Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore 730: Dennis Bagneris Giving People the Space to Grow
In 2008, Janet Davas founded Liberty's Kitchen. Her vision was to create a place where young adults who had been neglected or criminalized could come for a hot meal, a job opportunity, and a support system. Fast forward 12 years since its inception, we're sitting with Liberty's Kitchen CEO, and longest standing employee, Dennis Bagneris. In that time Liberty's Kitchen has evolved into a workforce development training program, which functions as a social enterprise, dedicated to transforming the lives of the "Opportunity and Vulnerable Youth" population of New Orleans, LA., by providing them with the support to develop self-sustainability, through an intensive 1-year life skills curriculum and employability skills training program, set in a culinary environment.
Check out Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind by Yuval Noah Harari as mentioned in today's episode!
Check out OpenTable as mentioned in today's episode.
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"It takes a village."
In today's episode with Dennis Bagneris we will discuss:
- Humans are naturally tribal; we seek the guidance of a group
- Community
- The importance of a strong family foundation
- The banking world/understanding finances
- Racism and activism
- Existing to serve the people you employ
- Applying non-profit operations and culture to a for-profit business
- You have to know WHAT you're hiring for
- What can you learn from your employees? Answer: a lot
- Racism/sexism/ego in our industry
- Break the mold; if you didn't like how you were trained then don't train your staff that way
- The realization of how few people of color are CEO's
- Before you fire someone find out the real reason behind their faults, it may be out of their control and there may be things you can do to help them
- Advice for creating a non-profit organization
- Cooking provides and can be a super power
Toast - A POS built for restaurants by restaurant people Adapt fast with Toast's cloud-based restaurant POS system that updates to evolve your POS along with changing industry trends and guest expectations. Toast is built exclusively for restaurants of all shapes and sizes, with over 2/3 of our employees having restaurant experience to serve you better. Online Ordering - Let guests easily order directly from your restaurant for pickup or contactless delivery to keep revenue flowing during these uncertain times. Toast Delivery Services Dispatch local drivers through an on-demand network to keep your community fed and revenue coming in.
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.
QuickBooks for Restaurants a Bookkeeping and Accounting Guide. The back-office restaurant accounting guide you've been searching for! Zac covers the accounting fundamentals, including sales tracking, purchasing, bill paying, invoicing, managing day-to-day liabilities, gift certificate tracking, cash management, detailed reporting, and more. Ultimately, Zac show owners and operators how to create the accurate financials and reporting that will enable them to make better informed, data-driven decisions.
Knowledge bombs
- Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
- Self-reflection
- What is your biggest weakness?
- Delegation
- What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
- What do they care most about?
- What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
- Self-care
- Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
- We want people to leave this place having had a good experience in everything including and beyond the food
- What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
- Interdependence - you can't do it all by yourself
- What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
- Investing their time instead of their money
- What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influenced operations?
- SalesForce - CRM on demand
- 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?
- Trust your gut - don't ignore it
- I don't believe anyone is inherently evil - people can be approached correctly and minds can change
- You have to find something you love in this world to exist in it
Facebook: @LibertysKitchen
Instagram: @libertyskitchen
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Huge thanks to Dennis Bagneris for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!
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