Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Managing Memories, Not Menus: How Ryan Wilson Leads the Fourth Generation at Lawry’s

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Managing Memories, Not Menus: How Ryan Wilson Leads the Fourth Generation at Lawry’s · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspoti and
0:17
today's guest is Ryan Wilson, 4th generation CEO at Lowry's
0:22
Restaurant. Founded in 1938, Lowry's is a
0:26
family owned establishment known for its signature prime rib and
0:30
exceptional dining experiences. Over its 90 year history, the
0:34
company has built a reputation for high quality products,
0:38
beautiful surroundings and warm hospitality.
0:41
Ryan has been a part of the company since 2011, first
0:45
serving as Vice President before taking on the CEO role in July
0:49
2020. Under his guidance, Laurie's has
0:52
maintained its reputation for fine dining and received acclaim
0:57
for providing outstanding service.
0:59
His background shows his dedication to delivering top
1:02
notch culinary adventures, ensuring guests continue to
1:06
enjoy memorable meals. Throughout his leadership, he
1:09
has overseeing various initiatives designed to enhance
1:12
the brand while still honoring Laurie's rich tradition and
1:16
values. Now before we get into all that
1:19
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AD back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
2:04
today, 4th generation CEO of Laurie's Restaurants, Ryan
2:08
Wilson. Thanks for making the time to
2:09
Share your story today. Absolutely, Anthony.
2:12
Pleasure to be here. OK, so tell us the story.
2:15
How was the company founded? OK, and I'll, I'll have my team
2:18
follow up on some of the specifics of your intro.
2:21
We're actually 103 years old this year, but the the story
2:27
began back 1915 when Lawrence Frank, my great grandfather, his
2:32
wife Henrietta Vandy Camp, and their family opened up a potato
2:35
chip stand in downtown LA, Spring Street.
2:38
And they opened up just selling what they called Saratoga Chips.
2:43
And they were actually marketed as being a, a health food
2:46
because they only had three ingredients, potatoes, salt and
2:50
the oil they were fried in. And it originates from Saratoga
2:53
Springs in New York, etcetera. That business, they quickly
2:57
started selling cookies and baked goods and that became the
3:00
Van de Kamp's bakery business. That was a major brand up and
3:03
down the West Coast into the 60s.
3:07
That was Lawrence Frank. That was his primary business
3:10
and he really focused on developing the baked goods side
3:12
of, of, of F&B. Then along the way in 1922
3:18
opened up the Tam O Shanter in Los Angeles on Los Feliz Blvd.
3:23
That is our oldest restaurant still operating today and that
3:27
is our our 103 year old kind of time start.
3:33
You know, he was Lawrence. I didn't have a chance to meet
3:36
him. He passed away about six years
3:38
before I was born in 1980. But he was a very creative guy,
3:42
never graduated from high school and just had incredible ideas
3:47
and was both very charismatic and is my grandfather.
3:50
Second generation would relay also can be a little material at
3:53
times, but he loved the opportunity of bringing together
3:59
his creativity and his passion for hospitality and restaurants.
4:03
And so the Tamashanter opened up very near the Disney Studios and
4:09
had the great opportunity to work with some of the early set
4:12
designers that were part of Disney's Creations 1.
4:15
Specifically a a gentleman Harry Oliver that helped design this
4:19
very whimsical Scottish roadside inn.
4:22
And we like to think that there's still a fireplace there.
4:25
That was some inspiration for Walt and the, you know, Snow
4:29
Whites Cottage. So a lot of rich history in that
4:33
restaurant. It's a cherished location in
4:36
Southern California and a a real legacy to our community and and
4:40
certainly to our family. It's a challenging business,
4:43
though, and we can talk more about those dynamics in
4:46
California, but we're incredibly proud of the Tam team and, and
4:50
everything it has done and, and where it's going.
4:54
So then in 1938, Lawrence opened up Larry's the Prime Rib, and he
4:59
wanted to create an experience serving what he called the best
5:04
meal in America. And it was for him reminiscent
5:07
of his background coming from a family of butchers, originally
5:10
from Wisconsin, where on a Sunday know they'd have a roast
5:15
and they'd bring the family together.
5:17
And he wanted to replicate that in in larger format in a
5:21
restaurant. And all of his friends told him,
5:23
you're crazy to do a, a single entree concept.
5:27
Don't do it. And and he listened and they
5:30
opened with a full menu they had.
5:33
They were marketing fresh pineapple flown in from Hawaii.
5:37
There were five different types of seafood cocktails and prime
5:41
rib was was the center point. And after about six months of
5:44
operation, he said, Nope, I'm going back to my original idea.
5:48
And the concept went back down to just prime rib.
5:52
There weren't even seafood options at that point.
5:55
If you come into the restaurant, the only thing you're getting is
5:57
prime rib. Yep, get prime rib and it was
6:01
served to you on our still on our stainless steel beautiful
6:04
silver carts all done tableside. He introduced a a salad, our
6:09
spinning bowl salad, which we like to think was the first time
6:12
a salad was served before the entree.
6:16
And he wanted to really highlight the quality of
6:20
California produce and that it was a big, bold move to say
6:24
you're going to start your meal with vegetables as opposed to
6:27
the meat. And you know, it's just another
6:30
one of his great ideas. And there was a tremendous
6:33
amount of theater and concept worked.
6:36
We, we actually then moved locations in the late 40s to a,
6:40
a spot across the street from our current restaurant.
6:43
And it was there till 1996, sorry, 1994.
6:47
And then it came back to our original land in in current
6:51
location. And with the Larry's the prime
6:54
rib experience, he created Larry's season salt, you know,
6:56
recognizing that when you have a piece of prime rib, most of the
7:00
the seasoning and flavor is just on the outside of the meat.
7:02
And he wanted to, you know, enhance and create a unique
7:05
flavor profile for the meat itself and created Larry's
7:08
season salt And that was offered on the table.
7:12
And then in the late 40s, my grandfather, Richard Nathan
7:16
Frank, was at Business School at Stanford.
7:19
And a year into his time there, there was a a labor strike at
7:24
the bakery. And in fact, there was a pipe
7:26
bomb thrown into the Tama Shanter.
7:28
And my grandfather decided to come back to the family
7:33
business, the bakery business, and help his dad.
7:35
And he spent, I think about a year and a half or so helping
7:40
manage through that labor crisis and came to realize, I don't
7:44
want to go into the bakery business.
7:45
I don't want to go into the family politics.
7:48
There were some other cousins that were vying for control.
7:51
And he recognized fundamentally that the business itself had
7:55
some some critical flaws and it was a high labor content and a
7:59
very perishable product. And he saw the counterpoint in
8:02
Lowry season Salt and that at that point, Lawrence insisted on
8:06
not selling it and people were stealing it off the tables
8:10
because they loved it so much. And my grandfather said, you
8:13
know, I, I don't want to move into the bakery business.
8:15
I want to take on Larry's, Larry's season salt.
8:18
And apparently they had a, a falling out for about a year,
8:22
year and a half. And nevertheless, he, you know,
8:24
Richard Nathan continue to take on the seasoning business.
8:28
And once again, that was his primary business and grew that
8:32
tremendously up until 1979 when we sold Larry's Foods as it
8:37
became to Lipton again. Was it at that point, sorry was
8:43
still like a a single skew? Is it Lowry season salt?
8:47
Does everybody knows or had it developed into more products?
8:49
No, it was only Lowry season salt at that point and then he
8:53
started to enhance the bottling of it and and you know, ramp up
8:57
its scalability. He also, again, reflective of
9:01
his passion for hospitality and my grandmother's influence and
9:05
other family members, Lorraine Frank, his sister in particular,
9:11
they started offering tools tours to the bottling plant.
9:15
And then my grandfather had a, a office next to the bottling
9:19
plant. And so after tours, then they
9:22
wanted to, you know, give some, some samples.
9:26
And so then, then they built the kitchen and then it just started
9:29
to grow and grow. And my grandfather wanted to
9:32
expand the, the flavor profiles. And so he got into the spaghetti
9:35
mix and Taco and fajitas and the whole gambit of packaging.
9:42
They also were some of the first to invest in the foil pouch that
9:46
we know now that all those seasonings come in.
9:48
And they were one of the first to invest in it, what's called
9:50
the Bartelt's machine anyways, that that business just
9:54
continued to grow and grow. And it, it was, you know, very
9:58
successful, became a, a multinational brand.
10:02
And again, like his father, he loved restaurants.
10:06
And so alongside managing Larry's Foods, opened up a
10:10
number of different restaurants around Southern California.
10:14
At one point, there were 13 different concepts in Southern
10:17
California alone of a Mediterranean restaurant, a
10:23
Hawaiian seafood concept. Incredible Mesquite fired
10:28
steakhouse with a putting green in the bar.
10:30
I mean, just crazy incredible stuff, right?
10:35
And some worked and some didn't. But it created a long legacy of
10:38
of hospitality and brands and ambiance and service and great
10:43
food for many, many years and generations.
10:46
So the Lowry's name, does it come from Lawrence?
10:49
Yes. OK.
10:51
So it it comes from Lawrence and originally funny story they were
10:55
going to call it Larry's Prime Rib and a cousin said don't
11:01
don't call it Larry's it sounds too low brow.
11:04
Replace one of the Rs with AW in its lorry's.
11:08
And so it became lorry's until the 60s.
11:11
And the story goes that there was a radio announcer that
11:14
mispronounced the copy on an advertisement and pronounced it
11:19
Lowery's and it stopped. But it it should be pronounced
11:22
Lori's. And I'm even guilty obviously of
11:24
of mispronouncing his his name and the name of the restaurant.
11:28
But. So what?
11:30
What do you want it called? It should be Lori's.
11:33
I mean, I need to rewire my brain.
11:34
It should be Lori's. My common fact's name is Lori.
11:37
So I you you would think I would know better, but.
11:41
OK, so I need to go back and edit the intro and every every
11:44
time I've made a reference to it, the correct pronunciation is
11:47
not Lowry's as I've been saying it for 50 years.
11:51
It's Lori's. Lori's is the correct OK.
11:54
Lori's season Salt. All right, previously 13
11:58
different concepts. How many concepts exist today?
12:02
OK, so today we have two domestic Lowrys, the prime rib
12:05
locations, Beverly Hills, the flagship and then Las Vegas.
12:10
And then we have the Five Crowns restaurant where I office down
12:14
here in Newport Beach. And within 5 Crowns we have two
12:16
concepts. 5 Crowns is a a very legacy brand.
12:21
My grandparents opened in 1965. Prime rib is the focal point of
12:26
the menu, but much more of a, you know, elaborate continental
12:29
legacy dining experience that we've contemporized.
12:32
And then about 15 years ago we created and I was, I was the
12:36
opening chef for a gastropub concept called Side door.
12:40
And it was kind of the counterpoint to Five Crowns.
12:44
It's, you know, reservation only.
12:46
You go there for special occasions.
12:48
It's the, you know, cherish place for a holiday reservation,
12:50
etcetera. You know, side Door opened with
12:53
a menu that changed every day, no reservations, great beverage
12:57
component. You know, we're still very proud
12:59
of a 5050 food and beverage split and looking at some growth
13:03
opportunities for the side Door concept.
13:06
And then we have the Tamashanter.
13:08
So in the US, we have 5 locations, 4 locations, 5
13:13
brands. And then overseas, we have 11
13:17
locations of the Lowry's, the prime rib concept.
13:20
And that's a business that started back in in 1996 and is
13:26
still growing today. I have been a part of that
13:29
business in its development since 2008, when I was actually
13:33
the opening training chef for the first location of Lowry's
13:37
Shanghai and Larry's Osaka. And so those international
13:43
concepts, their license, their franchises and other structures.
13:48
Yeah. So we sell an upfront license.
13:52
There's an upfront license fee and then it's a residual of
13:54
sales for a 20 year period. And you know, we work with them
13:59
on concept maintenance and execution best practices,
14:03
marketing opportunities, you know, brand fit, but it's our
14:08
partners obligation to operate the businesses and to you know
14:13
fund all their marketing etcetera.
14:14
So it's a generally speaking it's a great, great component of
14:19
our business and strategically it's been really important
14:22
growth vehicle for us. Yet it it has challenges and we
14:25
certainly see that over the last.
14:28
We've seen a lot more enhanced challenges in the last 9-9
14:32
months with current administration and all the
14:35
international volatility, trade volatility, etcetera.
14:39
And and the challenges that you're seeing in these
14:42
international markets are what specifically?
14:47
You know, it's, it's very market dependent and there's some
14:51
fundamental challenges of just restaurant challenges, location
14:54
and labor dynamics and how the brand is presented and marketed
14:57
etcetera. But you know, one of our our
15:03
dynamics right now is just cost and availability of beef and the
15:08
perception of, of beef in, in US beef.
15:12
And that's becoming increasingly challenging.
15:14
And I was in three weeks ago in, in Shanghai with our partners
15:19
and it's looking like about March that there will be no more
15:22
US beef available in China. They haven't.
15:26
China, the country has not purchased any US beef since
15:29
March of last year, I'm sorry, of of this year of 25.
15:33
And so, you know, supply dynamics are are shifting and
15:37
managing through that and, and still being in a position to
15:41
want to highlight the great quality of US beef, but doing so
15:46
when it's it's not available or it's just getting very, very
15:49
expensive. And, you know, I think a
15:51
reciprocal to that is managing through perceptions of, of U.S.
15:55
companies in that, you know, piece of Americana that for the
15:58
last 30 years has been a significant component of, of our
16:03
brand success, success in East Asia.
16:06
But that's I, I'm not going to say it's diminishing, but I'm,
16:09
I'm answering a lot more questions on what's happening
16:11
over here and how our brand is fitting in the greater
16:15
marketplace. And then, you know, another, you
16:18
know, really interesting piece we're working more on is how to
16:21
assist our brands on, on cross marketing between their markets.
16:26
And for us, you know, just isolate it.
16:28
We focus on, you know, just within our social and digital
16:32
management, what SEO looks like on on Google platform, but
16:37
Google is 1 not available in China and isn't nearly as
16:43
accessed in in other countries yet it is in some.
16:45
So figuring out what all those those channels are and how to
16:48
cost effectively support a consistent brand experience for
16:53
our guests in Japan or in Korea or in Bangkok or in Beverly
16:57
Hills, you know, is a a challenge for us.
17:01
How does licensing differ from franchising?
17:04
Why was that a better path for you?
17:06
You know, they're very similar ultimately franchising, my
17:10
understanding and I'm, I'm not an attorney, but when you start
17:15
getting into a franchising, it's a very, very tight operating
17:19
book all the way down to we are providing you with all of your
17:23
marketing resources, all of your, you know, FF and E
17:27
contacts. We have a tie into how you're
17:30
getting all of your F&B, you know, core products.
17:33
It's much more tight and and because of that, there's a lot
17:37
more oversight on oversight and reporting on franchise
17:42
businesses. So it's a similar sort of idea
17:46
that someone is operating our concept, but it doesn't have as
17:50
much tight controls on it and therefore cost for us.
17:55
So up until recently, the Asian expansion, the licensing
17:59
expansion that you've had there has been really good for you.
18:02
Now with some of the geopolitical things that are
18:04
going on, you know, the, the, the future seems a little less
18:08
certain. No, you know, I think it's, I,
18:12
I'll say the last nine months has, has been particularly
18:16
volatile. You know, in the last 36 months
18:20
we've opened for locations overseas.
18:23
So we still see growth and, and I just got back last night from
18:28
a trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong and I'm starting to see more
18:33
stability and just more interest in in partnerships.
18:36
And, and I think part of it also our business is over there.
18:40
Our partners have other businesses that they're managing
18:42
right. So whether it's restaurants, our
18:44
restaurants or other businesses in their portfolio, all of this
18:47
trade volatility and geopolitical volatility, you
18:52
know, between Thailand and Cambodia, for example, we just
18:54
opened a restaurant in Bangkok, we've got an LOI out to a group
18:57
in Phnom Penh. But those business opportunities
19:03
get further on the the the back of the back of the stove, so to
19:07
speak, when they're dealing with specific political issues in
19:10
their country. So do you see, I never thought
19:15
as a restaurateur, I'd be considering all of these, you
19:18
know, very specific, very time sensitive geopolitical dynamics.
19:22
So. Do you see an opportunity to
19:24
license outside of Asia? Yes, we are continuing to look
19:30
at the Gulf States, but for a similar reason it's, it's
19:34
changing very dynamically and looking at at getting into that
19:39
market. The partnership is critical from
19:42
a whole host of different reasons and where you start and
19:45
what's your beach head and with whom is a a big decision.
19:49
But we're continuing to look and talk to a lot of people and a
19:53
lot of groups. But but we take our time.
19:55
You know, these are 20 year deals and particularly coming
19:58
from the foundation of the family business, I want to know
20:03
that there's a deep commitment and I want to know that these
20:07
brands are going to continue to be invested in and supported.
20:10
Over the the term of the license if not further so.
20:15
And then we continue to also look at the UK.
20:18
I'm really interested in that market.
20:20
It's, it's, and I think it's a really exciting dynamic that
20:26
part of our concept is rooted in British culture, right, having
20:30
the, the, the joint of beef, right, the roast.
20:33
And yet Lawrence never visited London and our brand in that
20:39
marketplace would present a different opportunity, value
20:42
opportunity. It, it wouldn't have the same
20:45
cache from it's Americana component in history, but we'd
20:49
really just be operating on, on competing on a the best piece of
20:53
beef on the plate. And I know we, we can really
20:56
strive in that, you know, competitive marketplace.
21:00
And does that require it to be American beef?
21:03
Oh, that's it. I mean, it's an interesting
21:05
question. No, I mean, I I still ideally in
21:10
in all sorts of trade dynamics aside, I love the idea today of,
21:15
of having our USB certified Angus beef is what we serve for
21:19
30 plus years, having not be the cornerstone and the anchor of
21:25
the menu, but also using it as an opportunity to try different
21:30
products. You know, beautiful British
21:33
beef, French, you know, Uruguayan, I mean, they're all
21:36
very different and, and taste different.
21:39
And I think the guest is increasingly curious and we can
21:43
provide a really exciting way to, to cherish and celebrate
21:48
quality protein. And I I think that's an
21:51
important shift in everyone's appreciation for animal protein
21:55
is it should be exceptionally high quality and, and presented
21:59
in a place that's going to be cherished with loved ones and
22:01
create memories. And so all of these locations
22:05
that you guys are licensed in or looking at the Lori's name
22:09
already carries some weight like the the season salt, the the
22:13
products that have been in the marketplace for years and people
22:17
know the name. Yeah.
22:19
And, and back to that idea and I'll, I'll get back to your, to
22:23
answer your, your question in 1919, sixty, I think it's about
22:30
1966, my grandfather created a licensing deal between
22:36
intellectual property arrangement, you know, agreement
22:39
between Larry's Foods and Larry's restaurants, recognizing
22:43
that the two entities needed to have an ability to identify the,
22:47
the IP asset, but then also to be able to share it.
22:50
And so then when Larry's Food sold in 1979, that agreement had
22:56
already kind of been established.
22:57
So Larry's the prime rib could continue to grow and Larry's
23:00
Foods could continue to grow. And it after 1979 foods was in a
23:04
different ownership. Then in 1996, we created a sub
23:08
licensing agreement with Lipton at the time and that allowed
23:12
Larry's Restaurants, Inc to be able to sub license and use the
23:16
Larry's name and the logo that what we call the Fancifal L for
23:21
restaurant purposes, Lowry's Foods and that IP 'cause they're
23:25
the owner of the Lowry's mark, it has now sold two times over
23:31
to now it's owned by McCormick. They purchased it in 2009 and
23:36
with that they purchased what we call the 96 agreement.
23:40
McCormick it it took us 18. Yeah, it took us 17 years to get
23:45
a new license agreement with McCormick through multiple
23:50
generations of corporate leadership on their side.
23:52
And, and last December, I got a new agreement in place that
23:56
clarifies our use of the, of the licensing and, and interestingly
24:02
the capitalization of how we can grow the businesses using the
24:06
Larry's name. So that dynamic is really
24:11
important. And, and it's a key piece of, of
24:13
our growth because we, we know there's great goodwill behind
24:17
the Lowry's seasoning brands and our hospitality.
24:24
I'm continuing to work with McCormick on them, I think
24:27
making a better connection and and tying into a bona fide
24:30
operator that still uses all of their products.
24:34
But it's a little bit of a David and Goliath story of, of, you
24:37
know, just trying to keep a multinational publicly traded
24:41
corporation paying attention to the little guy about out here in
24:44
California. So it's no, that's a really
24:48
important piece of, of our business and our growth.
24:52
And when I look at our strategy, it's in a philosophical sense,
24:57
it's the number one value of our on our balance sheet is our
25:00
ability to use and grow the Larry's name.
25:03
So prior to getting that new licensing agreement in place
25:06
that took 17 or 18 crazy years, did you feel sort of hamstrung
25:12
in what you were able to do or were you still moving forward
25:16
with an understanding that things are going to work out?
25:19
Yes, Anne, we had been able to open a number of restaurants
25:24
with their consent or the IP owner's consent from ultimately
25:29
from 1996 till 2013. We opened our location in in
25:34
Seoul, Korea in 2013 and McCormick recognized it and
25:39
consented to that license under the old agreement.
25:43
And then they basically kind of went dark on us on, on
25:46
consenting then everything. And we continue to operate under
25:49
the guidelines of the, the, what we viewed to be the in place 96
25:54
agreement and kept them informed and kept negotiating.
25:58
And it was, you know, they didn't ever want to come down
26:01
hard and say you can't continue to grow 'cause that would
26:04
ratchet up our intensity and desire to get into a big legal
26:09
fight with them. But we knew they were on bad
26:12
grounds. And, and it was bordering at
26:14
times on bad faith negotiations. But we pushed through and, and
26:18
got to a good agreement for both sides based on, on
26:22
relationships. Ultimately, you know, in, in
26:26
2018, I came back from Business School and took over that
26:31
negotiation from my uncle who's our former CEO and and current
26:35
chairman and took some time and just cleared up and got out of
26:40
the legal battle, right. I stopped, we stopped having
26:42
attorney to attorney wrestling matches over language and we
26:47
repositioned and, and made some good introductions to people at
26:50
McCormick. I'm in their marketing
26:52
departments and and gentleman who's now President of the
26:55
Americas and established trust ultimately and again, it took
26:59
seven years to get an agreement across the finish line, but it
27:04
ultimately is is what was was key is them understanding that
27:08
we are still living the brand. He was my great grandfather.
27:12
We are great stewards and trusted partners in moving the
27:16
brand forward and and with that trust we've got a lot more
27:20
opportunity and much wider boundaries on how we can grow
27:24
overseas and domestically. What percentage of this
27:27
resolution do you think happened because there was different
27:30
leadership at McCormick versus what percentage was it you just
27:38
sort of taking the lawyers out and saying, hey, let's just talk
27:41
human being to human being? I mean, I think it was, I know
27:47
the math doesn't add up, but it's, it's 100% both, right?
27:50
I mean, it was it was the opportunity to step aside the
27:53
legalese for a little bit and then get to the relationships
27:57
And even, you know, the last LastPass of the drafts did my
28:02
best to really keep the lawyers. I don't want to say it they but
28:05
but not let them get too deep in the weeds on the language.
28:10
And like anything, you know, we got to an agreement and now
28:12
we're working on the relationship.
28:14
And it's been a very busy year for me.
28:18
And we can talk more about, you know, what's going on in the
28:21
business in my life, But it's, it's a relationship I want to
28:25
and it's a real focus to spend more time on and get closer to
28:28
them and get to quarterly meetings and get my team deeper
28:31
integrated into what Mccormick's thinking about the brand and
28:34
where they're making investments.
28:36
And we're now shifting to some domestic growth opportunities
28:40
and seeing where there's overlap in that Lowry's brand residence
28:45
is a a real an important component in our growth
28:49
criteria. Can you say more about that the
28:51
domestic growth? Yeah, absolutely.
28:53
So within this agreement, the old agreement basically
28:57
precluded an open capital structure to new locations.
29:02
You know, we're a a wholly owned family business.
29:06
Easy math to open a brand new Lowry's the prime rib location,
29:10
roughly 10 million bucks and we don't have that cash flow nor do
29:15
we have that appetite for debt. And yet with both the operating
29:19
power of that Lowry's the prime rib model and the the power of
29:25
the brand, we I know it's a good investment opportunity for at
29:29
least at the at the outset, friends and family.
29:32
And I'm I don't want to be getting too big into a broad
29:34
capital structure, but that's a new shift for us and this new
29:38
agreement allows us to have a a pretty open capital structure.
29:43
So we're in the process right now of look establishing all of
29:48
our kind of growth criteria and that strategy against where we
29:53
already have opportunities and and interest in different
29:55
markets for growth. And then there's the whole
29:58
component of moving my shareholders along and and
30:01
moving my board of directors along and how we can structure
30:05
Lowry's within that, that deal that continue to present and
30:09
protect the intellectual property and our licensing
30:12
rights and bring current shareholders along, but not
30:16
draining, you know our cash reserves that still need to be
30:21
making distributions and taking care of our existing stores and
30:25
you know growing the shareholder value in and of itself.
30:28
I mean, ten, $10 million outlay, that's pretty significant for a
30:33
single location. Do you have some places
30:36
earmarked that you can give voice to today?
30:40
Yeah. And this is more on the side of,
30:42
of where the opportunities present.
30:44
And I'm, I'm approaching it with good guidance and support from
30:48
my board of directors of, you know, you need to find more or
30:50
less that the convergence of where the, the where strategy is
30:54
saying you need to go and where the opportunities are
30:57
presenting. And we've got opportunity and
31:01
we're looking at, at the Denver market, looking at, at Phoenix
31:06
and, and Scottsdale area, and then also looking at Florida.
31:10
I, I have a passion for and there's opportunity to get back
31:14
to Chicago. You know, that's a, a point in
31:17
our history that I overlooked that in 1974 we opened Lowry's
31:23
in Chicago and had a incredible run.
31:25
And I love that city and it's community and the hospitality
31:30
there, but we had to close that restaurant in the middle of the
31:33
pandemic in a really challenging way.
31:35
We we didn't even get to get back and say goodbye to our Co
31:38
workers. And you know, we had a server,
31:41
Dorothy Farmer that my grandfather hired in 1974 and
31:46
she was still, you know, carrying a shift at the last
31:49
day. So pretty amazing legacy and
31:51
stories there. And I love Chicago.
31:55
I mean, I, I could live in Chicago, my my future ex-wife
32:01
and I've talked many times about moving to Chicago, but it's a
32:04
tough market right now and a really challenging operating
32:07
dynamic. And you know, so from that
32:10
perspective, there's some, there's some weight on the
32:13
strategy side of getting back to a beloved city.
32:16
And then yeah, some of the other strategy pieces is we're looking
32:19
at it where there's a good convergence of cost of living
32:24
and then also a obviously a demographic that is in a support
32:29
a lowery's check average. You know, we're competing up
32:33
against the big steakhouse brands and, and where we think
32:37
we can carve out some market and where our our brand of
32:41
hospitality can can succeed. So these new domestic locations
32:46
that you're considering, are these going to be corporate
32:49
owned or are these partnership opportunities like these?
32:52
These would all be partnership opportunities.
32:54
OK. You know and it strikes me that
32:57
there's this balance that you're trying to achieve between
33:04
respecting the legacy of this 100 year plus brand while at the
33:10
same time looking at current conditions and where the market
33:13
is going and how do you guys move forward it it seems like
33:17
this teeter totter that's got to be tough to to strike that
33:21
balance. How do you approach this?
33:22
How do you think about it? You know, I, I, you're
33:26
absolutely right. And whether that's in the
33:29
scenario, talking to my shareholders and, and getting
33:32
them to be comfortable with me growing the business and, and
33:36
what that looks like or it's moving along a menu, right?
33:41
And moving along a legacy dining experience.
33:44
And I'll give you a interesting, if not amusing story.
33:50
So in 2011 we were repositioning the five crowns down here in, in
33:55
Corona Del Mar. And when I say repositioning, we
33:58
did an interior renovation change kind of the look and feel
34:02
of the table top and then a whole new menu, new uniforms.
34:06
And we did all the market study and, and figured where we wanted
34:10
to be in the marketplace. I was the opening chef and I
34:15
pushed the menu hard and made a lot of pretty dramatic changes
34:18
to the menu without a lot of, you know, nurturing that
34:21
transition. We knew that we needed to make a
34:25
shift in our guest experience 'cause we saw a legacy diner
34:28
that was coming in less often. Unfortunately, you know, this
34:33
was 2011. So post Great Recession, their
34:36
disposable income was tightening up and so much in the world at
34:39
that point was changing. And all they wanted was was a
34:43
consistent experience. And so I changed the, the
34:47
example we traditionally would give what we call a, a
34:51
complimentary trifle or a comp trifle, right?
34:54
Layers of sponge cake with fruit and cream.
34:57
And on birthdays and anniversaries, you could get a
35:00
comp trifle. And I was analyzing our dessert
35:03
menu sales and saw that it was something like 40% of guests
35:07
were getting a comp trifle, not 40% of guests.
35:12
It was like 40% of our dessert sales that, that was free,
35:15
right? We weren't getting any sales off
35:17
of it. And I also saw from my Snooty
35:22
chef background, the product wasn't exactly where I wanted it
35:25
to be. So we re engineered the trifle
35:27
and started selling it and it was all fresh fruit and all
35:29
these beautiful seasonal berries.
35:31
It was it was beautiful and it was on the dessert menu.
35:35
And then in replacement of the, the complimentary experience
35:40
every night at before service at pre shift, we personally sign a
35:44
card to Sally, Happy 80th birthday or happy anniversary,
35:48
right? And we, you know, write a, a
35:50
nice note, which I thought was a nice touch.
35:52
And I thought it was a nice way to kind of recognize their
35:57
experience and, and their legacy and touch to the brand.
36:00
And I was, we're probably about 2-3 weeks into opening bunch of
36:04
press. I was getting a lot of press as
36:06
a, you know, 4th generation family member.
36:08
And it was, it was a little bumpy out of the gate.
36:11
And I was standing in the front entryway of the restaurant, and
36:14
a woman walks around the corner leaving.
36:16
And she's dressed to her nines, you know, like, you know,
36:19
beautiful St. John's pantsuit hair all done.
36:23
And she's sobbing. And she looks like Alice Cooper
36:27
with her mascara, just, like, coursing down her face.
36:29
And she walks up to me and pardon my French here.
36:34
And she takes the card and she throws it at me and said all I
36:38
wanted was a piece of fucking cake and walked out of the
36:42
restaurant. And it's still like the moment I
36:44
can still see your face. It gives me chills.
36:46
And it was such a powerful moment of seeing that I'm not,
36:50
I'm not managing a menu here. I'm managing people's memories
36:54
and emotions and their connection to, you know, she
36:58
probably had 30-40 years of memories in, in the restaurant
37:01
with her family and celebrating. And that was a, a, a real stark
37:08
moment of recognizing that this is a bigger brand and
37:11
opportunity. And so incorporating that
37:15
experience, you know, the simple philosophy is you really have to
37:18
give guests an opportunity to opt into some of that change
37:22
while keeping things moving. I'd also say in 2011, whether it
37:26
was our menu placements or the way our our family dynamics and
37:33
shareholder dynamics function, we hadn't been talking enough
37:37
about change and it had not been part of the culture of tomorrow.
37:41
We're going to do things better than today.
37:42
We're going to give that. We're going to really start
37:44
investing in that feedback and that that the flywheel potential
37:48
of that feedback for improving our dining experience and moving
37:52
the guests along with it. It was a problem here at the
37:55
Five Crowns that our rotisserie chicken recipe had not changed
37:59
in 30 years and no one had really looked in whether this
38:02
was the best product to be putting forward.
38:06
And when we start, you know, talking about it and feeding
38:09
back on some constructive criticism, that's, you know,
38:14
started to change. And that's one of the tools of
38:17
moving this cruise ship that is the Lowry's brand.
38:22
I think that, you know, other interesting component of it is,
38:26
is we talk a lot about relevance and how to incorporate relevance
38:31
into our regular conversations with managers and my board and
38:35
shareholders. And relevance to me is not being
38:39
on trend, not being the hippest place, but it's just being part
38:42
of the conversation. And not just I, I shouldn't say
38:46
just part of the conversation. It's part of the decision making
38:48
process and higher up in how people are are deciding on a
38:54
dining occasion. We're getting closer to really
38:57
talking about the occasion and and how we can make that
39:01
occasion for guests again, to stay not only top of mind as
39:05
brand awareness, but not a top of mind.
39:08
And we're going to make an easy decision, come in for a great,
39:11
consistent, wonderful dining experience and be able to create
39:14
great memories, whether it's on a on a Tuesday night or on, you
39:17
know, Christmas Eve. I think also for our
39:21
shareholders, it's, you know, the topic of relevance is
39:25
opening up and looking at it is a a family enterprise and a
39:28
family business and, and how we not that how we compare, but but
39:32
where we're doing well and where we can learn and more education
39:36
on how family members can interact and should expect from
39:40
a family business and what that feedback from their experiences
39:43
and their wants and needs are. I make it a point of, you know,
39:49
at least quarterly, if not monthly, I'm reaching out to our
39:53
shareholders. They're all family, but you
39:55
know, they're, they're not, they're 18 shareholders, but at
39:59
least just touching base and sending some basic communication
40:02
and checking in on what's going on in their world.
40:06
It's not, it's not the, the, I don't want to say the best, it's
40:10
not the most motivating piece of my, my job, but it's critical.
40:15
And I know that staying close to those relationships is its own
40:18
way of. Then feeling relevant in their
40:21
ownership, right in their stewardship of the brand.
40:24
And it strikes me as here's another area that has to be some
40:28
difficult dynamics that exist, you know, managing all of the
40:32
family function that that's wrapped up in this business.
40:37
I mean, four, you're the 4th generation CEO.
40:40
There's, you know, aunts and uncles and cousins and, you
40:43
know, all kinds of offshoots. Talk to me how this works.
40:48
And I was going to flippantly, but, but honestly say it's,
40:52
it's, it's dysfunction. And I, you know, and that's part
40:57
of the honest and the vulnerable reality of it.
41:00
And it takes time to manage it and nurture it to make it run
41:05
better tomorrow, right? And, and it's a big piece of my
41:09
business, my, my responsibility. Ultimately.
41:13
What does it look like? Well, let me just give a little
41:18
bit more clarity. We have got 18, I think it's 18
41:22
shareholders. We're now still in the second,
41:26
third and 4th generation of ownership.
41:30
We have a Board of directors we meet quarterly.
41:33
And you know that rigor and discipline has been I think one
41:39
of the real cornerstones of our success for for 103 years now.
41:44
In the late 60s Larry's Foods, my grandfather actually took it
41:49
public and had an experience with public markets and that
41:54
level of reporting and rigor. And he really invested in that
42:00
certainly through Larry's Foods and it's sale, but then also
42:03
brought that over to Larry's Restaurants.
42:06
And it's just fundamental to our business.
42:10
I frankly have taken efforts to, to right size some of that
42:15
corporate rigor. I mean, it was 10 years ago now
42:19
or so, but I was developing relationships with our bank.
42:23
Excuse me. And they asked me like, why, why
42:27
are you going through the level of an audit that you go through?
42:30
And I, I was a chef, right? I had no idea what they were
42:33
talking about and asked, you know, some better questions and
42:36
they said, no, you're, you do a level of an audit like a
42:39
publicly traded company. Who are your stakeholders And is
42:43
this the level of detail you want?
42:44
And so and I every year now we have, you know, a, a proper
42:50
review and we definitely have the appropriate amount of rigor,
42:53
but we don't need to be on the operating table every year like
42:58
we had been, right. And yet, yeah, that structure I
43:05
think is, has been key to key to trust and honesty.
43:11
And when you have a dynamic where you know, I'm the CEO, I'm
43:15
the second largest owner in the business, my uncle, former CEO
43:19
and current chairman, he's the largest shareholder.
43:21
No one has control. So we all have to get along.
43:26
And I think shareholders really rely on and are, are satisfied
43:31
by having outside directors that do oversee the business and can
43:35
give their input while the board, you know, it's a big
43:41
responsibility and, and component of, of what I do, of
43:44
all the reporting and all that communication.
43:47
But we are, I am so, so fortunate to have some amazing
43:52
outside directors that are mentors and have become close
43:57
friends. And, you know, they've known me.
44:01
There's a gentleman, John Heile, who's been on our board.
44:04
Oh, he's been on our board probably 25 years.
44:06
He was the former president of Larry's Foods and he's, he's
44:09
known me my whole life. And to be able to just call him
44:14
very casually and check in on what's going on in our
44:17
businesses. And we actually a couple weeks
44:19
ago went up to San Francisco to visit House of Prime Rib,
44:22
another legacy prime rib restaurant in San Francisco,
44:27
because we wanted to go check it out and see what their business
44:30
is looking like. And those relationships are
44:33
incredibly valuable. And so I'm very, very fortunate
44:36
to be able to rely on that leadership and guidance.
44:41
Yeah, you know, shareholders deeper within some of our
44:46
dynamics and and challenges. We own the real estate
44:50
underneath three of the four locations in Southern California
44:54
and they're in separate groups and separate businesses.
44:57
But in certain areas, they don't have the same percentages, you
45:02
know, of ownership. And so managing through those
45:06
dynamics and making sure that the real estate entities are
45:10
properly communicated with and keeping all that proper
45:13
separation and appropriate leases and, you know, marking
45:17
everything to market terms and making sure everyone understands
45:22
that we are doing things on the up and up is a lot of
45:26
communication, a lot of time and attention.
45:27
But that's what keeps these things going, right.
45:30
I mean, it's, it's ultimately really investing in transparency
45:34
and being committed to the brand and communicate, committed to
45:37
communicating where we're going. What's family Thanksgiving meal
45:42
like? You guys all get together,
45:44
extended families, everybody get along.
45:46
Or is there some rub and maybe not everybody's as close as they
45:52
would be? No, I think, you know, things
45:55
ebb and flow through life today. No, I think families, families
46:01
doing, doing well. Every year we get together for a
46:05
Christmas dinner. So that'll be December 10th.
46:08
And that's where we kind of come together and and celebrate how
46:12
fortunate we are and some of our legacy.
46:16
We traditionally would get together once a year, also have
46:19
a family meeting and that has fallen, fallen apart a little
46:25
bit and I need to pick up my responsibility there.
46:28
But family in general has just been asking like what's the
46:32
purpose of this meeting And are we are we moving things forward
46:35
or is this just an update on Larry's?
46:37
We already get all the shareholder information.
46:40
So we're we're still figuring that all out.
46:43
Thanksgiving generally is yeah, our family also does, I think a
46:48
good job of putting putting the business down when when we come
46:52
together and not making it about business decisions.
46:59
And as I'm, I'm saying that I one of the the interesting and
47:04
challenging dynamics is managing that where some people want to
47:08
know more, some people don't. Some people like just having
47:11
being fairly passive and knowing, you know, that the
47:13
brands are moving forward and the businesses are stable,
47:16
either want to give you feedback and expect tight feedback.
47:19
And so being able to manage all of that and also say like, hey,
47:22
it's Thanksgiving and my kids are running around and I'm, you
47:25
know, my third pinot deep and yeah, I'll get back to you.
47:29
Right. So it, it, it's good.
47:33
I'm, I'll be up in Northern California with my mom and, and
47:37
sister and her family in Oakland Hills and bringing my girls up
47:42
as well. So I still love cooking
47:44
Thanksgiving despite having cooked thousands of turkeys.
47:47
So yeah. We never really talked yet about
47:51
how you ended up getting into the family business.
47:53
What's sort of the Reader's Digest version of that?
47:58
Reader's Digest All right, so I grew up family business is all
48:03
based in Southern California. I grew up in Northern
48:05
California. Both my parents went to Stanford
48:07
and settled in the hills above Palo Alto.
48:11
And so I was not the typical restaurant brat.
48:14
I did not grow up come into the restaurants often.
48:16
We'd come in for holidays, we'd come down to Southern California
48:19
for a couple weeks in summer and I'd have some interaction with
48:22
the businesses. But my mom was amazing cook and,
48:27
and still to this day is an amazing cook and all of that in
48:29
Northern California culture of food was very much instilled in
48:34
me from a very early age. However, I grew up a super picky
48:40
eater. I, I ate shades of beige, as I
48:44
say, until I was in college. And that's like, you know,
48:48
chicken Alfredo pasta, dry hamburgers, French fries, baked
48:51
potatoes, couscous, like, it was that color palette of food.
48:57
But since I was about 8 years old, I would wake up on Saturday
49:00
mornings and watch cooking shows instead of cartoons.
49:03
And I I loved the technique and the kind of alchemy of cooking
49:09
and the culture of it. And, you know, I was a early
49:13
KQED, the local public television station in San
49:16
Francisco, you know, did a lot of production and Bert Wolf's
49:20
Table and early Jacques Pepin and Julia Childs.
49:23
And I loved it, loved it. And so, I don't know, I was
49:26
about 10 years old or so and I just started being my mom's kind
49:30
of prep cooked sous chef and I'd make vinaigrettes and work on my
49:34
knife skills and grill for them and I wouldn't need any of it.
49:37
And my mom and my sister were, you know, they loved it.
49:41
And then I went to undergrad and went to Pomona College, where
49:46
we've got a, a long and proud family history.
49:49
And again, until my junior year when I was studying abroad in
49:53
Australia, I had a very narrow flavor profile.
49:58
I started eating Caesar salad at that point, but little else.
50:01
And then the light switch went off and it was like, oh, my
50:03
goodness, like get over this control dynamic and start trying
50:06
things. And that's where the light
50:08
switch flipped it. It was one night, my roommate,
50:13
she said, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm craving Mongolian beef.
50:17
You think you could do that for dinner?
50:19
And I was like, yeah, I'll try. And, and that was the first
50:22
moment where I was kind of connecting the dots really and
50:26
enjoying it myself. And then, you know, I came back
50:28
from that abroad experience and I was, I'd go to the dining
50:32
halls and I'd make vinaigrettes and a little solo cup for
50:35
myself. And then before long I'm making
50:37
it for the whole table. And it just started to, to grow
50:41
really naturally and in a wonderful way.
50:44
And then senior year of, of my undergrad, I started working at
50:49
the Tamashanter and flowers prime rib in the kitchens
50:53
Wednesday and Friday nights. And I, I was interested in
50:57
certainly I love cooking and I was starting to get interested
51:00
in the engine of our business and, and how that works and
51:05
functions, not really knowing where it was going to go.
51:10
And then I, then I just started cooking.
51:12
I, I worked here at the five crowns after graduation for six
51:16
months as a, as a prep cook. And then I recognized I needed
51:22
to get some experience outside of the family business.
51:25
And so yeah, I left for about 6 years, went into fine dining
51:29
mostly in Northern California, spent 2 1/2 years at a small
51:33
French restaurant called La Toque in Napa.
51:37
And then that chef sent me to Italy for the first time and and
51:40
had the great opportunity of working in a two star restaurant
51:42
in Umbria of La Bastilia and connected with a the famous
51:49
Tuscan butcher, Dario Cicchini and had a amazing opportunity to
51:53
open his first restaurant called Solochicha.
51:57
Then came back to San Francisco, worked for Mike Tusk at Quints
52:01
for a year and learned a tremendous amount about food and
52:05
cooking and local food shed. And I mean it was a hyper, hyper
52:12
seasonal menu. I could handle any product and
52:16
still can to this day, but I also learned a lot of bad
52:20
lessons on leadership and and just some of the the real
52:24
challenging dynamics of running a kitchen at that level.
52:28
And yeah, 2008 spent a year there and, and resigned as sous
52:34
chef position at Quince and came back to Lowry's to be their
52:40
culinary development chef. It was kind of a part time gig.
52:43
I led the opening in in Shanghai for about 3 months and then in
52:51
September 2008 opened Osaka location and really enjoyed it.
52:56
Enjoyed being back in the family business and yet struggled with
53:00
seeing where my culinary trajectory was going and whether
53:03
I wanted to come back to the family business.
53:07
I obviously elected to come back to the family business and it
53:11
was 1. I, I, I was a phenomenal cook at
53:14
that point, but I didn't know anything about the business.
53:17
I didn't know how to make make any decisions on many pricing or
53:21
how to run a business. And I recognize that this needed
53:24
to shift from being just a kind of craft oriented passion and
53:29
into something that's, you know, can really build the business
53:32
and contribute. And I also wanted to come spend
53:35
time with my grandparents and Richard and Mary Alice Frank
53:39
were amazing people, truly the best version of a matriarch and
53:43
patriarch. And I came back to Southern
53:47
California and, and lived with them more or less for about four
53:50
years and helped them through, you know, the later part of
53:53
their life and got some great memories and, and they became
53:56
truly close, close friends in addition to being my
54:00
grandparents. So it was, you know, definitely
54:04
was the right path for me and a really, it's a piece of my story
54:08
I'm really proud of. And in that process, you know,
54:12
I, I got some great business opportunities.
54:15
We opened side door, we opened a couple other carvery, our quick
54:18
casual locations and just move my way up through the business,
54:23
managing our businesses and got onto our board of directors in I
54:27
think 2014. And then in 2000, it was, it was
54:34
Thanksgiving of 2016 and a gentleman who's still on our
54:39
board, Scott Barnett, again, another one of my dear friends
54:42
and mentors, he was considering a, an interim COO position
54:48
within our business. And he ended up not taking the
54:52
position and he more or less got coached by private equity and he
54:58
was going to be a, a person that was going to help mentor me into
55:00
the CEO role. My uncle was CEO, but it our
55:05
dynamic and, and who he is as a leader, just he's not the
55:08
mentoring type. And I think we all kind of
55:11
recognize that. And yet Scott got poached.
55:14
And so Nicole, my ex-wife said to me, you know, now's the time
55:24
if you want to, to go back to Business School.
55:26
And I said, you know, you're crazy.
55:28
We had a 18 month old and a a three month old and in six weeks
55:36
time right in the holiday period I I studied for the GMAT and
55:41
took the tests and applied to some business schools and drew
55:45
some applications out there and ended up getting into a great
55:49
executive program at Stanford and went back to Business School
55:56
2017, 2018 for a year back up in in the Bay Area and brought the
56:00
kids and we lived in two different dorms and yeah went
56:04
back into a very immersive business program while still
56:10
helping manage the business is about 30% time at Lowrys and and
56:15
then focused on Business School. And unfortunately, I lost my
56:19
father to really aggressive prostate cancer in the same
56:23
period of time. And it was a it was definitely a
56:27
Seminole moment in, in my life and, and my kids as well and,
56:31
and in our marriage. But then came back and, you
56:35
know, started to continue to move up through the business.
56:39
I was the chief marketing and strategy officer and at that
56:43
point I had hired another corporate chef.
56:47
So I wasn't hands on in the kitchens, but still overseeing
56:51
kind of our menu direction and strategy guided us through a
56:56
repositioning of the Larry's the prime rib brand.
56:59
We launched a whole new menu and not a whole new menu.
57:03
Larry's the, the, the prime rib has always been the focal point,
57:05
but we strategically needed to expand the menu.
57:08
We had a big renovation to the dining room and manage all of
57:12
that change and implementation for our locations and we ran
57:17
them all. The changes went incredibly well
57:21
for in total about seven months and then COVID hit and
57:25
everything shut down. Yeah, I don't know how much time
57:29
you have for our podcast, but that's a whole nother story of
57:33
managing through that crisis. It had been a plan for me to
57:38
become CEO in April of 2020, you know, and we, we closed all of
57:44
our restaurants in, in March 8th of 2020.
57:47
So moving through that big transition succession plan
57:53
paused for about 3 months and I became CEO in July of 2020 at a
57:58
time when, you know, we just had the first tranche of PPP money
58:02
and I fortunately was living next door to the Five Crowns.
58:07
So I was here every day when I ran the business from one of our
58:12
private dining rooms for two years just in a set up office
58:16
and it was a crazy, crazy time of every day.
58:20
It was a firefight, so. What was your best coping
58:24
strategy getting through that, getting through the passing of
58:28
your father and you've mentioned ex-wife.
58:30
So there's a, you know, a divorce there lots of, lots of
58:36
big life events. Lots of big life events and I I
58:42
today. So yes, I'm a year into a
58:45
divorce, 2 great kids and and they're doing great and we're
58:49
figuring out, you know, Co parenting of little kids.
58:52
We're incredibly fortunate our marriage didn't work, but we're
58:57
great parents. We've very fortunate where we
59:00
live there. We, we live a 3 minute walk
59:03
apart and we've got so much, so much to be really appreciative
59:08
for. But I think we're going to one
59:11
of the grounding moments through COVID and through where I am
59:15
today is really staying present in the moment and in the idea
59:20
of, you know, taking the next indicated step.
59:23
You know, managing the multi dimensionality of COVID and all
59:29
of the scenario planning we had to do was critically important.
59:34
Yet you still had to make a decision today, right?
59:36
You still had to stay within your process and stay within
59:39
what you do know and stay really rooted in your values and morals
59:44
and, and keeping that good compass of knowing you're a good
59:47
person. And I think also I have in the
59:53
business world and in the personal world, surrounded
59:55
myself with close friends and a great team of physical
59:59
therapists. And you know, I've, I've had, I
1:00:01
had back surgery, I had a disc replacement a year and a half
1:00:04
ago. So great, you know, you just got
1:00:08
to keep a great team around you and.
1:00:11
Be vulnerable and recognize when you're in pain, whether that's
1:00:14
emotionally or physically and go put that fire out.
1:00:19
You know, I, I at Business School, I took a class from Joel
1:00:22
Peterson, who's the, I don't know if he is today, but he was
1:00:25
long time CEO JetBlue, amazing man.
1:00:28
And he said, you know, in, in business leadership, you got to
1:00:32
be a firefighter. You really have to, when you see
1:00:34
something that's burning could get out of control, you got to
1:00:37
walk towards these problems and whether that's a difficult
1:00:39
conversation or, you know, having to furlough 600 people,
1:00:44
you, you got to continue to move towards a resolution rather than
1:00:50
than away from it. And so I think from that wisdom
1:00:53
and yeah, it's just staying really focused on, on today.
1:00:59
And you know, for example, I, I've got all sorts of things
1:01:04
I'm, I'm processing through on the divorce side.
1:01:07
But ultimately I just came back from Asia for, for a week and
1:01:11
I've got my kids picking up from school in an hour and a half.
1:01:14
And I'm excited about being a dad and being mindful of
1:01:18
shifting to their level of energy and and who I need to be
1:01:21
in that role and just just stay honest in that process.
1:01:27
Ryan, I've just got one more question for you today.
1:01:30
But before I ask it, I want to take care of three quick things.
1:01:32
First of all, anybody who wants to get in touch directly with
1:01:35
Ryan, his e-mail address is R Wilson at lowrysonline.com.
1:01:42
Should be pronounced lorries. But just so you get the spelling
1:01:45
correct, lowrysonline.com, r.wilson@lowrysonline.com.
1:01:49
And as a reminder, if you want to get your employees access to
1:01:53
benefits that won't hurt them financially and carries a
1:01:55
financial upside for the company, reach out to us at Add
1:01:58
Back benefits.com. And finally, if you'll take just
1:02:01
a moment to leave us a comment or review on your favorite
1:02:04
podcast app, you'll hold a special place in my heart
1:02:06
forever. Thank you.
1:02:08
Last question for you, Ryan. A year from now, what is
1:02:11
something that you hope to be celebrating?
1:02:15
Great question and I'm going to pause and say I, I do intend to
1:02:21
follow up with you on some of the benefits side.
1:02:23
I think, you know, Co worker retention and rightsizing
1:02:28
benefits across the board to where we are in employment and
1:02:32
today in our different markets is a great opportunity and
1:02:35
really something valued for, for us and our legacy.
1:02:38
So I definitely will follow up with you on that.
1:02:42
You know, a year out, I'll, I'll say a couple things a year out.
1:02:51
I, I hope I have a, a great settlement to my divorce on all
1:02:56
sides. I hope we're continuing to move
1:02:58
long and raising our beautiful daughters.
1:03:02
And I've ended every indication we're, we're moving in the right
1:03:05
direction there. So that's number one business
1:03:09
wise. Yeah, we are in the midst of a
1:03:13
lot of change at Lowry's and and one of the pieces we didn't talk
1:03:17
about is just my team and where we've come in, in a pretty
1:03:21
tremendous evolution and a really important woman to our
1:03:26
company and to me personally and professionally.
1:03:28
Tiffany Stiff is retiring from Lowry's after 20 plus years.
1:03:33
She's our Chief Operating Officer and President and a dear
1:03:37
friend and, and mentor to me. And yeah, just continuing to
1:03:42
manage through that transition. She's going to be going on into,
1:03:48
I don't even know what to call it.
1:03:49
I guess it's corporate leadership, but that doesn't
1:03:51
give the right power to who she is as a leader.
1:03:54
She's got a long HR background and so she's going to spend some
1:03:58
time with each one of our senior leaders and have an ongoing kind
1:04:02
of consulting arrangement where she can be helping our leaders,
1:04:08
you know, position the decision they're making or where they are
1:04:11
in, in a challenge and helping them make better decisions
1:04:15
rather than making decisions for them.
1:04:18
And so working through that transition and being here in a
1:04:22
year's time and talk about where we are and, and how our business
1:04:26
is growing and how I'm building a team around me and my vision
1:04:30
and staying close to all of our great people with Tiffany and
1:04:33
support is, is where I, I, you know, something I really want to
1:04:38
be celebrating. Ryan Wilson from Lori's
1:04:41
Restaurants, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing
1:04:43
both your time and your story with us today.
1:04:45
I really appreciate it. Likewise, Anthony, really a
1:04:48
wonderful time with you today and to everyone out there, have
1:04:51
a a safe and wonderful holiday season.
1:04:54
Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories
1:04:57
podcast. Thanks for learning with us
1:04:59
today.