that the your character, your personality, the way you think of the world does that?

00:43:50:17 - 00:44:07:10
Unknown
You find that being in the rest of your leaders that, you know, do they practice that same kind of. Well, you always hope so. You always hope so. They're, you know, a lot of times,

00:44:07:12 - 00:44:41:01
Unknown
People think that you're just saying that they're not quite sure you mean it. If they're new to the company or they're a little hesitant because in their past life, you know, they've they've lived their life. And this might be foreign to them. They're not quite sure that that is the real deal. And and so, I have a rule that if an employee is in the hospital, I, I need a phone call, and I'm going to go to the hospital and check on the employee.

00:44:41:03 - 00:45:00:15
Unknown
And I found out one time, one day, that an employee had been in the hospital for a few days, and I went to the supervisor of that employee, and I said, you know, you're supposed to call me. And there was that look that said, well, I know you said that, but I didn't really think you meant it. Oh, so you've got to get past that.

00:45:00:17 - 00:45:09:03
Unknown
She figured out pretty quick, I wasn't happy because. Because if I say that in an employee.

00:45:09:05 - 00:45:33:17
Unknown
Thinks I'm going to come because I've always said, you know, I'm going to be there if you need me and I don't show up. Well, you know, then the whole deal's broken, right? So I think it's I think so much of it is just, I don't make, you know, life is so can be so complicated and so much of it is unnecessary.

00:45:33:19 - 00:46:04:22
Unknown
And so I'm not going to make that complicated. If you need my help and I can help you. And I know who the hell you are, by the way, you're helping me every day. I'm going to help you, and I'm. I may ask a question later, like, was that really necessary? But at the time, I'm not going to, you know, like I do that sort of deliberating about that now, I think a lot of people get I think there's a lot of you can lament for a long time trying to weigh things out and understand.

00:46:04:22 - 00:46:28:10
Unknown
And to your point, more than half those things don't really they don't really matter. And by the way, I, I see it as I'm humbled by the fact that I can do that. I really am the fact that I have the resources and the success that allows me to throw a credit card at a problem. Holy shit, 99% of the world can't do that.

00:46:28:11 - 00:46:45:07
Unknown
Yeah, and I can. And someone call you and someone you built something? Yeah, yeah. They're comfortable calling me at three in the morning. That's nuts. And it was three in the morning as far as I remember. I came in, I got him in his fingers there on the dial phone being like, here we go. How would you know what it was?

00:46:45:07 - 00:47:04:14
Unknown
Is it was his dog. What would you do? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Do anything for it? Yeah. If crack it right now, it's not doing so well. I like some things I really enjoy, so I gotta go. Give me a call. Yeah, give me a call. For a lot of folks here that are maybe pursuing this path or currently on it, you know, running a thing, grinding it out every day.

00:47:04:16 - 00:47:24:12
Unknown
I think you mentioned Cathy quite a bit. And what I love about this conversation, there's a lot of there's a lot also that has to be right at the house in order for someone to build something great. Do you find that there's anything just quarter y'all's relationship that allows y'all to to really grow this thing that's been here for decades?

00:47:24:15 - 00:47:48:21
Unknown
Oh, yeah. Well, first of all, I'm be very clear. My name may be on the cup, but this would not have happened without Cathy. No, no question, I, I can think these things up. But but the details. I suck at and Cathy doesn't. Cathy writes the list. Cathy sits and does and follows the list and just does it.

00:47:48:23 - 00:48:02:21
Unknown
And so, it doesn't happen with that. Without that, that's first of all, the business would not have opened. We would not have succeeded without Cathy. You know.

00:48:02:23 - 00:48:25:20
Unknown
Drop the mic. That's that's it. Now, going forward, because she became less and less involved. We had two girls and two children and she didn't sign up for this, so I certainly wouldn't go, excuse me. I wouldn't want to drag her back and forth into the business I did. When you know, we lose an employee in the office and all of a sudden, you know, I need your help on accounting or whatever.

00:48:25:20 - 00:48:49:02
Unknown
And Cathy was right there, and she interview the next person to replace her. We did this on and off for years, but but you you and your partner have to be on the same page. Because 1 or 2 things are going to happen. There's going to be a divorce or the business is going to fail. And, if you're both not on the same page, I don't know any other way.

00:48:49:04 - 00:49:12:04
Unknown
And and so I can tell you, the phone would ring, it would be Friday night. It'd be the one night that we would take dinner for ourselves. And I would just show her who was calling meant, you know, one of the stands. She nods her head, and I'd walk outside and there might be another couple with us, and I might not come back.

00:49:12:06 - 00:49:29:21
Unknown
And she never once said, where the hell are you? I have to tell you a story. This is cracks me up. So it was a few years ago, and, UT game football game was about to end. I was watching the game. It was. It was here in town, and it was it was a big night game.

00:49:29:21 - 00:49:50:16
Unknown
And it was going to be over about 1030. And I'm sitting there and everyone's bed at my house and I'm thinking, you know, they're going to get killed at 32nd and Lamar. It's just going to be crazy. I'm gonna go down and make milkshakes. So I went down there and the place is packed. Thank God it was wonderful.

00:49:50:16 - 00:50:13:02
Unknown
And everyone now was laughing and making fun because I'm there. And they all I knew a lot of the people that had stopped by was kind of near my neighborhood, and it became a big joke. And, and all of a sudden I'm making more milkshakes than I've ever made before. And it's midnight. It's past midnight, and no one's called to see where I am.

00:50:13:04 - 00:50:31:16
Unknown
I, my wife has a call. My daughter has to go. No one's called and said, dad, are you there? You're not. Oh, we're. And and the answer is they knew where I was. And I love that. I walked in about 1245, 1:00 and not a word. Nobody said anything the next day. I'm just like, you know where it was?

00:50:31:18 - 00:50:48:16
Unknown
Yeah. We're just the same. Is there something d is it the. It seems like there's a lot of things you don't have to communicate. You know, you just both get it. She gets it. Yeah we do. We're we we hate to admit how much alike we are. She's from West Texas, too. She's a midland girl. And and there is just.

00:50:48:16 - 00:51:21:01
Unknown
I swear to you, there's just kind of a thing. And, and so we there, we, I mean, the only person they can work harder than than me is Kathy. I mean, I go to bed, and she just keep doing it. So, so, you know, there is a commitment there, and and it takes that, you know, I'm, I'm gonna veer off for just a second, but somebody asked me the other day, you know, about the success and everything, and you really have to weigh in.

00:51:21:03 - 00:51:45:17
Unknown
Was it all worth it? And and the fact that I bring that up, I think describes how hard it's been, the fact that I might even consider that. Was it worth it? Because being, as I said earlier, being a pretty great thing, the business is amazingly successful. And we are. So, you know, all these people, the business is great.

00:51:45:18 - 00:52:05:11
Unknown
You know, we're opening new stores. But I look back on the wear and tear and, you know, the one thing I never miss was anything to do with my daughters. I knew that, I knew that, but, you know, and this is so minor, and I'm embarrassed to bring it up. I haven't hit a golf ball in 20.5 years.

00:52:05:13 - 00:52:29:23
Unknown
Do you like to go? I used to play golf, and in 20.5 years, I have not hit a golf ball because the minute I opened, I. Those clubs have never left the garage. Not a big deal. Yeah, not a big deal. But it's just, you know, half a dozen other things that you just used to do. I remember my brother call me and he goes, The World Series had just ended and he said, God, you see that play at the plate?

00:52:30:00 - 00:52:54:12
Unknown
I said, I don't even know who's playing really? Because it's so I said, you don't understand. That's not my life. No, man, this is all consuming. I, I really don't know who's play. I really don't know who's playing. And, and and so it's just it's it's different and and you know, like I said to you earlier, you know, it was always going to be that way though.

00:52:54:15 - 00:53:17:19
Unknown
I was always going to run a business whether it was successful or not. I'm lucky that it was, but it was always going to be that way. I, I was just going to do it. And so, so I didn't have a, I didn't have a choice, but I, I, I, I want everyone to know that, and it isn't so much about your I don't know if it's so much about your passion.

00:53:17:19 - 00:53:38:08
Unknown
People talk about, you know, you follow your passion. I think you just got to, like it. You got to be able to like or love what you're doing every day. And maybe that's the definition of passion, but I think passion is an emotion that can come and go. This is not one that can come and go. This is, this may even be this is beyond that.

00:53:38:13 - 00:54:03:07
Unknown
You don't have a choice. I mean, the first night we opened, our first day we opened by midnight, I, I drove home, went to bed. Kathy called me as I'm going home and she said, did did we think about who's going to clean tonight? And I said, no. And she goes, well, we don't have any cleaning stuff. And I said, well, that's my answer is, well, let's do it in the morning.

00:54:03:07 - 00:54:20:08
Unknown
Her answer is, I'll find a 24 hour Walmart. We'll do it tonight. Here. Now. Yeah. So she's out on I-35 at one in the morning. Found a 24 hour I swear to God, this 20 years ago. Found a 24 hour Walmart. And she wouldn't clean the store because she wasn't going to have the person that open walk into a dirty restaurant.

00:54:20:10 - 00:54:38:01
Unknown
Even. You know, she does what? And I couldn't I couldn't stand up. I was so tired. So that's the kind of stuff we're talking about. Crazy. Do you find that it's worth it? There's. You know what? I look back. Well, first of all, it's great to have a crappy memory.

00:54:38:03 - 00:55:05:12
Unknown
Man, am I blessed with a crappy memory because I don't remember so much of it. I mean, if I think about it and dwell on it. Yes, it was worth it. Because. Because I'd be a total ass to say it wasn't, you know? I mean, look, but it's it's been it's such a great it's been so wonderful for my family and me and the and I like to think the community that I would never say it's not worth it, but it's been tough.

00:55:05:14 - 00:55:24:11
Unknown
There were times you could have caught me the first two years, and if you two walked in with a check to cover my costs, I probably would have given it to you. Yeah, there were some. We were terrible at hiring. Oh, my God, I there was one year. First year. I probably let go 50 people. What was the.

00:55:24:12 - 00:55:31:23
Unknown
Well, I didn't think it didn't. I don't know what I just did. I'm looking for a warm body. I'm thinking, God, I just don't want to do this. Yeah. You stand there and you do it.

00:55:31:23 - 00:55:49:01
Unknown
yeah. So you were like. I mean, just warm bodies getting in there. Yeah, I'm just looking for the next body, and. And then then there was the other thing was, you know, I had standard and and and again, I'm not sure everybody believe me because the worst thing you do is hire somebody for another fast food restaurant.

00:55:49:03 - 00:56:17:08
Unknown
Yeah. Oh my God. You know, I get a guy in there from a taco place and and I'm like, well, you know, we don't do that here. And I say, we know it's how. Well, no, you can't do that here. I give you the first thing we were always going to do is be respectful of each other. And as hokey as that sounds, as corny as it sounds, man, if you aren't respectful of your other your coworker, then then it is crap city.

00:56:17:08 - 00:56:39:15
Unknown
I mean, this is the that. I mean, how long how many good people are going to stick around, right? So we had a guy in the grill. He's the only guy in there that knew what he was doing. And I'm including myself in that. And he he worked at Outback down the street. When it was down at the end of this Walmart and, and he would go to, to Outback at 5:00.

00:56:39:15 - 00:57:02:15
Unknown
So he worked for me all day. He knew what he's doing. He brought he was one of those guys brought his own knives. He had all this stuff. And so one day he he's working with, a woman that's next to her in the burger prep person. And the grill person are partners. They work in tandem, and they're waiting for the next thing you know, the whole bit.

00:57:02:15 - 00:57:25:23
Unknown
I won't go into it all, but you are. You are partners. And it was her lunch break. And there's a particular way she orders her food every day. And back then we didn't write it down. You just said, I'm on lunch break and you grabbed your food and went outside, and she had forgotten to say whatever words she normally did to change the order up.

00:57:26:01 - 00:57:41:19
Unknown
And I was behind. Back then, we were patting meat in this little business. We were patting each patty. Are you kidding me? Like they weren't even prepped. You had them. We were having them all by hand, rolling in a ball. So. Yeah. Oh, my. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If we put them on the grill, I mean, it was madness.

00:57:41:21 - 00:58:03:11
Unknown
Grinding chicken in the morning. Oh, this little space and and I of course, now big. But because you're in the middle of it, I mean, it's a 500 square foot building. It's half this room. Yeah. And so you see everything. Everyone knows they're there. No secrets. And she turn, he goes, oh, I forgot. And he looked at her and he goes, too late.

00:58:03:13 - 00:58:22:11
Unknown
He just said to the person that he'd been working with all day, his partner. He just said, too late. He was not going to make the order the way she wanted it for her lunch break. And I call him that night and fired him. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. In a heartbeat. In a heartbeat. I don't put up with that crap.

00:58:22:16 - 00:58:38:20
Unknown
You. That's what you just did to her. Shit. No way. He caught. He thought I was getting a raise because he knew I was the only one. Knew his would. And Kathy turned to me. She's done this more than once. She goes, so now what are you going to do? And I said, well, I'm not going to have that in my I'm not going to have that in that room.

00:58:39:00 - 00:59:07:09
Unknown
I'm not having that in this space because because I wouldn't want to work there if I were her, I'd feel, my God, I thought we were partners. You know? So we got back. We always get by, you know, everyone that we that thinks that that they're, you know, the business can't run without them. It does. And then run without me one day, you know, it'll all it'll always get by.

00:59:07:11 - 00:59:29:12
Unknown
But man, you if you don't, if there isn't respect for each other. Which is why I made the phone call and apologize. The manager, you know, you got to respect each other. Doesn't matter. We're selling hamburgers. It did no different than if we were, you know, in a hospital performance surgery. It's the same respect you have for each other.

00:59:29:14 - 00:59:53:08
Unknown
My hunch is that, as I hear you saying that, I think about. I was catching up with a, There's an old. When I was in the service, I was catching up with an old commander of mine. We were fly fishing together. Yeah, and, make a long one. Short? No, I had shared some stuff with him when we were casting out there on some trout, you know, some old things that we had shared, but things that he had said that I think he didn't even remember he told me, or things he had done.

00:59:53:12 - 01:00:16:18
Unknown
Right, that just, like, imprinted on me. Like this was like, oh, okay. That's what that's what being a good man is about. So being a good leaders that he didn't know the wiser, he was just doing his thing. Yeah. Assignment. There's probably thousands of folks who probably feel that way about you and your wife, I think. And and sometimes when I, I, I do wonder how many times we the is it worth it question on like, you know, this stuff's hard as heck.

01:00:16:18 - 01:00:34:14
Unknown
Like what's the point. Yeah. And I wonder if we'll ever be able to take real inventory of like, the lives we probably impacted or the next ten years that's going to come because a, you know, whatever version that looks like that answer may not be for us to know, but, if I was a betting man, I'd say there's probably something there.

01:00:34:14 - 01:01:13:06
Unknown
Peter. Yeah, well, I appreciate that very much. And, you know, the other thing that that when you were telling that story really resonated with me. Is that we, there was a couple that had come in and they wanted to meet me. They were in the restaurant and they had, opened up a coffee shop, based on their experiences at eateries and what they had read and, that that was incredibly impactful to me that, that because I don't imagine that, you know, in my world, I'm just I live in my little bubble and I'm selling my I'm selling hamburgers.

01:01:13:08 - 01:01:40:12
Unknown
And so when, when, when someone comes over and says, you know, I started this because because of what I saw here and what was possible, that that that maybe I could do it, too. So, yeah, that's it's a it's a wonderful feeling. And, and, you know, I'm 67 years old and, and you start to think about, you know, you're not going to be around forever.

01:01:40:14 - 01:01:53:00
Unknown
And, and that starts to have probably a much greater impact on me now than it would have, you know, if I were 47. Just don't think about stuff like that.

01:01:53:02 - 01:01:57:23
Unknown
I, I think there's,

01:01:58:01 - 01:02:14:08
Unknown
I think there's a lot I mean, just that that last statement about reflection that I think there's probably a lot of benefit from us being able to for at least five time. I know when you're kind of in the knife, it's hard to do, but it seems to me like if you can spend some time just kind of reflecting, even on those on the day, in the week, in the year, you know, kind of gives you some fuel for the next one.

01:02:14:09 - 01:02:53:09
Unknown
I'm going to tell you one that that, will stick with me forever. We had our 20th anniversary and we had it in the in July, and it was happened the same week of the terrible floods. And so, we had planned, to have a somewhat of a celebration at our original location on, on the morning of, of, that weekend, and, and we still had it, but we just stopped talking about it, you know, just didn't feel didn't feel right about making a big deal about it.

01:02:53:09 - 01:03:12:07
Unknown
A lot of people were suffering at the time. It just didn't feel right, pouring rain and still raining. And it was raining in Austin and I, we have these two, 20 somethings that are our marketing guys, kids, and they are kids in my mind. And they're great. They, you know, they live in a different world than I do.

01:03:12:07 - 01:03:31:15
Unknown
So thank God, because my world is not the real world. Rolling hamburger is exactly. And I said, listen, I don't want you to be disappointed. You know, it's pouring down rain. And I know you've worked really hard is 20th anniversary and all that, but, there's a lot of there's a lot of stuff going on right now and weather's terrible, so we're still going to have it.

01:03:31:15 - 01:03:53:18
Unknown
But. But I don't want you to be disappointed if they're in a big crowd. And, it's one of the reasons I don't go to Vegas. I'm not. I'm not a good game gambler, and I don't bet. Well, and and there was this enormous line, and it and it was in the pouring rain, and people had their umbrellas and it was, it was a breath.

01:03:53:20 - 01:04:13:21
Unknown
It took my breath away. Very humbling. And, I stood under intent. We had t shirts and I'm visiting with people, and we're taking pictures and stuff, which is all foreign to me. I mean, it really is, and but everyone had it was a big deal for 20 years. And one kid drove in from Baton Rouge. And, I mean, it was wow, man.

01:04:13:23 - 01:04:41:17
Unknown
Wild. Yeah, but this one woman stood out and she said, I work for you. 16 years ago. And, you gave out Easter eggs, plastic Easter eggs at Easter. And I remembered it. And we had given, all the employees. I think it was I think it was a $50 bill in the Easter egg. And we had a bunch of new employees that had just started.

01:04:41:19 - 01:04:56:00
Unknown
And I, you know, I'm very, you know, we have to give them something, but I don't think it's fair. We give them the same amount they just started. So I put in as I gave everybody a 20. If you'd been with me for like a less than two months or something, we don't really think of these things through.

01:04:56:00 - 01:05:13:00
Unknown
But it was just a gesture and and of course, I hadn't thought about it for 16 years. And she said, I want you to know that I got an Easter egg with $20 in it. And I said, oh, you must have been a new employee. She said, yeah, I just started and she said, double my gas for two weeks.

01:05:13:02 - 01:05:19:22
Unknown
Well, I didn't I didn't think a thing of it when I put that 20 in there.

01:05:19:23 - 01:05:47:09
Unknown
20 bucks. What the fuck? Yeah. What the hell? Excuse me. And and yet, here we are, 16 years later. She needs. She wants to let me know that. But her gas for two weeks. So again, it's it's, the impact that you have on people. Did you don't even realize, you're not even trying sometimes. But your intentions are always, hopefully, or at least honorable, right?

01:05:47:11 - 01:06:08:05
Unknown
Sure. At least trying to do the right thing. I got to tell you when when we, you know, we do this giving back day four times a year and and, you know, very proud of it. We, we've given, donated in to the charities in the in Austin, in the area communities. We passed $2.5 million in in these giving back days.

01:06:08:07 - 01:06:31:21
Unknown
And it was Kathy's idea and and I she loves to tell the story that we had. We were in this restaurant and they were giving away 10% of the proceeds on a Tuesday night. And I said, well, that's because Tuesday nights, their slowest night at 10%, stupid. We're going to give all the profits away. We're going to do it on Saturday because that's our busiest day.

01:06:31:22 - 01:06:57:14
Unknown
So that's me bowing out, being a big shot. Yeah. My name's on the curtain. Exactly. Don't forget it. And, God, them the first time we did it, she said, I said, well, we're going to give this. I think it was the Boys and Girls Club here in South in South Austin. And she said, that's it. I said, sweetie, it's one day we got a one little burger stand and she because we can't give them that.

01:06:57:16 - 01:07:21:10
Unknown
I said, well, that's what we did. It's so. So then I started thinking, I'm like, well, wait a minute, if I'm the competition and I see we gave away this number that's going to really blow their minds. Yeah, that we made that kind of money. So I doubled the number and I thought, well, the guys down the street are going to really be sweating because they're going to think of this kind of money we make.

01:07:21:12 - 01:07:43:03
Unknown
So, but we came, but you know, there was, there was a Saturday or we were coming up to another day. And back then we didn't publicize it very much. We just had 1 or 2 stands, you know, and I said, you know, is it tough quarter? I'm not sure this is a great idea. And she said, well, the only problem is you've committed to it.

01:07:43:05 - 01:08:09:04
Unknown
So you got to do you got to do it. Yeah. So we did it and we got through it. You know we got through it. But there were those days, there were those days when you're like really. Well Patrick I tell you as somebody who lives in this town and you know, as a Texan and grew up and I'll tell you, we this is why even when you walked out and the whole team just was smiling and said, there, well, that's not scripture we don't like.

01:08:09:04 - 01:08:28:19
Unknown
They're busy doing their thing. Know I get it. This, this like this stands for something and I think they feel it. You know, even I remember you getting up there and announcing that, hey, you guys were giving this away. Not suppressed. Yeah. Like, you know, and sure as Texans can be is one of my buddies who runs a salted distillery here in driftwood.

01:08:28:20 - 01:08:44:08
Unknown
He'll say, like, you know, some folks, you'll see Texans that have, like, this unbridled pride and just a little bit much. Right. But I will say it's for good reason, though. It's because we do take care of our own and we take it seriously. So thanks for coming in. Today was my pleasure was great. And your words, you're very nice to have me.

01:08:44:08 - 01:09:02:19
Unknown
I appreciate it very much. And, there's no doubt guarantee that for as long as there's a pizzeria on some corner here in Austin will be there munching away. Well thank you. Thanks so. And thanks for your time. And I love meeting Crockett. Yeah, well, he's a, I think he knows one way or another that, you know, if you're, you're his people or not.

01:09:02:19 - 01:09:07:11
Unknown
So I think it it was very mutual. That's great. Thank you sir. My pleasure.

01:09:07:11 - 01:09:32:13
Unknown
Thanks for tuning in to the American Operator Podcast, where we celebrate the backbone of America small business owners and operators like you. If you've enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss out on more of these stories and insights from people who keep our community strong. Until next time, keep building, keep operating, and keep America moving forward.