Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Feeding Souls: How Chef Nikky Phinyawatana Built the Asian Mint Empire | Restaurants & Franchises Series

Transcript

Feeding Souls: How Chef Nikky Phinyawatana Built the Asian Mint Empire | Restaurants & Franchises Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their
0:21
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:24
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:26
My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and today's guest is Chef Nikki, a
0:31
Thai Texan chef and entrepreneur who is the force behind the Chef
0:36
Nikki lifestyle brand and the Asian Mint Restaurant Group
0:40
celebrating 20 years with five Dallas locations.
0:44
Known for her approachable Thai and Asian fusion cuisine, Her
0:49
cookbook, Thai food and travel with Chef Nikki.
0:53
Easy Thai Recipes to Feed Your Soul won the Best in the World
0:58
Gourmand World Cookbook Award, and it was a best seller on
1:02
Amazon as well. She hosts the YouTube series
1:05
Thai Takeover and leads culinary trips to Thailand.
1:09
Chef Nikki was named one of Dallas's Top 10 Best Chef by
1:14
Culture Maps Tastemaker Awards, and during the pandemic, she
1:17
launched Thai cooking sauces and virtual Escape to Thailand
1:21
experiences. Her restaurants have been
1:23
acclaimed as the Best Thai restaurants by The Dallas
1:27
Morning News and Eater Dallas featured in D Magazine.
1:31
As a Top North Texas leader, Chef Nikki mentors future
1:36
culinary talent and supports over 100 charities.
1:40
She enjoys midnight baking, Texas barbecue, and exploring
1:43
vibrant food scenes with her family in Dallas.
1:47
Now before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
1:50
brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency, where
1:54
we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that
1:57
are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your
2:00
bottom line. One recent client was able to
2:03
add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by
2:08
implementing one of our proprietary programs.
2:11
Results vary for each company and some organizations may not
2:15
be eligible. To find out if your company
2:17
qualifies, contact us today at AD back benefitsagency.com.
2:21
Now back to our guest today, the founder of Asian Mint and Chef
2:24
nikki.com, Chef Nikki herself. I appreciate you making the time
2:28
to Share your story today. Yes, thank you, Anthony.
2:31
It is an honor to be here. OK, so Nikki, tell us in your
2:40
own words first what Asian Mint is all about.
2:45
Wow Asian Mint is wow even more and beyond what I ever started.
2:52
When I started it, it was funny story.
2:56
Let's hear it when I love started Asian.
2:58
I love funny stories. When I was trying to figure out
3:01
what I wanted to do at 25 ish, somebody told me said whatever
3:08
you do Nikki, do not do not open a restaurant is the hardest
3:12
thing you could ever do in the world and you would not have a
3:15
life. So I said point Ming Ming, light
3:18
bulb. Let's start there and then we'll
3:21
work myself backwards. 20 years in, I'm still doing it and I
3:25
love it and it really honestly feeds my soul to be able to feed
3:30
other people through my passion. My love language is feeding is
3:36
food. And so it's a passion project
3:39
that has turned into a multi unit, multi $1,000,000 business
3:45
that now also supports an amazing group of people because
3:50
you know, I do this for the people and my employees who I
3:54
call my mentees really keeps me going in addition to our Mint
4:00
fanatics, our customers. And with that it really I love
4:06
it. I love what Asia Mint is all
4:07
about. So aside from wanting to prove
4:11
that person wrong, who told you don't start a restaurant?
4:15
What else got you excited to start this?
4:17
Did you have a culinary background?
4:19
Had you been in the restaurant industry before?
4:22
Everything was pretty much self-taught.
4:25
I went from a host server position.
4:30
Then while I was serving during that time, my dad had asked me
4:35
to come back to Dallas. I was going to school, finished
4:38
up school in Boston and then was working in advertising agency.
4:43
And he said, hey, would you be interested in coming back to
4:46
Dallas? Let's start a food delivery
4:47
business. He was doing that at the time.
4:49
And he was like, I would love someone to come and kind of run
4:52
the operations in the office. And I'm like, you know what?
4:54
That kind of sounds fun. And I told him, like, give me
4:57
two years or I'll give him two years.
4:59
And during that time, I was serving in a restaurant.
5:02
I was singing in a band. I was going to culinary school
5:05
because I love to bake. And I really wanted to figure
5:08
out how to use like commercial kitchen equipment and starting
5:12
to batch things at large. Met my husband and we decided to
5:18
do something related to food. He fell in love with me because
5:23
of my chocolate flourless cake. I found out later after we got
5:26
married. But when we got married one
5:28
month in, that's when we started our business, our restaurant
5:33
together. So that's kind of like the back
5:35
story, just kind, you know, you never really know why you decide
5:39
to do things, but if you just kind of go with the flow or just
5:43
listen to the energy around you, and I'm kind of that kind of
5:46
person, you just kind of do it and just kind of give it all.
5:51
But I never knew it would turn me, you know, to what I'm doing
5:55
today and what I've been able to do to feed, you know, over a
5:58
million souls in a year through all the restaurants.
6:03
Is your husband Thai as well? He is, he's 100% Thai.
6:07
I'm more of a 5050 Thai Texan kind of gal, but yes.
6:13
And so he was also excited to start a Thai cuisine focused
6:18
restaurant. I don't think so.
6:23
The funny thing is so we were, we were servers working in two
6:26
different Thai restaurants and we met like at Thai karaoke
6:29
night. And once he started to hang out
6:34
with me, he knew that my passion was in the kitchen.
6:38
He has always had a chef tongue. So a chef tongue is like when
6:43
you taste something number one, you can tell like what is in it.
6:47
In addition to like he can say, OK, this is what like the
6:50
general public would enjoy. And with that he, he already had
6:56
the talent. So we basically jumped in
6:59
without having any full restaurant management operation
7:03
experience and just kind of went with our gut saying like, we're
7:09
going to do this and we're going to see how it goes.
7:11
That if it doesn't work, then we're both going to move back to
7:13
Thailand and figure out what we want to do then.
7:17
All right, so for someone who's never been to one of your
7:20
restaurants, what's the customer experience like?
7:23
What's the the decor, the ambiance, what's the food and
7:26
the menu like? Paint a picture for us.
7:28
Absolutely. So at Asian Mint, we are known
7:32
for our fresh flavors, minimal seasoning, really highlighting
7:36
the ingredients, simple but amazing comfort, flavour
7:40
profiles and very friendly service.
7:44
Just kind of like that Thai smile that we were talking about
7:47
earlier and comfortable but modern atmosphere.
7:53
We are all about highlighting the colours in the dish.
7:58
So we have like white plates, white tables, a lot of like
8:02
white, bright open air atmosphere in the store.
8:07
When we first open, we had a writer who wrote about us and
8:11
say it's like an Apple Store feel but in a restaurant
8:17
setting. So if that kind of gives you a
8:19
hint, that's kind of like what we are and who we are.
8:23
Modern, minimal but just full of flavor and really soul feeding.
8:28
That's a pretty cool description.
8:30
The Apple Store really helps to paint an interesting picture.
8:33
So you start the first location, you don't have a lot of that
8:38
restaurant management experience.
8:40
What was that those first months or years like?
8:45
It was hard. I mean, we worked I feel like 20
8:49
hours a day. We literally opened the
8:52
restaurant and rented an apartment across the street that
8:55
we could look out the window and see, like, did we turn off the
8:59
lights? Did we remember to lock the
9:01
doors? Is the gas turned off?
9:05
So it was, it was hard, but it was really fun.
9:07
You know, you're like 20 in your late 20s.
9:11
You have all the energy in the world to do it, got friends and
9:14
family to come in and help. And it was, it was long hours
9:21
and you know, that can really beat you down.
9:22
And not being able to be off during the holidays.
9:26
Those are like your busiest seasons, more or less.
9:30
When we did the first restaurant we rent, we we were lucky
9:35
enough, I would say to make like the top 10 best new restaurants
9:39
of 2005. And with that it we were went,
9:44
we went from like serving, I would say maybe 70 we covers a
9:48
night to like 250 with the weight out the door and with
9:55
that. Really helped.
9:56
It does. It really, really does.
9:59
And, but I think the important thing in the restaurant world is
10:05
once you get that person to come in that first time, how do you
10:09
turn them into a repeat customer?
10:11
You want them to come back over and over again.
10:13
So that first impression, literally when the guy came out,
10:18
it was in the Dallas Morning News.
10:20
I didn't know that was going to happen first of all.
10:22
Then when it happened, I had to call in literally aunts, uncles,
10:27
friends, family, like we just need bodies at this point
10:30
because we couldn't keep up. Making sure that they everyone
10:34
had an amazing first time experience.
10:38
The kitchen was running at capacity.
10:41
We had to learn how to time manage everything, you know,
10:44
from the front door with the host.
10:46
Not just like, OK, we have an open table, let somebody come
10:49
in, but we really had to pace everything.
10:51
We have to learn how to schedule in more staff, Where do we need
10:54
to put them? What do we need to train?
10:56
Everything was on the job because I didn't have corporate
11:00
restaurant experience at all. And everything was just based on
11:04
intuition of, you know, being a server at a restaurant, knowing
11:09
what the host does, figuring out how to bartend.
11:12
Like I was self-taught, but I don't know, I guess I'm, I just
11:17
love to learn on the fly is what I figured out.
11:21
But looking back, like if I had had more corporate experience, I
11:24
think my life would have been a lot easier.
11:28
But I was able to create my own culture, systems, operations and
11:34
the management team based on what I find to be a successful,
11:41
I guess perfect sauce. Were you able to lean on anyone
11:46
with more experience during this time?
11:48
Any I don't know peer groups or mentors who you could go to and
11:52
say how do I do this? I would say I did not know a lot
11:58
of people at the time, 'cause I just moved to Dallas.
12:01
I didn't have or even knew about mentorship.
12:06
We did hire an amazing chef who came in and helped us, which
12:11
also she helped train my husband and myself.
12:15
And she was the one who would be like, OK, Nikki, this is what
12:18
you need for tomorrow here. All the things.
12:20
So we did have someone back of house that we had hired on at
12:25
way at the beginning because she came on and she said, you know
12:27
what, You guys don't really know what you're doing.
12:29
I'm going to come in, help you set up everything and like, in
12:32
two years I'm going to teach you all and we're going to leave.
12:34
So in a way, like she offered herself up, she quit her other
12:38
job and came in and just helped us really solidify the system
12:43
operationally from the back of house, front of house.
12:47
I think it was mostly just from my learn experience as a server
12:50
and observing how that all works and my husband as well.
12:58
But yeah, I could have probably been a lot better if I had more
13:03
mentors. When we open though.
13:05
Oh, I do remember this, this really particular fond memory of
13:11
another restaurant tour who came into the restaurant because they
13:14
live not too far away and they heard about us and they came in
13:18
and they introduced themselves and said, hey, basically got to
13:23
learn me like who I am, any experience whatsoever.
13:27
And he would offer, you know, his experience, share of hard
13:33
situations that he had with customers and how he overcame
13:38
that. So having, I think talking to a
13:40
lot of people up front, which is was like my favorite thing to do
13:43
is just get to know my clientele or my Mint fanatics.
13:47
And then I learned more of those through those conversations of
13:52
how in every business, no matter restaurant or not, people is
13:58
pretty much the hardest thing to manage, whether they're
14:00
customers or employees. And we commonly shared
14:04
experiences of successes or lesson learned from from each
14:12
other. So how long into the first
14:19
location, Nikki, was it before you thought, OK, we've really
14:23
got something here that we can replicate and and we should keep
14:27
with it and we should open up more locations?
14:32
I will they were four years apart from from restaurant 1 to
14:36
#2 and in that time I also started a family right and then
14:43
had a child. So kind of balancing that all
14:47
was interesting. When I was opening the second
14:49
location or looking for the space, I didn't even know I was
14:52
pregnant. So I kind of like had like felt
14:54
like I had twins. But the thought process from
14:59
going from the first location to the second location and was also
15:03
one of those things that came to mind like, OK, we got 1 going.
15:07
It's awesome. How do I make it better?
15:11
How can I make it more efficient and effective?
15:14
And my goal when I opened the second one was, OK, I want to
15:18
open a restaurant where we have systems and processes to an
15:22
extent where I wouldn't have to be there.
15:25
How can it run without me being there?
15:27
Because I can't be at two places at the same time, right?
15:31
And I think me being pregnant, literally, I think we opened the
15:36
restaurant September of O 8 and my son was born March O 9.
15:42
So there was a big need to create that system because I was
15:47
not going to be able to be around, didn't know how was how
15:50
long I was going to take, you know, maternity leave for
15:53
because it is your own business. And that really, really put a
15:59
put a pin in it to say I need to find the right people, put in
16:03
the right systems and hope for the best because this would be
16:07
the first one where I wasn't even going to be able to be
16:10
there. Well, they say mother is the
16:13
necessity of all invention and you becoming a mother was the
16:17
necessity that prompted you into building these systems and
16:20
processes. And so, so that's great.
16:24
That's sort of expedited and sort of highlighted like, OK, we
16:27
got to get we got to get this stuff done and put it in place.
16:30
How long was it between opening the second and third location
16:34
then shorter time frame? No longer time frame.
16:37
So I I said I don't know what what was.
16:40
So we my husband was good with two.
16:43
So he's very comfortable with two.
16:45
I was comfortable with two for a while.
16:47
I was more interested in having another child because I wanted
16:52
to have more than one. That was one of, you know, the
16:56
highlights of my life still today is having a child.
17:01
And so we kind. That's such a good question.
17:04
Between 2:00 and 3:00, I would say maybe another 3-4 years.
17:13
Yeah. I think it was like O7 or O8, I
17:16
believe. I can't even remember, but I
17:18
know I already had my second child and they're four, 4 1/2
17:21
years apart. So maybe, yeah, four or five
17:24
years after I had my third one. You know, in the restaurant.
17:28
Well, there is a momentum, like, right, you open 1234.
17:32
There is a momentum when people want to continue to open more
17:35
restaurants. But we didn't have that
17:37
mentality. It was more like, how can we
17:40
have a balanced life at the same time continue to grow and we
17:44
grew with the team. So the third location came about
17:48
because I had a manager who was interested in having their own
17:52
restaurant, and I said, would you like that experience?
17:56
She said yes. So I'm like, OK, we're going to
17:58
open the third restaurant and you're going to be in this
18:01
process from the beginning all the way to opening and you
18:05
pretty much will need to be running that store.
18:08
And that's I, I believe in my people.
18:10
I believe in teaching them a lesson and I always learn on the
18:15
job. And I feel like that is really
18:17
the best way to learn. And that's kind of how it came
18:20
about. That third location.
18:24
Yeah. And even a third location.
18:26
We were also in the process of expanding our first location
18:30
because we had an opportunity to open, expand that first location
18:34
next door because we were like bursting at the seams.
18:36
We had, you know, 3045 an hour wait for lunch and dinner at
18:43
that location. So there's like multiple things
18:45
going on at the same time. But the third location came
18:48
about before we were able to expand our first location.
18:53
And then are you going to ask me about the fourth and maybe the?
18:58
5th No, the bigger part of what I'm trying to get at here is,
19:02
you know, I talked to a lot of founders that, you know, they
19:05
start a business, it's small, a restaurant, and they're involved
19:09
in every facet of it, right? Like they've got their fingers
19:13
in everything. And then as they grow to another
19:16
location and another one and another one, they have to evolve
19:20
their personality, their skill set, their management style to
19:25
be able to support that. Because like you said, you, you
19:28
can't even with two locations, you couldn't be in two spots at
19:30
once. So once you get to 5, like your
19:33
involvement in the things that you're doing now have to be a
19:37
lot different than they were before.
19:39
And so I'm kind of curious to understand, like how you
19:44
personally managed that type of transition.
19:47
Not everybody can grow from being the founder to being a
19:52
manager of something bigger. Absolutely.
19:55
So I would say after my second location, four years in, I
20:02
started to be really comfortable, right?
20:06
I had two locations. Now I have kind of like a semi
20:08
management team of like two or three people and I had more time
20:12
and I'm all about self improvement.
20:16
Like, you know, what else can I learn?
20:17
Or is there something else that I could be doing that would be
20:19
more fulfilling? And at that time I went out and
20:23
started networking a little bit more and I found, I think that's
20:27
when my first mentor came in, a female mentor who put the idea
20:36
of maybe even an exit plan, right.
20:38
So let's, or let's say if something happened to you,
20:40
Nikki, you know, how would the restaurant survive?
20:44
Do you have those kind of systems in place If somebody
20:46
wanted to come and buy your business tomorrow and offered
20:49
you like, you know, the right number, can you walk away?
20:54
And that really stuck in my mind.
20:57
And we worked on even more creating, you know, mission
21:02
statement value system, the corporate structure and putting
21:08
the people in, in between me and the restaurant of how can we
21:14
create that system where I really am away.
21:18
And there was this really fun exercise that I did and
21:23
basically figuring out, OK, what are all the things that Nikki
21:27
can do and what are the things that only Nikki should do and
21:31
what are the things that Nikki should not do?
21:33
And that really helped step me out of the day-to-day and
21:39
figuring out, OK, what are the things that make the register
21:42
ring that Nikki does and, and list all those things out.
21:46
Put a correlation of the things I do want to do, align those and
21:51
create a pretty much a job description of all the things I
21:54
shouldn't be doing to hire that person to come in and take care
21:59
of all the things that need to get done that I should not be
22:02
doing. So these are the steps that we
22:04
did to be able to #1 be able to sell the business if we wanted
22:10
to, or grow in. In our case, it's like, OK, if
22:13
I'm not doing these things, I have more opportunities to do
22:16
things that I love, which is business development, finding
22:19
new locations, going out to network, talk about the business
22:22
and all the marketing fun that I get to do now through social
22:26
media, being online, these presents, amazing podcasts that
22:29
I get to be on and just sharing the love of a successful
22:35
business in an industry that is commonly known as, you know, the
22:42
life sucker of the world is kind of what they people say.
22:45
And it's actually been really fun to also see, I don't know,
22:48
you have interviewed a lot more restaurant tour, but the
22:51
restaurant pre covet after post covet.
22:54
I think a lot of restaurant tours had the time to think
22:57
about what is important, You know, what are the really true
23:01
priorities in our life that we shouldn't probably be chaining
23:05
ourselves to the restaurant from open to close.
23:09
Then came a lot more light bulb moments to the to these
23:14
entrepreneurs to create more systems and processes to hire
23:19
more people who might not have restaurant experience, but more
23:25
experience in other areas that also apply to the restaurant
23:30
world, whether it be financial people or Realtors.
23:36
The people don't you normally don't think about, but hiring
23:38
all those out because we are, we're known restaurateurs are
23:41
known to do it all. Like we have to do the
23:44
accounting, we have to do the payroll, we have to, you know,
23:47
do the marketing, we have to do the operations, we have to buy
23:50
the stuff, check the inventory. But in reality, that's not the
23:54
case. We're just been taught back in
23:57
the day, like you just need to do it all.
24:00
So I that's kind of probably leading to what you're thinking
24:04
about. Do you wanna give a shout out to
24:06
your mentor? Please yes, Sandra Yancey of E
24:10
Women Network. We are still working with them
24:15
today, and I've been able to even invite my mentors, my
24:22
management team to go and learn through her program and her
24:27
system. It's really, really amazing.
24:29
They're based here in Dallas, but they are an international
24:31
company. We're just lucky to have her
24:34
down the street and be able to tap into her all the time.
24:38
So you're at 5 locations now. Any desire to grow further?
24:43
We do. We do have a growth plan of 10
24:47
locations by 20-30 in the restaurant world, people will be
24:53
like, wait, that's all you want to do.
24:55
But we believe in a balanced lifestyle and not killing
24:59
ourselves in the process. And that can change, right?
25:01
But that seems like a very accessible goal.
25:05
I have, you know, two kids. My staff have also started to
25:10
grow their family. And we want to have a lifestyle
25:13
where we can enjoy what we do and have fun in the process.
25:17
That's like kind of my main goal.
25:18
If we're not having fun, you know, why are we doing it?
25:21
I have a 15 year old and a 10 year old going on.
25:25
I feel like she's going on 18. But being able to have that and
25:29
enjoy grow growing them in addition to really growing the
25:34
business that's important to us. Are there things that you miss
25:38
about what you were doing on a regular basis when you first
25:42
started the restaurant versus now when you're in a bit of a
25:45
different role? They there are, I still miss
25:50
maybe going in to the restaurant every day, having to go into the
25:54
restaurant and connect with my team.
25:58
So I now do that. I literally will have to
26:00
schedule myself, OK, go into these locations at these times
26:04
so that I can go and have more of a personal connection.
26:07
So that's really what the business is all about.
26:09
It's hospitality. It's really soul to soul
26:12
connection. It's not just like spreadsheets,
26:14
and I do miss that. That is a part of my
26:17
personality, my DNA. And now in my new role, what I
26:21
also love about it, because it now has given me more time, is
26:25
to be able to mentor my staff but not really be in charge of
26:28
like the hiring or the firing. That was not some of my favorite
26:32
times, but you do that enough that you know how to do it.
26:36
And being able to teach those skill sets, letting them know
26:40
that when you hire and fire, it is all about, you know, are they
26:43
in alignment with our value system And really instilling
26:47
that value into every point. Not just every person, but even
26:54
in our systems, even in our communication language, our
26:57
marketing, a lot of times they will forget.
27:01
And we're that person who has to continue to remind them what are
27:05
our values and why are we doing what we're doing today?
27:09
So everybody can find asianmint@asianmint.com.
27:14
I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about the Chef
27:17
Nikki brand. So Nikki is NIKKY, so Chef
27:21
nikki.com. Tell us about the Chef Nikki
27:25
brand, how this idea came about, what it's all about.
27:30
The Chef Nikki brand came about in around 2019, so going on five
27:36
years and it was more of me wanting to share above and
27:42
beyond outside of just my restaurant.
27:46
How can I really share my passion and inspire people
27:50
beyond just hanging out at the bar or in the restaurant?
27:55
How can I touch more lives? Because one thing that I've
27:58
learned is the restaurant became a platform for me.
28:03
I would be in the restaurant, I would sit down at the bar, I
28:06
would talk to the person next to me and literally did I know that
28:11
they walked out of the restaurant, sometimes even
28:14
quitting their job and following their passion because they were
28:19
inspired hopefully also by the food that they got to enjoy.
28:23
But the stories that I got to share with them and they would
28:26
look at me and be like, you're so inspiring, Nikki.
28:29
I want to do what I love to do too.
28:31
And I would literally turn that question around, like, what do
28:34
you want to do? Why aren't you doing it?
28:36
What's stopping you? Just asking those questions that
28:39
I ask myself all the time because we have to be reminded.
28:43
Are we still in alignment with what, you know, our true calling
28:46
is our passion. And just based on those stories
28:50
that they would come back and tell me of like, OK, because of
28:54
that conversation or because of something I saw you do in the
28:58
restaurant or because of something that that staff talked
29:01
to me about or that dish, you know, really evoked this passion
29:06
in me. It, it just made me realize
29:09
like, I want to share my life experience with more people.
29:15
The chef nikki.com started off like, OK, how can I, you know,
29:20
inspire people through food, culture and travel, which is
29:23
actually still my core main reason of why I do what I do
29:27
through this brand. And with that, I was able to
29:31
birth the YouTube channel because people are interested in
29:34
knowing where can I buy the best groceries from the Asian grocery
29:40
store 'cause it could be very overwhelming.
29:42
Number one, I learned that people really enjoy that.
29:45
Or where does Nikki like to eat? What does she like to enjoy?
29:49
Favorite restaurants, favorite places to visit?
29:52
I love to travel and all of those cultural connections that
29:56
people forget that when you go to a place, it's not about, OK,
30:00
let's hit all of the checklists. Let's make sure we hit all of
30:03
these favorite things that people do when they go to our
30:06
places. But that deeper connection with
30:09
the people in the culture. Did you look into their eyes?
30:13
Did you ask their stories? Did they talk about you?
30:15
Did you talk about them? It's those deeper story
30:17
connections and experiences that really change you and
30:22
potentially that other person that you meet in a whole another
30:25
country, right? And also the food.
30:27
The food is that language that kind of bonds all of us
30:31
together. And that's where the Chef Nikki
30:33
Brand came about in 2019. Then I started Trips because I
30:39
would go to Thailand every year. So you organize.
30:43
Trips people to go with you. I do, I do.
30:46
I started organizing trips and it was all because, again, my
30:51
Mint fanatics said, hey, Nikki, the next time you go, I want to
30:54
go with you. And I'm like, OK, I don't think
30:57
you would want to go when my whole family is going because
30:59
we're doing all these family things.
31:01
But let me figure something out. So I started to create a work
31:05
trip to go to Thailand again during one of the favorite times
31:10
of the year, which is Laikerton, which is the Full Moon festival
31:13
in November. Because they have this beautiful
31:16
cultural ceremony where they do the floating lanterns and the
31:19
floating flower baskets in the water.
31:23
And it is just a magical, magical once in a lifetime for
31:27
anybody to go to Thailand at that time.
31:30
And I put it together and I posted it and I said, hey, you
31:34
know, are you really interested to go to travel with me?
31:37
And literally, I posted it. Within one week, I was able to
31:40
fill this small group of 12 to go on the trip to Thailand with
31:44
me. And it's my favorite thing to do
31:48
every year. I only get to do it once a year
31:51
right now because you know, I still got to do what I need to
31:54
do with the restaurant and everything else and the kids
31:57
being around. But it was was one of those
32:00
moments where I said this is what I was meant to do.
32:04
I love this. It feeds my soul.
32:07
I get to change people's lives. They come back, you know, with
32:10
new perspective of their life and getting to change even just
32:15
a little bit, if not a whole life trajectory because you're
32:20
really going to another side of the world like Thailand and
32:23
Texas or America are on their 12 hours difference.
32:28
Imagine how different of a culture, chalk time change and
32:32
everything else that you can experience.
32:34
It just it just changes the rhythm in your body, the way
32:38
you're thinking, the way you see life.
32:39
And those are just magical moments that I really enjoy
32:42
being able to curate for people. We were talking before we went
32:47
live with the interview that I've spent a little bit of time
32:49
in Thailand, although it's been several years wired going to
32:52
Thailand. I had traveled quite a bit in
32:55
Europe. And so I thought, oh, I'm a
32:57
world traveler. I've I've seen things.
32:59
And then my first introduction to Bangkok is this enormous city
33:05
with so many people and traffic and all kinds of bars and
33:09
restaurants and like all kinds of crazy nightlife.
33:12
And one of the things that really stuck, struck out, stuck
33:16
out to me. And I still remember to this
33:18
day, even though it's been years since I've been back, is, are
33:21
the people like the friendliness of the people and how welcomed I
33:25
felt everywhere that I went. And people are just always
33:27
smiling. I, I don't, I don't know what it
33:31
is in, in the water there in Thailand that people are
33:34
drinking that they just, they greet you with a smile.
33:37
And so a wonderful place to be. I'm kind of curious though, what
33:41
part or parts of Thailand do you take your group to?
33:44
So I'm from Bangkok and we take people to three different
33:47
regions in Thailand because I'm all about you understanding the
33:51
food culture. The three different food
33:53
cultures. There's technically four or
33:55
more, but we do North, Central and South.
34:00
And with those 3 understandings, you will really get a full
34:04
become kind of like a Thai culture and food and travel
34:08
expert when you come back to your hometown.
34:12
So those are the three regions, mostly Chiang Mai, Phuket and
34:15
Bangkok are the three regions that will hit.
34:17
And we'll also hit like some other smaller cities around
34:21
Bangkok when we go visit, you know, the floating market or the
34:26
fresh, Fresh Market that we get to being on the river.
34:31
It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun.
34:34
Those are some of those are places that I've been before and
34:36
I will echo Chef Nikki's comments.
34:38
Those places are a lot of fun. They're they're a real treasure.
34:40
If you've never been, do. You have a favorite.
34:42
Something to put on your bucket list.
34:47
I, I really enjoyed the the floating market and I enjoyed
34:51
being up north in Ching Mai and Ching Rai a little quieter, like
34:55
a little bit of a, a different pace and but the same, the same
35:01
friendly people and lots of beautiful scenery to check out.
35:05
So yeah. Yeah, we are called the Land of
35:07
Smile. Is that right?
35:09
I didn't realize that. We are that makes a lot of.
35:11
Sense it fits. So Chef Nikki.
35:16
Chef nikki.com, are those some of your sauces that I see behind
35:21
you? Can you tell us more about?
35:22
Those, yes, they are. So we launched a sauce line.
35:26
It's kind of like a COVID baby. I've been teaching cooking
35:30
classes since we've started the business.
35:32
And one of the main pain points that I noticed is you don't have
35:38
an Asian grocery store on every corner in America, right?
35:42
You have to go to Asian Markets, which is in Chinatown or
35:46
Koreatown. And once you go in there, it is
35:50
extremely overwhelming. Not everything is in English.
35:54
And there's like a hundred kinds or maybe 1000 kinds of sauces
35:58
that you need to purchase, right?
36:00
And So what I've decided is let's take away that pain point.
36:04
I want to simplify you thought process when you go into the
36:09
kitchen and I want to create something that's Asian, that's
36:12
Thai. How can I make it super simple?
36:14
So created the sauce line. These are the exact same sauces
36:16
that we use in our restaurant today.
36:19
So you can create restaurant quality perfect every time.
36:25
Thai dishes at home. I have a few here.
36:28
This is our gluten free stir fry and you use it more than just
36:32
stir fry. So on my website, on the YouTube
36:37
channel, even in my cookbook, we'll have recipes where you can
36:41
really break it down and use traditional sauces or you can
36:44
use my sauces to cut out, you know, sometimes 10/15/20 minutes
36:48
of time trying to put all those seasonings together when it's
36:52
just like one sauce, you pour, you go, you're done.
36:54
It's perfect every time. Your kids will love it every
36:57
time. They won't be saying why is it
36:59
taste different this time, right?
37:01
You don't have a lot of time, me as a mom, and it's really
37:03
important to be able to create flavorful, nutritious meals for
37:08
my kids. And I don't feel bad of, you
37:10
know, going out and buying another burger and fries every
37:14
single night or fried chicken. Awesome.
37:16
Yes, there's the cookbook. So those are the sauce lines.
37:20
We have them at Central Market, which is a local foodie
37:23
supermarket here in the Dallas Fort Worth area along with my
37:29
cookbook as well. So those kind of go hand in
37:32
hand. The cookbook came out in October
37:35
of 24 and it is my new baby project.
37:43
My new baby, my new project. Not a baby project at.
37:46
All giant project I'm. Sure, exactly.
37:52
And you can buy it here from your website as well as from
37:55
Amazon. Tell us what people should
37:57
expect from it before you tell us what people can expect from
38:00
it. We've got five star review
38:03
rating and tell us about the awards that it won.
38:07
Awesome. So the cookbook came out October
38:11
of O24. My goodness.
38:15
We had won this award when we were about to go into print and
38:19
we submitted it to the World Gourmand Cookbook competition.
38:25
And it is an international award for cookbooks and we won the
38:33
best female chef cookbook number one, first place in November of
38:41
2023. And we were on a trip, we were
38:43
in Chiang Ma, Chiang Rai, actually on a trip when we found
38:48
out that the book won this award.
38:50
So it's awesome because we won the award soon enough that we
38:53
were able to really change up and.
38:56
Included. In the book and included in the
38:58
book. Yeah it is it's just really cool
39:05
honestly to be recognized and to be able to say hey, we are, you
39:09
know a best in the world best in class cookbook.
39:13
Hopefully that would inspire you to want to purchase the book.
39:18
More importantly, when my cookbook creator Peacocks in
39:23
studio, this was all done in Thailand and he was looking at
39:30
my personality, who I am, what kind of recipes we were
39:33
creating. And he was like, Nikki, you have
39:36
so much color. You're so colorful.
39:38
If I had to, you know, be able to open the book for you, it is
39:42
more of like a coffee table book at this point because there's so
39:47
much beautiful photos, hopefully to inspire you to.
39:53
Want to go to Thailand or travel?
39:55
Oh, it's anywhere. Glossy high color, yeah.
39:58
Yeah, so it's a coffee table book.
40:01
All in all, 1/3 of the book is my life story.
40:04
There is the the celebration that I was talking about where
40:08
they do the floating lanterns. Think there's my family back in
40:12
the day. So cute, beautiful, not that
40:15
small anymore. This is my personal copy so I
40:19
have a lot of signatures. It's like my little yearbook and
40:24
basically coffee table book. 1/3 of the book is my story.
40:29
Hopefully to inspire you to follow your passion, your
40:33
calling and everything. In the back there's 53 recipes
40:37
that are very simple and easy Thai recipes that you can create
40:41
at home with under ten ingredients or less, 5 steps or
40:45
less, super easy and you can use ingredients that you can find in
40:50
your pantry, in your refrigerator, your supermarket
40:52
around the corner. Really, really hoping that you
40:56
can talk yourself out of saying Thai food is so hard to make,
41:01
but that's especially. When you can incorporate your
41:03
sauces, like you said, you know, sometimes going to an Asian
41:07
grocery store when they're hard to find, and then two, you know,
41:11
a lot of the products are coming, you know, right from
41:12
Asia. They have, you know, foreign
41:14
languages on the labels. You're not sure what you're
41:15
kidding. But with your sauces, you can
41:18
really add a lot of that traditional Thai flavor in, and
41:22
that removes a lot of that perceived complexity that people
41:26
have when thinking about making Thai cuisine.
41:28
Yeah, and it's so funny. I had another funny story.
41:33
We were doing a book signing and one of my super regular
41:37
customers, this was at a supermarket, the Central Market
41:40
supermarket we were at. He came up to me and like Nikki,
41:42
I feel like I'm cheating. If I buy your sauce, I'm going
41:45
to go figure it out. And I'm like, OK, fine, you do
41:47
that. But by the way, your favorite
41:50
thing is Pat Keemao is like he just went on and on how much he
41:54
loves our Pat Keemao. And I'm like, here's the bottle
41:56
of my black soy. Use it or not, you know, let me
41:59
know what you think about it. And he literally texts me the
42:03
next day. He said this was so easy.
42:06
I don't know what I was thinking.
42:09
I would actually just use your sauce to make everything.
42:12
I don't feel like I'm cheating. The ingredients that you use in
42:15
here are basic ingredients that I could buy.
42:17
It's sugar, it's salt, it's soy. So I mean, like, come on, how is
42:21
it cheating if all I'm doing is kind of mixing these things in
42:23
the same bottle And he's like, I'm never going back again.
42:26
I'm really just going to be using all your sauces to make
42:29
all these dishes. But I was able to convert him
42:33
and just that text that he sent me just made my day because even
42:37
I was feeling like, you know, am I making this too simple?
42:40
Because and a lot of times all the Thai cookbooks that I've
42:44
been looking at, it's like very detailed.
42:46
You need to make your own Curry paste to be authentic.
42:49
But I'm like, do you really? And, and in my cookbook,
42:53
honestly, it doesn't tell you how to make a Curry paste.
42:56
It's like, go buy this Curry paste, the red, the green, the
42:58
yellow, and I'm going to show you how to use that.
43:01
Who has time to go buy all the ingredients?
43:04
Number one, is it readily fresh, as fresh as you can get it in
43:08
Thailand? No, it's not possible to get the
43:11
lemongrass, the galangal, the ginger all the time.
43:15
That's always fresh and being grown.
43:17
Something that's been grown in Thailand versus here also has a
43:20
different flavor profile. But if I can recommend to you a
43:24
Curry paste that has no preservatives, that has been
43:28
freshly made in Thailand, packed in a can as fresh as it can be
43:33
to really get that authentic flavor profile, why wouldn't I
43:37
tell you to use that? That's that's really, you know,
43:41
my thought process. And just again, that text
43:45
message saying like, you know, I'm not cheating.
43:48
I'm actually being able to create and more interested in
43:51
making this dish more than once in my life because it is that
43:55
simple. It is that easy.
43:56
And I can start putting vegetables that I love or what I
43:59
have in my refrigerator to create these flavors.
44:02
So yeah. You're like the easy button for
44:04
Thai cuisine. Absolutely.
44:07
I'm we're busy. We're busy, Anthony.
44:11
Moms are not. We got a busy lifestyle.
44:13
I get it. So where do you take the Chef
44:16
Nikki brand from here? What?
44:17
What else do you want to do with it?
44:19
Wow, I'm good right now. I'm going with the flow.
44:25
And yeah, we got, we got enough. I'm still enjoying it.
44:31
And I see what people are telling me is, you know, with
44:34
the cookbook, I will would be able to share my story more and
44:39
maybe hopefully different and more platforms, maybe doing
44:43
speaking engagements through big corporations.
44:48
I think I would really enjoy that any way possible that I can
44:53
really take my story, share my experiences, my successes, my
45:00
challenges, my failures so that you would not have to go out and
45:04
do the same thing and you know, waste money to learn these
45:09
lessons is really what I feel and passionate about to share.
45:16
So in the intro we mentioned that you support over 100
45:21
charities. How how do you choose?
45:25
Yeah, I guess that's, that's a two-part question.
45:27
One, how do you do that? And then.
45:28
So how do you choose the causes that you want to support?
45:33
That is so true. So when at first, you know, when
45:36
we're in the restaurant business, people are constantly
45:38
coming up to you. Hey, I'm a super regular
45:40
customer. Would you be interested in
45:42
donating a gift card or would you be interested in donating a
45:45
chef table and things like that? And then, you know, to a certain
45:48
extent you'd be like, I can't do it all.
45:51
I really can't. So I think my, what really
45:55
speaks to me are pretty much two things, education.
46:00
And it really boils down to the quote that I often hear is, you
46:04
know, you can give a fish to a person, but if you teach them
46:07
how to fish, they would be able to really take care of
46:11
themselves for life. And I'm not doing quote for
46:13
quote, but education for me is really important.
46:17
So anything causes that are related to education and feeding
46:21
people, you know there are people that are starving down
46:24
the street. So we are do a lot of work with
46:27
Feed America. I have a project going on
46:31
constantly now. So every time somebody buys the
46:34
cookbook, I will donate $2.00 to Chef Jose Andres Foundation,
46:43
World Central Kitchen almost I could skip my mind.
46:46
So I truly believe in what he does.
46:49
His passion to feed people when in need, in crisis is really
46:56
speaks true to my heart and I really want to support that.
47:00
And then, yeah, the children of the world, right, we got to feed
47:04
them. So any anything related to
47:06
feeding and education is really how we boil it down.
47:10
And then any any big charities or charities that surround any
47:14
of our local restaurants. So supporting our community is
47:18
also a big part of who we decide to help.
47:23
You know, earlier in the interview you or a couple of
47:26
Times Now you've referenced your employees as mentees, which I
47:30
think is a really cute name. And you also said, you know,
47:34
that one of the hardest things in business is managing people,
47:37
whether it's employees or customers.
47:40
And, you know, I, I've talked to a lot of business owners both in
47:43
the restaurant hospitality space as well as other industries.
47:46
And you know, a lot of folks are telling me it's still a, a
47:48
pretty tight labor market. I'm curious how you approach
47:52
that. What are some things that you've
47:54
tried and found success with, both from a recruiting
47:58
standpoint as well as a retention standpoint?
48:01
Absolutely. We, we have tried it all.
48:04
We have hired firms to help recruit.
48:08
We have done a lot of job posting and we have found that
48:13
the best way to recruit the people who are in alignment with
48:18
our mission and our value is through referrals.
48:21
And they stick the longest they kind of been pre screen, right.
48:25
If you have an employee that goes out and recommends somebody
48:30
to come work for you, they have pretty much already pre screened
48:34
because number one, they want to work with them and they're going
48:37
to maybe make sure that their success of the person that they
48:42
refer is also a part of their success.
48:45
So we have an internal program where if you go and recruit
48:51
somebody and they stay for at least three months, they pass
48:53
the 90 day test. We give them, I don't even
48:58
remember the dollar map, but we basically give them a nice gift
49:01
card for each referral. So that's what I have found to
49:05
work the best. And also just through talking to
49:10
our customers, sometimes we have converted customers, kids again,
49:15
the restaurant is one of the best first jobs, I feel.
49:19
And if they already love our place, they know who we are,
49:22
it's a lot easier to train them. You can train skill sets, right?
49:28
Those are easier things to train.
49:30
But you can't train heart, you can't train value.
49:33
Do they have integrity? Do they have teamwork?
49:36
Do they have the sense of innovation and just being a part
49:41
of a group? So those are the things are the
49:44
core values that we look for. It actually spells Mint.
49:46
MINT, modern, inspire, nurture and teamwork are our 4 main
49:53
categories in our value. And when we hire, even our staff
49:57
will know that those are the things that we're looking at
49:59
when we're hiring or firing at the same time.
50:03
And with that, it keeps people in the business even I'd, I'd
50:09
say this all the time. And my managers, our newer
50:12
managers didn't believe it at the beginning, but we have such
50:16
a fun culture. We pay well, that's really
50:18
important. We have great benefits, but we
50:20
are a a family yet slash, you know, have a corporate mindset,
50:26
but we really take care of each other.
50:29
Sometimes the grass looks greener from the other side.
50:32
They will feel like they're very comfortable here.
50:35
I want something more. They would go work somewhere
50:38
else. Within a year or so they'll come
50:41
back. So that to us, I feel like it's
50:45
a winning success story. Saying the grass isn't always
50:50
greener, you know, on the other pastor and knowing that we're
50:54
probably doing something right that is keeping people or
50:59
they'll go out, test something out and come back.
51:01
Because they do come in young and I believe that they would
51:04
only really appreciate us if they do have a little bit more
51:07
experience. Let's say we are their first
51:09
job. Go and try 2-3 more jobs and
51:13
then decide who is really a good fit for them for their growth.
51:18
And if it's not and you guys decide to come back and we left
51:21
on good terms, you know, we would be happy to take you back.
51:25
Yeah, it's so important to have that ability to compare and
51:28
contrast. Right.
51:30
So, Nikki, I want to shift gears a little bit and I'm curious to
51:33
hear about a serious challenge that you have overcome either
51:37
personally or professional, maybe some lessons learned going
51:40
through that. Well the first thing that really
51:43
popped in my mind, this was probably the most expensive
51:47
lesson that I learned so I'm going to share this one probably
51:50
up to $1,000,000 that I lost on this lesson and I decided to
51:57
start another restaurant concept.
52:00
This was pre COVID in around 2017 or 18 and I wanted to do a
52:09
fast casual concept of Asian mint.
52:13
So we came up with a bowl concept, kind of like a Chipotle
52:17
concept where you kind of like pick things and put them in the
52:19
bowl and you have like this perfect dish.
52:21
You would have like fried rice with some like beef skewers,
52:24
chicken skewers, shrimp skewers, tofu skewers with similar flavor
52:28
profiles that you have come to love with Asian mint.
52:32
It's very different from what Asian Mint stands for.
52:37
We are known for, I mean, our food was already really fast,
52:41
which is really funny because the customer said, Nikki, how
52:43
can you be faster than what you're doing already?
52:46
And I'm like, I don't know, but I'm going to try it out.
52:49
But that's pretty much means like, you know, we're making
52:52
fried rice in batches and we're kind of scooping everything in
52:54
kind of like what Chipotle does. But we're Asia Mint is really
52:59
known for fast food, but everything is custom made to
53:02
order. We can make a dish that is stir
53:05
fried wok toss. All of our wok dishes could be
53:08
done, you know, within two minutes, but then it kind of
53:10
gets in the queue. So we have to operate that.
53:13
So faster bowl, Asian concept, great concept.
53:18
We hired a couple of firms to create the branding.
53:23
We have hired consultants to help figure that out because I
53:26
didn't know how to create a fast casual concept, let alone
53:29
something that's is similar to chain or franchise restaurants,
53:33
right? So we did all that, spend a lot
53:35
of money and everything was completely different.
53:38
The operation, the hiring, who we hire, how we hire, payroll
53:43
was very different than what a full service restaurant is.
53:48
We opened it got great hype. Also, we did cashless.
53:52
This was pre COVID. I mean, if I had, I feel like if
53:55
I created this concept two years later after COVID, it would have
53:59
been like the perfect concept. We switched it.
54:04
So I said let's give this concept a year and see how it
54:09
goes. So divide that up.
54:11
There's a lot of money that was went into this testing process.
54:16
I probably should have spend it or switched it over to an agent
54:19
six months earlier. I gave it six months, way too
54:22
long. We were competing a lot of other
54:25
franchise brands that are around the area.
54:27
The location that I picked was probably not the best, but my
54:31
reasoning behind that was, you know, I was surrounded by a
54:34
Chipotle, I was surrounded by a, a burrito chain, a Taco chain, a
54:39
burger chain, a McDonald's, a Chick-fil-A, like everything.
54:43
Or like, if I was going to test my franchise concept, it should
54:46
be around where everybody else was going to be.
54:49
So I was competing against them as well.
54:53
Thai food, unfortunately at the time or maybe still today, is
54:57
not as well known as fried chicken or burgers just yet.
55:01
I think it's coming. We are now commonly referred to
55:05
whenever I watch another Netflix show, they'd be like, hey, let's
55:08
order Thai take out. It's no longer Chinese take out,
55:11
right? So we're coming.
55:13
Thai food's coming strong. And I always knew that that
55:18
location, we could switch it because we always had to have a
55:22
backup plan. If this doesn't work, what are
55:24
we going to do with the lease? We have a five year, 10 year
55:26
lease. So it's like we could always
55:28
switch it to an Asian mint. When we decided to do it, we
55:34
started getting all of our regular customers coming back in
55:38
and the message did come through.
55:40
So if you listen to your guest, this is Maine lesson #1 like,
55:43
listen to your guest. They will tell you exactly what
55:46
they want, but you've really got to be listening to them.
55:48
So when we open, they came in, congratulate, had everything.
55:51
Like, this is great, Nikki, but man, I really would love an
55:55
Asian man. And I'm like, OK, you know,
55:57
we'll try it out, bring your friends and all that.
55:59
So we'd come back every once in a while and they would taper off
56:02
and then we'd go back to our other location and be like,
56:04
because I really wanted, you know, the age of it.
56:06
I wanted it to be served. I wanted this food style, wanted
56:09
this menu. So that is one of the most
56:12
expensive lessons to share #1 listen to your customers, maybe
56:20
test out the concept in a, in a smaller format.
56:25
There are ways to do that. You could do pop ups.
56:28
That's what a lot of restaurants started doing after COVID,
56:32
right? How do you test or prove a
56:34
concept before you actually go all in?
56:36
Some people will try test kitchens or ghost kitchens in
56:40
areas that they're not in. So you can see you're like, OK,
56:43
is there really a market for my type of cuisine when you're
56:47
something a little bit different?
56:48
If you're opening here in Texas, I believe, you know, tacos,
56:52
burgers, pizza, you can put one anywhere.
56:54
People would already understand what you're trying to sell.
56:57
So test out the market, listen to your customers and listen to
57:01
your staff. Even my staff was saying this is
57:04
really cool, but really, do you really, really want to do that?
57:08
I'm, I'm the one and only sometimes innovator in the
57:12
business and they really have to like rein me in.
57:15
But, you know, that's my strength and we all have agreed,
57:19
but there are certain things that they have to say, OK, you
57:22
know, let's prioritize #1 and you know, what is what does
57:27
really make make a difference financially and for the brand
57:31
itself. So we have to really constantly
57:33
rethink what we're doing. That was a big challenge.
57:36
Yeah, and you know, I hear the story a lot and I've been
57:38
through it myself as, you know what a business leader, somebody
57:42
who's got creative ideas, right, your strength sometimes turns
57:46
around and becomes your weakness and bites you in the rear end,
57:48
right. You've got these great ideas.
57:51
But I, I think, you know, for me, even hearing your story and,
57:55
and having versions of that myself, you know, I, I try to
58:00
look at what happened there and learn from it, of course, but
58:05
not beat myself up too much over it because I don't want the next
58:09
time I have a great idea or what I think is a great idea to be
58:13
too scared to, you know, delve into it a little bit more.
58:17
Think about exactly like you're talking about.
58:19
OK, if I've got another idea, what is a smaller scale way that
58:24
I could test it? A pop up kitchen, maybe set a
58:26
shorter time lane. OK, Like I'm I'm giving myself a
58:29
new framework in which to try the next idea that if it weren't
58:35
successful, isn't going to hurt as much financially, but doesn't
58:40
scare me away from still trying those new ideas.
58:44
Absolutely. I was lucky enough at the time,
58:49
I just joined EO Entrepreneur organization and I signed up for
58:56
a mentor program. So my mentor at that time that
58:59
really coached me through that process.
59:02
Just like you said, you can't beat yourself, you know, to
59:05
death because of this mistake. But what did you learn and like
59:08
what truly were, you know, the obstacles that you think we're
59:11
really working against you that you might have not seen before?
59:14
What were your blind spots? So Brett Mueller really coached
59:20
me through that whole process and it wasn't easy, but he was,
59:24
you know, he kept me on track of like, OK, are you looking at
59:27
your numbers? I'm not a big numbers person.
59:29
I'm all about, you know, being the front of house.
59:31
I'm in the sales side and marketing.
59:33
And he was more financial. And he really made sure like,
59:37
OK, you know, you're doing great over here, but are you looking
59:40
at all your numbers? Are you looking at, you know,
59:42
stats? Are you really checking out your
59:44
competitors? Constantly reminding me to do
59:47
all those things was extremely helpful.
59:50
And he was the one who brought it up.
59:52
Like, you know, you picked a location.
59:54
Yes, it sounds great on paper if you could, like, compete with
59:57
them. But man, you're competing
59:59
against corporations that have 10 millions of dollars to market
1:00:05
themselves. And I'm like, yeah, I did not
1:00:07
think about that. I just thought about how awesome
1:00:11
I am and how awesome my food is. Yeah, I get it.
1:00:16
And Nikki, I've just got one more question for you.
1:00:17
But before I ask it, I want to do 2 things.
1:00:19
Everyone listening today, I know you love today's content.
1:00:22
Please hit the like share subscribe button on your
1:00:24
favorite podcast app. I also want to let people know
1:00:27
the best way to get in touch with you.
1:00:29
Chef Nikki, What is that? Social media I am on Instagram a
1:00:35
lot. I do reply to all my direct
1:00:37
messages. Would love for you to subscribe
1:00:39
to my YouTube channel. If you just search Chef Nikki
1:00:42
and Ikky, I would pop up, subscribe like as well.
1:00:46
And you can always find me round and about the restaurant at
1:00:51
Asian Mint. If you're in the Dallas
1:00:53
Metroplex area, please come and visit.
1:00:55
We would love to feed your soul with really amazing Asian food.
1:01:00
And yeah, reach out to chefnikki.com and you can find
1:01:04
everything and everything that I'm doing.
1:01:07
Keep current on when I can come and see you in your neighborhood
1:01:11
or reach out if you want me to come and speak to your
1:01:15
organization. I would love to come and share
1:01:17
my passion with them. That's awesome.
1:01:19
OK, Last question for you, Nikki.
1:01:21
How do you see your businesses evolving in the next year or
1:01:25
two? What do you think the big
1:01:26
changes are that are coming? It is major.
1:01:31
What do we got AI right, A new administration coming in, we
1:01:36
have a new workforce, a different generation that we're
1:01:41
constantly evolving our operations to really fit for
1:01:45
them and really having, I have a team now to do that right?
1:01:49
Like we're constantly evaluating our staff and what works and
1:01:55
what doesn't work. So constant change and being
1:01:59
staying up to date, being innovative.
1:02:01
That's one of our like our core value is modern is really
1:02:04
staying innovative in what we do.
1:02:06
Yes, we are restaurant, we serve food, but we need to stay up to
1:02:09
date in every single part of running a business, just keeping
1:02:16
up with trend. We are really honing in on using
1:02:20
AI in our operation. We started using and I first in
1:02:23
our marketing messaging, right? How do we communicate?
1:02:27
But now I have my team, I tasked them to start figuring out new
1:02:33
technology and systems that are using AI to really make our
1:02:40
business run more efficiently, effectively through costs and
1:02:44
through operations. So yeah, can you give an example
1:02:47
of the AI that you're looking? Into now we are looking into
1:02:52
inventory. So we you know we are an Excel
1:02:55
spreadsheet kind of operation when we're doing inventory.
1:02:59
But I said, hey, I know there's an app out there that can help
1:03:03
with liquor inventory. I know there's a lot more backup
1:03:09
house inventory control programs and how we can incorporate that
1:03:14
with our POS. So we used Toast and they have a
1:03:17
lot of plug insurance, you know that have come up.
1:03:21
And since I would say maybe last year, you know, there used to be
1:03:26
maybe one or two operation programs to look at, now there's
1:03:29
like 10. So we're constantly having to
1:03:32
evaluate to see what fits our need, price range, what it can
1:03:36
do and we're in that process right now.
1:03:39
So hopefully in 2025, we have a better program that would help
1:03:45
with our inventory backup house cost control.
1:03:48
Tell me more about what you mean by the new workforce.
1:03:53
New generation, right? Think about it.
1:03:56
They have different mentality from when what I grew up with,
1:03:59
which is, you know, work, hard work, work, work to you, you
1:04:03
know, can't work anymore. But now it's all about life
1:04:06
balance. So this has probably been 2020
1:04:10
that a number on us, but I think for the benefit of us all, it
1:04:14
made us really prioritize what's important.
1:04:18
The newer generation comes into the workforce looking for a
1:04:23
company that they can align with in terms of their value and
1:04:29
their interests, right? They're looking for a place
1:04:33
that's not going to chain them to the store.
1:04:35
So we have have actually had to evolve, let's say even our
1:04:39
scheduling program, we have an app that we use that allows them
1:04:43
to switch, you know, shifts that they that they want or don't
1:04:47
want with their peers. That used to not be the case.
1:04:51
I mean, I've been in business for 20 years.
1:04:53
We used to work on an Excel spreadsheet where once the once
1:04:57
the schedule's published, that's the schedule.
1:04:59
We have to be more flexible. They might not even have a
1:05:02
reason. They might not be sick.
1:05:04
They say, hey, I really don't want to come into work tomorrow.
1:05:08
You know, they need to have a way that they feel comfortable
1:05:12
and that it's not going to hinder their job performance
1:05:16
when they're making these kind of decisions to take care of
1:05:18
themselves first and foremost before having to decide that
1:05:22
they want to come into work or not.
1:05:24
We have to be flexible with that respected.
1:05:27
Chef Nikki, I want to be the first one to thank you for
1:05:30
sharing both your time and your story with us today.
1:05:32
I'm really grateful for it. Thank you.
1:05:35
It's been an honour. Thank you.
1:05:37
These are really fun questions. I've never really had the time
1:05:41
to go so deep and and a lot of these questions.
1:05:44
So thank you for the opportunity.
1:05:47
I appreciate those kind comments.
1:05:48
It's been a lot of fun for me too, folks.
1:05:51
That's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:05:54
Thanks for learning with us today.