Restaurant Owners Uncorked

Cris Eddings co-owns Chuck's Fish (two locations) and Five Restaurant (five locations). He and his team follow their own compasses and don't pay attention to conventional wisdom when it doesn't align with what they believe. So they do things like raising the minimum wage for non-tipped employees to $10.25/hour well before the idea became a national topic, opening a concept (Five) with only five of each category on the menu (five entrees, five appetizers, etc.), forsaking advertising and instead investing into higher wages for staff and funding their non-profit organization, which sends food trucks out several days per week to feed homeless people where they are. This is a very refreshing and inspiring interview. Enjoy...

Mic Heynekamp of Eddyline Brewery was in our book, Restaurant Owners Uncorked, and told me one of the most interesting stories I've ever heard about opening a restaurant. He and his wife, Molley, drew up a $1,000,000 business plan to open their first restaurant. It included new equipment, a build-out, and everything conventional wisdom says you need to do to get started. After getting declined for the financing they needed, they began to whittle away at the plan, learning that creativity and common sense helped more than a big pile of money. They wound up opening for $70,000, just 7% of what they had originally anticipated they needed. In this interview, Mic tells how they did it, as well as how they built their second location for $750,000 when an architect had told them it would cost $5,000,000. This interview offers tons of practical, repeatable pieces of advice on getting started with your first restaurant, why small towns are a great place to operate, and how you can run your business with trust and delegation to enable a balanced lifestyle and room to grow. Mic and Molley own locations in New Mexico and Colorado, and are currently in New Zealand working on opening a location there. This is a great story, enjoy...

Kimberly Shingledecker started Pies & Pints along with partner David Bailey in Fayetteville, WV in 2003 in the basement of a house. By 2005 they had two-hour waits and needed to buy a building with more space. The growth hasn't slowed down much since, and today there are eight locations with a ninth opening soon. Kimberly and I talked about consistency being critical, never closing earlier than the time posted on your door, the challenge of educating your market - and your staff - when you are doing something new, the importance of finding a way to say "yes" to customers, being kid-friendly, and the most important question to ask people interviewing for jobs. Enjoy...

Rob Ward and his three business partners started Cantina 76 in Columbia, S.C. in November, 2009. They had no experience owning restaurants, and not much experience in the restaurant business at all. They now have two locations and recently opened Za's Brickoven Pizza. Their restaurants are successful and well-liked in Columbia, and it was fun learning how Rob approached owning and running restaurant when he had never even managed one. Tune in to hear an inspiring story of how Rob learned on the job, made some mistakes, drew in crowds without a marketing budget, and benefited from a lack of experience.

Dave Query started Big Red F Restaurant Group in 1993 and has turned it into a highly successful business with five concepts and soon-to-be thirteen total locations. In the five years I've been interviewing restaurant owners, Dave has always been one of my favorites. He's transparent, honest, wise, and able to articulate his beliefs and philosophies as well as anybody I've come across in the business. In this interview, Dave and I discussed everything from choosing the right types of investors, to growth, to humility, to competition. Enjoy...

Rayme Rossello is a very positive and inspiring person, who first co-owned a restaurant in 1999. That restaurant was very successful and grew to 5 locations, but Rayme sold her share of the business to her partner to try something different. After an unsuccessful partnership in a french bistro, she questioned herself and what was next, even considering going back to waiting tables. Tune in to hear her inspiring story of starting Comida with her pink taco truck in Boulder in 2010 and growing that to two successful restaurant locations and a third on the way.

Van Nolintha began applying for jobs at the height of the recession after finishing both undergraduate school and graduate school. After being turned down nearly 300 times, he and his younger sister, Vanvisa, returned to his home country, Laos, to reconnect with their roots. Much of his early life centered around food, so when he returned to the U.S. to Raleigh, N.C., he decided to start a restaurant. He bought a copy of "How to Open a Restaurant for Dummies" and sent heartfelt emails to several of the most highly regarded restaurant owners in Raleigh, asking for advice and mentoring. They all agreed to help. In 2012, with little capital and lots of sweat, donations, and help from friends, Van and Vanvisa opened Bida Manda, and today it's one of the most loved restaurants in Raleigh. Of all of the stories I've heard from 5 years of interviewing restaurant owners, this is the most memorable...

Brent Bushong and his partners recently opened The Velveteen Habit, a quaint farmhouse on four acres of land, tucked into a small clearing in the woods two miles from the Maine coastline. This is not your typical restaurant. The group has a Head Gardener, and plans to source most of its produce from the one-acre garden. They may eventually have their own livestock. They have a bee hive. They are very committed to providing the freshest, local food prepare simply, with a modern interpretation of the food you'd have eaten in the same farm house in 1765. Added to that, after his time as a Marine, Brent has spent the majority of his working career in restaurants, working nearly every position and learning tons of wisdom along the way. We talked about the need to marry both passion and a strong work ethic, summoning significant self confidence in the face of obstacles and doubters, the value of humility, and the importance of taking the time to make all of the mistakes you can make before you are ready to truly succeed. Enjoy...

Aaron Siegel opened the first Fiery Ron's Home Team BBQ in Charleston, SC in 2006. He opened the second location in 2009. Now, six years later, Aaron and his team are opening their third location. Aaron and I talked about everything from the national exposure Fiery Ron's has received (Esquire, The Food Network, etc.) from effective use of Instagram and other social media tools, to being forced out of his comfort zone when he went from chef to owner, to the romanticization of the restaurant business, to bridging the divide between FOH and BOH, to using mistakes made by staff as training moments. Aaron is a humble guy who has built a highly popular and successful business over the last six years, and he's worth paying attention to if you plan to start your own restaurant one day...

Seth Gross has been in the restaurant business for 27 years. He currently owns Bull City Burgers & Brewery as well as Pompieri Pizza, both in Durham, NC. One thing that's clear when you speak to Seth: he believes in standing for something. For instance, he only uses grass-fed beef for his burgers, and has vowed that if he ever has to resort to corn-fed beef, he will close his restaurant. He also won't use tomatoes on his burgers or pizzas during the winter months, because he can't get fresh, local tomatoes then. More examples abound in this really fun, inspiring conversation. And you'll also learn how he's been able to get customers to tattoo themselves with his logo. Enjoy....