Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / A 10x Acquisition and Three Heart Surgeries Shaped How Craig Cooper Helps Lead Love Management Today

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A 10x Acquisition and Three Heart Surgeries Shaped How Craig Cooper Helps Lead Love Management Today · 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. As you listen today, let one
0:17
idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:21
today's guest is Craig L Cooper, Chief Financial Officer at Love
0:26
Management, Inc. This award-winning hospitality
0:29
group founded by Chef Tim Love, operates multiple restaurant
0:33
concepts known for their live fire cooking style, bold flavors
0:37
and unforgettable event experiences.
0:40
Craig leads the financial strategy for this fast growing
0:43
enterprise, ensuring it stays innovative and efficient.
0:47
Holding an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, Craig
0:50
has spent years guiding restaurant and consumer food
0:53
businesses towards success. Before finance leadership at
0:57
Love Management, he held roles directing strategic initiatives
1:00
and planning at well known brands, helping them expand and
1:04
strengthen their operations. Under his guidance, teams have
1:07
thrived in fast-paced environments and he's been
1:11
recognized for his forward thinking approach to company
1:13
growth. Now before we get into all that
1:16
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2:06
All right, back to our guest today, the CFO of Love
2:08
Management, Craig Cooper. Thanks for making the time to
2:11
Share your story today. Well, Anthony, thanks for that
2:14
great introduction. Was a blessing a little bit
2:16
while you're doing that, but thank you for that.
2:19
Absolutely well earned, Craig, as we're going to all find out
2:22
here today as we go through the interviews.
2:24
So back to the beginning. When did you first realize that
2:28
you had a knack for finance? When were you drawn?
2:31
Oh yeah, I don't know that it was really.
2:33
I understood I had a knack for finance more of I like solving
2:37
problems. And I think in some of my early
2:39
days of my career at KPMGI got to do that across a lot of
2:43
companies. And I think I really, really
2:45
enjoyed helping companies, you know, be more efficient and,
2:50
and, you know, help them solve some of the issues that they
2:53
they are facing. And I think that's more the,
2:56
what I fell into more, more than the like, you know, core
2:58
finance. And then you know, what kinds of
3:02
companies were you working with at KPMG, just across the board
3:05
or do you have? I got a lot of different flavors
3:08
for for different kinds of companies.
3:09
It was primarily in in financial services though.
3:13
OK, so from there your next stop was with you know, powerhouse in
3:18
the industry, the restaurant industry that is Darden
3:20
Restaurants. What what kind of pulled you
3:22
towards the the restaurant space?
3:25
Sure, sure. But backing up just just a bit,
3:27
So, so after my time at KPMGI, went back to Business School as
3:31
you talked about. And it kind of at the time I was
3:36
kind of disillusioned a little bit with the financial services
3:38
and I was kind of looking for something different.
3:40
So I was taking a lot of different kinds of interviews
3:43
with companies, just really trying to find what would be, I
3:47
thought would be a good fit for myself.
3:50
And it really kind of fell into hospitality almost just by
3:53
chance, I took interview with Darden.
3:57
I was interviewing with one of their SVPS of operations.
4:01
And we just really hit it off. We, we, I think his brother had
4:04
gone to to Notre Dame and we kind of bonded over that.
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And again, like I say, we just had a good relationship.
4:10
Again, I took that position and really started to learn a lot
4:14
from from him Again, He's still considering him a mentor today.
4:20
Really did a lot in terms of taking a different approach to
4:25
restaurants, you know, really talking about guest experience
4:28
and the importance of, of team building and that and really
4:32
what was inspired there. And, you know, and I think back
4:35
and it's really, really cool, you know, we, we had a team of,
4:39
you know, 9 or so that, that we were working with, you know,
4:41
people coming and going. But, you know, I look back and I
4:44
can count probably 5 or 6 executives that had come off
4:47
that, that team of, of, you know, that SVP and his directors
4:50
and myself. And it's really amazing to see,
4:53
you know, all the people I got to work with during that time.
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And it's really no wonder you you work around, you know,
4:58
people that are that passionate about the industry, you just
5:01
kind of kind of fall in and, and you kind of build that yourself.
5:05
Yeah. I wonder, looking back, if you
5:08
hadn't been so fortunate to land with such a great mentor, if you
5:12
would have continued in the hospitality industry.
5:14
It sounds like like that just really set like a nice path for
5:18
you. Oh, absolutely, yeah.
5:19
Yeah. I think, you know, who knows
5:20
what would have happened, You know, just, you know, things
5:23
just you got to fall in line sometimes.
5:24
And that really kind of did so for me.
5:27
And so the MBA that you got from University of Notre Dame, were
5:31
you going to school while you were still working or you took a
5:35
a gap? Year No.
5:36
I took time off to to do the NBA.
5:39
OK, yeah, it would have been pretty tough to do both at the
5:41
same time. So fell in love with the
5:43
hospitality industry while at Darden.
5:47
I want to talk about one of the stops that you made cause 'cause
5:50
I got to double check the the stats here that my team came up
5:53
with. You worked at a restaurant, a
5:56
group called Cheddar's, and you helped to fuel checking math a
6:02
300% growth before they got acquired.
6:07
Is my math correct? Do I have?
6:10
We, we had some really, really high growth there and kind of
6:14
transitioned actually from a, a connection I'd had with Darden
6:19
to Cheddar's, which is A at the time was a company based in, in
6:22
Irving, TX. I think when I joined we had or
6:27
cheddar. I keep saying we at the time
6:29
cheddar. Said part of the team still.
6:31
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, 35 some odd company
6:34
restaurants, maybe 20 franchise they just received in a major
6:40
private equity investment from El Catterton.
6:43
I think I was maybe the first or second higher post investment.
6:49
And really man, it was it was the Wild West.
6:52
If I can go back, you know, to those early days, I, I know you,
6:56
I think, you know, restaurants were, were calling in sales on
6:59
a, a Monday morning because, you know, we don't have a database
7:02
that is capturing that. So, you know, people would call
7:05
in a what, what was your sales over the week in doing that?
7:08
I know one time one of our IT guys had had just left and you
7:14
know, someone comes to me. Hey, you're, you're really good
7:17
at that Excel stuff. You should probably run our POS
7:19
system until we get someone in in charge.
7:22
So, so it's, you know, you, you're really doing a lot of
7:25
stuff in a small growing company like that, but that's really,
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really where I started to find that I can contribute across a
7:35
lot of areas in a company. I started doing a lot of work
7:39
in, you know, obviously, you know, the finance and analytics,
7:41
but also helping with the, you know, real estate decisions,
7:44
participating in the real estate committee, helping with
7:47
purchasing, supporting marketing and some of the analytics they
7:51
were doing. You know, I can think back, you
7:53
know, some of the board meetings we were doing and you know, we
7:55
would, you know, obviously turn pages on our slides.
7:57
I don't know if anybody does that anymore, but going through
7:59
the slide deck and you know, I don't have contributions in each
8:03
section. So, you know, you, you, you see
8:05
you're doing that and you just, you know, start feeling good
8:07
about, hey man, I'm really learning this business.
8:09
I'm having an impact and it was a good time for us.
8:14
We had a lot of good results. We were doing you know high
8:17
level unit volumes or our profitability was good, but then
8:23
we did hit a bit of a downturn kind of in in the middle there.
8:27
What happened there? Sure.
8:30
And I think this is, you know, kind of a something you hear a
8:34
lot is well, we grew too fast. So, so I think we we did some of
8:39
that and I think it maybe not growing too fast.
8:42
I think we just didn't plan for and execute for the growth we
8:47
wanted. I think we, we, and you think
8:50
about this, you know, we have this brand that's been around
8:53
for a bit. They have a lot of tenure in
8:55
their general manager teams and management teams at the
8:58
restaurants, you know, early on and you can kind of start
9:01
filtering out those people into the, the new restaurants you're
9:04
opening. But at some point, you know,
9:06
you, you're going so fast and now you're having to start
9:09
bringing people from the outside.
9:10
And that's where it really gets tough.
9:12
And, and if you know, you're, you know, support team is, is
9:15
not truly in place and you haven't dialed in those
9:19
processes and procedures that really make it easy for those
9:22
outsiders coming in, I think you struggle.
9:24
And I think we ran into that and we, we had to take a bit of a
9:28
step back. And I know at one point we were,
9:31
we even looking at, you know, S ones and, and going public, but
9:34
I, I think we solved it. Hey, that's, that's probably not
9:36
going to be for us. We we need to come, maybe step
9:38
back and retrench. And, and we did and, and we made
9:42
some changes there. We, we staffed up a little bit
9:44
more, took a new approach and and then ended up you know, we
9:49
started, you know growing again. Great story.
9:52
We ended up, it was funny you talk about my first role at
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Darden, it was actually Darden that came inquiring on Cheddar's
10:00
to acquire the company. So that was kind of ironic.
10:03
It's kind of a full circle for me that we ended up selling it
10:06
back. I think we did a 10 times EBITDA
10:09
and and it was a great transaction for for all of us.
10:12
Oh, great. So Cheddar's that the
10:13
acquisition was actually to Darden, Yeah.
10:15
Yeah, it was, which it was pretty funny.
10:18
Did you stay on post acquisition?
10:21
I stayed on for for a little bit just to help them transition,
10:25
but but really wasn't in the in the time wasn't really right to
10:29
to make the move from from Dallas to to Orlando.
10:32
So just kind of help them transition and then you just
10:35
moved on from there. And so as you look back at that,
10:38
you know, this roller coaster, right, that took place like
10:41
you're feeling really good because you're, you're in these
10:43
meetings, you're contributing to all the different departments
10:46
and the conversations that are going on.
10:47
You guys are seeing this, you know, rocket like growth.
10:52
And then you, you, you kind of, you know, we're out over your
10:55
skis a little bit. As you look back on that time,
10:58
what would you have done differently from the start?
11:01
Yeah. And, and I think definitely we,
11:03
we, we had to build the, the internal team a little bit more
11:07
first. I think we, we had to put some
11:09
of that, that scaffolding in place before we started in doing
11:13
all the hiring. So we, we probably should have
11:16
done more on the, the HR side and focus more on, on our
11:21
culture and making sure that was solid.
11:22
You know, you know, as a finance guy, I attend early in my
11:25
career, I tended to kind of downplay all that, you know, all
11:28
that HR cultural culture stuff for a bit.
11:31
But you know, the more you grow, you see how crucially important
11:35
that is. I mean, that that's probably the
11:36
most important thing and we probably should have done more
11:39
there. And, and I think other than
11:41
that, I think and, and this is a, a bit of a, I don't know,
11:48
controversy, I don't know if it's controversy, but I think as
11:52
you open new restaurants, you can't worry about profitability
11:56
too quickly. And I think we did that to some
11:59
extent. You open up in, in, in these new
12:03
markets and people are coming in to, to try your, your brand come
12:06
in. And I think you got to realize
12:09
that that those guests, you know, that's the most precious
12:11
thing you have is a restaurant customer or a restaurant company
12:15
is you got to make sure you're taking care of those guests.
12:17
And I think when you start trying to, you know, tighten the
12:20
screws too fast, you can have an impact on those.
12:24
And just once you lose guests a minute, it's expensive and time
12:27
consuming to try to get them back.
12:29
And I think the more you can do on the the front side, even if
12:32
it's it's not quite as profitable, it's, it's better to
12:37
to keep those people coming back.
12:39
Give me an example of where you can tighten the screws a little
12:42
bit too much too early on that might alienate guests.
12:46
Right, right. I think, you know, the classic
12:47
one is, is on your, your, your labor schedule, you know, well,
12:51
hey, we're not doing as much sales as we want.
12:53
We should probably really pull out a, a couple of servers or a
12:57
cook on a, on a shift, you know, and when you do that, you open
13:04
yourself up to, to be, you know, understaffed, You know, if, if
13:07
the, the guests do come in that, that particular day.
13:11
And I think you just want to provide the best service you
13:14
can. And I think, you know, obviously
13:16
at some point you, you got a right size, but I, I think
13:19
especially in that first year, you've got to make sure
13:23
retaining those guests is your number one priority.
13:26
Yeah. So after Cheddar, I see a few
13:31
other stops here, Director of Strategic Initiatives at CEC
13:35
Entertainment, couple years at Wingstop, Director of
13:40
Operations, the Controller at the Cook Shack and then for just
13:45
a little over a year now the CFO at Love Management.
13:49
What? How did the door open at Love
13:52
Management there? Sure, and I would say, and this
13:56
is probably true for for most industries, but you know, if
13:59
you're in long enough, the, the, the, the world gets pretty
14:01
small. You you have have a lot of
14:04
connections and interconnectivity between folks
14:06
in the industry. And that kind of resulted to the
14:10
love management team reaching out to me to kind of inquire on
14:13
my interest in in joining the team.
14:15
Obviously in the DFW area, Tim is well known, you know,
14:21
everybody is heard of his restaurants and his group.
14:26
Since he opened, you know, Lonesome Dove Western Bistro
14:28
back in, in 2000, he's been a, a top name in the area.
14:32
So, so I was excited to be able to meet with him and talk with
14:35
him about the opportunity and just was excited once meeting
14:39
him just about all the things we have going and just I really
14:43
loved the position since being here for a year.
14:46
OK. So tell us about this company.
14:49
Tell us about the different concepts, sort of the central
14:53
theme that the the thread that kind of weaves them all
14:55
together. Sure, sure, I'll do that.
14:58
And, and, and one of the things that I, I would say is that the
15:04
difference is in some of the other places I've worked is, you
15:06
know, it Cheddar's or Wing stop, you have a bunch of, of one
15:10
thing. The cool thing here kind of keep
15:12
my juices flowing is that we have a lot of different things.
15:15
We have, you know, high end restaurants, we have nightclubs,
15:18
entertainment venues, you know, retail, just a lot of different
15:22
things. So so that's that was really
15:23
what wouldn't draw, but it's just to talk a little bit about
15:26
the the company and what differentiates us.
15:29
And you mentioned this kind of in your opening, but it's really
15:33
those three key things, you know, bold flavors.
15:36
We really focus on that doing a lot with the the the fire
15:43
cooking. We did a lot with the wild game.
15:46
You'll see that running through a lot of our concepts, our
15:48
rattlesnake sausage, you know, you'll, you'll see that in, in,
15:51
in many, many of our locations. So, so that's kind of the, the,
15:56
the cornerstone foundation that, you know, has carried forward
15:59
from those early days at Lonesome Dove Western Bistro.
16:04
But then hospitality wise, we want to make sure we're, we're,
16:07
we're elevating it there, making sure we're adding those extra
16:10
touch points and, and making guests feel special.
16:14
And then one of the things I've been most impressed with is just
16:17
our, our great atmospheres in each of our locations.
16:21
And just give me a little bit of a anecdotal evidence here.
16:24
And I think when you're good at stuff, you know, things tend to
16:27
transcend kind of age groups. And I know just thinking with,
16:31
with my kids, they're always, Hey, when can we go out to
16:34
dinner? And then my oldest daughter,
16:37
Grace, she wanted to have her 18th birthday at Jemele so she
16:40
could take pictures in the garden with her and her friends
16:43
and they can all do the, all the pictures and whatnot.
16:46
Or, you know, my son wanted me to, Hey, can you get that
16:49
playlist from Tannehills? Or, you know, my youngest
16:52
daughter, Margaret, wanting to go to, you know, woodshed to do
16:56
the S'mores and listen to music. And it's just, you know, really
17:00
cool atmospheres and really cool things that we, we, we have
17:02
going on. And I think that's one of the
17:03
things that Tim is really good at is not, not kind of staying
17:08
put, but always looking, hey, what more can we provide the
17:10
guest and be on that kind of cutting edge of of hospitality
17:15
and and service. So from a creativity standpoint,
17:19
I could see it being a lot of fun to have these different
17:21
concepts, right, and do them and do them really well from an
17:25
operational and finance point of view.
17:28
Is there part of you that kind of wishes that you would pick a
17:31
concept and like rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat?
17:35
Because it's like, hey, once we've got it figured out, we
17:38
know what the footprint is, the menu.
17:40
We don't have to reinvent the wheel every time.
17:43
Well, how do you approach that with it?
17:44
What's your thought process? Well, sure, it does add, you
17:47
know, extra complexity to to deal with all the different
17:51
concepts. But I would say we we are
17:53
looking to to grow in one of our brands, especially Paloma Suerte
17:59
where I'm setting up stairs in in right now.
18:02
It's our our text Mex concept. It it, it's one where we, you
18:07
know, the, the unit volumes are awesome.
18:09
That the four wall profitability is just bananas.
18:11
It it's so good. We have a couple more of these
18:14
in the pipeline. We have one coming on in San
18:17
Marcos, one we have set for for Arkansas, which will be a new
18:21
state for us. So we're excited about that.
18:23
So, so yeah, to your point, yeah, yeah, I think that does
18:26
get me excited to be able to scale and grow.
18:28
And we think that's going to be a good vehicle for us.
18:32
I think, you know, we're kind of happy to keep growing it, you
18:36
know, in internally, but ideally we would find a, a great partner
18:39
that could, could help us with that and, and, and really,
18:43
really, really scale it going forward.
18:44
Not so much like a franchise set up, but more of like a
18:48
partnership where folks are maybe already got a presence in
18:52
some of these different markets that, you know, would make it
18:55
easier from a logistical standpoint to establish there.
18:58
Maybe whether that's, you know, someone you know coming in with
19:02
an investment in helping you know that has some experience
19:04
growing brands. Again, not just looking for
19:06
someone with a checkbook, but someone that can bring, you
19:09
know, true experience in growing, growing companies.
19:14
What is it about Paloma Suerte that you think is like so
19:18
attractive to people? You're like, oh man, the
19:20
profitability is just, man, we've got it nailed.
19:23
Well, it just mean just, you know, going back to our core,
19:26
you know, the, the food is just amazing.
19:29
And, and you know, we do beer, beer tacos are one of our key
19:34
things that we do. And they're just, you know, out
19:36
of this world. But I could say that on all our,
19:39
our, our concepts truly. But you know, the food is really
19:41
good, the atmosphere is great. It's just a, a place people want
19:44
to come and, and, and have a good time and, and, and I think
19:48
you know when you can do that and you can do that in the
19:50
elevated, somewhat elevated atmosphere, it's just a recipe
19:54
for success. Yeah, I'm checking out the
19:56
website here, Paloma suerteftx.com for folks and some
20:05
of the drinks here, they just look out of this world and the
20:09
the ambiance is really cool. Like it?
20:12
Like I hear you say like upscale, but it's not like a
20:14
suit and tie. It's still.
20:15
Like a super tie. But it's a nice place, right?
20:20
Yeah. And I'm guessing these
20:22
margaritas are pretty tasty, too.
20:24
Oh, absolutely. Well, that's fun.
20:27
And so talk to me. Let's see what we want to go
20:32
next. What's Let's talk about the the
20:36
festivals, the large scale dining events that you guys do.
20:40
It's a big part of Chef Tim loves Bran.
20:44
Tell me about sort of the different operational financial
20:48
considerations that come into play with, you know, this side
20:52
of the business? Sure.
20:54
And that's, you know, one of the aspects of the business that was
20:57
kind of new to me, the whole, the catering and the festivals.
21:01
But I, I think that really allows us or especially Tim to,
21:05
you know, connect with a lot of these different audiences.
21:07
You know, we, we do some of the, the bigger festivals across the
21:10
country, whether it's, you know, Bonnaroo or, or, or Hinterland
21:14
or, or ACL here in Texas really allows us to, to get our name
21:20
out and, and boost awareness. But again, getting all that
21:24
done, you know, takes a lot of effort.
21:25
We have a, you know, great team that runs our, our catering
21:30
company and they do a lot of work, you know, moving equipment
21:34
around, getting food to these different places.
21:36
So, so there is some complexity that does go along with that,
21:39
but Jason and his team do do a great job there.
21:43
And so the the catering, the the festival side of the business,
21:48
is this available for any of the brands that are under the Chef
21:53
Tim Love umbrella or are there just certain brands that are set
21:58
up to do this? Yeah.
22:00
So, so with the catering company, again, we'd have
22:02
different menu options that you can choose from, but but again,
22:06
we have private events in in all of our locations as you can come
22:12
in and do that as well. OK, talk to us about some of the
22:16
other cool stuff that you guys are working on because I, I know
22:19
just you know, little chat pre interview here, you were pretty
22:23
jazzed about some of the projects you got.
22:26
Yeah. And I'll just spend a minute and
22:27
talk about some of our, our, our newer concepts and something we
22:31
have going. Kind of our most recent thing
22:34
that we did maybe almost not quite a year ago now is our our
22:39
Stewart's Croquet Club. It's kind of an upscale bar and
22:44
croquet field, really fun venue fun.
22:50
I mean, we have a big croquet lawn that people can rent out
22:53
and, and have big parties there and very elevated drinks and,
22:57
you know, martini carts. It's really cool doing good
23:02
things for us. And then upcoming probably in
23:06
the next probably month or so, we'll be opening, opening a new
23:10
restaurant, Meraki, which will be a Mediterranean themed
23:14
upscale restaurant that that we're really proud of.
23:17
And I know the team is working hard right now to get that ready
23:20
for opening, but really more of a kind of a health focus for us
23:25
with that one. So, so looking forward to to
23:27
seeing that. So Mediterranean could mean lots
23:30
of things, could mean Italian, could mean Greek, Turkish.
23:33
We're leaning towards the Greek side side right now.
23:37
Yeah. And and tell us the name of that
23:40
place again. Meraki.
23:42
Meraki. OK, That should be a fun place.
23:44
And this is going to be in the Dallas Fort Worth area as well.
23:46
This is. Kind of where you guys are going
23:48
to be in Fort Worth, yes. Yeah, the Croquet Club, I I got
23:51
to hear more about that. Obviously I'm familiar with the
23:54
sport of croquet, but I've never heard it be like a focal point
23:57
for a restaurant before. What was behind the decision
24:00
here? It's kind of fun and creative.
24:02
And I think that just goes back to, you know, Tim's creativity,
24:06
he's always coming up with these cool ideas and, and things that,
24:09
you know, will be fun for, for our, our guests and people that
24:13
really, really follow our, our brands.
24:16
But, but it's great. You know, you can go out and,
24:18
you know, I've never played croquet before, but you know,
24:20
I've spent several afternoons out there, you know, with, with
24:22
the cocktail and, you know, with the mallets and, and it's just,
24:25
it's a blast. So several years ago, friends of
24:29
mine were having a party in a park nearby and there was a game
24:32
of croquet, which I like, kind of goofed around with as a
24:34
little kid, but these guys actually knew what they were
24:36
doing and they were competitive. And I was surprised.
24:40
I'm an OK athlete, but I was surprised just how terrible I
24:42
was at this game. Were.
24:45
Were you kind of behind the curve too, or did you take
24:47
naturally to it? Well, I, I don't know about
24:50
naturally to it, but again, I, I, I played some golf in my
24:53
time. So I kind of use that a little
24:55
bit. So I, I think that that was
24:56
maybe a, it gave me some, some advantage there.
24:59
Yeah, yeah. I'm a bit of a stranger to the
25:01
club sports, so OK, so tell us about some of the fun stuff that
25:06
you're working on, maybe more behind the scenes, like from an
25:09
operational or finance point of view.
25:12
Yeah. I think you know, one of the
25:15
things that that I wanted to focus on when I when I joined
25:18
the company is just making sure that our our, our financing and
25:23
accounting kind of could, could match the level that we're we're
25:27
producing in, in operations. Obviously we're a high level
25:31
operations company doing doing great things.
25:33
I just want to make sure we have the, the support and the systems
25:37
behind the scenes that that they can support those great
25:42
restaurants. And really the the last year has
25:44
been focusing on that, making sure we're, we're improving our
25:48
process, being being more efficient and the like.
25:54
Are you guys layering in AI to anything that you're doing?
25:58
Yeah, that that's, you know, the great buzzword.
26:02
You hear that everywhere you go. I was just at a conference
26:04
yesterday and that was a breakout session.
26:07
So, yeah, AI, I don't know that we are are fully on board with
26:14
that, but I think that is something that I think if people
26:18
don't adopt that they're going to get left behind.
26:19
I think it's such a powerful tool, you know, in finance, I'm
26:26
really trying to bring that in, especially to some of the
26:28
analytics and and modeling that we do in trying to leverage that
26:31
more to help us build and and report.
26:36
But I think that, as you say, there's, there's, you know,
26:40
unlimited ways you can bring that into a hospitality company.
26:43
But I think it's just understanding, you know, where
26:46
those immediate parts are that you, you could, you know,
26:51
implement some AI and to help you.
26:53
But again, I think everybody's going to have to adopt it to
26:56
some extent just because it's, it's such a, a game changer.
27:01
Do you think looking forward, Craig, that you guys will
27:04
ultimately, you know, take like a ChatGPT or a cloud or a Gemini
27:09
and sort of use the LLM as it is?
27:12
Or will you look to use more third party applications that
27:16
have the AI technologies already integrated into them?
27:23
You know, I'm, I'm not, I'm not sure you know, which, which path
27:26
we would go down. I I can see kind of use cases
27:31
for each. But, but I, I think we're
27:33
really, really kind of that that early stage, really trying to
27:37
understand still in for a restaurant company, you know,
27:39
where, where does that make sense?
27:41
And, and I think that's, you know, the, the restaurant tech
27:45
stack, it, it's, it's always evolving.
27:47
You know, I could go out and I could, there's so many great
27:50
technology companies in the restaurant space these days, but
27:52
you can't bring them all in. You got to pick and choose the
27:55
ones that are are the most beneficial to you at any any
27:58
given time. And you want to make some sure
28:00
that something is a little bit more fully fleshed out, right?
28:03
Not just like, you know, the the shiny object that just came out
28:07
last week. You you want to make sure it's a
28:09
little bit more vetted. Yeah, being on the on the kind
28:11
of that bleeding edge doesn't really help us too much.
28:14
We're going to make sure it's kind of proven out a bit.
28:17
But that's not to say again, like say we're not experimenting
28:19
with, hey, how can you know, AI, you know, help us, you know,
28:23
build these financial models or help us do this analysis.
28:26
I mean really trying to understand kind of the full
28:29
capabilities and scope that can help us with.
28:31
You know, as a finance person, you get to see obviously all the
28:34
data. I wonder if you're spotting any
28:37
interesting consumer trends? Yeah, and and that that's
28:42
something we do try to to track and, and monitor.
28:47
Usually when I do that, I I, you know, keep this big spreadsheet
28:51
of all these economic indicators.
28:53
I'm trying to understand, you know, what that's saying about,
28:56
you know, how can I apply that to our our current.
28:57
But you do see a lot of especially with, with their
29:01
traffic, you know, the traffic that's coming in and, you know,
29:05
inferring that back to, you know, what's going on with the
29:09
economy. I, I again, we are relatively
29:13
obviously focused in, in Texas primarily.
29:15
So it's, it's tough to make a, a macro assumption about, you
29:19
know, what's going on in, in, in our neck of the woods, but you
29:24
do look at, you know, your traffic and compared to some of
29:27
those those macro trends and just to see where, how you're
29:30
comparing with that. OK, let's talk about COVID.
29:36
Let's let's let's pick at a scab because you know, man, the
29:40
hospitality industry really got knocked around, especially
29:43
during that time. When and where were you during
29:48
COVID? Which stop were you in?
29:51
I was fortunate enough to to be at, at Wingstop during COVID,
29:55
which that was just a boon for them, you know, with, with.
29:58
The. Takeaways.
30:00
Yeah, that that was was, you know, a great time.
30:03
They did a lot of growth, helped a lot of brand partners, you
30:06
know, grow during that time. So yeah, yeah, generally, yes,
30:10
that that was a very down time for for the industry as a whole.
30:14
I was fortunate enough to be a part of a great company,
30:16
Wingstop, that had some success during that time.
30:19
Well, and still, you know, while COVID was going on the tail end
30:23
of the 2021, you took a new role controller at the Cook Shack.
30:29
And so, you know, maybe it was a little bit different in Texas.
30:32
Maybe things were a little bit more fully open by then.
30:35
What was your experience with that company going through the
30:38
tail end of COVID? Yeah, I think, I think we
30:41
probably were a little bit, we opened sooner than than a lot
30:43
of, a lot of the the rest of the country.
30:45
I think by the time I joined there, we we were again opening
30:48
some restaurants and, and, and so really weren't too impacted
30:52
by that. Yeah.
30:54
So, you know, competitive space, the restaurant industry is
30:59
Dallas, Fort Worth, a lot of options, but you guys are doing
31:03
well. What, what's different about
31:05
your approach to growth and profitability and how do you
31:08
measure success beyond just the bottom line, Craig?
31:13
Yeah, and I think it it, it goes back to wanting to make sure
31:18
your guests are taken care of and making sure we're providing,
31:24
you know, the good hospitality. We're keeping our our buildings
31:30
in in shape and making sure, you know, we have, you know, clean
31:32
what we're friendly. And it just goes back to to
31:35
those, you know, touch points and, and making sure we're we're
31:40
provide a great experience for, for our guests that that that
31:42
choose to spend their money with us.
31:43
I. Mean you're the CFO, but you've
31:46
worn so many different hats, you know, and some of these
31:48
different stops along the way. You know, now that you're, you
31:52
know, in sort of the top of the finance position, Craig, do you
31:55
find yourself being a bit more siloed, focusing more
31:58
specifically on what's going on from a finance perspective?
32:02
Or do you find that since you've got this great experience and
32:06
operations and you know you've touched in tech and marketing
32:09
before that you've still got your fingers kind of spread
32:12
throughout the the entire company?
32:15
Well, have some, this one last year been really focused on, on,
32:19
on the finance side because I, I think we had to add some work to
32:21
do there to, to get up to where I think we, we should be.
32:25
But I think you probably would talk to my peers and they
32:28
probably get tired of me, you know, poking in to and ask
32:31
questions of, you know, about their, their teams and whatnot.
32:34
But yeah, I can't hardly keep from it.
32:35
I'm always interested in all those areas, whether it be
32:38
marketing or operations, just that to make sure I have a pulse
32:41
on, on what's going on. And I think it's, you know, from
32:44
my perspective anyways, it just seems like such a natural move,
32:47
right? You know, I think, you know,
32:49
sometimes people from the outside who haven't kind of been
32:51
behind the scenes in a company, they think, oh, finance, they're
32:53
just running numbers and, you know, making sure there's money
32:55
in the bank account. But you have so much insight on
32:59
what's working from an operational perspective that
33:02
it's just natural for you to be able to support all the
33:06
different parts of the company. Yeah, yeah, I think, I think
33:11
it's, you know, that that support is key.
33:15
Yeah. OK.
33:17
So I'm going to ask you to pick from your favorite kids which
33:21
which is your which is your favorite restaurant and then
33:24
which is your favorite menu item?
33:27
Oh, yeah, that, that's a tough one that now, you know, you're
33:32
putting me on the spot here. And I probably would say
33:36
favorite item probably is the beer of tacos here at Paloma
33:39
Suerte. But but favorite restaurant I
33:42
got to, I got to go with old school.
33:43
And I got to say, you know, Lonesome Dove Western Bistro,
33:46
that that's, you know, where it all started for us.
33:48
Great experience there. So.
33:50
So got to go with that. What advice would you give to
33:56
others in the world of finance that are looking to advance
34:00
their career in the hospitality industry?
34:03
Sure. And I'd probably say, you know,
34:04
if it's, you know, advice towards maybe the people younger
34:07
in their careers, you know, just just starting out, I would just
34:11
maybe say slow down just a bit. You know, where you can really
34:15
add value is not just, you know, producing a report or, or
34:20
handing something in. It's thinking about the the
34:25
second or third question that's going to come from that
34:27
analysis. And I think putting that extra
34:30
work in and thinking beyond just, you know, what is
34:32
requested of you that that's how you get ahead is putting in that
34:36
extra work and, and answering those thinking about what
34:40
questions, you know, the CEO or the CFO is going to have for you
34:44
and really trying to to follow up and anticipate that.
34:48
No, go ahead. OK.
34:51
So finance guy, marketing experience, you guys open a new
34:54
location, What is been the best growth levers for you in terms
35:00
of driving new foot traffic to that place?
35:05
I would say, you know, asking like for for specifically for a
35:09
location or or kind of what do you?
35:11
Yeah. When you guys open a new
35:12
restaurant, what's been your most effective approach to
35:16
getting, you know, butts in the seats, feet in the door?
35:21
Yeah, I think we we take the approach here and we do a lot of
35:25
a lot of social media that that's key these days.
35:28
Obviously a lot of word of mouth and is just the, the, the
35:33
brand's strength across our system.
35:36
I think anytime you know, we get the word out that, you know,
35:39
Tim's opening a new spot that automatically brings a lot of, a
35:42
lot of eyes to, to to the location.
35:45
So we're fortunate that we can piggyback.
35:47
You've already got that previous brand name recognition from
35:49
Chef. Absolutely.
35:50
Yeah. And I think it may be
35:52
underestimated that a bit before coming on and but just kind of
35:55
seeing that in practice, you really kind of step back and
35:58
say, well that that is a powerful, powerful tool.
36:01
Well, you know, and that helps me understand even more the the
36:04
answer to an earlier question I asked, which is why don't you
36:06
guys just, you know, rinse and repeat on the same concept?
36:09
Well, because, you know, if you're in the same metro area
36:13
with all of your, with most of your concepts right, in the
36:16
Dallas Fort Worth area, you know, you can't have 40 of the
36:20
same concept everywhere, right? So you've got to be creative.
36:25
You've got to have more locations.
36:26
And that common thread is the strength of Chef Tim's name.
36:31
Like people like Tim love. Yeah, we got to go check it out
36:35
because we know that he does good stuff.
36:37
Yeah, absolutely. No.
36:40
OK, so if you had to recommend a resource to our audience, a
36:45
book, a podcast, a course, something that's been helpful to
36:49
you in either your career or your personal development that
36:53
others might find interesting, what would that be?
36:55
Sure. And I think really two come to
37:00
mind. One of them, since I'm in the
37:04
hospitality space, I'm kind of obligated to say this, but
37:08
Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, great book.
37:11
Probably 1 I go to and and I think I listen to more books
37:14
these days and then read them, but I probably listen to that at
37:16
least once a year. I just think he has so much
37:19
great insight on on the hospitality industry with his
37:25
get guest folk or team focused, get in guest focus.
37:31
You know, core values is a key component of, of what you see in
37:35
in that book. Just just a great resource for
37:37
anybody that, that hasn't had a chance to, to go through that.
37:42
And I'll say beyond that, I would say pretty much anything
37:44
by Patrick Lincioni and, and his table group.
37:48
Love, love his books, all the the fable intros and and
37:53
whatnot, But the the one I I use quite a bit is that ideal team
37:56
player where you talk about the the concept of humble, hungry
38:01
and smart when you're looking for employees.
38:06
I think that's a very powerful message and one that I've used
38:10
is I've hired throughout my career.
38:13
Is that something that you present to other members of your
38:18
team like hey, I think this would be a good book for you to
38:20
consume or this is just both of these books are things that you
38:23
come back to on a regular basis just to re inspire you on the
38:29
core values? Well, I think, I think it's some
38:31
of both and obviously I do go back to, to both of those, but,
38:33
but do you know highly recommend those to to people on my team as
38:37
well. You know, you know, Craig, in my
38:40
experience, growth often comes from overcoming big challenges
38:45
in our lives. I'd be curious to hear about a
38:48
significant challenge that you've overcome in your life and
38:52
what you've learned going through that.
38:56
Sure, sure. And that's that's a tough one.
38:57
You know, people don't like, you know, talking about one of those
39:01
personal challenges a a lot. And I think first I would say
39:06
that, you know, challenges are, are, are are real personal.
39:11
You know what might be hard for for me, it is maybe easier for
39:14
you or, or even even within the same person, you know, what
39:19
might be easier for now might be very difficult, you know, a
39:22
couple of years ago. So I, I think challenges are,
39:26
are, are very personal and you and everybody has them.
39:28
So, so you have to kind of understand that the people are
39:31
or what people are going through and empathize with that.
39:35
I think personally, I think the biggest thing that we probably
39:38
went through was, I guess a little over 18 years ago when my
39:41
oldest daughter was born, she was born with a severe heart
39:45
defect. And, and as you can imagine,
39:47
that just kind of throws your whole world for a loop.
39:50
I mean, you know, lots of emotions, you know, what are we
39:52
supposed to do? I think, you know, thinking back
39:55
to the, the, the day I was pulling through the, the line to
39:59
go pick up my wife and, and daughter.
40:01
And then the doctor said, Hey, I want to work one more test
40:04
before I let you get out of here.
40:05
And they ran the test and next thing you know, we're.
40:09
Going to another hospital and we're talking heart surgeries
40:13
and it's really, really crazy stuff.
40:16
But I think as long as you have a good framework, you can help
40:21
work through those those challenges.
40:24
What kind of framework are we talking about?
40:27
Well, sure. And I think, you know, the
40:29
couple aspects to that. And I think the first thing you
40:32
really have to do is stop and assess what's going on.
40:37
And really, I think you got to make your world small.
40:41
I think if you, if you, if you're thinking too, too macro,
40:44
you just that's when you tend to spiral.
40:47
If you start thinking about all the ramifications that could
40:50
happen and, and, and whatnot. So I think you really got to
40:54
close down and think, Hey, what can I control?
40:55
What kind of decisions can I make now that will help us go
40:58
forward, whether it's, Hey, I got a, you know, to get in touch
41:02
with this doctor or I got to find out, you know, what the
41:05
schedule is and just, you know, what are those quick wins you
41:08
can have to make sure you're feeling like you're progressing
41:11
and assisting with that. And I think that's crucially
41:14
important, you know, with any kind of problem that you're
41:17
dealing with. And I think that really leads,
41:22
leads to maybe a, a learning aspect.
41:25
Obviously they don't teach a lot of part anatomy and B school,
41:29
right. I, I don't, you know, in those
41:31
first conversations with, with doctors, you know, your head is
41:33
spinning and you don't know what's going on, but you have to
41:38
educate yourself and you have to get up to speed.
41:41
So you have to do a lot of reading, learning what what's
41:44
going on. You know, I think I always had
41:47
to moniker a doctor, Google for a for a bit during that, but
41:50
just because I was, you know, reading all these, you know,
41:52
research papers and but just try and get up to speed because I
41:54
think it's important. One you want to have be able to
41:57
have intelligent conversations, right, because yes, I'm never
42:00
going to be a doctor, but hey, I can you know do some critical
42:03
thinking and I am decent at problem problem solving and you
42:07
know some of those echocardiograms, you know a lot
42:10
of the output looks like statistics and hey, I can kind
42:13
of get my mind wrapped around that a little bit.
42:16
So I think it just, if you can learn, you know, really what's
42:20
at the, at the heart of that problem, it just, it helps you
42:23
to get through it and at least have good conversations on it.
42:30
But then I think really beyond that is maybe some
42:32
prioritization. You know, it's, it's never
42:36
really just one thing, right? Because yes, dealing with our,
42:41
our daughter's heart was our, our main focus.
42:44
We had to, you know, turn the burners down on all the other
42:47
things going on and we had to focus on that.
42:50
But that's not to say that you can just ignore everything else,
42:52
right? I mean, we had a young son that
42:55
he doesn't understand what's going on, but he has needs and
42:58
you got to make sure you're still there for him.
43:00
And yes, work is being, you know, they're taking care of you
43:05
and supporting you, but you can't just, you know, completely
43:08
shut the door off. So you got to have you got to
43:10
make sure you're at least, you know, touching base and having
43:13
some, you know, minimal contacts on those other things that are
43:17
going on. Are you going to end up with a
43:19
another problem down the road? So it's prioritizing and then
43:22
it's just kind of reassessing it as you go and and as you check
43:28
those things off the list, just seeing where you are and
43:31
reassessing. And and that's what really
43:33
helped me get through and kind of to lead through through that,
43:37
that that crisis. And, you know, we'll say that
43:40
that first, you know, surgery we had that was, and when we first
43:43
found out, that was, you know, a tough one.
43:46
And, and that that was had really set us back in the, but
43:49
as you move through and not that the surges are any less
43:55
meaningful, but you're prepared for that and, and you get
43:59
through it a lot easier. And then obviously daughter's
44:02
doing great Now she's getting ready to graduate in, in in the
44:05
spring and, and you know, it turned out well for us.
44:08
So, so that was what was a great win for us.
44:11
So from the time that you found out about your harder, your
44:14
daughter's heart condition to when call it the last surgery or
44:18
when you knew that OK, this is fully resolved for OK, now
44:21
what's that time frame? I, I think, you know, the bulk
44:28
of the, the surges happened, happened early on, you know, and
44:32
by the time she's, you know, through kind of elementary
44:35
school, you've had, I think it was a series of three surgeries
44:39
and you've made it through that. And it's just, you know, dealing
44:43
with, with maintenance stuff after that.
44:44
So, so that first kind of very young years to life is when the
44:48
bulk of that hit. You know, and as a parent, you
44:51
know, I, I, I've got two boys and, you know, when they're
44:55
really sick, man, you know, my heart is, you know, just on
45:01
fire. But you know, my stomach is in
45:04
knots, but never anything like what you've been through.
45:08
You know, as a parent, like, you want to take all that pain away
45:11
from the kids, especially like as a newborn, like seeing them
45:14
go in to have open heart surgery.
45:16
I just have to imagine that. And what does that do to you?
45:20
Yeah, I mean it just, yeah, it's the very, very emotional and
45:24
humbling in trying to get through that.
45:26
And but you know, you got to get through it.
45:30
It's not a choice. You just got to do what you do
45:33
to, to, you know, take the next step forward and be there in
45:37
support and, and you know, love as as much as you can.
45:41
You know, and you just went through that framework that you
45:44
used, which was super helpful. You know, and I, I, for folks
45:50
listening, I think this is going to be a point where a lot of
45:52
them rewind, go back and listen to that framework again because
45:55
there was lots of wisdom there. But was this a framework that
45:58
you had already kind of in your mind from what you had done
46:02
professionally or was it a framework that you kind of
46:06
developed as you went along through your daughter's
46:08
condition? I think it was more of of as, as
46:12
you went along, you kind of develop, but you know, I can
46:16
also never have had challenges, but but nothing to that extreme.
46:21
You know that that's, you know, challenges, you know, turned up
46:23
to 11, right. So, so it was kind of trying to
46:27
learn, learn through that. You know, I've talked with a
46:32
number of other parents on this show that either themselves or,
46:36
you know, close relative, usually a child has a severe
46:39
health condition. And they talk about one of the
46:44
elements that you spoke about, Craig, which is like educating
46:47
yourself, really learning as much as you can about the
46:50
condition. In part because at least from
46:53
their experiences, they felt that if they didn't have that
46:58
knowledge and didn't have the capacity to ask those really
47:02
thought provoking questions, they don't know that the outcome
47:06
would have been as good. Because sort of the way medicine
47:11
works in a lot of cases is things are so silent off, right?
47:14
And it's like you get passed from this specialist to this
47:16
specialist to this specialist. Did you feel like any of that
47:19
was going on where if you weren't sort of being the
47:22
quarterback for her care, that things were going to slip
47:25
through the cracks? Well, I would say, you know,
47:29
first of all, we had a lot of amazing doctors and nurses that,
47:32
you know, helped us through that the whole thing.
47:35
But, but I think, yes, I think if you're, if you're not being
47:37
proactive on, on, on your care, I think you're, you're not doing
47:44
yourself justice. I think you have to advocate for
47:46
yourself and make sure you are asking those, those, those
47:50
questions because at the end of the day, you know, the doctors
47:53
and nurses, they're just people that they're not perfect and you
47:57
want to make sure you you're feel good and have confidence
48:01
in, in what they're doing. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
48:05
So Craig, let me ask you this. What is your superpower?
48:10
Well, well, you know, we, we watched a lot of Marvel movies
48:13
back in the day. But, but you know, I, I don't
48:15
know that I, I claim in any superpowers.
48:19
I, I think, I think I would say if I had one characteristic
48:23
that's kind of helped me through my career is just, is, is plain
48:29
and simple, just hard work. I've never really been naturally
48:33
talented at anything. Anything that I've been good at,
48:35
I've had to really grind and, and work hard for.
48:38
And I think that's just what really what I've leaned into
48:42
over the course of my career, knowing that, hey, I'm I'm going
48:46
to work and I'm going to work consistently and hard every day.
48:49
And I'm probably going to outwork you.
48:51
And at the end of the day, I'm going to be in a better place
48:53
just because I'm willing to put in the hard effort and, and,
48:57
and, and grind it out. I.
48:59
Like that, I want to go back to the restaurants and because you
49:06
alluded to this earlier, Craig, the importance of the team that
49:10
you've got, right, like every great company has a great team
49:14
behind it. How do you guys approach,
49:18
especially in a high turnover industry, you know, retaining
49:22
and recruiting good staff? Yeah, and and again, staff is
49:29
everything for a hospitality company.
49:33
I've never, you know, a restaurant that's had problems
49:36
or if, if they're not staff, they tend to have problems.
49:39
So so you got to make sure you're you're getting that
49:42
right. And I think what we want to work
49:45
and make sure we're attracting the right type of talent.
49:47
And I think that goes back to our kind of our core values and
49:51
really going back to that, you know, then she only booked it
49:55
that I talked about you making sure that these people are are
49:59
hungry, they're humble and, and, and, and smart and, you know,
50:03
good fits for, for the company. Yeah.
50:07
Any, I know that you're not probably directly involved with
50:10
the hiring, but in your past there any good interview
50:14
questions that you like to ask that you feel like they help to
50:17
flesh out something in particular to to know if this
50:20
person's going to be a good fit? Yeah.
50:22
I don't know how, how good it is.
50:24
I, I don't claim to be the best interviewer ever.
50:28
One of my favorite ones to, to talk through is, is talking
50:32
about someone's success. But then what, what roadblocks
50:38
they, they ran into and how they, they, they overcame that.
50:42
And I think that's important because it helps you get an
50:45
understanding of, yeah, you know, their thought process and
50:49
how they're approaching problems because, you know, rarely, you
50:53
know, successes. They're just successes, right?
50:55
You, you've had to go through, you know, a bumpy road and and
50:59
then you succeed. It's it's not just a straight
51:01
oh, I did this and it worked. I'm glad that you highlighted
51:05
that because, you know, these are the favorite types of
51:07
questions I like to ask on the show, whether it's, you know,
51:10
with your current employer, Chef Tim Love love management or a
51:14
previous stop along the way. Can you highlight a particular
51:19
work challenge that you had to navigate and how it's has
51:25
influenced your approach to business going forward?
51:30
And I think I, I probably the, the biggest challenge is growth.
51:38
And that goes back to that, that Cheddar story that we talked
51:40
about a little bit earlier. When you, you know, growing a
51:45
company is extremely difficult and, and just making sure that
51:49
you have everything in place to, to grow that, you know, there's
51:57
a lot of, lot of work that goes into that.
51:58
You got to make sure you have, have, have the right team in
52:00
place, You have a, you know, a solid plan.
52:06
And then it, it's set up for people to execute easily.
52:11
I think if you have a, a process that it's convoluted or not
52:16
well, well thought out, I think you just end up in a bad spot.
52:21
So I think it's key of when you're trying to grow is make
52:25
sure that that's as easy as possible for the people you're
52:27
bringing in to that environment. How about some daily practices
52:33
that Craig either help you get your day started or keep you on
52:36
track as you're going? Sure.
52:39
I would say one thing that's really benefited me probably the
52:42
last couple of years is really just adopting really a, a
52:47
morning routine and just trying to be more active during the
52:51
week. But you know, really trying to
52:53
get up early, do some exercise is has been a, a great help for
52:58
me. So I would encourage anybody to
53:00
try to get on that, that, that standard routine and, and just
53:04
move more. I think it's it's a good.
53:07
So we talked a little bit about some of what the future of the
53:12
company might hold, right? You're going to take this one
53:15
concept and you know you want to produce more of them.
53:19
Anything else that we haven't given voice to yet?
53:23
I just, you know, from, from a growth perspective, I think you
53:25
know that Paloma Suerte is our focus.
53:28
But again, that's not to say that we, we don't want to grow,
53:31
you know, other concepts as well.
53:32
I think there's definitely room for more lonesome doves out
53:35
there in the right, right markets is the same with with
53:40
some of our other concepts as well.
53:43
So I, I think a lot, lot of growth potential here as as a,
53:47
as a company. Yeah.
53:50
Any exciting industry trends that you're keeping an eye on?
53:54
Well, I think, you know, we, we touched on the 1, you know, the
53:56
AI, I think that's the one that that's most exciting about that.
53:59
Everybody's talking about that. It's got got a lot of potential.
54:03
Other than that, you know, hospitality is, you know, it's
54:05
pretty boring. It's it is, it's pretty, I mean,
54:08
it's you know, you got to take care of your guests and you got
54:11
to give them good food and make sure they have have a good
54:14
environment. And if you're doing those
54:16
things, you know, I think that's kind of timeless throughout
54:19
hospitality, that if you're doing those, you can succeed.
54:22
OK. What's your favorite thing to do
54:23
outside of work, Craig? Oh yeah, that's funny.
54:28
We were talking about that. Just my wife and I were talking
54:30
about that just the other of the day is that, you know, for so
54:33
many years we have, you know, 3 kids, you know, and for so long
54:38
that that's what kind of been our weekend is, you know, going
54:40
to soccer games or dance recitals or dance competitions.
54:44
And now, you know, our, our youngest is, goes into high
54:47
school next year. So we're almost at the end of,
54:49
you know, that that phase of our life.
54:51
So you know, what will, how will we fill our time?
54:54
So I, I don't know what that will be.
54:56
Maybe I'll get the golf clubs out of the closet and dust those
54:59
off or something. I thought you might tell me
55:01
Croquet. Yeah, it could be that too.
55:04
All right, I just got one more question for you today.
55:06
Craig, before I ask and I want to do 3 quick things for the
55:09
audience. First of all, got to point you
55:12
to their website, cheftimlove.com.
55:14
You can find all the concepts listed there.
55:16
Branch you off to their individual website so you can
55:19
check out pictures, menus, the pictures of the drinks that
55:22
looked amazing. So Chef timlove.com.
55:25
And we'll include a link to Craig's LinkedIn profile on the
55:29
show notes, but you can find him by searching for Craig Cooper
55:33
and Love management. Also, if you're enjoying the
55:36
show today, a quick comment or review on your favorite podcast
55:40
app goes a long way towards helping others discover our
55:43
show. So thank you for taking a quick
55:46
moment to do that right now. And as a reminder, you can get
55:49
your restaurant employees access to therapists, doctors and
55:53
prescription meds that, as paradoxical as it seems,
55:56
actually increases your company's net profits, real
55:59
gains that can change how a business is valued.
56:01
Contact us today at AD back benefits.com.
56:04
So last question for you, Craig. A year from now, what is 1 very
56:08
specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?
56:12
Yeah, again, hope to be celebrating continued growth of
56:18
of the company from a professional standpoint and then
56:21
just hopefully we'll have another great year.
56:23
You know family wise that you know that the kids are are doing
56:26
great and and and healthy and succeeding.
56:30
All right, Craig Cooper from Love management Chef Tim loves
56:34
Umbrella. I want to be the first to thank
56:36
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
56:39
I really appreciate you being. Here.
56:40
And Anthony, thanks for having me.
56:43
Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories
56:45
podcast. Thanks for learning with us.
56:48
And if one thing stood out, put that into action today.