846: Ben Goldberg Co-founder & CEO of Strategic Hospitality
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
City Hall
It is so hard to have a part time restaurant, bar, music, venue or anything, right? We were booking shows. Ah, some months we would have three shows. Some months we'd have 20 shows. So it really, for me, that was sort of a half half in, half out situation. And the lesson there was just how hard the business is unless you're,. you're am able to be open as much as you need to be open.
With excitement allow me to introduce to you today's guest Co-founder and Co-owner of Strategic Hospitality, Benjamin Goldberg. Strategic Hospitality, co-founded with his brother, Max Goldberg, is a Nashville-based hospitality company shaping the city's dining landscape by continuously introducing innovative, one-of-a-kind concepts. Properties include Paradise Park Trailer Resort, The Patterson House, Merchants Restaurant, The Catbird Seat, Pinewood, The Band Box, Bastion, Henrietta Red, Downtown Sporting Club, and Locust. Strategic Hospitality also provides consulting and management services to other hospitality groups. Founded in 2006, Strategic Hospitality has experienced steady growth annually and continues to revolutionize the dining scene.
Show notes… Calls to ACTION!!!- Join Restaurant Unstoppable Network and get your first 30 days on me! Connect with my past guest and a community of superfans.
- Subscribe to the Restaurant Unstoppable YouTube Channel
- Join the private Unstoppable Facebook Group
- Join the email list! (Scroll Down to get the Vendor List!)
- "People remember how you make them feel, not what you say."
In today's episode with Ben Goldberg we will discuss:
- Opening your first restaurant at 23
- Early mentors
- Advice on getting investors
- Transparency
- Forced to learn because you are undercapitalized
- Location
- Being stubborn early in your career
- Deliver a product worth going out of the way for
- Going into business with family
- Ego
- Giving up control
- The importance of asking your team what they want
- Setting quarterly and annual goals
- Evolving operations
- Tech stacks
- Implementing Toast POS
Diageo Bar Academy equips bartenders, servers, managers, and hospitality professionals with the insights, stories, and tools to be better - raising the bar on industry standards. Diageo Bar Academy reaches a diverse audience, with backgrounds and skill levels of all ranges- providing them with skills, knowledge, and the techniques they need to improve their personal and professional lives.
7shifts is a modern labor management platform, designed by restaurateurs, for restaurateurs. Effectively labor management is more important than ever to ensure profitability and restaurant success. Trusted by over 400,000 restaurant professionals, 7shifts gives you the tools you need to streamline labor operations, communicate with your team, and retain your talent. Best of all 7shifts integrates with the POS and Payroll systems you already use and trust (like Toast!) turning labor into a competitive advantage for your business. Restaurant Unstoppable members get 3 months, absolutely free.
MarginEdge is completely free for new customers until September. No setup fees. No integration fees. No commitment. Take your back office paperwork down to 2-3 minutes a day while creating real-time financial views to inform your path ahead.
Knowledge bombs
- Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
- Hard work
- What is your biggest weakness?
- Not delegating enough
- What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
- A good person
- What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
- Ramping up multiple restaurants at the same time
- Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
- Make people happy
- What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
- Go above and beyond
- What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
- What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
- Rest
- Name one service you've hired.
- What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influenced operations?
- Toast POS
- If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be?
- Be honest
- Be kind
- Surround yourself with amazing people
Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.
Also, please leave an honest review for the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.
And finally, don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.
Huge thanks to Benjamin Goldberg for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!
Restaurant Unstoppable is a free podcast. One of the ways I'm able to make it free is by earning a commission when sharing certain products with you. I've made it a core value to only share tools, resources, and services my guest mentors have recommend, first. If you're finding value in my podcast, please use my links!
The AI-powered Podcast Player
