Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / The Five Senses of Dining: How Steve Simon Built Fifth Group Restaurants

Transcript

The Five Senses of Dining: How Steve Simon Built Fifth Group Restaurants · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Codispodi and
0:17
today's guest is Steve Simon. He is the founder and CEO at
0:21
Fifth Group Restaurants, an Atlanta based company founded in
0:25
1993 that has become known for creating joyful dining
0:29
experiences at places like South City Kitchen, La Tavola and
0:34
Echo. Their mission is to provide
0:36
memorable moments through great food and friendly hospitality.
0:41
Under Steve's guidance, Fifth Group has been recognized for
0:44
its sustainable practices including a Green Food Service
0:49
Alliance certification and pioneering Atlanta's first Zero
0:53
Waste Zones. Steve has spent over 4 decades
0:57
in hospitality, beginning as a dishwasher at the age of 14.
1:01
He is known for his focus on development, brand salience, and
1:06
day-to-day leadership of the team.
1:08
He also played a leading role in guiding South City Kitchen
1:12
through major economic challenges, including the COVID
1:15
pandemic. Through his commitment to
1:17
innovation and sustainability, Steve has helped shape an
1:21
organization that continues to thrive.
1:23
Now before we get into all the good stuff, today's episode is
1:27
brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency, where
1:31
we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that
1:34
are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your
1:37
bottom line. One recent client was able to
1:39
add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by
1:44
implementing one of our innovative programs.
1:46
Results vary for each company and some organizations may not
1:50
be eligible. To find out if your company
1:52
qualifies, contact us today at AD Back benefits.com.
1:55
All right, back to our guest today, Founder and CEO of Fifth
1:59
Group Restaurant, Steve Simon. I appreciate you making the time
2:02
to Share your story today. Good morning, Anthony.
2:04
It's great to be here. So Steve, you started out as a
2:08
teenager, 14 years old, washing dishes.
2:12
What key lessons did you learn from those early back of the
2:16
house days that still influence how you run your restaurants
2:18
today? Well, it, it, it, it taught me
2:22
quickly that it's not all glamour and it's mostly not
2:25
glamour, but it can be a lot of fun.
2:27
And there's A and, and you, you meet the, the people that become
2:31
the closest to you in your life. It's, it's a, it's a high energy
2:36
environment. And, you know, it takes a
2:40
certain type of person to to really excel in the business.
2:45
And you know, it's somebody that likes stress and pressure and a
2:51
little bit of craziness, sometimes a lot of craziness.
2:54
But but that's what it was for me at age 14, and that's still
2:59
what it is at age 57. So did you just stay in
3:04
hospitality like all the way through or you kind of got your
3:08
start there as a teenager, went off and did something else and
3:10
came back? So I worked in, you know, I, I
3:13
washed dishes at a couple of places, you know, 1 was a, a mid
3:18
defined dining place in, in rural Michigan.
3:22
So you can, it's probably more bad than fine.
3:25
And I worked at AI did work at a private Country Club and I
3:28
worked at a pizza place. And so I, I, I worked a handful
3:32
of places in, you know, I guess starting at junior high through
3:35
high school. I moved into the Country Club
3:38
scene later in high school and into college.
3:42
But my father was in audiovisual communications, Yeah, in
3:48
Michigan. So he did a lot with, you know,
3:49
everything he did was with the car companies back then, right.
3:52
But I thought, I initially thought while I was graduating
3:57
high school that I was not going to go into the restaurant
4:00
business because quite honestly, between the stories I heard and
4:03
some of the some of the hands on experiences that I had were you
4:09
worked with some unsavory people, including owners.
4:14
And not all of them were like that.
4:15
But there were, you know, there there are some stereotypes and
4:18
you know, as as usual, those stereotypes are true to some
4:22
degree. And so I had a little bit of
4:24
fear or concerned about going into that industry and saying,
4:28
gosh, can that really be a career with some of those
4:31
unsavory people. And and so no one in my family
4:36
had been to school before had been to college.
4:39
It was really important to my parents.
4:41
I was not a great student, but I was going to go to school and be
4:45
the first in the family to get a degree.
4:47
And because my dad was in owned his own company, this ought to
4:51
view to show communications. I was going to take electrical
4:54
engineering so I could understand the technical side.
4:57
He was more the business and sales guy.
4:58
And we were it was going to become a family business.
5:01
And so after three days at Lawrence Institute of Technology
5:05
in Detroit, MI, I came home on the third day and I said, mom,
5:09
those are not the people I'm going to hang out with the rest
5:11
of my life. And she said that's great.
5:14
She said, well, you better figure out who it is because
5:16
it's not me and your dad. So.
5:20
It only took three days to figure out that wasn't your
5:22
calling it. Really took one day, but I felt
5:24
like if I didn't give it two more days, I was really going to
5:26
be in trouble with that news so and I had and I had actually the
5:31
high school I went to actually had a vocational Ed program for
5:33
electronics. So I'd actually had three years
5:35
of electronics and and I really enjoyed it because I'm kind of a
5:39
technical path electronics like I, I like to fix things and I'd
5:45
like to know how things are built.
5:46
So I thought it was a good match, but it got it got too
5:50
heady too fast for me. So and.
5:52
And just take a quick step back, Steve.
5:54
What were the unsavory stereotypes of restaurant owners
5:59
at the time? Well, to put it bluntly, it is
6:01
like everybody's a drunk or a crook and and that's the, you
6:06
know, that's the. That is a.
6:11
Very. For a career you didn't want to
6:13
be that as somebody in your own business.
6:16
It, it was not very aspirational as a, as a goal to, you know,
6:21
because I, I, I guess I thought I would, I guess I thought I
6:26
would be in business for myself at some point in time.
6:30
And, you know, and the, and, and also the lifestyle, a lot of
6:34
these people, you know, because again, it was, we were in, we're
6:37
in a more rural area. And so it's like these people
6:40
worked 90 hours a week and, you know, they had their life
6:43
savings in it. And, you know, and you drop a
6:45
glass and, you know, you would have thought that you cost them
6:49
$10,000 and they're, you know, at that point in time, a glass
6:52
is $0.50. And so it just, you know, there
6:57
were there were some of those things that was like, God, this
6:59
is a pressure cooker. So.
7:03
So. So what?
7:03
Did you realize that you wanted to start your own thing?
7:07
So I didn't want to really go to school, but I knew it was
7:09
important. So I dropped the three classes
7:12
and I waited. Basically the three days was
7:14
long enough that I was, it was going to be too late for me to
7:16
enroll anywhere else that semester.
7:19
So basically I bought myself a semester that I could just work,
7:23
which is really what I wanted to do.
7:24
So I went to the Country Club that I had been working at part
7:27
time and I was able to work 60 or 70 hours a week, which is
7:31
what I wanted to do. And so the following winter
7:36
semester, I signed up at a local university and, you know, I took
7:43
general first term stuff that doesn't matter what you take
7:45
because everybody takes it. And so I worked throughout that
7:49
semester, worked through the summer, and I waited just long
7:54
enough in the fall to say, OK, I think I'm going to really make
8:01
it go at this restaurant thing. But I had waited too long to get
8:05
in fall semester. So I bought myself another
8:08
semester of working, which is again what I really wanted to
8:11
do. And, and so I started that
8:14
winter semester in at Michigan State in their hotel restaurant,
8:19
institutional management project in the College of Business.
8:22
And did you end up finishing that program?
8:23
Did you graduate from there? I, I did, I was, I was able to
8:27
stretch a four year program into 5 1/2 years.
8:30
And so parents, worst nightmare, first, first, first semester,
8:36
signed up for 17 credits. I think I dropped five.
8:41
And I I I did a version of that more than once, let's say.
8:47
OK, but you got to the finish line at some point and you're
8:50
probably working along the way. I worked almost all the time
8:55
throughout college, certainly all summers.
8:57
A couple summers I stayed in Michigan State.
9:00
A couple summers I came back home to my small town, Romeo,
9:05
Michigan, and yeah, and so I worked through and then my after
9:11
my between my junior and senior year, I I did an externship for
9:17
a guy that ran the Country Club down in down where I lived in
9:21
Michigan. He was up in northern Michigan,
9:24
which is a vacation spots town called Traverse City that my
9:28
parents and our family went every year for summer vacations.
9:31
And so I went up work at that Country Club and and I met a
9:38
girl and that girl ended up she had just enlisted to be a Navy
9:46
nurse. So she was finished.
9:48
So she was here ahead of me and she was going to be, she had
9:51
three months there and then she was going to move down to
9:53
Charleston where she was assigned at the Navy base.
9:58
So. So anyways, so that's ended up
10:01
being how I got to the South because I followed her after I
10:06
finished school and I guess the rest is history.
10:09
So when and where did the idea to come up to start your first
10:14
restaurant? So I so I ran a place called
10:18
Magnolias in Charleston, which was it?
10:22
It's still around and it still does very well.
10:25
And it was one of the earlier, this is back in 90, it was back
10:29
in 90 and 91. And it was one of the first like
10:33
more upscale Southern restaurants.
10:38
And so I was there for 2 1/2 years.
10:41
And the fellow that was the one of the owners there ironically
10:48
happened to go to Michigan State.
10:49
He was a few years older than me.
10:50
And it's him and his uncle who was the finance hero of it.
10:56
And so a couple years in, they had a falling out.
11:00
He left. And six months later, he and I
11:04
discussed doing something together and we ran into a
11:09
couple of local restaurant tours in Charleston that that
11:14
basically said, hey, we love what you guys do and we'd be
11:17
happy to finance whatever you do.
11:19
He said OK, well and he had a non compete for Charleston, my
11:23
partner at the time. So we took a couple Rd. trips
11:27
and we went to Charlotte, NC, we went to Atlanta, GA and we
11:32
picked the Atlanta, GA Midtown in particular and.
11:37
Place you'd never lived. Neither one of you had ever
11:39
lived before. Never lived, never been.
11:42
I mean, we and, and, and I don't know if you know Atlanta or
11:46
Midtown, but there is, you know, where, where our first location
11:51
is, is right in that core of the business district.
11:54
So there are a handful of, you know, office towers around
11:57
there. And so, and, you know, we had
11:59
scoped out the area, but the reality is we had missed a
12:02
couple of the neighborhoods and especially some of the wealthier
12:05
neighborhoods that were literally four blocks from us.
12:10
And so when we opened that restaurant, we thought we would
12:13
open it for dinner first to have a soft opening.
12:18
And then when we opened for lunch, all the business people
12:20
and at lunch we're going to come down and fill it out.
12:23
Well, what we didn't know is there was all this residential
12:26
around us and there was, there were very little, very few other
12:31
options in Midtown. And so on our third night, we
12:34
turned 150 people away 'cause we were that busy.
12:39
What an incredible start. You guys were off to the races
12:41
right away. It took us seven months to even
12:44
get open for lunch 'cause we're just we're getting run over
12:48
every day. Wow.
12:51
Yeah. And so right from the start,
12:53
you're like, we're on to something here.
12:55
So how long did it take before you're like, hey, let's work on
12:59
another spot. Well.
13:01
We decided to do that too quickly because, well, one is
13:07
that it took us forever to figure out how to make money
13:10
even though we were doing a ton of business.
13:12
OK, what is every other overpaying for 'cause we were
13:17
not as we were not as smart of business people as we thought we
13:22
were. I was 25, he was 28.
13:25
You know, we had both run restaurants, but running a
13:27
restaurant and really owning the cash flow and the P&L is two
13:31
different things. And all of a sudden it's like,
13:33
you know, and of course we went way over budget on the build
13:36
out. You know, I, our, our investing
13:38
partners did a certain, they did a very casual sports bar type
13:42
thing. So they spent no money.
13:45
We did something nicer. And so, you know, at that point
13:48
in time we said, yeah, the chairs are going to be $200 and
13:51
they said $200. We paid $30.00 for our chairs
13:55
and, and every decision was like that.
13:58
I mean, now you spend $1000 on a chair.
14:00
It's crazy, but it's, you know. Is that a massage?
14:04
Chair. No, it's a chair that won't
14:07
collapse when somebody sits on it for the third time.
14:11
Yeah. But in, in a, in a commercial
14:12
environment, it's everything's going to be really built to
14:18
last. Otherwise you're throwing it
14:19
away every year. So how long, how far into it
14:23
were you before you actually started turning a profit?
14:27
I'll bet we were a year. I mean, we were close.
14:29
We were teetering on break even six months in or something like
14:32
that. But I mean, if you knew the
14:35
volume we were doing then versus the fact that we didn't, we
14:37
couldn't figure it out. It was crazy making.
14:40
What were some of the big learnings along the way like
14:42
what dials were you guys turning to get to that profitability
14:45
state? A a lot of it was structure
14:51
within the organization and really having clear roles.
14:56
Let me back up. We, you know, we were young and
15:00
dumb. We're naive.
15:03
And, you know, and one of the things that was important to
15:06
both of us, we had both worked in the sweatshop versions of
15:09
restaurants where everybody just really had to grind it out.
15:12
And so culture was very important to us and the place
15:16
that we had run together in Charleston had that this was a
15:19
very family environment. And so part of that we brought a
15:24
lot of that we brought to Atlanta.
15:25
And what we realized, I mean, shoot, I'm, I'm realizing things
15:31
every day now that were mistakes that we made 32 years ago, that
15:36
it's like, Oh my God, if I would have done this different, it'd
15:39
be so different. And because what happens is, you
15:43
know, was that without some of the struggle, you know, holding
15:46
people, one of the things that I've realized is that holding
15:48
people accountable is something one that they need and #2 most
15:53
people really want. They don't say it out loud.
15:57
Nobody comes and says, I want you to hold me accountable.
15:59
Because it sounds like, you know, the, the flip side of that
16:02
is, you know, you're going to stand over them with a whip,
16:04
which is, you know, that's one way.
16:08
It's not a very effective way to hold people accountable.
16:10
But, you know, we were young and immature and didn't have, you
16:15
know, whether it's the emotional intelligence or just the quite
16:18
honestly, the, the years of leadership and expertise to
16:22
understand, you know, how you can hold people accountable and
16:26
it not be a bad thing. And, and that and the
16:30
efficiencies that that brings in an organization is, you know,
16:34
it's tenfold. You know, we had a lot of people
16:36
just, you know, walking around Kumbaya and, and all this stuff.
16:40
And so, you know, labor's always been the biggest expense in a
16:43
restaurant, more than food, more than rent, more than anything.
16:47
And so, well, that's already the biggest expense and we were
16:52
wildly inefficient with it. So you guys were overstaffed?
16:58
We were, we were overstaffed and the staff that was there wasn't
17:03
sure what they were like, what they were really accountable
17:06
for. You know, and nobody can really
17:08
be more accountable for more than, you know, four or five
17:12
things especially. And you know, and if you're at
17:16
an hourly level, it's different than if you're at a management
17:18
level versus a director level versus AVP level.
17:22
And so, so that changes a little bit.
17:24
But you know, to really say that I am the owner of these five
17:28
things and to be able to clarify that that's what we didn't know
17:32
how to do that. And so there was efficient.
17:35
So we were overstaffed. And even when we weren't
17:38
overstaffed, we were inefficient because too many people were
17:43
doing the same things. And it, you know, it's like
17:46
whenever you had three. People cleaning when you needed
17:48
one person to clean and another one to restock something.
17:51
Or, or it's like if everybody's responsible, nobody's
17:54
responsible. And so it's like, well,
17:57
everybody clean the restaurant, everybody makes sure it's clean
18:00
tonight when you leave, it's like, OK, well, there's nine
18:03
other servers working and I got a date where I want to go to the
18:07
bar. And so I'm going to slip out and
18:10
nine people do that. And all of a sudden you come in
18:13
the next day and it's like, this place looks like hell.
18:16
So so it was learning to create the structures and the systems.
18:20
And, and again, 30 years later, we're still, we still rewrite
18:27
these things all the time because we go, oh, this isn't
18:30
clear. And you know, and clarity allows
18:34
people to perform better without you having to kick and scream at
18:38
them. And it's clear to them.
18:41
They know what it is. It's like, these are the things
18:43
I got to do and I can do this many.
18:46
I can't do this many. I can't do that many.
18:49
Well. Now, what you said a moment ago
18:50
makes a lot more sense when you're like holding people
18:52
accountable is not only what they need, but ultimately what
18:55
they want. And they're not going to say
18:57
that, but they want to know, like, what is my job?
19:00
What am I responsible for? You know what?
19:03
What is it that I own so that I can feel comfortable in knowing
19:07
that I'm checking the boxes I'm supposed to check today?
19:10
So and, and we, and sometimes you go to the other extreme,
19:13
like, you know, we'd have these three page job descriptions and
19:18
it's like, it's like, who would take this job?
19:20
There's too much stuff on it. So part of it is, you know, and,
19:24
and it's also being clear as to this is the most important, this
19:29
is second most of this is third most.
19:30
And so it's a lot of that clarity.
19:34
And then you know, and you've got to have that before you can
19:37
really be good at managing food cost or managing labor cost or
19:42
managing beverage cost or your controllables or, you know, all
19:46
the things. There's, you know, there's 65
19:48
lines in our PNL and they're all and, and some of them really
19:53
should have some accounts on their.
19:56
Own. OK, lots of detail, lots of.
19:59
Yeah, lots of cascading structures and the restaurant is
20:03
the restaurant business is either death by 1000 cuts or
20:07
it's or it's, you know, it's like a fantastic ballet.
20:14
And so about a year in, you guys are getting some of these things
20:18
figured out. You're finally turning a profit
20:21
and then I heard you say that you opened your second location
20:24
too soon. When was that?
20:25
So we brought on 1/3 partner about a year in and the reason
20:34
we did that is because he was best friends growing up with my
20:39
partner. He happened to live down here,
20:41
also happened to be a restaurant guy.
20:45
And there was this company called Starbucks that was just
20:48
coming up in the Northwest. And they had read about it and
20:53
he had been out there. And so he, he had this idea.
20:58
He's like, they're doing this thing.
21:02
It's going to blow up. It's going to be the thing that
21:05
allows us to retire when we're 35.
21:08
And there was literally 1 coffee shop that I could think of
21:12
within 15 miles of Midtown Atlanta at the time, maybe 2.
21:18
But it wasn't, there was no Starbucks.
21:20
There was no Caribou. I mean, there was a local place
21:24
and, and it was kind of off in a neighborhood, you know, other
21:28
than I guess you could get Dunkin' Donuts then.
21:30
But there, there was no coffee culture.
21:34
And so it took us about and, and our original investors said,
21:38
hey, we'll do that too with you guys.
21:40
And we'll bring this guy in and we'll just all divvy up the
21:43
ownership and we'll fund it. We're like, OK, that sounds
21:47
easy. And so it was too easy because
21:49
we didn't have to really think about it.
21:51
And so we went about building this first coffee shop called
21:55
the Urban Coffee Bungalow, which was everybody's favorite.
22:01
So they say. And you know, it probably took
22:05
us nine months from the time we said we were going to do to get
22:08
it open. And, and one of the things we
22:11
said is we're like, look, the coffee shops that we've seen and
22:15
we had traveled to some other cities to see what other people
22:17
were doing. It's like they've got these
22:19
pastries and they're no good. And so, you know, we know fine
22:22
dining. And so we're going to hire a
22:24
Baker. We'll have him do the breads and
22:27
things for some and desserts for South City.
22:29
And he's also going to do all the pastries and we're going to
22:32
have sandwiches and we're going to have salads.
22:35
I mean, the food we were doing in this coffee shop was better
22:39
than food that you can get in most restaurants now, like like
22:43
a lunch place and it, and it was just everything was fresh and
22:46
scratched and things like that. But, you know, we were doing
22:49
$1200 a day in sales and half of it was coffee.
22:53
And people were coming in and they're like, you know, we're
22:55
making focaccia to put this roasted chicken salad on it.
23:01
And, you know, we're charging 550 for it and they were like
23:04
550 for a sandwich. Jesus.
23:07
But you know, I mean, this is when espresso was $1.50 and
23:11
coffee was a buck and. There was a mismatch between
23:14
what people wanted and what you guys were providing.
23:18
No, they wanted it, but it it because there was nobody else
23:24
doing it. They had no perception of what
23:26
they couldn't. Find they couldn't wrap their
23:28
heads around what you were doing.
23:29
And because we came at it from such a heady place that we were
23:33
so committed to doing like this level of coffee experience, we
23:40
didn't, we didn't perform at what it was going to cost to do
23:43
that. I mean, we had three full time
23:45
people in a bakery to sell, you know, two dozen muffins, a dozen
23:51
cookies, and you know, a few salads and quinoa this and you
23:55
know, two dozen chicken salad sandwiches a day.
24:00
You know, we have 3 full time people doing this.
24:02
And so it's like, God, why can't we make any money on this?
24:06
So looking back, do you think you were just ahead of the curve
24:09
or like if even if you were have to to have done something like
24:12
that five or ten years later, do you still think it wasn't sort
24:15
of the right market fit? So what I So what I left out is
24:19
that from the time we decided to do it, I told you that there's
24:22
no Starbucks or Caribou in town. The time we opened there was a
24:28
Caribou four blocks one way, half a mile, the other on the
24:38
same St. and then there were three Starbucks within a half a
24:43
mile. Oh jeez.
24:45
So we all opened up, you know, and they were doing, you know,
24:48
they were doing really lousy, but cheaper baked goods and, you
24:53
know, and it was the Starbucks name and the Caribou name.
24:56
And so, you know, we had the local neighbors that were really
25:00
committed to us and loved what we did because we also created a
25:02
really beautiful environment. And, and in fact, the guy that
25:08
made our furniture, this is how young and dumb we were.
25:11
We thought, oh, this guy needs money, he needs investment,
25:15
We're going to invest in his company.
25:20
This guy that made these artistic custom chairs so.
25:24
So at what point did you realize, all right, the this
25:28
coffee shop isn't the right direction?
25:29
We got to wind this down. South, six months in, when we
25:33
weren't making money, we thought it'd be great to do a second
25:35
one, so we did that. And then four months at 4:00, I
25:41
don't know, six months after that, we decided to do a third
25:45
and it was in the, it was an adjacent building to the High
25:49
Museum of Art, which is our big Cultural Center here.
25:54
And so and that had opened for a, a huge exhibit that that was
26:04
going to be there during the Olympics, when the Olympics were
26:06
here in 96. And so that restaurant made
26:09
money. I think we made $50,000 a year
26:12
on that. The other two lost multiples of
26:16
that and we said after that, we're like, we got to get out of
26:21
this. This is going to, this is going
26:22
to kill us. And so we ended up losing
26:25
effectively the amount of money that it cost us to build Cell
26:29
City Kitchen the first time. So along the way, as it's not
26:34
working and you're opening up other locations, is the thought
26:36
process that hey, we need to get to economies of scale because
26:40
we've got, you know, these full time bakers and, you know,
26:43
people making really great food. If we could spread that cast out
26:47
over a few locations, then you know, the numbers are going to
26:50
start to turn in our favor. Is that the thought process?
26:52
It was. And that's the disease of being
26:55
an entrepreneur and being in this business.
26:57
You always think if I do one more, everything's going to
27:00
follow mine. All the all, all the numbers are
27:03
going to go like this. And the reality is, if you don't
27:06
have a single restaurant profitable, you should not do a
27:09
second one because doing the second one is going to take more
27:13
of your attention out of the first one that you don't have
27:16
figured out yet. And anybody with a lick of
27:18
common sense says, of course, well, who would do something
27:22
that's so stupid? And I will tell you, everybody
27:26
that I know in this business, almost everybody that I know in
27:29
this business has made that mistake.
27:31
And some of us continue to make the mistakes.
27:33
Some of us are just wired as creators, you know, And, and
27:36
it's like, oh, I, I can see it, I can feel it, I can taste it.
27:40
I need to build this other thing over here and then that'll help
27:43
connect the dots. That's right.
27:44
And entrepreneurs like to build stuff.
27:47
They like to create and, and you know, it's one of my diseases.
27:52
It's like if I could be involved in a restaurant design and
27:56
construction project, or two or three of them at the same time
28:00
all day every day, and I didn't do anything else, I'd be in
28:02
heaven. Because I just like picking out
28:05
furniture and fixtures and fabrics and so.
28:10
And I love architecture and I like creating environments.
28:14
So the, the the coffee shop didn't work out, ultimately lost
28:18
a chunk of money. Has to be a rather significant
28:21
blow, not just to the pocketbook, but also to the ego.
28:25
And for some people, they go through that and that that wipes
28:29
out what they've got inside of them.
28:31
They can't go back to the well again.
28:34
They'll go and they'll find a job that didn't happen to you.
28:37
Well, we're just saying that we had the, we had the mothership,
28:39
which is 32 years old now. It's still the busiest
28:42
restaurant we own. It's the smallest one.
28:45
And we've got restaurants 2 1/2 times the size that don't do the
28:47
volume. And so, so to answer your
28:52
question, total ego blow, you know, and when you, and again,
28:57
at this point, I'm 20 now, I'm not 25, but I'm 27262728.
29:03
So it's like you're, you know, you're embarrassed.
29:07
What are people going to think when we close that when you know
29:10
the reality now it's like anybody drives down the street
29:13
and goes, oh, that closed and they just keep driving.
29:16
Everybody sits there and said they must be bad people or are
29:18
they stupid or you know what's wrong?
29:20
And so as you know. That's the inner dialogue that
29:23
goes on when that happens. 100% it's 100% it's like I I needed.
29:29
If you're in business for yourself, you need a coach or a
29:32
therapist as as part of your employment pool and.
29:39
I know you're you're kind of cracking a joke, but I'm
29:41
actually glad that you touched on this because I think.
29:43
This kind of thing is so. Important.
29:45
Yeah. Say, say more about that.
29:48
About me personally for that. Yeah, it's kind of what your
29:52
support system looks like, whether it's a therapist, a
29:54
coach, like a peer Group, A mastermind that you meet with.
29:59
So I've had all of those. I've got a couple of them now.
30:03
Currently, I work with a, a business coach that I met year
30:09
and a half ago and he's, you know, I quite honestly, I say
30:13
about a lot of these people like they saved my life and some of
30:16
them save it in different ways, but it's like I've been, you
30:20
know, I, I've probably worked with, I've worked with four
30:27
therapists in the same office, a husband, then his wife, then one
30:34
of their partners or one of the other people in the office.
30:38
The wife retired. I was in a, and those were
30:42
individual. I was in a group with the 1st
30:45
and the 3rd Co Ed group. She retired to the Co Ed group,
30:52
disbanded. Then I ended up in a men's group
30:56
that the two guys ran. Then he retired and the son of
31:04
the couple, who's also a therapist, started the group
31:08
with the other guy and and so it's like and.
31:12
What do you get from this? What's the benefit for you?
31:16
Well, a lot of it is for me personally, and this is just how
31:19
I'm wired. And part of this is the position
31:23
that I'm in because, you know, being the leader of the
31:27
organization, it's like I don't have a lot of people to bounce
31:30
things across, you know, and especially the, you know, when
31:33
they say it's lonely at the top, it's cliche, but it's true.
31:36
And it's like, other than my friends outside of work, which
31:40
some are business people and some are not, But, but unless
31:42
you can have somebody that really knows you and what's
31:47
going on with your personal life and what's going on in your
31:49
business, it it's really hard to get somebody to connect to, to
31:54
be able to communicate and share and learn and understand from
31:58
and, you know, and be able to be vulnerable to also because a lot
32:01
of it is, you know, some of the a lot of stuff you talk about
32:04
there and it's like you don't want to talk about it in the
32:07
free world. You don't want to talk about it
32:09
on a podcast. Sure.
32:12
You want to present a good face? You want a strong front?
32:15
Yeah. Yeah, and I don't even have that
32:18
so much as a from an ego standpoint, but it's like if if
32:22
I'm the leader and I'm and I'm depressed or I'm angry or I'm
32:28
what whatever I am, that sets the tone for the company.
32:32
And if it's, and if it's not a good tone, I mean, that's the
32:35
high watermark. Nobody's going to aspire for
32:38
above that, right? Because, because why would they?
32:41
I mean, some people are just naturally more positive and and
32:45
you know, it's, it's not going to necessarily bring them down,
32:48
but you know, it's, it's like I, you know, I and I've had bosses
32:52
in the past. I had, I had a boss in college
32:56
at a nice restaurant that I worked at and, and this guy was
33:01
such a salty, crotchety dude. And he was only AI thought he
33:07
was old at the time, but he was he, he couldn't have been more
33:09
than in his 40s. And it's like, I'm like, Oh my.
33:12
And and everybody's scared to death of this guy.
33:15
So he walked on egg shells around him.
33:17
And it's like that's, that's no way to be.
33:20
And, you know, part of that was just 'cause he was the boss and
33:22
I was young and I didn't know what that meant.
33:24
But, you know, and I know when I walk in my restaurants now, it's
33:27
like people stand to attention. And it's not 'cause I walk in
33:30
and, you know, start cracking whips.
33:31
It's just 'cause there's some implied there's something of a
33:37
plot implied about me being in my position.
33:41
You're an authority figure. You're you're the you're the
33:43
boss's boss's boss. Yeah, it's it's natural.
33:46
It happens. Yeah, and, and I think of myself
33:49
is the guy that used to wait tables alongside people.
33:53
And so and I have to read and, and that's one of the things
33:55
that, you know, to this day that I have to remember.
33:57
It's like I, I can't be as chummy as I would naturally be
34:02
to people because I, I enjoy people and I love getting to
34:06
know them and getting close to them.
34:08
But some of that I have to be cautious about.
34:11
So what's the name Fifth Group Restaurants?
34:14
What does Fifth Group? Mean well, everybody thought it
34:18
was when we opened our fifth restaurant and they said, what
34:21
are you going to do when you open your six?
34:23
And we're like, no, no, no, that's not what it was.
34:25
But when we went through the branding exercise and to really,
34:30
you know, to figure out, OK, what is this parent company
34:33
going to call be called? And you know, it was originally
34:36
set up really from a, from a business standpoint, you know,
34:41
to have, you know, one LLC that owns other LLC.
34:45
So you know, we can take care of that.
34:46
We can treat have the best tax treatment and corporate
34:50
protection. And so it was set up because of
34:53
that. But at that point, it's like we
34:55
were known as the South City guys and then the Urban coffee
34:59
Bungalow guys. And then the food studio was our
35:02
second full service restaurant. And then we have been a catering
35:07
company at the same time. So it, it's like, what are we,
35:10
we're the coffee guys of the South city, you know, And so we
35:15
worked with a branding agency that did a did a great job.
35:19
And, and one of the things we kept coming back to is we loved
35:24
the, we loved the number 5. And when we start talking about
35:30
it, the things that it represents, it's like the five
35:32
senses. And it's like, oh, well, five
35:36
senses are pretty relevant to what we do because, you know,
35:40
we've, we've always approached the, the business from a
35:43
standpoint of we do a lot more than food and beverage or food
35:46
and beverage of the service. And so it's really a sensory
35:49
experience and what we want you to have when you come in our
35:51
restaurants, it's all the five senses.
35:55
We love the stature of like a five star hotel or a five star
35:59
general. And so we, we, we thought of all
36:03
of those things and, you know, and then we thought about it,
36:06
the fact that what we do is like we're really the 5th food group.
36:11
So, you know, we kind of like stand over the four food groups.
36:15
So there were, there were a variety of these things that we
36:17
said, OK, we can spend this marketing could spend this.
36:20
And you know, depends who's asking.
36:22
We got a different answer every day.
36:24
So that so that's how it came out.
36:27
Got it. Curious to hear about the
36:30
environmental initiatives that you guys have taken on Zero
36:34
waste zones in Atlanta, the Green Food Service Alliance
36:39
certification. Why have these eco initiatives
36:43
been so important to you, Steve? So in 2008, when the world was
36:49
coming to an end. Big financial.
36:52
Crisis. Financial crisis.
36:53
That's right, that we were not spared from that.
36:59
And so we were really battening down the hatches and trying to
37:02
figure out what do we need to do to save our company, you know,
37:05
And that was one of the, you know, more than a couple of
37:08
times that we've had to do that. And we had never been through
37:11
something like that. We had opened in 93 and other
37:14
than the fact of the failing coffee shops, which, you know,
37:19
that was 13 years later. So, you know, out of sight, out
37:22
of mind, we had forgotten that we were not invincible.
37:26
You know, the city of Atlanta had always had really good
37:28
growth. And so we were very fortunate
37:31
that we just grew every year, whether it's same stores or
37:34
whatever, we added a store. And so I was called by a woman
37:41
that worked with the Restaurant Association at the time.
37:44
And she says, Steve, she said we're starting this this group
37:47
of people to talk about sustainability and we'd like you
37:51
to be part of it because you're a leader in the industry here.
37:54
And I said, OK, I said I don't have a lot of time.
37:58
I certainly don't have any money, but I'd love to hear
38:03
about it because it sounds like the right thing to do.
38:05
And, and I'm concerned, I'm nervous getting into this group
38:10
because, you know, I, you know, I, I, I assumed I was going to
38:15
be walking into, you know, 1969 Woodstock or something like
38:21
that. There's going to be a bunch of
38:22
hippies and Greenpeace and stuff like that.
38:24
And A, that wasn't me. And B, we weren't doing
38:28
anything. We weren't doing anything at the
38:31
time we might so. You thought you were going to be
38:32
pressured or guilted or, you know, shamed for what you.
38:36
I felt like I was going to feel stupid because everybody else
38:38
were doing all these things and we weren't.
38:41
So that's so that's what it was. So I said we'll do it, but we're
38:43
not, we're we're not going to be your poster child.
38:46
Well, I got involved and then I realized nobody else would do
38:48
anything either. Nobody knows anything about it.
38:50
But there happened to be this one woman that was leading it.
38:53
And as she said, you know, and so we, we started learning more
38:57
about recycling and we'd been recycling cardboard at the time.
39:00
But you know, it was, it was still a newish thing because
39:05
again, it was, well, it was 2008.
39:07
So recycling was a thing. But here in the state of
39:10
Georgia, because because it's always been a red state and
39:16
because sustainability is just still not a thing here or it's
39:22
not a consistent thing here and the state's never got behind it
39:27
there. There's no, it's not cost
39:31
effective. We've got the, we still have the
39:34
lowest tip fees in the country and so we have lowest.
39:40
Tip. Fees yeah for like a like a
39:47
where trash gets dumped and so we literally have states
39:52
bringing trash in and tipping it in Georgia because it's so cheap
39:56
to tip here and so there's so it make so because that's so
40:00
inexpensive there's no incentive for recycling and and then what
40:05
we ended up getting into is composting and so anyways so we
40:09
so we started really doing a deep dive on composting we
40:12
started doing or on. Recycling.
40:14
Then we then we learned about this company that was doing
40:17
something called composting. I'm like, what's that?
40:19
And they're like, well, we take all of your pre and post
40:20
consumer waste and we take it and we turn it into compost that
40:28
we can either get back to you or we sell or whatever.
40:31
And I'm like, oh, this is great. How much does that cost?
40:33
And at the time it was $150.00 a month location.
40:37
And so it was, you know, it was more money, but it wasn't,
40:41
wasn't going to kill us. Was it going to reduce your tip
40:44
fees at all or not enough to be? So it was going to redo Bart,
40:48
reduce our tip fees. It certainly wasn't going to be
40:50
cost neutral because we're also adding more recycling at the
40:54
time. So you know, one bin getting
40:56
picked up by 1 hauler is always cheaper than multiple bins by
41:00
multiple haulers, right? And especially because
41:05
especially if you have wet trash and the compost in particular,
41:09
you, you know, you can't say it will just come in a once a
41:11
month. You know, you got to do, you
41:14
know, with a compost, it's two or three times a week or else
41:17
you know, it's, it's bugs and it's smell and it's, you know,
41:21
just like your trash can at home.
41:23
But more. And so we, we really dug into
41:29
that and we dug into it because there weren't a lot of the
41:32
things that we were celebrating because we're just, you know,
41:35
playing, you know, try to catch up and stay alive.
41:38
And, and this was something that the staff really got engaged
41:41
with and they supported and we very quickly, within six months
41:49
became the poster child for the city.
41:52
So the very thing. You said you weren't going to
41:53
be. I, I couldn't imagine it because
41:57
I you know, 'cause you know, when you don't know what you
41:59
don't know, it's like, Oh my God, this could be so hard.
42:02
It could be so expensive. We're not going to be smart
42:05
enough to figure out how to sort trash.
42:07
I mean, I mean, those are things that go through your mind.
42:10
We need the fear that you. Don't know what you don't know?
42:12
Yeah. And so we kind of did.
42:16
There's us and there was another caterer in town and but, but
42:21
there was a few of us that really jumped on the bandwagon.
42:24
And, you know, Fast forward to now, what's happened is the city
42:33
and the state has never jumped on board.
42:35
I mean, they said they were going to.
42:37
I mean, we, you know, the, you know, city of the Atlanta
42:41
airports, one of the is like the busiest in the world, right?
42:45
They're one off. And so 15 years ago, 14 years
42:50
ago, just after this, is that right?
42:54
Yeah. So just after this maybe 2010,
42:57
they were building the new international concourse, which
43:01
was huge. And at the same time that they
43:05
were building that and we were, we were putting bids in and we
43:09
ended up with three restaurants in the Atlanta airport.
43:13
One of the things they said when all of the different concessions
43:17
were turning, everybody knew that comes in has to go 100%
43:21
compostable. And so we were like, that's
43:25
great. We can't believe it.
43:27
This is fantastic. Well, so as we got through
43:30
opening, you know, and every, you know, and the materials are
43:33
expensive, right? They're, they're a lot more
43:36
expensive than other packaging materials.
43:39
So I'm gonna remember walking through the airport one day and
43:42
seeing all the, you know, all the different QSRS and all the
43:46
people walking around with food and it's all compostable.
43:48
I'm like, this is amazing. And, and first, they, they don't
43:53
have compostable containers to throw the stuff away at.
44:01
I don't like what, what's the deal?
44:05
It's like, is this, is this like smoke and mirrors?
44:07
And so they literally didn't think about that.
44:10
So then they had to scramble to get all the compostable
44:13
containers next to the recycling next to the trash.
44:18
And then they didn't have the hauler figured out.
44:22
And there was one guy at that time that could do the hauling
44:25
because there's only one place. So they finally got him on board
44:28
and they and then the airport just abandoned it.
44:32
Oh, and part of the reason they abandon it was because the city
44:37
took the lease away from the guy that had been doing this for 10
44:40
or 15 years because some neighbors complained.
44:45
I mean, it, it's. And, and so we Fast forward now.
44:49
I mean, it's unbelievable. So there was a new guy that came
44:52
in behind him, but he had to drive the, the, the organics
44:59
like 2 hours out of town. I'm like, OK, so we're going
45:03
through the trouble of composting to be more
45:06
sustainable and this guy's got to drive 2 hours to tip that.
45:11
And I'm like, OK, this is dumb. So anyway, some other people
45:14
have figured out some closer things since then, but you know
45:18
the cost of Labor, the cost of tip fees, you know what?
45:20
What was $150.00 a month for a location back then now can be 8
45:26
or 900 a month. Wow.
45:28
So, you know, and Tiffies for trash and Tiffies for recycling
45:33
have gone like this at the same time.
45:35
And so it's, it's been a, it's been a frustrating thing to stay
45:40
really committed to because it feels like it, it, it just feels
45:48
like we have so, so many headwinds, you know, and when I
45:51
go out and visit my brother in California and he's got 4 trash
45:54
cans at his house, you know, and if you have too much in your
45:57
trash, you get fined. OK.
46:00
So it's, you know, it's different worlds and different
46:02
places. But so anyway, so that was an so
46:06
the whole waste stream, you know, picking that apart and
46:10
trying to do better with that was a big part.
46:12
But it also was water conservation because, you know,
46:15
we use, we use a ton of water in a restaurant.
46:18
Atlanta's got high water bills compared to a lot of places
46:22
because the infrastructure sold. But you know, we've got, we've
46:26
got restaurants with $4000 water bills every month.
46:29
And so, oh, so then it's like, OK, well, where does most of
46:33
that water go? Well, most of it goes through
46:35
the dish machines. It's like, OK, so then it was a
46:37
search for who makes the most efficient dishwasher or glass
46:42
washer for the bar. And so you know what you went
46:44
from finding using a machine that's that was a gallon and 1/4
46:51
per load, which doesn't sound like that much, but when you're
46:56
running 500 racks in a day, that's a lot of water or 1000
47:04
racks. So how much we able to reduce
47:05
that? So we were able to go from
47:07
machines that used like a gallon and a quarter to less than half
47:11
a gallon. Wow.
47:13
So and and this is my funny example, it's like when the the
47:16
old urinals that used to flush and they run for 5 minutes and
47:20
now you see them and that says you know, .25 liters.
47:25
I've seen some that are just like foam that comes down.
47:28
Yeah. So, so anyways, so we made major
47:32
reduction in that with which both save money, but you know
47:35
we're not used as as much. We've got a restaurant that
47:38
recaptures all of its rain water off the roof, well, off the roof
47:43
and, and patio and it collects it in this rain pillow that's
47:50
underneath the house. And we, you know, it gets
47:54
cleaned and it gets reused for irrigation at the restaurant.
47:57
But it also feeds all the toilets, so we don't flush any.
48:02
No toilet flushes are used with city water.
48:05
I, I'm going to guess that all these initiatives that you're
48:07
talking about, Steve, it's still costing you extra money out of
48:10
pocket. This is not revenue neutral.
48:13
No, no, the rain pillow cost us 25 grand 14 years ago and you
48:20
won't be surprised to know it has ongoing maintenance.
48:23
Of course it does. So.
48:25
So you're doing it because it feels like the right thing to
48:27
do. Feels like the right thing to
48:29
do. And some of the thing, you know,
48:30
it's like buying, buying a lower water use or a lower energy
48:34
dishwasher. It, it doesn't cost $10,000
48:38
more, it's the same price. You just have to find the right
48:40
manufacturers and then you got to find people that can actually
48:43
work on them because it's not the most common machine.
48:48
But you know, we've we've done a lot with high efficiency heating
48:53
and air systems. That is a that is a significant
48:57
incremental investment on the front end to get, you know, it's
49:01
kind of like a home. Do you have a 12 SEER or a 15
49:04
SEER or a 21 SEER? And they all have different
49:07
prices on them. And so do they pay themselves
49:10
back? They don't.
49:13
Do you feel better? Yeah, or I do anyways.
49:18
Yeah, I think that's great. Now shifting gears, I I'd like
49:22
to hear about a serious challenge that you've overcome,
49:26
whether it's personal or professional, how you got
49:28
through it and what you learned. Maybe something we haven't
49:30
already touched on. Well, so COVID was fun.
49:37
I mean, we had, we had come off of our busiest year ever in
49:40
2019, which I think was everybody's story in the
49:44
hospitality industry, some of some of the eclipse that sets
49:48
and some have not depending on your locations and cities.
49:52
But you know, we and we were on this growth path and we thought
49:57
we were going to really continue on this big growth path.
49:59
And so we hired three vice presidents, which we had never
50:02
had in the company before. So they were not only three new
50:06
roles, but they were the three highest paid roles in the
50:10
company. And then within a month of
50:15
hiring the third one, we closed all the restaurants.
50:20
It's brutal. And one of those roles, the VP
50:23
of people and culture. And so that person spent the
50:26
next two years literally communicating with staff about
50:31
COVID. That was their job.
50:34
And a little bit of hiring, but there wasn't a ton of hiring for
50:38
a while. COVID but yeah, that that was, I
50:43
mean, it wasn't supposed to be their job, but it's like there
50:45
was no people and culture. It was literally talking about
50:47
COVID. So that was that was a thing.
50:50
We were at a point we were very fortunate.
50:52
We we had had we had a good nest egg.
50:59
And so while we were in panic mode because, you know, sales
51:03
was at zero, we knew that, you know, when we originally thought
51:06
we were close up for COVID, we thought it'd be two weeks, it'd
51:08
be over and everybody's cold would go away and whatever.
51:12
That obviously didn't work. And even though Atlanta and
51:15
Georgia were a state that was allowed to open much earlier
51:19
than a lot of places, you know, it was still weird and
51:22
restaurant traffic was weird and people were weird and, you know,
51:26
some people are still weird about it.
51:30
But you know, the, the other person was ACFO that we had
51:36
hired and he spent a year or a year and a half figuring out
51:44
what were all the government incentives that we could get.
51:48
And you know, how to manage that and how to make sure you not
51:51
only applied for them correctly so that you would get awarded.
51:55
But then, you know, there was a, there was, there was a lot of
51:57
rules around, you know, reporting back to them so that
52:01
you either got forgiveness or didn't.
52:03
And so that was a big thing. And, you know, and just be, you
52:10
know, we felt like we were in firefighting mode 24/7 for more
52:17
than two years. 20/21/22 certainly all of 2021 really
52:25
into 2223 is the first year that we actually had, I think we had
52:31
three restaurants back to same store beating same store sales
52:36
from 2019. OK.
52:39
But you know, with 10 restaurants and, and you know,
52:41
one of the restaurants we opened, we opened three weeks
52:43
before COVID hit. So that was, you know, open it
52:47
fanfare, spend all the money on marketing and having people in
52:50
and like friends and families and all this stuff and then
52:53
close for four months. So and that and that restaurant
52:57
in particular has, has, has had a hard comeback because
53:00
reopening it's like, yeah, it ain't the same excitement
53:02
reopening there. So and I hate talking about
53:10
COVID. Picking at that scab here, sorry
53:14
about that. No, I mean, but it, but it still
53:17
comes up in conversations more than once a week because because
53:23
it's a reference point. I mean, it's like a mile it
53:26
it's. Pre COVID.
53:27
Post COVID. Pre COVID, post COVID, the heart
53:31
of COVID, but it's, it's up, you know, and for us, we were lucky
53:36
in 2008, you know, our sales went down a fair amount in 2008.
53:45
They went down a little bit in 2009, but we were already in,
53:49
you know, trying to really get tight mode.
53:53
So we actually had a little bit better profitability in 22,000
53:58
and nine, and then after that we're just smooth sailing.
54:02
So the reality is, you know, that event in 2008 that
54:06
everybody talks about as being the great financial crisis was
54:12
way less of a big deal than it was 12 or 13 years later in
54:17
COVID because it lasted so much longer.
54:20
And, you know, and COVID changed so much of how people eat, how
54:26
they go out, how far they'll drive for it.
54:30
You know, it's when it's when food service delivery went like
54:34
this. And, and so that has really
54:37
changed the whole business model.
54:39
And that's so much more of an impact to our, to our industry
54:44
than like the financial crisis was.
54:47
I mean, that was just, and I'm oversimplifying it, it's like
54:51
everybody just lost 40% of their investment, you know what I
54:55
mean? In it, in the stock market and,
54:57
you know, and certain industries got hit a lot worse, you know,
54:59
real estate got destroyed. But but I don't think it had
55:05
near the change to the how the world lives as as COVID did.
55:14
I don't think it was a nearest attack.
55:16
So, so, so that was a, that was a big one.
55:19
And it's one that we're still looking at saying, OK, what are
55:22
the changes we still need to make today in our organization
55:30
to make our business model more profitable and more stable and
55:37
you know, gives us the interest in willingness to continue
55:42
growing because at at 57, I have a different risk tolerance than
55:51
I did when I was 37. What cuts you through all that?
55:55
The uncertainty, the not knowing, the stress of the
55:59
business just shutting down overnight.
56:04
Sleep aids probably I I I probably self medicated with
56:14
alcohol a little bit more for a while.
56:17
Real common. Which, you know, alcohol is a
56:19
depressant. So let's see if you're if, if
56:22
you're having a hard time, let's take something that'll make you
56:24
more depressed. A good call.
56:29
But you know, I leaned on, I leaned on my life partner, I
56:37
leaned on my business partner at the time, I mean, and quite
56:40
honestly, we had discussed. Breaking up?
56:43
Or me buying a or you know. One of us buying the other one
56:46
out before COVID. And so COVID happened were like,
56:49
well, that's on hold. And so although we were in a
56:55
somewhat of a contentious place and ready to be divorced, it was
57:00
like you're all I got. And so even and even with that
57:10
damage broken, whatever you want to call the relationship.
57:16
We we had to. We had to count on each.
57:18
Other this is our livelihoods, you know, and we had at that
57:22
point in time, we probably had 25 investors.
57:25
We're down to I'm down. To 10 now, but you know, and so
57:30
we still felt obligated from these investors that had joined
57:33
in 2001 when we actually created the fifth group brand.
57:42
We were afraid that. If we lost everything, we
57:45
wouldn't be able to, you know, we'd lose their stuff too.
57:49
And, you know, none of them, they were, they didn't worry
57:53
about that. They didn't.
57:53
Think about that, but. That's one of the other things
57:56
it's like, how do we not only save ourself and save, you know,
58:00
we don't want to have to let go at that point in time, 900
58:03
employees. We don't want to have to start
58:10
our careers over. Again so.
58:14
So. So we really had to.
58:16
Work count on each other to you know, to grind through the
58:19
things that you needed to grind through to get through COVID
58:21
yeah last. Question for you, Steve.
58:23
Let's end on a high note. What are the the things you're
58:27
most excited about in your business in the next couple of
58:30
years? I'm excited about.
58:38
Where I feel like I am in the stage of my career and how I
58:43
think about business. You know, after having bought
58:47
the. The partner out it's been 2 1/2
58:51
almost three years now. You know, I went through another
58:54
I had to go through a growth phase of saying it's we're not a
58:57
partnership. It, it's now me.
59:00
And so now I, I've not only got a, I can't do my job and his
59:04
job, but for a period of time I got to do my job and his job.
59:07
And then I got to figure out who's going to do what and what
59:11
is really going to be my role. And you know, and it's still
59:16
changing. It's not changing every day, but
59:18
you know, every month I've or every couple weeks I've got this
59:21
aha moment that it's like, Oh my gosh, it's like, I've got to do
59:24
this differently. And so, and that excites me
59:28
because my whole life has been, you know, I've not only wanted
59:31
to grow a company, but I've wanted to grow and, and be
59:35
better as a, you know, I, I've wanted to be a better person.
59:38
I've wanted to be a better leader, a Better Business owner,
59:41
a better life partner, but whatever it is.
59:45
And you know, and this, you know, with all the curveballs I
59:47
get thrown every day, I have a lot of opportunities to, to do
59:51
that. But so that, so that's a big
59:53
part of it figuring out quite honestly, what is the, what is
59:58
the best market or markets for us to go and to.
1:00:04
And, and I'm not even talking about like locations, but you
1:00:09
know, we've, we've been, you know, we're talking with two or
1:00:12
three different hotels right now about doing food and beverage in
1:00:16
the hotels, whether it's the catering and the restaurant or
1:00:19
just the restaurant. And we've got a, we've got
1:00:21
experience with that. We've got a licensing agreement
1:00:24
at a in a, with one of our, with our original brand South City
1:00:27
Kitchen up north of town in a hotel.
1:00:30
And it's quite honestly, it's the most successful South City
1:00:33
Kitchen. We don't run it.
1:00:35
And so that's been a great thing for us from a business model
1:00:39
standpoint. It's lower investment, you know,
1:00:42
and it's leveraging our brand. And so people want it and
1:00:45
they'll pay for it. And that happens to be a a
1:00:48
property that's just done very well.
1:00:50
So it's been great for the hotel and it's been good for us.
1:00:53
And so it's like is, is that is that something makes sense for
1:00:59
us to to go after. You know, there's other things
1:01:03
that, you know, food is, you know, the, the world of retail
1:01:08
has almost been replaced by the term, by the word restaurant.
1:01:13
And so you know that you go to all these places and all of a
1:01:15
sudden it's like, Oh my God, there's 20 restaurants here and
1:01:18
there's only like 3 retail stores, but they're busy.
1:01:21
And so it's like, you know, are those are those places that it
1:01:26
makes sense for us to be put our, put our brands in, you
1:01:30
know, do we get into management agreements versus, you know,
1:01:34
just doing traditional leases? And so all of these have
1:01:37
different risk reward profiles. And so a lot of it is me taking
1:01:43
the time right now to step back and say, OK, what's the best
1:01:46
thing for our company? Because in, in addition to, you
1:01:49
know, I'm not going to live to be 100, but I'm certainly
1:01:51
planning to be around a while and you know, and, and continue
1:01:55
to, you know, grow the company. I have to think about the the
1:01:59
next couple levels of people below me that are.
1:02:03
Looking for. Their career evolution and it's
1:02:06
like, how can I set them up best?
1:02:09
I mean I was meeting with a with an estate.
1:02:13
Lawyer the other day and. He's helping me with my personal
1:02:17
stuff, but he's also helping. Me.
1:02:19
Make sure that the company is set up to, you know, Take Me Out
1:02:22
so that they're not stuck paying my estate forever after I die
1:02:26
with, you know, and getting nothing out of it, right?
1:02:29
And then, you know, who am I going to leave this to and who
1:02:32
do I want to take this to the next level?
1:02:34
And so a lot of it for me is figuring out what is that
1:02:37
foundation and who are those couple of people or a few people
1:02:42
and how do I give them a voice right now?
1:02:47
Because part of the reason I've hired them is because they're
1:02:50
smart And, and I neither do I have all the answers nor do I
1:02:55
want to have all the answers. I have to come up with all the
1:02:58
answers. So, so those are the things that
1:03:03
I'm looking forward to right now.
1:03:06
That's exciting stuff. That bell in the background is
1:03:08
like the that that's our timer. I was just going to.
1:03:11
I was going to say you couldn't. You couldn't.
1:03:13
Plan that any better? We line that up pretty well,
1:03:15
Steve. Simon Fifth Group Restaurants, I
1:03:17
want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time
1:03:20
and your story with us today. I really appreciate it, Anthony.
1:03:24
It's been great being here and great.
1:03:25
Talking to you and come down to Atlanta.
1:03:28
Let's see. I'm going to take you up on that
1:03:31
folks. That's a wrap.
1:03:32
On another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:03:34
Thanks for learning with us today.