PEOPLE BEHIND THE PLATE

Sometimes it is important to see the people that make food, memorable. We are talking about restaurants and the people that run them

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Well, good morning. It is March the 16th, 2026, and straight from the Highley Caffeinated Studio. This is According to Willie B, and I, yours truly, am your host for the next half hour. So today, tonight, however, you want to word it, I want to talk to you because you know this is a food and travel podcast, and we talked about in the recent weeks about the importance of food and travel. I want to give you a glimpse of people behind the plate. Um, we're gonna talk about that more. But coming, I'm I don't know. Some of you probably don't know my history, in which is I've been in food service 99% of my life. I've been a restaurant owner, a restaurant designer, I've written back of the house, front of the house training. I have been on the growing side, I've been on the broker side, I have been a food service sales rep. I have there's not a single job in the restaurant industry or food service industry that I haven't done. And which, while that doesn't trust me, that does not make me an expert. What it does make me is someone who has a reflective past to pull from for knowledge, and I hope to in part give you some behind the scenes of the restaurant industry tonight that you may or may not know. And it's going to change the way that you look at restaurants the next time you walk in and sit down. Now, from my perspective, from or from my heart, when I say when you go into a restaurant, I'm talking about a mom and pop or locally owned restaurant. I'm not talking about chain restaurants, I'm not talking about fast food, none of that. I am talking about locally owned restaurants. Why am I segregating them out? I'm going to tell you one simple reason. Fast food chains, they are they serve a need. Okay. You're hungry, you're in a hurry, you pull the drive-thru. And cross your fingers and hope that they give it right before you pull back on the freeway and realize that you asked for unsweet tea, you got sweet tea. You asked for extra napkins, you didn't get any napkins. You asked for ketchup, you got money. The list goes on. We all have been there. And once your forex is down, it's too late to do anything about it. When it comes to chain restaurants, mega chain restaurants, and I'm not really going to call out any names, but you know what I'm talking about. Um, they're like the big box stores of shopping. They have the funds to create training programs and menus and menu designs, etc., the whole gamut. And they have the funds and the means and the people and the staff to they should be polished. They should be near perfection. Most of them are not, but they should be because they have the funds. When you talk about a locally owned or what I call a mom and pop restaurant, it is a family-run business, and their heart, their soul, their sweat, their tears, their everything is rolled up into what is between the front door and the back door of that restaurant. And we're going to take a dive into the back room, and you're going to see exactly what I'm talking about. So, you know, when people walk into a restaurant, they usually see three things a menu, a plate of food, and a bill at the end of the meal. Here's what they don't see are the people behind the plate. They don't see the chef who arrived before sunrise. They don't see the owner who's not taken a real vacation in 10 years. And I can tell you that that is absolutely true because I remember when I was a food service sales rep, and we were always had the opportunity to win trips. And my customers would always help me win those trips because it was like they were living vicariously through me to see me go on a trip because they haven't had the opportunity because they're stuck between those two doors. Trust me, they're stuck. So they don't see the server who's balancing six tables while trying to make your anniversary, you know, feel like it's special. You know, restaurants look simple from the outside, but behind those kitchen doors, there's a different kind of human being running the show, let me tell you. Because I've come to realize something after visiting restaurants all over this country and some outside of the country. Restaurant owners as a whole are a different breed. And today I want to talk about the people behind the plate. Let's get into it. So today's episode is one that's been building in my mind for a long time. Because if you've spent enough time around restaurants, and I mean really around them, you start to see something most customers never notice. You start seeing the people behind the plate. And the more restaurants I visit, the more convinced I become of one thing. Restaurant owners are wired differently than the rest of us. Now, don't get me wrong, owning a restaurant or actually owning any business takes courage. Trust me, if you own a business that sells chairs, you've got risk, inventory, supply chains, marketing, competition. But restaurants are a whole different animal because restaurants don't just sell a product, they sell a moment, they sell an experience, and sometimes they sell a memory. What have we been talking about lately? They sell a memory that stays with someone for years. All of my travel memories, I promise you, have some sort of food tied memory tied to it, and not because I'm a foodie, just because that was where a specific kind of memory took place. And I remember that little okay, and just to give you an example, in France, sidewalk cafes, a whole different experience in France versus in the US. So, unless you've ever sat at one of the little sidewalk cafes in France, you you just have to take my word for it or watch a YouTube video because it is the atmosphere is on a vibe all of its own. That that's but the best way I can kind of give you that for right now. We'll talk more about it again in another episode. But for me, the appreciation for that started when I was 16 years old. Yes, that was a few days ago, especially since I just had a birthday today and turned 61. So I was 16, now I'm 61. How funny is that? But back in my hometown, Bakliff, Texas, my dad was a businessman. He owned multiple businesses in town. And one summer he decided, that's right, he decided that a typical summer job wasn't going to teach me enough about life or business. So he had an idea for me. You see where this is going. We owned a corner lot in one of the busiest parts of town. They've been in the family for years, and he said, Let's put a snow cone stand there. I'm thinking, okay, I like snow cones. Now picture this. Okay, close your eyes and picture it, unless you're driving. Don't close your eyes. A 16-year-old kid, portable building, ice shaver, flavored syrups, and a line of kids and families showing up in the Texas heat. I gotta admit, I remember very vividly. At first, it was awkward. But something started happening that I didn't expect. I began watching the people walking up to that window, kids smiling, parents laughing, families stopped during a summer drive, and I started to realize something. People weren't buying snow cones, they were buying a moment of happiness. And somewhere between scooping ice and pouring cherry syrup, I got hooked. Looking back on it, at 16, I probably thought I was the equivalent of a Michelin chef. But that little experience showed me something powerful. Food, even something simple, has the ability to bring people together. And that is what makes a difference in the food service realm. Okay, now let's fast forward a few years later. After visiting restaurants across the country for Culinary Highway, one thing has become crystal clear. Opening a restaurant might be one of the bravest decisions a person can make because the numbers alone are intimidating. Margins are thin, costs are unpredictable, staffing is a constant challenge, and the restaurant industry has one of the highest failure rates of any business sector. Did you did you catch that part? I'm gonna read that again. And the restaurant industry has one of the highest failure rates of any business sector. But here's the amazing part people keep doing it, they keep opening restaurants, they keep taking the risk. Why? Because hospitality people aren't driven by spreadsheets, they're driven by passion. I always have said that it cost zero dollars, zero to have creativity in a restaurant, in your menu, in your plate presentation, in your food choice, whatever the case may be, in the restaurant industry, it cost zero dollars to display creativity. I've had many chefs and different restaurant owners argue that with me over the years. No, Will, you're wrong. It cost a lot of money to be creative because you have to buy these fancy ingredients and you have to buy this ingredient. No, because there it's not about the ingredient. Circle back to what I said passion. You have to have passion. If you put the passion on the plate and then the creativity in behind it, I'm not talking about different ingredients. I can take a can of spaghettios and still put passion and creativity in it and make it an entirely different meal than just opening the can and digging in with a spoon. Trust me, I know I've done it. I approved it. I like I said, I don't know everything, but I have learned a lot, and that's one of the things that I learned. Here's another one for you. If you talk to restaurant owners, and I know that I have a lot of restaurant owners that listen to my podcast, I'm gonna say another statement that nobody that I've ever met agrees with me, but I'm gonna tell you a little story behind it. If you ask someone, what makes a restaurant successful? Well, let me tell you it's location, location, location. No, that is not even remotely close. Here's my story to prove my point. My grandfather, my dad's dad, had multiple businesses throughout his life. When I was twelve years old, he hammered home to me this one phrase. He always called me Sonny Boy, and he said, Sonny boy, I'm gonna tell you something. If I were to build a business in the middle of the forest, people would cut down the trees and make a path to get to my business to do business with me. Why would he say that? I'll tell you why. Because he always made sure that the customer was the most important part of the transaction. He made sure that they got their money's worth, he made sure to show appreciation, he made sure to stand behind whatever it was he was doing or selling or what service, whatever. I watched him do that over and over again. As I grew older, I watched my dad repeat the same process. Same process, real simple rules. It didn't matter about the location. They had every amount of business that they could ever want. I'll give you an example. The restaurant that we built in in East Texas, I want you to look it up. It was on Careese Creek on Highway 21, going into Louisiana. Closest town was Manny, Louisiana. Yeah, look that up. See, see how big a town that is. The next closest town would be Hemp Hill. The only town of any size was at least an hour to an hour and a half away. Yet that restaurant had a seating capacity of 300. It had five dining rooms. If you came on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, you were going to wait hours. And anybody that ever ate there will tell you. Why is that? Middle of nowhere. Location, location, location, please. I'm not buying that. And I'll argue it because I have proof after proof after proof. But I'm just trying to tell you when you see restaurants succeed and you see restaurants fail, what's the difference? I can tell you. Passion, creativity, and care. They have to be invested in that restaurant. And I'm not talking about monetary. So most restaurants sell a product. I'm sorry, most businesses sell a product. Getting off on a rabbit trail. Most businesses sell a product. Restaurants sell themselves. Think about it. You're walking into the building, you're sitting at their tables, you taste their represent recipes, you judge their work, and sometimes, more often than not, you judge them publicly online. And that's personal. And it takes courage to live like that. I've had people ask me, I thought you had gone and filmed this location or that location, but I never saw the episode on Culinary Highway. If it doesn't live up to be the best of the best, I just don't post it. But I don't beat the restaurant down. I'm not gonna say anything negative. If if it wasn't above and beyond, I just don't talk about it. And you know, I've had some restaurant owners reach out to me and they're talking about it's like, you know, I'd really like to come film my business. And I said, can we sit down and have a conversation? And I go and I talk to the restaurant owner. I'm like, look, here's here's some things that you could improve what I see. That takes a lot of courage on my part, but it also takes a lot of courage from that restaurant owner to sit there and hear, hey, you're doing some things that really suck, but your restaurant's not full, you don't have a line going out the door. So you listen because you want to survive. So here's the thing: let's talk about the kitchen warriors. And here's the kitchen. If you've ever worked in a restaurant kitchen, let me paint that picture for you. Heat, noise, orders flying in, little ticket things, it seems like it'll never stop on a Friday or Saturday night. Tickets stacking up like it's coupons on a Sunday afternoon. And a team of cooks moving like a weld rehearsed orchestra, trying to keep it all together, both mentally and emotionally, I promise you. It's intense, it's it's exhausting. Like if you've never worked in a restaurant, talk to someone that has, and they'll say, Well, if you've never worked in a restaurant, you just don't understand. And you don't, it's a whole different world. It's it's it's unlike anything you can really describe. Yet there's something almost beautiful about the choreography of a great kitchen during a busy service. Food runners sliding plates on the tables, servers weaving through the dining room like balleret uh ballerinas, chefs checking every dish before it leaves the pass. Let me talk about chefs for a second. So I'll give you a little side story. So after being in the food service sales industry for about 20 years, I've met a lot of chefs in my life, and every one of them has passion. They have a passion for detail and they have a passion for creativity. So much so on the detail that any detail that goes sideways on something that is delivered on your truck, you've never, yeah, you've you've never had a thrashing like a chef coming unglued on you, let me tell you. And it is the your answer is always, yes, chef. Sorry, chef. I'll get it fixed right now, chef. And even though the chef could just eat you up bones, feathers, and all, two days later you get a text from the chef going, Hey, I got two passes to go play golf at the club this weekend. You want to join me? The same person, it just like I mean, destroyed you emotionally. Because it's not personal, it is his reputation of detail and quality on the line, and you simply did something that whether it was your fault directly or not, that cost him or could cost him his reputation, so it's not personal. He's just trying to sell uh to protect his uh reputation of that, so there's that. So just kind of give you a little another little side nugget into the back of the office. Um, but you know when it does work, it's magic. Here's the invisible moments for you. Some of the most important moments in restaurants are the ones that customers never see. The owner sitting in the office worrying about payroll. You gotta sell them plates if you want to make payroll. Payroll doesn't disappear. The chef adjusting the menu because an ingredient price doubled overnight. The manager trying to fill a shift when someone calls out sick. These are the invisible moments that keep restaurants alive. Yet the guest at table 12 just sees a plate of food. Like I've told you, restaurants are more than places to eat. There where life happens. First dates, anniversaries, birthday dinners, family reunions, business deals, road trips. The list goes on. Little moments in people's lives that happen around a table. Think about your own kitchen table at home. How many important conversations have gone on at that kitchen table in your own home? Imagine a busy restaurant, how many times that happens in a day. And the people behind the plate are quietly making those moments possible and memorable. Here's the beauty of hospitality. What I love most about restaurants is the spirit of hospitality. That idea that someone opens their doors and says, Come in, sit down, and let me take care of you. That's powerful. It's human and it's something that deserves appreciation. So the next time you walk into a restaurant, take a second, look around. Think about the owner who took the risk, the chef who built the menu, the cooks who showed up literally hours before you arrived, the servers who want your night to feel special. Because behind every plate, there's a story. And behind every restaurant, there are people who believed enough to create that story. Those are the people behind the plate. And they deserve our respect. And that is according to Willie B. I appreciate you listening. I'll hope to see you again next week. Same time, same channel. Have a great day. Don't forget to caffeinate and conquer. You know what's very important. I bid you farewell. See you next week. Bye bye.