EAST TEXAS UNFILTERED w/J. Chad Parker: Featuring Scott Williams

The Restaurant Whisperer, Scott Williams, joins East Texas UNFILTERED with J. Chad Parker for a conversation about building restaurants in East Texas and growing them the hard way. Scott talks about his childhood in a military family, moving around the country, and working in restaurants at a young age. He explains how those early jobs shaped the way he thinks about the business. For Scott, taking care of people is the key.

Scott shares how he went from working in the restaurant business to opening San Pedro’s in Chandler. From there, he built well-known Tyler restaurants like FD’s, Javi’s, Twelve, Three Palms, and Villagio. He talks about the risks, the setbacks, and the lessons that came with each step. He believes atmosphere, consistency, and guest experience matter just as much as the food.

This episode looks at what it takes to succeed in the restaurant business. Scott talks about leadership, growth, community, and why he still believes hard work can build something meaningful. It is a strong East Texas conversation about business, family, and creating places where people want to gather. Be sure to like and subscribe for more great East Texas content.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

What we are trying on the Texas Restaurant Association is to continue to grow that and offer support. I'll tell you this and not many folks know this, but restaurants is highly regulated. There's a lot of roles, a lot of pieces behind it. One thing that uh my role on the restaurant association has allowed me to help do is help a lot of restaurant tourers or about to become restaurant tourist to really understand just so they're in compliance to the knowledge and to share best practices. And when you can bring the camaraderie and, you know, we loan other restaurants, Cokes or you know, case of Dr. Peppers, it could be a to-go box, right? That uh, you know, a couple years after COVID, you couldn't buy a to-go box, so you had to find different ways to source it. It isn't a special kind of camaraderie, and something that I'm a big fan and I love. We love helping kids, we love helping teachers, uh, we love helping nonprofits. And whether it's through donation or or just maybe cover the cost of food or or however, or we give back. And most restaurateurs are like that, they really truly care about the community doing it you know well and everybody being healthy.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Welcome to another episode of East Texas Unfiltered. I'm your host, Jay Chad Parker. Today we're gonna talk restaurants, uh specifically Tyler, but expanding from Tyler. Uh the restaurant uh is a tough business. You're gonna hear about that, but I have a guest who somehow has found a way, a formula, if you will, to be successful. And he's gonna tell us about that. Scott, thank you for being here today. Oh, thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it. You know, you've developed quite a resume, and uh Chris, let's bring up the uh kind of the the clip that uh the Texas Restaurant Association, I guess you're probably prominent in that organization, if I had to guess.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Yeah, I'm currently the chair.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

All right. Well, this this gives us a little information here about you. For people who don't know you, uh you own several restaurants uh here in Tyler and those are expanding, correct? Yes, sir. Um what I found uh you know interesting about your story is you the San Pedro uh store that you must you purchased it or you started it? No, I purchased it. All right, and that was in 2012. Yes. All right. So before and you were how old at that time?

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Ooh, I would have been uh 2012.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

So I'd have been late uh or right at 30. Okay. So let's kind of get an idea. Where where'd you where were you, you know, born and raised, Scott?

SPEAKER_02 2:27

So I was born in Dover, Delaware. Don't hold it against me. I am a Texan now. Okay. Um but my dad was in the Air Force, so you moved around? Yeah, I was there for I don't know, like three months, you know, at Air Force Base, and then I was in London and then lived all up and down the East Coast. My older brothers lived in Germany and uh Japan and a lot of cool places. As my dad used to back in the day, they'd have these big servers and computers, and he would connect them and we'd call it bringing online. Of course, it was just them talking to each other, not on the internet back then. And so, and he always joked that his phone had more power now than the millions of dollars they spent on all these bases back in the day. And so we got to travel around. Um, my mom passed away when I was uh young, and so when I was uh six, we moved to uh Florida and then moved to Dallas, and where my dad, because he got out of the military, of course, having to take care of three boys. And so we moved into a South Dallas place called Lancaster. Um, and my dad worked as a postman, and on the weekends he worked uh as a bartender, and on weeknights he worked at a gas station to uh to provide for.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

So well, it sounds like you know, the way you moved around. I don't know if y'all went out to eat or you noticed the food from different countries and places, but I'm curious whether that had any influence on what you would ultimately do.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

You know, it's kind of interesting. It it definitely plays a role in the way that um I run my restaurants. But when I was younger, we didn't go out to eat much. You know, we'd go out to eat. We'd always celebrate graduation, uh third grade, fourth grade, put on the clip-on tie. It gets shorter and shorter every year. But um but no, we didn't go out to a whole bunch of restaurants, but we did go out to a couple that did make uh impact, like uh Houston's and and a few other restaurants that uh that we really enjoyed.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah, I mean, as a kid, you know, I'm probably older than you, but um we didn't go out. I mean, it that wasn't, you know, the culture to go out. It was to stay home. There was a family table, you know, that type of thing. And that's transitioned over the years to where uh you know, especially if you're older with no kids like Tyler, a retirement designated retirement community, a lot of people go out to eat, right? Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

And you know, and when we were younger, of course we didn't have the means to go out to eat. Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

I mean, it does cost money and it adds up.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah, absolutely. And um, I think uh you know, I think nowadays though, what's great about it, I think the restaurant community is really trying and and really working hard to provide that family table, though. And where you go in, you feel welcome, you feel like, you know, it's not just that I don't have to do the dishes tonight. It's like, oh, we get to spend time together in whatever restaurant it may be, really enjoy ourselves, really be around the table, and hopefully it's not just a gathering, but uh or just a celebration, it could be just a normal nightly gathering.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Aaron Powell Where did you ultimately graduate from high school? Let's kind of pinpoint you there. Yeah. Uh Lancaster.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

So South Dallas.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

After that, did you go to college? Did you go to uh some type of trade school? Did you what did you do next?

SPEAKER_02 5:22

So I you started with corporate America. You know, originally I wanted to be a pilot. My dad was in the Air Force, wasn't a pilot, but um I was like, you know, I want to be a pilot.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

And uh Was this after the movie Top Gun?

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Uh you know what? I could have done just like him. No, um definitely might have been a a a little help there. But so um that didn't work out so much, but uh as I was going through high school, uh I was working as a bus boy in a restaurant and kind of grew up through that and became a manager for or server for him. I remember I was 17 and so they had me serving tables, they were short staffed, they're like, hey, you do a great job, just go ahead and serve tables. I wasn't old enough to bring any alcohol out. And somebody ordered a seven and seven, and I brought them a sprite. I was like, oh, they made seven up. Sorry, we don't have seven up. Here you go. And it's made, you know, it's with sprite, and they're like, oh, it tastes like no alcohol. It's like alcohol. So quickly I take the drink back and I'm like, there's something seven, seven, something. And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, you know, this is uh, we'll get you taken care of and rent it out for. So I kind of grew up and I I really loved it though. I kept growing and learning more about the restaurant business. And and so I started a college at uh, let me see, my first one was Tarrant County Community College. Then I uh I went to about five different community colleges, including TJC. And um I enjoyed it. I thought uh, you know, college is great, but I I really focused on work and wherever work was taking me. El Paso Community College and just different ones.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Well, I mean, what was taking you around to all these junior colleges? Because that sounds like an awful lot of junior colleges for one person to go to.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah, probably. Um, there's times where I couldn't finish a semester or something. I was, again, I was a corporate American, so we were opening restaurants. It was a family-owned um, at the time, it was family-owned, and it was great. We had seven restaurants, real small company. What do people would people know the name of that restaurant? Yeah, I think so. Uh Cheddar's. Oh, yeah. It's sold many times since then. But back back when I was younger, it was uh Greg Good, uh Aubrey Good, Doug Rogers, Aubrey and Doug had founded it, and man, they were just awesome, great owners, and they were genius restaurant geniuses.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

And so that's kind of where you learned the uh the the ownership part of a restaurant, because you were opening the restaurants different places, but you also had contact with the owners?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Well, I yeah, they've always been a great uh resource for me. But when I've when I got my first restaurant San Pedro's, that's where I really learned. I mean, uh the government hit me one time because I was paying uh quarterly taxes, paid every every penny, every penny I owed them. And they came to me and said, You owe us all this money, $20,000, um, because you did not switch over to paying every uh two weeks. And because of that, I was like, hold on. So you're saying you you of course you don't give me any notice, you just tell me about this as an arrears. But um, because I didn't pay you, that I now owe you $20,000, even though I've paid you every penny I owed you. And they're like, yes. I'm like, you know what? This isn't right. I'm gonna fight this. I go get a lawyer, does a great job, gets it reduced by half, so I pay $10,000 and I pay him $10,000, but I at least feel like I vindicated myself against the government a little bit. But but I had to learn a lot. It was a lot.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Trevor Burrus, Jr. You you need to have an accountant probably that keeps you up on the because the government will change the rules and not put it out there and say, well, you're expected to know if you're a business owner, right? Yeah. I I went from QuickBooks to an accountant very quickly after that. All right. Well, let's circle back to Cheddar's. Did you open the Cheddars in Tyler?

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Um I did not open uh actually I did. I helped participate for a few months. I was just here for a few months in that one, uh, right before I went to Kentucky. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

All right. So was that uh was that the same time that you went to TJC for a period of time? Yes, sorry. Was that your only and first experience with Tyler, Texas?

SPEAKER_02 9:05

It was. When I came out here, I was like, um, I'm I'm in the wrong place. I just left Austin, just left El Paso, and uh I said, man, I'm I'm I I don't think I'm in the right area. He said, What what are you seeing? I said, Oh, I do see a mall over here. Maybe there's a big city somewhere. I said, No, no, you're gonna go the opposite way of downtown. So I turned down and um and no, and then we we grew up here and and so I started um uh I was here and lived, you know, got a a temporary residence at the time, got into to college before I went off, uh moved off again, then came back. But I ended up falling in love with it. It was close enough to Dallas. Um then of course, as I had children and a family, it's been amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Did you have children and a family at that time? N uh no. Did you meet your wife here? I did. Uh what about um I mean because Chandler uh and San Pedro doesn't I mean it's probably it was probably a good move, but you wouldn't think like that's what I would do if I set out to have my own restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Yeah, so the way it kind of happened is um we were growing, so after we got bought out uh about the third time from private equity groups.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

So you're talking about cheddars. Yeah. And so did you have any type of stake or ownership where you made money when they were sold? I did, yeah. Okay. So did you uh we're gonna assume you did well and you had money to invest to start your own venture? Yes. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

And so um Yeah, and so that was again w the family, that was from the family. The family, you know, kept a percentage for the the employees that were there with them for the whole time, and so the good family did that and it was great. But uh funny enough, San Pedro's came back. So I'm going to church, uh, Rose Heights, it's been my church ever since I came here. And I met uh Larry Parker, and uh he was um uh a builder, but he had a restaurant. He's like, Man, this thing's not making any money right now, and and and Chandler, and you know, um I'm gonna sell it off. And so I said, All right, you know, let me look into it. And at the time, you know, I had a couple of kids in, and I was traveling probably 25 days out of the month. And so You wanted to be home. Exactly. I was like, okay, let me let me figure this out, let me move a little bit quicker than I want to on uh finding my my restaurant location and and settling in. And so uh San Pedro's came about and you know, I looked at it and I'm like, hold on, this road's got a lot of people coming and out. And I I went in there and I can I can make something out of this. So I took that thing from, you know, it was doing half a million a year, um, and we blew it up. We were doing more guests a week than lived in the city of Chandler. And we were driving men from Tyler. And so I took all that and it was a lot of hard work to get there and a lot of learnings. I had to learn about that IRS fiasco. I had to learn about some of the things, and some of the things I called, you know, again, my friends who were owners of a the who sold off the a big company like Jetters, and um, and they were always really helpful and and just great. And so um I ended up selling that to kind of to help with uh FDs.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Yeah, but I mean it looks like from what I've looked into, when you bought it, there may have been 800 people coming a week and it was as high as 2,400 maybe a week by the time you sold it. Yes, sir. So now as far as uh a successful restaurant, some people think that Mexican food is a good way to go because of the cost of of the food, and you know, and and it kind of connects well with margaritas and alcohol, which have higher profit margins as well, right? Yeah. I mean, is that the formula on San Pedro's was like, hey, you know, you can have some protein, but you have some beans, some rice, some chips, some hot sauce, you know, it so San Pedro's a little different because we had no alcohol in at first.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

So I had to get him a license and uh which all helped kind of grow it, right? Because yeah, you want a margarita with some great fajitas or enchiladas, and so um but it was also San Pedro's a special, it was a little different. We had folks who literally come in five days a week, and I don't mean one or two guests, I mean twenty, twenty-five, that I saw everything about their whole family, and and and my kids would help there, and we'd have the cops called on because they're like underage, uh, you know, hiring over here. But no, it's just my kids delivered chips and salsa at at nine and and ten, and um, and then all the cops knew us and it was great.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

So Well, you know, Chandler didn't have a lot at that time. Right. And San Pedro's was pleasing optically to the senses. You looked at it, it looked like a good place, right? Yeah. And um d do you put any I guess emphasis in the restaurants that you've developed since in the physical architecture and the way it looks from the curb? Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

I think that's a big, big, big part on it. I mean you know, at the end of the day, you want to have a great experience from starting at the curb, getting out of the car, clean parking lot, all the way into to when you sit down into a comfortable chair, the right lighting, the right people, you know, um smiling and greeting you. And so it all actually absolutely plays a role. And I do a little bit more of an investment into facilities because um, again, I I'm trying to build that experience. And whether you're out there celebrating a birthday or or 60 years, or we had a hundred-year old birthday party at um three palms the other day, and we wanted to feel every restaurant's uh got a different feel for a reason, um, but we want that to be feeling special and different.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

You know, do you feel like you had maxed out San Pedro when you decided to sell that?

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Yeah, absolutely. I well, I I thought that it could be a I think long term, you know, there was opportunity to continue to grow it there, but it wasn't so again, so you had folks that were coming in there before I bought it who loved so much that chicken fried steak that was on the menu. And so if you put, you know, well, you can only do so much to change the menu, uh especially with that kind of regulars there.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

But I mean it kind of alienates them. They're like, oh, I don't like what they've done here, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah, that's absolutely right. And so I had to be very thoughtful with it. And that's kind of why, you know, again, at the height though, we we sold it um and then you know, use that to really focus in on FDs.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Okay. Did you have FDs in mind? Did you have a lease at the Cumberland Mall? Did you have these things in place before you sold San Pedro? Um, I did.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Um so uh I mean I poured everything into FDs. So when we found we we looked at a couple different locate locations, and a good buddy of mine, Greg Good, who's a rush restaurant genius, um, so he came down there. We kept looking at locations. Old Jacksonville was the location we looked at. And back then the the villages of Cumberland weren't all full.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

It wasn't, it was um I mean we've got your we've got your um you know, your restaurant up here, and uh this will start a a process where you build something, you do so well that you have to enclose the patio and air condition it, right? Yeah. That's what you did at FDs ultimately.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Yeah, that's what we had to do. We had to expand and there was nowhere else to go. Right. And you know, you're locked. And so um we had one spot to go, so that worked out.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

I mean, we'll talk about it later, but you would eventually do the same thing at 12, right? That's right, yeah. But FDs, you say you put everything you had in it. I thought FDs was a very visual experience once you walk through those doors, right? Yes. For what you expected to be in there. Aaron Ross Powell Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

So and when we first opened, um Angie's Angie's worked with me with me forever and she's just great. But there'd be times where somebody would walk in and they would turn around to walk out. They were like, oh, this place is really nice. And then here in shorts and a t-shirt. They're like, oh no, it's okay. Let me show you the menu. You come on in, we're gonna take great care of you. But when I opened FDs, I mean, I hadn't paid my home mortgage in a few months. They were calling my my my number. You know, I had great investors. We didn't have a loan on it. I thought cheddar's uh, you know, set you clear. It wasn't that no, it wasn't that much. And you know, and we were over budget and you know, like normal on a construction. You know, we're gonna be able to do it. On the inside for sure, right? Yeah, yep. And uh so when we opened it, I mean, literally the speaker systems, I ran out of money. And so those speaker systems were put out by me and my managers at the time because luckily we bought the speakers beforehand, but uh unfortunately we couldn't afford to pay them to put them up.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

So Well, I remember seeing you at times w you you know when it first opened and th that you actually were maybe working in the kitchen. I mean, I I I thought I saw you actually working around in there, were you? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Well, I mean, I I love being in the kitchen and I love talking to the guests too. I mean, I got the best job in the world. I get to eat all day, look at food, make food, and then talk to people. So uh I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. And you know, I was there 365 days out of the year, um, the first uh year for sure. Um even though we were close Thanksgiving, close Christmas, my kids came up to help me clean and make sure it's perfect. We set up. Uh we had a table there that actually overlooked the kitchen, and my wife, you know, Maddie, she'd bring all the kiddos and she'd have four yeah, four kids at the time, and she would put them all in there. They would do the homework or stuff. I'd go and and and hang out with them for a little while, and um and then when we get busy, I'd jump right back and get to work.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

So Well, I mean, you know, this investment, you know, was for your family, right? I mean, you absolutely I mean, and uh people who think that, you know, and start to hear you talk that you don't just open these restaurants and they just take off and work by themselves and make money and it's just that simple. It's not like that at all, is it? No, sir. I mean it's a lot of work and a lot of dedication and a lot of folks that come together to make it successful.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Well, FDs. What does FDs stand for? So, you know, when we did the the name, and so FDs is kind of a special, unique one. Of all my restaurants, it's kind of like a co-op. We have other restaurants that I'm friends with and and good relationships with. But in the restaurant industry, you need purchasing power. Well, I guess in a lot of industries you need purchasing power. You need volume, purchasing power. Exactly. And so that's how you can get those prices and those contracts, which I was used to in the big corporate America, but it was much harder. When I went to San Pedro's, there was no volume, and that wasn't a very good model to take to grow. And so I partnered with some great folks, um, again, Greg Good, um, but also other folks, uh um Lisa Marsh, Gene Marsh, some great folks. And so what we did is we partnered up and uh purchased just for purchasing in volume, um, and uh it helped us to is that what you called the entity to purchase the food? Well, now you know the name so the name, there's a list of names. I'll tell you this. I'm not gonna be, and I don't think I'm the best person at picking names, but they all do have meanings. If uh if you look at um 12, right? 12 is the day I was uh got married. It's on the 12th. And if you look at that menu, it's all things for my wife, who I was telling, you know, she was there um every day, you know, visiting me with the kids after school um for for the opening, and I owed a lot to her. And so um and and her that menu's got like um uh oh we went to, I took her for her birthday, we went to Las Vegas and we went to a restaurant called the Brass Tap. And the um um that's where the uh crazy shake with the the the slice of cake and the the milkshake and the fun thing, that's where we got there. And um that Thai steak and noodle salad was from Chicago where we went to a restaurant, and uh I can just go on and on, but it was all her favorite dishes on that menu, and that's why some people are like, wow, this menu is a little bit of everything. And I said, maybe it's but it's a lot of love um and a lot of things that my wife loved that we just put right here for Tyler to enjoy as well.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Well, people have enjoyed that. Um, you know, your sign that sign's very catchy. I mean, there's no telling, you know, people don't realize how expensive signs are until you build a commercial building, right? I mean, you can't believe they cost what they cost. Absolutely. And uh I mean I think that was, you know, I think that was catchy. I think the sign itself always made me want to go in there just because of the sign. You know, it looked like a it looked like a good place to be going, right? And I don't know if you had that intention or how you chose that sign or how it was designed, but And we we had pushback from the city on that sign, so we actually had to build on to the paraffit.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

They would not allow the sign to go above, which is the the top of the building. And so we had to make a uh architectural change just to have that sign there.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Right. I mean, I've experienced that myself, you know, where they won't let me have um uh a sign on two sides of a building that sits on a corner with a monument sign in the ground, you know. It's like you know, I I don't know um what the rhyme or reason is behind some of it, right? But uh and I know Nick Pence's um had to get a variance and things. The city gave him a variance to he's going to open up Smash Bar next to Stanley's, and he wants to have a neon sign like the Stanley sign. And so, yeah, the city does uh regulate uh what gets put up.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

They do. I I would say at least the benefit, what I've noticed, you know, C4 Tyler will work with you though.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

They will. If they can. Absolutely. They're a great. I'm not I'm not critical of them because unlike some places that are bureaucratic nightmares, at least the city of Tyler is seems to be pro-business as much as they can be, and you may can say that's true or not.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

No, I I absolutely agree with you.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

You know, FDs, what I just my general, you know, thought on FDs was I was surprised how affordable it was for what you could get. You know, the uh plank salmon, the firecracker shrimp. I remember I'm calling these things out of memory out of you know years ago, right? But I mean they were they were not things that you saw everywhere, especially the some of the appetizers.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Yeah, you know, when we price things out, we have a couple of benefits. One, the purchasing power, and I've had relationships with um a lot of these buyers, uh a lot of these producers for a long time. And so that was always a benefit. But at the end of the day, it kind of goes back to my childhood. I never wanted it to be where, you know, it was this overly priced, this, you know, couldn't afford to go and take the family in there. Um, even at three palms, you wanna, you're on social security, you want to come celebrate your 60th birthday, 80th birthday, whatever it may be, we're gonna celebrate you, whether you get that $18 dish or that, you know, $50 dish. Because it's um the whole point of us. We want people to gather, have a great time. We want to celebrate with you, we want to celebrate you. And uh so that was at FDs, that menu was very thoughtful. And we've had to take off some great things sometimes because you know, the pricing mark, you go to the grocery store and something might be cost you Icelandic cod, you know, might cost you $4 a pound. And then all of a sudden, four months later, it's $24 a pound. You know, and that's just the way it is. And so we've always tried to do a good job of just making sure our menu, you know, does two things. One, we provide an amazing quality product. That's number one and the most important thing we do. And then um two, it's just that um we want to make sure that uh we're we're we're we're never overcharging. We just want people to have a great time.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Well, you know, w when we get to FDs and kind of towards, you know, before you go to uh uh opening another restaurant, we know you've you've purchased San Pedro and developed it. That's your experience. Now you've opened a new restaurant, FDs, for the first time, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

On top of the ones you've helped open in your past at Cheddar's. Yep. Um was it hard to open, you know? Um, you know, getting a liquor license in Smith County has gotten a lot easier than it was 20 years ago, right? Yep.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

You know, I I think the one benefit I had, again, I got to work with um a really great folks beforehand in the corporate world. So I felt good about that. Like, you know, the opening, how we were gonna open, how we're gonna train, how do we get the permitting? Um so we, you know, I'll tell you the scarier part, we opened up and there was nobody there. So Really? Yeah. Because you didn't do any advertising? Correct. We don't we don't advertise at all. And so it took a couple days.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

You take the soft opening. It also doesn't overwhelm your un you know, your unexperienced server staff. Absolutely. Right? And then people go, Man, the service here is terrible. I'm not coming back, you know, right? I mean, you've got to watch out with first impressions, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Yes, 100%. We we take that uh very serious and and in every opening because you got to put your best foot forward. And and honestly, rightfully so, right? You're coming in to spend your hard-earned money, and we don't want you to have a subcar experience. And so we do everything we can, not just at the opening, but at all times to make sure that guest feels 100%, whether it's their first time or their hundredth time.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Well, because you know, people do have choices, right? Oh, yeah. And I've always said this, um, and maybe I'm too hard, you know, on restaurants. I've always said, you know, if I go out, I feel like I'm not going to waste one of my nights, okay? And I'm what I mean by that is if I go to a place and uh I'm gonna make sure that I like it, the service is good, the food's good, the dried, because I feel like, you know, when you go out to dinner, it's not like I'm not gonna just accept whatever they give me that night. And if they do that very often, I won't be there, right? Right. So I'm probably one of the more impatient critical uh clients that could come through. But there are people like me, I'm sure. Yeah. Well, i it there's not that that's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

I mean you're what you're saying is 100% right. Consistency is king. Right? Yeah, in a people's people's business, right? So you're you're dealing with people's business, but it absolutely is. And I I think and even one piece that we have, I know if we just take statistics, we're taking care of 18,000 guests a week. 1%. Let's just say I'm 99% great. Yeah, I know. 1% is a significant number when we're doing the volume we're doing. And I just and I myself or Angie or all of our leadership team, I always, we always let we're gonna go above and beyond. Okay, we made the mistake, we're gonna make a mistake, we're not gonna be 100% perfect. We're shooting for it, we're shooting for perfection, we're selling for excellence. Um and but we gotta go, we're gonna care more about that issue than you're gonna care about. And I remember one time, man, we made a mistake on this gentleman's food twice. Oh, twice on a burger, and he had to go. He wanted no tomato, and he's like, Man, I gotta go, Scott. You know, so I because I already talked to him, and I'm like, Oh, I'm so sorry. So the the server just took the wrong order. It was a mistake. So I go, I take, steal a bunch of food, ribs, all the stuff that's coming right out of the smoker, it's perfect. I mean in the front door. I already gave him a gift card, and I'm like, here you go. You cannot go hungry today. It is not okay. I'm so sorry. There's ribs in there, I got some fish, I got some chicken tenders in there, everything you need. It's more food, but I just share with whoever you like to. I'm so sorry. And I think as long as we continue to do that, because we know we're gonna make the mistakes, I hope that the guests see when we do fall a little short that we do care, we're gonna make it right. And hopefully solve the issue.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Aaron Ross Powell You know, that leads to an issue that as the character of people um decreases in society. Um I have seen and heard from people that I know that some people will purposely complain or be overly difficult in order to get a free meal, get a free this. Do you have that experience very often in any of your restaurants? I I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

I mean, we're always gonna give the grace. Don't tell me you hadn't seen it. No, I mean, but we always we're always gonna err on the side of the guests. So again, we're doing so many guests.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

No, I know. That we're it doesn't matter, right? You can let some squeaky wheel, you can put the grace to a squeaky wheel, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

I mean Yeah, we're gonna, yeah, we're just gonna I always tell them this all my leaders and all my restaurant managers, what can we learn from the situation? Because we're learning every day. And one, what can we learn in the two? Let's go above and beyond. We're gonna offer grace to every situation. We're going to do as much as we can to make it right.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

And okay, so we we can see uh FDs, it's packed. Sometimes people are standing outside to get in. When does the idea, the concept of hobbies come into Scott Williams' mind?

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Yeah, it was uh wow. You know, I have a friend in Dallas, he has some restaurants, Miko. Micosena? Uh yeah, he started Miko Cena, yeah. Yeah. And uh I mean I like that place. Yeah, he started Macero and he started uh he's got a couple of different you know things that he had started. He's just real sharp, real sharp gentleman. Um, Tyler needed something like that. I mean, people wanted a Mikosina, you know, for a lot of Yeah, and a lot of the restaurants won't come to a smaller town because it's hard, right? I mean, for they need frequency and they need, you know, they have you know numbers that they've got to look at and demographics and so but what I what I really thought about is like, wow, we can make something really neat and special here because I found the building before the concept.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

Um Jay reached out or I saw the the building on Julian's in the Times Square Theater to what he built, which was that massive building on Old Jacksonville, that white one. Yeah. Where Hobbies is now.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

Yeah. It well, it used to be metal and cool neat, and it was uh the fusion and um kind of type food. And so but going back to what we talked about, you know, pre-cameras, it you know, running a restaurant's hard. And and and he's a yard man, not a restaurateur. Trevor Burrus, Jr. And he's got an amazing story. I talked to him before I ever uh worked the deal with uh hobbies, and he, you know, coming from nothing and building, you know, and and working hard and making it happen. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

He had a big landscaping slash yard service business, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

And he still does, yeah. Very nice guy. I've met him. Uh I just hadn't seen him in a while. But I remember he bought that and I thought that was so strange. And I think it was probably for his kids or something.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

You know, well, I I come across, especially on the restaurant association, but even before that, anytime uh and anybody hearing that, if you ever need help with a restaurant or uh or an idea, I I love helping out. I'm I'm a big fan, I'm a big proponent of restaurant tours. Anything I can help. I remember one of the first PLs, somebody shot to me like, oh, a prospectus. And he's like, I'm opening a food truck, here it goes. And it showed like 80% profit. And I said, Man, let me tell you, it's not doable, it's not attainable. And and I I'm gonna be real with you. And so I walked him through and what's realistic, we flipped it. Okay, now 20% profit maybe. Um, and a food truck could be done, um, first brick and mortar. But so I'm always willing to kind of help in there. And so, but yeah, so he he he saw the he got the calls late at night and all those things, and and he uh decided to, you know, go away from that concept there. And I said, yeah, you know what? This is this is a great location. It's right on the water right there. Um I went and did went to a bunch of restaurants uh in California and um Mexico, and I just really just studied because I I wanted something that you felt great with. I wanted the highest quality meat, carne asada in there. That's what we're known for. Um we cook it medium, medium rare, and you know, it's in with our fajitas and and something a little different. It would it's not this mega-sized menu. There's no, you know, it it wasn't traditional what was in Tyler. Uh it wasn't that same where you had 27 of the same things, just slightly different.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

And but it's Mercados, you know, more of the Tex Mex, right? Is what Yeah, I mean, we have Tex Mex, but yeah, I think that's I mean you have other things that are not on those traditional type menus.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

Yeah, that was always our goal is to be a little bit different and and we go into it, we're we're excited, we're about to open, we do open, bars rocking, we're rocking. You need about a year. You need about a year to when you do a new concept, there's so many little things and there's so many unintended consequences, just like in in you know, in the government that you don't think about. And so uh maybe something doesn't travel well for a takeout, or maybe something doesn't work well for the servers or carrying it. And so we need it that you need that first year, but unfortunately, three months into it in March, COVID hits and we're shut down. So this is March of 2020. Yep. Okay. So we open um two days before the end of uh 19 and go right into 2020. And uh we're we're getting our our sea legs, so to speak. We're really learning, we're adjusting, making a little it's a million slight adjustments to the the business. And uh then we had to close it down for for seven, eight, eight days, actually.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Aaron Ross Powell Well, we're we're lucky that we live in a place that it was only eight days. Yes, right? I mean and that had to do with the county judge at the time, Nathaniel Moranz. Yes. And uh, you know, the politicians who really didn't cave to the initial, you know, fear wave that came our way. Absolutely. And it probably saved a lot of businesses in Tyler that we we we didn't do that, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:29

Oh, I uh a hundred percent. I mean, they had great insight, great knowledge, and they stuck to their guns, they helped us out. And then our community helped us out, right? So we've transitioned over, so we weren't allowed to have anybody in the building. But uh You were takeout king. All of a sudden we were selling margaritas and there was this weird new law, and we didn't really even know how it went with uh you could do alcohol, and so we were giving a whole bottle of tequila and a big a mix, and I mean, then the T ABC came out and said, I don't think that's it. Then he came back out again. He's like, No, that's definitely not it. You can't give the bottle and do this. And there's a lot of confusion, but but the community stepped up and and we loved it, we appreciated them because when we first closed down, um, again, we didn't know what to expect, right? Or we got all these zombies, what's that?

SPEAKER_01 35:12

How long is this gonna last?

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Yeah, and so we gave, we helped all of our team members get on unemployment. We gave uh food packages to everybody. Um and later on we gave toilet paper packages to folks. Um and so we we did everything we could to help our team. And um again, then luckily we did find back we we got back open and it was just outside of the building, you couldn't do it inside the building.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Yeah, you know, the change for to go alcohol um that might have saved a lot of restaurants. Um because as we've talked about earlier, the profit margins are larger. And during that time when everybody that's all you could do. And then even after now, where people like your product, you know, the limousine taxi, I can't ever keep track of which one is where. But um that's a constant theme at all of your restaurants is the frozen margarita. Yes. Right? I mean because I mean people really do like those, don't they?

SPEAKER_02 36:10

Oh, absolutely. I mean, we we put out a good one, you know. We uh uh we're known for great margarita. We we don't skimp on it. And um but yeah, that really helped. Uh you I think there was a uh I'd have to go back and look, but I know they did some uh statistics on it, and it it made a significant uh help to our restaurant industry.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

All right. So Hobbies gets back open and it builds back kind of some momentum towards the end of 2020, I assume. Yes, sir. You know, you're kind of getting going. Now, you know, this whole uh remote worker type thing seemed to make it harder for some employers to gather people back up to the places of business to find, you know, full employment. Was that something that you dealt with?

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Yeah, uh luckily most of our folks came back because we we took good care of them. Um but yeah, there were some folks who didn't come back, and that was a it was challenging definitely to get newer folks hired. I think people were still scared, they didn't understand what was happening. There was a lot of things in the news and the outlets, and so um it took a little while to really get fully Yeah, because I mean you think about that.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

Some people live more scared than others, and some people have no fear, you know, just depending on a personality. So I'm sure you had you know, and then you had older people who were concerned uh that they might get sick from somebody else. So you had all of this working together kind of, you know, slowing down people coming back and slowing down workers coming back to the to the restaurant, right? Yeah. Oh yeah, you you did. Everybody could sit out there, they could be spaced out. Yes. And and uh you know, we we we we try to show the uh we don't have the the patio there, but we do have the restaurant. Um now, you know, all I think about when I see that place is I wonder how much the rent is. Yeah, you know, it's uh it's gotta be a big rent payment.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

You know, well, I'll tell you this. One thing um there's a statistic that you we we follow on rent, but it's not my highest rent location. Really?

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Yeah. I mean that's um you know, you think the size of that thing, where it's located.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

It's definitely my biggest location.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Yeah, I mean, right. I mean, that is large. Um you know, because there's upstairs. And there used to be something next door, but now do you have the entire building?

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Yeah, well, there's still there's some offices in the very back. We don't have all those, but um, but there is yeah, there's a side space which we're looking at uh doing a remodel in there and doing some cool neat booth package, but uh um and in the future. But it is a again, big, big building. But uh what what hobbies is great at and why this big building makes sense. And and even as we talk later about you know future hobbies that we're building, we go bigger because we sell we have so many celebrations, which we love. Right. We don't cap your time, you know, you're coming in there, have a great time, enjoy. And so instead of, hey, folks, move along, we've got others trying to sit down. Right. And so a big restaurant helps you to be uh be able to take care of all those folks and not to feel the pressure of 4,000 people at the front door waiting to sit down.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Did uh did opening hobbies with this larger restaurant, did it put any pressure on you because, you know, were you having to steal people from FDs in leadership positions to try to start off and open hobbies, you know, in a way that was that kept you from you know making a poor impression early?

SPEAKER_02 39:38

Well, you know, one of the biggest things that helps me is we have so many folks that have been with me since day one at FDs, uh, that even came over with me from San Pedro's, um, but really from FDs that are are future leaders. And so with hobbies, it was a great ability, and it was a great thing for me to give them a shot for that for them to become uh managers and restaurant directors and uh general managers and um in fact a bus boy for me uh at uh FDs was the opening general manager there. Then he became a district manager for me. And so everybody the through the growth, everybody is winning. And so that's well that's good.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

I mean, there's because you have several restaurants and are expanding, I mean, there's a there's an opportunity, you know, to climb up the ladder, so to speak, at your company or with your with your restaurants. Absolutely. Do you get to a point um with hobbies where you peek out, or are you still climbing when you s when you start thinking about uh what would be the next restaurant, 12? I mean, how are you timing these things where they they kind of peek out a little bit and you think they're falling or they're plateauing and then you go, okay, I'm gonna go get another one? Or how did that come into your mind to go get 12?

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Yeah, so one thing we do a little differently is it is pretty common in the restaurant industry to have what they call a honeymoon phase. And you'll see a lot of it on the stock market. They don't take in a certain amount of months, and that honeymoon phase usually higher sales. One thing that's kind of different for us is our sales just keep going up. More guests come, we get more efficient, we're a little faster, we take great care of them, they're coming back. More people are moving to Tyler. More people are moving to Tyler. So it's a lot of great things that are that are, you know, um helping that. And so, and you know, if you take out COVID years, you know, every one of our restaurants have grown. And so that allows us, after, you know, it does take a little while though to make sure that again, all the nuts and bolts, the the menus perfect, the the the the bar to the training program, and doing a new concept, there's a lot of things that have to come out of my head, go on paper, you know, become operating procedures. And the reason why I kept growing in Tyler, uh, so to speak, first was that my family was here. Right at at this point, I now have five children and uh want to be home for them, want to go to soccer games, want my team to go to their kids' soccer games and everybody. And so we we definitely kept it local before we ever thought about going outside of the market. And also to make sure we built all the training systems, the the checks and balances, the director training, all those pieces that we could do it successfully outside of the city as well. But when when uh Mr. LTE we talked about that location, uh of course I love the location. I loved Hobby's location, loved FDs, and I thought 12 was another great location. And I loved Tyler and I was like, you know what? Let's uh let's put a let's put a restaurant here dedicated to to my wife. I didn't know the name at the time, and um, and again, going, you know, my wife, she was there all the time. I wanted to really honor her. And so 12, so I'll go back to it. FD's was designed by my architect out of uh Dallas, who's very talented, Williams, David Williams. And then uh Hobbies was out of Baton Rouge. Uh 12, my wife designed and uh really poured her heart into that and really kind of took ownership of that one. And then uh, of course, uh Three Palms was uh Angie Reed. And so I wanted them all to feel different. I wanted you to feel when you went into one of our restaurants that this place is a little different. It's different than everything else in Tyler. It's different than 12 is different than FDs and Javi's and Villaggio, and all of them are just separate and different.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

Well, you know, it sounds like what you're saying, and you didn't actually say it, that the location came available. It was so good that you used your experience to create a concept to go in it. Absolutely. That's what happened, right? Yep. Okay. Yeah. Because I mean, you know, you're on the corner of Old Bullard and and the loop near you know, near Broadway.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

I mean, like it's hard to pick. Now, this is probably your highest rent spot. It's not. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

Lucky.

SPEAKER_01 43:57

Yeah, so yeah, I mean, I I don't know that, but I'm I I mean I can't. I don't know. I mean, I keep guessing because there's only so many more to guess.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Oh, it's FDs.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

Well, just I'll give it to you.

SPEAKER_02 44:07

It's FDs.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Well, you know that makes sense because of the uh the size and really probably the ownership of that mall. Absolutely. They're probably a little greedier or a little bit more, you know, than some. You know, no, I mean they've been great.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

I I end up getting to really know them and Matt and the the the leadership there would come out a lot and really enjoyed FDs.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

Well, they want you to be successful because you are an anchor to that mall.

SPEAKER_02 44:32

Yeah, it and they were but even from day one before we opened, they were very thoughtful and caring. You know, they they did a lot of great stuff. I was I'll be honest, every one of you know the landlords I have and are just outstanding.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Yeah, I mean, but like I said, at some point you develop, you gotta develop some kind of you know power you know, as an anchored tenant, like in Cumberland, because you know, I don't think there's any other place to eat in there that rivals FDs in that mall. And and I'm not asking you to comment on that, but I think the owners of that would probably not want to see you move that location. Am I right? And we're not. Hey, we we signed another 10 years and so um man, I was trying to help you with the contract negotiations on the show.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

I know, I know, I'd already signed it. I we should have done this a little bit beforehand.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

You know, like, hey, we're thinking we're thinking about moving out to so-and-so. Well, the West Loop is getting hot, Scott.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

You know what we'll do? In eight, eight more years of this uh we go to lease negotiations, we're gonna have to sit down again and go over it.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Because there's the mosaic district that's kind of filled up, but the West Loop, you know, there's the Stanleys coming. Yeah. And then they've been adding all those other things. I don't know if there's room over there, or even that's a a thought of yours as far as your future.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

You know, I hey, I love Tyler, Texas, big supporters, um, and great folks. I'm very involved in the community. You know, I think most of my concepts uh won't reproduce the exact same concept here in town. Um, do I think there's some opportunities for some new fun things? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's always in set in the back of my head. And if the right opportunity comes along, we'll go right after it and offer Tyler something a little different, a little more fun.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

I mean, I could see you, I could see you in like a, you know, like a really good pizza. Um, you know, I don't know if Villaggio is really that anymore. Uh, but I know the pizza people are cut lost. Pizza's trying to get open in Burkfell.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

Yeah. Yeah. They're coming exciting.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

Um, you know, it seems like they're contractors or something. They're slow as can be building that thing out over there. I mean, yeah, you know, I haven't followed it too much.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

I'm I'm excited for him to come out there, you know, and and that's where we want great options and and restaurants like that. The more that we come out, it's uh it's not so much a competitor. It's about, you know, we're building a community and more options for our guests to go out. I mean, we're taking care of, again, you know, close to 19,000 guests a week, and we want them to continue to go out, uh not just to our restaurants, but to all the locally owned restaurants.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Well, you know, there's kind of there's got to be some camaraderie between independent restaurant owners versus chains, I would think. Hell yeah. And Tyler, because Tyler has, you know, they have some, you know. I mean, you Stanley's, Manny's, um, you know, uh Prime 102, Steve. Culture down there. Lance. Um, you know, the I mean, there's a kind of a growing group, it seems, and you're obviously the biggest contributor to that, I would think.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

Well, and I mean, no, they're all great folks. What what we are trying on the Texas Restaurant Association is to continue to grow that and offer support. And you know, I'll tell you this, and not many folks know this, but restaurants is highly regulated. And there's a lot of roles, a lot of pieces behind it, not just on the health side, but all kinds of you know, workforce and a lot of different moving pieces. And one thing that as my role on the restaurant association has allowed me to help do is help a lot of restaurant tours or about to become restaurant tours to really understand just so they're in compliance.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

Yeah, I mean, that that kind of um reminds me about the Chamber of Commerce in a way. You know, they what they do is they put resources to businesses to try and help them be successful, right? Which is kind of what you're saying that the restaurant association does in the restaurant area because of regulations and things that could trip them up.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

Absolutely. That's that's exactly right. And just to keep them ahead of the curve and for the knowledge and to share best practices. There's a again, the the restaurant world has so many things that that rotates and and comes at you. I I brought up COD earlier, but it could be a to-go box, right? That uh, you know, a couple years after COVID, you couldn't buy a to-go box and everything was for to-go. And so you had to find different ways to source it. And when you can bring that camaraderie and, you know, wheel own other restaurants, you know, uh Cokes or your, you know, case of Dr. Peppers, whatever it may be, um it it is a special kind of camaraderie. Where I will tell you this about restaurant tours, and something that I'm a big fan and I love. Restaurant tours will give the shirt off their back to folks. They will for schools, they will help you out on most. You know, uh we we support a bunch of schools. We love helping kids, we love helping teachers, uh, we love helping nonprofits, and whether it's through donation or or just maybe cover the cost of food or or however, or we give back. Um, and most restaurateurs are like that. They really truly care about the community doing well and everybody being healthy and well.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

Aaron Ross Powell Well, yeah, because I mean, you know, the community supports them or at least some, right? And so it's kind of a you know, it could be a very positive cycle, you know, for them to support you, you to support the community all at the same time. And it sounds like that's important to you. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Absolutely. The uh the 12 restaurant modeled kind of after many aspects of what your wife liked or what she desired. Um, but it also brought kind of the for the first time, really a bourbon aspect to the the liquor uh the cocktail service, right? I mean there was more emphasis, there was more bourbons, the old-fashioned, the presentation with the smoke and all of that kind of that was your first move into that, wasn't it? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 50:15

We uh we thought as an opportunity we wanted to. In fact, we have uh bourbon dinners once a month and uh uh bourbon somaliers come out and uh we've had uh how do people know about that?

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Like for instance, I don't know about it. Oh yeah. Uh I mean how would I how would I if I'm listening and I'm an audience member and I I'd like to know when those bourbon dinners come about, how would they find out?

SPEAKER_02 50:35

Oh absolutely you go to our website, uh our next one's on May 19th, um uh open table or a website and and just uh click on there. But we do it every month and it's great. We bring in, you know, uh uh Garrison has come out and um from high Texas. Yeah. And so but we've had different folks, and we we it's it's a great experience. We walk through it, we pair some different, unique foods to it that would really pair well with it, and we have a great time. When you have over 150, you know, selection of bourbon whiskies, you know, you pick a couple of fun ones just to go out there and and have a good time, and you bring those um uh distributors out, and they love coming out and talking, of course, talking about their product and and uh and we love having them and and our guests learn. I mean, you get to learn, okay, well, what was that uh barrel and why and and why is it so important that that barrel is moved in you know further in or all of those little neat pieces?

SPEAKER_01 51:30

The only uh barrel bourbon I ever remember for you would be over at Hobbies in the margarita. That that right? Absolutely. I mean, that's that's kind of the only bourbon I ever remember at your places was this barrel bourbon margarita, which is pretty good. And then you you moved all those, I guess, bourbons and the creation of 12.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean people really enjoyed that. And that was the start of it. That's kind of how it came around. We talked a lot about that, and and so you know, I was like, you know, you know, I've got a uh restaurant. Now we're really at it. I think we'll be at 110 uh tequilas at uh in fact we're doing a tequila room uh right uh on on the second story of uh Javi's as well. That's gonna be pretty neat with some really high-end tequilas, really special ones. But um, but yeah, we just wanted to bring something special, something you can't get, you know, at a lot of places because we buy so much alcohol, we get those allotments. We can get the papies, we can get the uh um King of Kentucky, we can get those things that uh folks, the birthday bourbon, you know, that want to try and experience something special.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

Well, I mean, that was just a stab on my part about the bourbon and and the margarita, but it actually did I mean you thought that.

SPEAKER_02 52:39

I mean you said Well, more so from FD, yeah. More so from FDs would bring it up. But but yeah, all of it, it showed me because that was one of my top-selling margaritas, and you're like, wow, really?

SPEAKER_01 52:49

You know, right. People must like that bourbon that's with that.

SPEAKER_02 52:53

Absolutely. And so um so when we were creating 12, we were like, you know, let's let's lean in a little bit on some great bourbons and whiskeys. And um, of course, if you haven't had a smoked old fashioned at uh 12, you haven't had one yet. Um we do a really good job of that. Um and then we even took up another level, three palms, and we learnt from a chemist out of uh who owns a restaurant out of um California um called uh knife, uh I'm sorry, cut, and um on how to wagu wash an old fashioned. So we have a very neat um waggy washed old fashioned at Three Palms.

SPEAKER_01 53:29

Wow. Because you you you've moved the margaritas, you know, from you probably had some at San Pedro's at the very end. I don't know that. Yes, sir, we did. Frozen. Yep. You you know, you you you had a big, you know, um and and you probably you probably used your influence with Mikosina when you started at FDs with the naming of the uh margaritas, right? Because they call them a limousine or something in Micosina, don't they?

SPEAKER_02 53:57

Yeah, again, uh well I didn't have direct, you know, with uh Micosina, direct contact with them, but just the gentleman who started it was a friend of mine. And so of course I think community uh impacts on on what you do and how you do it.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

And I think so absolutely I think they're because I mean they're called they're called the same margaritas are called something at uh FDs and something different at hobbies. Yeah. But it's the same margarita, right?

unknown 54:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:19

I mean, pretty much very close. Okay, close. Slightly different.

SPEAKER_01 54:22

I know you get an elevation when we get to three palms, and we're gonna get there with the skinny margarita, maybe a little cleaner, purer type of mix. That's kind of the feel I've gotten, whether I'm right or wrong, I don't know. Just a little different.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

I mean, I think, you know, uh I like to think of a margarita as the perfect health drink. You got tequila, good for you. You got, you know, your your your vegetable your fruits. Um, and people could probably argue with me on that, but I think a margarita is the perfect beverage.

SPEAKER_01 54:51

12 gets going, and I'm assuming 12 is doing pretty well.

SPEAKER_00 54:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:55

Uh we we know you've again had to expand into the patio and air condition it to add seats to your place, right? Yeah. And then the next venture is Three Palms, which people sh should know on Old Jacksonville. It's it's a it's an it's an upscale restaurant, if you will. Did this come about again because of the location that was available, or it was a concept that was, you know, born in your mind that you then found a place to go?

SPEAKER_02 55:24

Uh it it was uh the concept that was in my mind. I love celebrating um with my family, of course. We'd go out to nice restaurants. We have plenty of nice restaurants here. But I wanted a restaurant that truly did a little bit more on the celebration, whether it was flowers on the table for for grandma's 80th birthday or um or uh a lit up menu with your name celebrating uh graduation. And so Three Palms was this idea of um not the traditional dark woods, but more of a celebratory, um, great food. We're gonna celebrate you, you're gonna have a great time, and it's all about you. And that's kind of was the idea. Now, when I saw that original location, it was yellow and purple.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

And red, or maybe. I mean, yeah. I mean, it was Fuzzies, if everybody knows, that sat back behind juicy's uh and I don't know what happened to it, but eventually it was not good and went out of business or quit or something.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

Yeah, I don't know if they uh it was it was uh already closed down at that time, so I don't know what led them to leave or where they moved to, or well when a fuzzy closes, obviously things aren't going well. So well, I mean we uh Right. I mean, for me I always hoped that they're relocating.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

So well no, they had one over there. That's true, they had the other one. And uh they were two separate owners.

SPEAKER_02 56:48

Oh, they were separate owners. Okay. So yeah, so we saw that and uh I was like, oh this is not really matching this is a remodel. Yeah, uh which we you know, we believe in doing great remodels. And so uh I I get my my wife out there and she says, This is great. And I was like, Are you seeing it? And she's like, Oh, I see it. And then we get uh Angie Reed out there, and Angie Reed's very talented, as you could tell from the change in that.

SPEAKER_01 57:14

And uh Yeah, I mean for people who look up here and remember fuzzies, uh, this is what the vision of Scott and his wife and Angie Reed were able to uh cobble together uh with an end product that's you know a very impressive structure itself.

SPEAKER_02 57:30

Yeah, we you know it had some of the critical things. We had to have an open kitchen. We just thought that we wanted to be interactive in that aspect. Um the bar ended up, you know, we separated by a wall.

SPEAKER_01 57:43

Yep. Essentially kind of a noise buffer for people who don't appreciate the loud, boisterous crowd in the bar.

SPEAKER_02 57:52

Well, and we also had room for our uh piano player. We have our ple piano player going and um which is always fun. I did uh get on there one time, that was not so great, but besides that, yeah, uh it was just uh it was a great spot.

SPEAKER_01 58:04

Um you also you know kind of did what you seem to always do, is you kind of get your feel for how it's going, and then you make moves like out to the patio, you know, based on what you think the clientele is gonna like. Is that am I close? Yeah, yeah. W with any new concept, I'm paying attention, right? Because this is not a chain. This is not something that that Scott Williams has a playbook for to say, hey, do this, do this, do this. Correct. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 58:33

No, we just we listen to our guests, we watch what they're doing, what they're ordering, what they're how they're feeling, where they want to go. Um, and then we we just do our best to create the best atmosphere for them. So we did that cover patio, and so we'll do some great music out there, and we've had several events from oh wow, we've had, you know, but you you built an event center first, kind of covered, right?

SPEAKER_01 58:56

And then now you have covered the outside, have you not? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

So well the the I knew going into it, I had to have, which we didn't have the space for to do at the originally, I had to have a private dining room, right? So people are celebrating. Some folks want to have a larger group and they want to celebrate privately as a group, as a family, or as an organization. And so so we built that out there, and then we found that um, you know, we need way more space and way more and a way to uh to include both um to go outside and back inside, or come from outside the restaurant to there. Or to have, you know, 120 people versus the fifty or sixty that fit in that that space. And so that's where that kind of that piece. Angie Reed came back out and and we we made that happen.

SPEAKER_01 59:41

I mean, was this an attempt to handle the heat, you know? Because that's always a tough part of part of the year for outdoor dining, isn't it? Oh yeah, I mean, Texas.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

I mean we we get the you know uh 105 degree weather sometimes, but you know, it was really designed to um play on and help with the that little private dining room to expand. But yes, also the other piece of it too is is folks love to be outside. I mean, who doesn't, right? I mean, it's beautiful. We we got you know an area to look at, we've got you know some palm trees out there. And so um we wanted to cover it to help with the heat, add a little bit of um uh shade for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:25

I mean, I don't know if you know in Dallas, you know, sometimes misters and stuff like that are the thing. Some people are like, ah, you know, there's that whole water uh bacteria thing versus maintenance and you know, I don't know how you feel about that or even if that even would work here.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:39

Aaron Ross Powell You know, yeah, hey, we're always looking at what's the next piece, what's the the the the something that can make our guests more comfortable, we're willing to look at. And whether that's from the table, from a specialty fan, um HVAC, mini splits, whatever it is, we always try to definitely take care of our guests all right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:57

So you're a renter at all of these locations, including three palms. Is that right? Uh yes. I rent it, yeah, all the Tyler ones I rent. Because I mean, what I'm trying to I'm trying to emphasize the point to our audience is that you you either have confidence in yourself that you're going to be successful because you expend a lot of money in the build-out that will eventually be someone else's property.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:20

Yeah, well, uh yes. I mean, so I mean, after the lease, if you decided not to we hope to to buy, you know, locations. We tried by buy these ones.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:30

Um That's what I was getting at. I'm like, you know, you're renting all of them. Um, you know, you've put a lot of money and thought and time into building these these 'cause this right here is a is a far different piece of real estate than the Fuzzies location. Yeah. Right. I mean I will tell you this. We do very long-term leases too. Right. I mean so you can use the benefit.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:50

Yeah. Yeah. And so um so we definitely believe in it. Nobody's most people are scared of a 20-year lease, not Scott Williams. I well, yeah, no, I'm leaning into it because I want that uh I want that rate and I know what will happen. Um it's five years and it comes back up.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:07

Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:08

So so we lock in all those rates. And then, you know, as we as we grow and we're going, it's uh, you know, we're we're doing more of the purchasing of the property. But uh but but we definitely you're right. We spend a lot of money on the build out, a significant amount.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:21

And uh but which is the experience that the people are getting and they're paying for, sometimes they don't think of this in the prices on the menu. Right? That's part of that's built in is the experience that you're gonna have because of the environment.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:36

Aaron Ross Powell Well, one way that we are that we can kind of offset that is that we don't advertise. So you don't get a flyer.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:44

I've never seen anything for any of yours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:47

Ever. Have you? I mean, I I think some some people will do some free things for us or or because we partnered or did something for a nonprofit, but but yeah, we don't act actually advertise. And so the the benefit of that is there's no advertising is expensive. And you're either all in and you do quite a bit of it, I'm sure as you know, or or you don't. And so for us, we just decided we're gonna put it on the plate of food. We're gonna save that money, we're gonna put it in the building. That's a one-time cost, though, so it's not a big deal there. But every day we're gonna make sure you're getting the you know, the best product quality we can get for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:19

Plus, if you do a good job, word of mouth is gonna be better than advertising anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:24

That's what I believe.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:25

I mean, uh you must, because that's pretty bold to go, hey, I'm going out with all these restaurants and I'm not gonna advertise they're even open.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:31

Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, when we we opened FDs and nobody we didn't advertise, right? Nobody knew we were open. But it didn't take long.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:38

It it it took seven days. And and if it if you have something visually interesting, like three pumps on the outside, people are curious in Tyler, like what's new, wonder how that is, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:50

Um and then they have to come in and learn the menu because like you said, that they don't know if there's a steak in there or a seafood or what's in here. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:59

Or an amazing short rib with the cherry glaze on it. And you Yeah, I mean, it that's kind of fun too, hope, for some uh guests going out to eat that they get to try something and see something new.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:08

Well, you know, um my wife and I are very close uh in the business as well as in real life. And she is an integral part of everything that I've done. And so I get this same feeling that you have that same support uh based on some of your comments and based on the project you continually take on. Am I right?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:28

Oh, absolutely. I can my wife is not just my best friend, she's my business partner, she's my everything, she's a great mother. And so I'm very, very lucky to have Maddie. Not only did she bring the kids up every day, or or when it's a holiday weekend, or but she's also dropping off things and and supporting, um, helping out uh with different donations, or or when she sees a need in the community, she's bringing it making it happen from our restaurants.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:55

Right, and and my wife does that as well. And what that does is that allows um, you know, people to help you do things for the community or otherwise that you're for and want to do, but oftentimes might not have enough time, but it gets done when when there's kind of a shared agenda in the family, right? Aaron Powell Absolut.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:12

That's a great way to put it too. And you know, when we're working, you know, 60, 70 hours a week plus being with the kids, going to all the events, and we want to give as much as possible to the community. But yes, she's the best partner to make sure that we're we're providing that support even if I can't be there physically.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:28

Aaron Powell But you know, each time you decide to go into a restaurant, there's an investment of you guys' money, your resources, right? So I mean she has to be supportive to say, Scott, okay, let's let's do another one. Okay, Scott, let's do another one, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:44

I mean Oh, I I tell them they don't cost us any money. Um No, she does. She but she she believes in in the vision and where we're going and um and but I do involve her. She sees our locations and um, you know, uh as we look at 'em, the different locations and Uh and then it's a big investment. It's an investment for not just my family, but also our investors. And so and our investors are um you know, they've been with me for multiple restaurants, and so we we love to take care of them and and so I'm very thoughtful that it's it's my future for my my my kids. And so we you're right, we we go into it, we do our due diligence, and then we go into it with everything we got to make sure it's great for our guests.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

Aaron Powell Well, you mentioned investors, and you know, people don't think like that, but there are people that uh are willing to invest, right, to help what, defray the cost, take some of the profits, but then eventually be out of it or in it forever on that project.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:38

Aaron Powell Yeah. For so for the way, yeah, the way we do it is that they're they're in it forever. They're a partner and they're getting that uh we take care of them and uh we've been very blessed they get a quick return um in the industry and are much, much quicker than the typical for the industry. And and then the they they go and they support the next one, and all of a sudden, you know, now they're in in five locations and well now six and then seven, and and so um but yeah, it's uh because it's a big investment. Again, we put the money in the front, we make sure these folks and these restaurants um are big and beautiful. We don't take TI. Um we go in and we do it ourselves to get the the the best possible lowest rent, as we were talking about earlier, um, so that uh again we could put it all on the plate.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:22

You know, and it sounds like you've got a great model. Um the uh next restaurant was um a guest of ours, Harley. We talked about Harley finally was able to sell it. He was happy to sell it, and uh he told us he had he had sold it to you, Bellagio, which is uh, you know, uh again a good location. Right? That's great. So was it simply that Harley wanted to get rid of it? It was a great location, uh or had you really had any interest in this, or does do people come to you all the time because they know Scott could be a candidate for this restaurant here, there, anywhere? Yeah, yes, I get I get offers every week um in different locations. To buy somebody else's.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:06

Because I call you the restaurant the restaurant whisperer, right? That is a broken horse.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:11

Right? Who do you call? Someone who can tame that horse, somebody who can take something that's not making money, whether it be San Pedro's at your at the inception or Vellaggio at this moment in time, you have this knack, it seems, don't you, to make these things make money.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:29

Well, for me, I I think if you go back to the just the core root of it, how do you feel when you go in? How do you you know, do you enjoy the food, the drinks, do you enjoy the space, do you enjoy the people? Are they happy? Um are you feeling comfortable and great? And then uh, you know, we're about to actually roll out a a pretty pretty big menu change of Vellagio here in just a couple weeks, but that we've been working on uh since I bought it. But what I loved about Vellagio, A, uh my wife had been there multiple times. I've been there multiple times, my wife more so and more. It's already built out. It's already built out. It's uh but it goes it it it's it's a good build-out. It's it's it's beautiful, it looks great. Um it's uh it's a smaller side, it's my smallest location. Um it's got a uh uh you know beautiful wood-burning uh uh uh pizza oven. I mean, they have a lot of great pieces. Patio, excellent. Um you notice I did the same thing at the back, right? I had a cover in the back patio and and get that tempered so that we can um seat more people because we're doing more guests now than it's ever done that uh that I'm aware of. And that uh but Harley had a great thing in and I love to honor Harley in that. And when, you know, um he built it as a gathering place and and great wine, and and so we continue to bring in the great wine. We want to gather, we want the folks to, of course, Harley and br they all come in and and to have a good time.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:50

But that's kind of they can walk across the parking lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:52

That's right. Yeah, it's great for them, they're right there.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:54

But I mean, they're so happy because they've sold the entire uh shopping center, strip center, right? So I mean, and the restaurant to you. Yeah. But you know, uh Harley would probably admit this too. He'd probably say that, you know, you're probably the best guy to buy this thing because you will probably know how to improve it and make it a better experience for people that live in Tyler and the surrounding area. I I really enjoy Harley's got a great story too. I mean, yeah, I mean I mean, if you watched his show, I don't know if you did. I missed his, but I'm gonna catch up. No, I mean I did a podcast on it. He does have a great story, and you should watch it uh and become a uh subscriber of the uh show. Oh, I am a subscriber.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:30

Okay, so I just missed that one.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:31

Now's the time of subscribe to the East Texas Unfiltered Podcast and share. But uh okay, so I don't know if it's uh appropriate to ask you about the new menu or whether that's a surprise, but if you want to share anything new that might be exciting for people who like food experiences, then you I mean feel free to tell us what we have coming.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:51

Yeah, just to you know it's still traditional. We have a spicy um regatoni, a chicken florentine that's coming in. Um we have a uh a new appetizer that's an artichoke and spinach with a uh pasta chip. So uh really just kind of keeping to the traditional roots, the the traditional Italian, but really just packing it with flavor.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:14

Yeah, I mean it sounds like you're leaning into Italian food a little bit more. Is that what that menu I just heard sounds like?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:21

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. So it's um Are you gonna have uh pizzas of any kind? Yeah, I'll keep all the pizzas. I mean, we're you know, the pizzas I I think are fantastic. The Godfather, the um we we eat the pizzas all the time for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:35

I don't care if you change them. I'm not I'm not suggesting I'm just I'm making a push for um extremely thin flatbread pizzas, which in Dallas are all the thing, right? Because people don't want carbs so much, and so they have these gluten-free, really thin, mostly stuff. So I'm just putting in I'm putting in my pitch since I've got you. We are working on one of those. Okay, okay, good.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:59

We're gonna have one of those on the menu um as well. Because I agree. I think uh you know, in in we already have the pizza oven, we have the dough, we can make it a little different, but it's not a big deal. Make more money because the the crust is thinner. Uh yeah. Maybe I'm not sure that's exactly but I like it better.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:14

Yeah, okay. Well, no, I agree. I'm pitching for me and all the carb haters.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:18

I'm here for you. I'm gonna make it happen for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:21

All right. Well, you know, I'm I'm um, you know, I didn't give the shout out to uh Angie Reed that I wanted to, okay? Because the palm, uh the three-palm building as we move forward was so impressive for a kind of a new remodel, right? And from what it was to where it went to, uh, you know, uh pretty much speaks uh to her talent, in my opinion. Absolutely. I mean, she's building our home too, and she's extremely talented. She remodeled mine, full disclosure, she's gonna come on the show. She's already promised me, but um for people who listen to this who are not from here, who just moved here and uh, you know, uh don't know who's who, um, as far as uh, you know, concept ideas with what you have to work with, which is what you you and I both did, my house, your fuzzies, to make them turn out the way they did, um is just, you know, I mean, no matter how painful the price, I still love it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:24

You know, here's the thing, right? I had to say that too. So when you're building and uh her vision is so strong, her ability to bring things together, whether it's uh beautiful wallpaper, the right door, a doorknob, a um the wall.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:45

No plans. I had no plans. We had no plans to work from. And she, you know, you and I's connection at three palms will forever be hey Chad, do you want that painting on the wall at your house when we were tearing everything up? I was like, nah, I don't care. She goes, Can I have it? I said, Sure, take it. And then sure enough, she goes, she put this at three palms on the wall by the bathroom. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:09

Yeah, which I love, yeah, absolutely. She's like, Hey, I got this one. So it's gonna be great there. And I'm like, and it and it did, it worked out great. Um so she she's great, she's got great vision. Uh, we have a lot of great builders here in town um that I'm friends with and that I frequent and uh or they frequent the restaurants, but Angie Reed was just perfect for me, just in the scope and and the ability to tie it all in together, because again, the Fuzzies was a big transition. And so she's also doing our new location, uh 12 in Longview, and that's another big transition.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:41

Yeah, that's uh you know, you've kind of got to the point where you seem comfortable with the way the restaurants are operating in Tyler, right? There's what is there, five of them? Five, yes, sir. Um, and you know, I've heard that you're about to open a hobbies concept in college station. Right on university drive. Uh that's gonna be a hit, isn't it? I mean it's I mean a college town. We're excited. You're gonna blow them up. It's gonna be like any other, you know, Tex Mex Margarita spot that's always cool in any college town. Is this gonna be it?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:16

Hey, we hope yeah. I think I think it's a great concept. I think it's gonna do well with families, with the college students, with the professors, with the workers. I I we tend to do well with frequency and with um a volume and variety of guests. And um and when they come in, we want them transported and thinking they're somewhere else. They're not college station, they're not in Tyler, Texas. We're gonna take care of, we're gonna be uh giving them some great food, but also where they just can relax and feel stress-free for a little while. Did you were you able to buy the property or are you still renting? So that one I had I tried and so in Yeah, I tried to buy it, but it was such a perfect property. This one's a little bit more than a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:57

Again, location, location, location, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:59

In hobby is a little different because we have this, like there's a a water ravine, and you know, and then one hears on a on a pond. And and so there's very specific needs for that uh concept. And so, but we definitely had it there, but they would not sell it to me yet. Maybe one day.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:16

Well, um now you've this may be your shot. Longview and 12, the 12 concept. Maybe you can buy the property. I did buy that one. Okay, good. I mean, I'm I'm cheering for you, man. I mean, I'm tired of you paying everybody else as well as you're doing. You need to own your own real estate. Aaron Powell Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:32

You know, as we continue to grow, I mean we love to buy something. I'm I'm okay with renting. I I think um Well you've figured it out. Yeah, again, as long as we put out a great location where people can enjoy it and um our team can do well, our team can grow, our team has an opportunity to to move to the next level of leadership or whatever it may be. Uh that's kind of one of my big drivers.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:54

Aaron Powell You know, if I had to get into Scott Williams' mind, which scary I know it. But I mean I've I've followed your career and I've seen you and talked to you and I've you know been enthusiastically interested because I just love seeing people make the kind of moves you've made. Um if I had to guess 12, you were going for the lack of really uh of kind of a little upscale bourbon, nice place over there in Longview because there's a lot of Tex Mex. Well versus hobbies, versus taking hobbies over there.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:25

So I I think hobbies makes a lot of sense over there, too.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:28

I think it does too. I'm just trying to figure out what the calculus was for you to go 12, not hobbies. The property.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:34

So again, that the hobbies property is going to have uh the ability to um that patio, because I I do that big patio at every hobby's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:47

So that is a signature, you know, architectural theme that goes with the the restaurant, the menu, and everything. You're making that stay with it.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:54

Yes. All right. And so and whether that's uh like a koi pond at a j at a sushi place. Exactly right. Except for us, it's gonna be a beautiful patio that makes you feel like you're not in the middle of town.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:07

Yeah, and I mean that escape, you know, is what many people, you know, gain through the things that you you're building. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:14

Oh yeah, I go out and talk to people all the time on the patio and or even inside, and they're just like, they could have this stressful day. I mean, unfortunately, we had a funeral a few days ago and and they could actually feel good to celebrate the life and and feel, you know, just a little bit um like a load taken off for a little while.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:32

So 12 is the location is bought and it's being remodeled, and there's a plan for it to open in Longview. You know, uh have you set that date or announced when that would be?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:42

No, I I don't you know, as you know from construction. Sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:46

I'm not gonna press you because anything could happen, and you know, there's no reason for you to announce anything because you don't advertise anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:55

Right, yeah, so that's true. But uh but you know what I tell everybody, it's gonna be a once we're done with it, it's gonna be beautiful, it's gonna be amazing. We'll let the community know, and then uh we'll be there for them.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:05

Do you also have plans in your mind or already in process for a hobbies over in Longview?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:10

You know, I I don't have one. Uh I would love to have one there. Um if we find the right location, uh we'll we'll I'm sure we'll have one there.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:19

Aaron Powell Okay. And um, you know, I didn't know if that was, you know, you try to move the models that you've built in Tyler to move all of those to Longview eventually. I don't know if that's a part of your business plan. Aaron Powell I think synergy, yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:32

I think synergetic, you know, we want to um have where there's multiple locations in a new market.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:38

Aaron Powell Similar size cities in a way. I mean, you know, not exactly, but I mean, you know, uh maybe a different business demographic in some ways than in others, but kind of the same, whereas you would think those all might be successful in Longview as well. Aaron Powell Absolut.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:53

And it's close enough, you know, I can be out there, I can be in college station, I can be home that night, um, sleep in my bed.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:59

So any other f any other ongoing future expansion right now that's kind of in process that you'd want to tell us about?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:08

Nothing yet. We're working on some things, but nothing yet.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:11

So And uh, you know, I uh you you can't blame me for you know trying to scoop the story. Absolutely, not at all. Because, you know, um I just think you're you're so interesting, Scott, and I love how hard you work, but what you have in common with everybody that comes on this show that's successful is they actually care about the people that that make them the living. You know what I'm saying? Like they're not just in it, they they they're perfectionists, they want to do things right. And it seems to translate to success, right? That concept. I think so.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:45

Yeah, I think that's definitely some, you know, I I'll tell this to anybody. You know, I started off with nothing. Um even when I went into FDs, I did not have enough money even from everything. I I drained everything out of my IRAs, everything I could. It was not enough to to build it. And I had people who believed in me um and who invested and uh who continue to invest and do really well. But um But is that a call for investors? No, I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:12

I mean, Scott, can I get a stake in uh hobbies and college section?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:15

We're already booked it, but uh movie. But but what's I'm saying about it is that you know I had nothing, and I think the American dream is so alive here that you can have nothing and and work hard and make something out of it. You can find a way. Yes, multiple doors shut in my way. That was not my first location. Um, San Pedro's was not my first idea, but every door opened, you had to go run through it. I mean, you had to work hard once you got in that door, but you had all of these opportunities, and you will have all these opportunities whether you're 18 years old or 55 years old or whenever you want to do it. And that's the beautiful thing about America.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:52

Well, let's let's let's let's go back and confirm what you just said. San Pedro, you opened that in what year? I bought that in 12, 2012. 2012. And did you have a college education? I mean a degree? No, no degree. Okay. So for the people that are listening, and the American dream that you just championed, you just told them that a guy got a restaurant in 2012 without a college degree that just worked hard. Yeah. And now he has seven restaurants? Yes, sir. And I mean, we're talking what, fourteen years later?

SPEAKER_00 1:22:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:25

I mean, then that's I mean, that's one restaurant every two years. Which, you know, is amazing in and of itself. But you know who benefits from all that? The city of Tyler and and the city of Longview and College Station, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:38

Well yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:39

Everybody gets it, hopefully we'll get to benefit and enjoy it. Well, if you think about the restaurant scene and the experiences and the places that we here in Tyler, just Tyler, have to go out and eat. I mean, what would Tyler be like without Scott Williams? Is the question I have. Oh, I think great.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:57

But um I'm glad to be here. Hey, I'm glad to be a great part of it. I again, I I'm friends with so many of the restaurateurs here, and uh I champion all of them. There's so many great places to go in Tyler. And believe it or not, Tyler is very high in restaurant per capita. Right. I mean, there's a ton of restaurants. That's what you mean. Yes, that's exactly right. And so uh so which is great, that means Tyler's going out and supporting and they're finding what works perfect for them, and uh and it's a great thing to see.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:24

Well, Scott, you know, I've known you from before, but I've gotten to know you a lot better in this interview, and uh I I think all this success could not happen to a better person. Uh, and a person who uh not only is builds these quality restaurants, but just improves everybody's life, which you know should be part of what we think about each day we live. And I appreciate you being here on the show. Thank you, Scott.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:49

Appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me.