Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore

In this episode we discuss why you need to tackle your passion full on once you discover it, incorporating learning and sharing knowledge into your culture, how to exceed expectation, why the experience is more important that the food or drink, and when you boil it down its really just about making people happy. Initially treating the restaurant industry as means to financially sustain plenty of other creative endeavors, Bobby Burns is now 24 years in. What got him hooked is the raw transparency and intimacy between the bartender-guest interaction. Bobby has had experience in all genres of the industry from corporate restaurants and fine dining venues to nightclubs and dives. Today he is the General Manager of Forest Hills Station house, in Forest Hills, New York.

In this episode we discuss developing relationships, always learning and asking why, how giving can help you get, understanding your numbers, knowing the vision you're setting out to achieve, moving on why you've achieved you goal, spending time on your business and not in your business, the power of staying optimistic and positive. New Zealander Dean Brettschneider, a.k.a. the Global Baker, has earned many accolades dedicating his life to the craft of baking. Author of 13 cookbooks, columnist, TV personality, judge, teacher, student, and restaurateur... this guy does a little bit of everything. In 2012 Dean open opened the first two of what is now 7 Baker and Cook location, in 2015 he open Singapore's first gourmet sourdough pizza restaurant Plank sourdough pizza and in January of 2017 he opened the first Baker & Cook and Plank Sourdough Pizza in Manila. in April 2016 Dean Opened Brettschneider's Baking and cooking school.

In this episode, we discuss how Shila's family went from rags to riches by opening a restaurant, how systems can create harmony in your restaurant, what it was like to go from host to CEO and President of the family business in 13 years, and how to obtain work-life balance in a family business. In 2004, when Shila Morris was 18 years of age, her parents, Misty and Gary Young, purchased the original Squeeze In, located in Truckee, CA. During the next 13 years, Shila went from earning a little extra cash at her parent's restaurant to becoming the President and CEO of 7 Squeeze In locations with franchise opportunities on the table.

Highlights in this episode: why your first priority needs to be discovering your strengths, creating leaders, never blaming anyone but yourself for shortcomings, and the importance of becoming some who inspires. Randy Caparoso was a founding partner of the James Beard Award-winning Roy's Family of Restaurants, where he was VP & Corporate Wine Director, opening 28 restaurants from Hawaii to New York. Presently, Randy is a restaurant consultant, multi-award winning wine journalist, Editor-at-Large and the Bottom Line columnist for The SOMM Journal, and currently blogs and does social media work for Lodi Winegrape Commission's lodiwine.com.

Jim Laube is joining us to discuss the most important numbers we need to consider when opening and running a restaurant. Sales to investment ratio, sales per square foot, prime cost, running inventory report, and open book management, what are these things and how can they impact our restaurant for the better? Jim has served our industry for decades as a CPA and advisor to independent restaurants throughout the U.S. regarding operational, financial, cost control, and profitability issues. Today, Jim serves as Founder and Publisher at RestaurantOwner.com. RestaurantOwner.com is an incredible resource consisting of business plan templates, operating systems & procedures, checklist, training manuals, and webinars.

In this episode Chef John Toulze discusses: Worth ethic; having an infectious positive energy; treat a business like a business from day 1; why you should treat the business like you own it, even if you don't; embracing technology; listening to your restaurant; putting your ego aside; and being authentic. Chef Toulze started his career in hospitality at Viansa Winery in Sonoma in 1994. After several years of cooking and wine sales, John left Viansa winery to help Sondra Bernstein open The Girl & The Fig restaurant in Glen Ellen. Twenty years later, John is not only the Executive Chef but also the Managing Partner. John has been critical to the opening of the original restaurants and every project that followed.

In this episode we discuss: what RJ loves about this work; what can come from surrounding yourself with successful people, why you need to keep an eye out for those who share the passion, and how success can be as simple as centering the salt shaker. RJ Joyce is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire where his focus was Business Administration, Management, and Operations. He spent the next 13 years further developing and fine tuning his management and operations skills until 2013 when he became a partner of his first restaurant GiGi's Italian food and Drink. In 2015 he partnered with James Woodhouse to open his second restaurant Louie's, located in Portsmouth, NH.

In this episode, we tackle an issue that every restaurant owner seems to be up against. Turnover. I ask all of my guest mentors: Currently, what is your biggest challenge and how are you overcoming it? By far, the most common answer: finding and keeping quality employees. In other words, preventing turnover. So... What did I do? I brought in the big guns; Tom Henschel. Tom Henschel is the president and founder of the executive development firm Essential Communications and the host of The Look and Sound of Leadership podcast. Tom expertise as a communications coach has taken him into executive offices at companies such as Amgen, BP Indonesia, CitiGroup, Ernst & Young, Lockheed Martin, Symantec, and Toyota.

In this episode, we discuss creating a restaurant that is an extension of who you are, what can happen when you surround yourself with the right people, embracing technology, and why you just need to keep doing the work! In 2015, a terrace house in South Melbourne that was formerly home to a burlesque club was overtaken by Shaun Quade and Mr. Harry.They set about creating a venue with the bones and soul of a restaurant but with a theatrical and multisensory approach. With a deep respect for produce and technique, Lume's team share an unrelenting desire to experiment. They honor tradition, yet at the same time are hell-bent on building their own. Over the past 6 months, things have accelerated rapidly. In November they were named go-me-o Gault Millau Australian Restaurant of the Year and received their second Hat. They also headlined Taste of Melbourne festival, Good Food Month and Melbourne Food and Wine Festival; the quote "big three in Australia."