Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / How Dana Canalichio Built FCM Hospitality Managing Morgan's Pier and Parks on Tap Beer Gardens

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How Dana Canalichio Built FCM Hospitality Managing Morgan's Pier and Parks on Tap Beer Gardens · 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 Kotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is Dana Canalicio, Director of Operations at FCM
0:22
Hospitality. They are a Philadelphia based
0:26
hospitality group that creates welcoming bars, restaurants and
0:29
seasonal pop up events across the region.
0:32
Their mission is to bring communities together through
0:35
great food, fun atmospheres and memorable entertainment.
0:41
Now under Dana's leadership, FCM continues to grow and has
0:44
received praise for their innovative venues.
0:47
In 2021, Dana was honored by the Philadelphia Business Journal as
0:52
one of their Women of Distinction, recognizing her
0:55
impact on the hospitality scene. Before moving into operations,
0:59
Dana served in other management roles, including General Manager
1:03
of Morgan's Peer, where she oversaw daily activities.
1:08
Now before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
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1:55
All right, back to our guest today, Director of Operations at
1:57
FCM Hospitality, Dana Kenalicchio.
2:01
And I can't say that last name enough.
2:02
I love it. Thanks for making the time to
2:04
Share your story today. That's great.
2:07
Thanks for having me. OK.
2:08
So, Dana, what first attracted you into the restaurant industry
2:12
over 20 years ago? Well, it's probably almost 30
2:16
years now, and it all started back in college.
2:20
You know, just went to college and started drinking and
2:24
realized this is social and this is fun.
2:27
And that's how I kind of got started into it, just drinking
2:31
at the frat houses. Drinking at the frat houses led
2:35
to wanting to get a job at a bar then.
2:37
Yeah, yes. So basically in college I
2:41
started working in food and beverage while I was in college
2:45
working for catering for the school and just being in the
2:48
cafeteria. Then that led to bartending and
2:52
which I got behind the bar. I realized I loved it, just
2:56
loved being behind the bar. It was my happy place.
2:59
I loved being social, talking to people and making the money, so
3:02
it was fun. That's good.
3:05
OK. So that's how you started out in
3:07
college and then I see here some point the door open to open to
3:12
go work at Palms Casino in Las Vegas where you were for a
3:17
couple of years. What was that experience like?
3:20
Yes. So I mean, I was at a point in
3:22
my life bartending, all my friends were getting married and
3:25
having families and I just wasn't in that mindset.
3:29
And I just felt like, where can I go make the most money doing
3:32
what I love to do? And Vegas seemed like the
3:35
perfect spot to go to, right? Like it's Vegas and I had been
3:40
there a few times as a visitor realizing I saw the money that
3:44
was just tossed around and I was like, you know what?
3:47
I I felt like I was a really great bartender and I wanted to
3:51
be with the best of the best. And I just picked up and moved
3:54
to Vegas, got my job at the Palms right away, which was like
4:00
amazing. And, and I, I was out there
4:03
about 3 years and I spent all three years at the Palms Casino
4:07
at Rain and Ghost Bar 9 Steakhouse, which were staples
4:10
back then. You know, 25 years ago, that was
4:14
like the hottest spot pretty much in the world at the time.
4:17
The real World was filmed there and every, it was like all on
4:20
TV. So it was like the hottest spot
4:22
to be at. And, and I started Barney
4:25
attending there. But when I went to Vegas, I
4:27
decided, I said I was like, act like you're going to college
4:30
again, just go 3-4 years, make as much money as you can and go
4:34
back home. And when I moved out to Vegas, I
4:37
realized I didn't love Vegas. It made me realize that I am an
4:43
East Coast girl, I'm a Philadelphia girl and I belong
4:47
on the East Coast in Philadelphia.
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So I did my three years, made more money than I thought I
4:53
would possibly ever, and move back home.
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It was a great experience. I'm glad I did it, met a million
5:00
people, celebrities, made friends, made money, so it was a
5:05
good experience. But living in Vegas is not easy.
5:09
Yeah, so let's break this down a little bit.
5:12
We're a great bartender already. When you went out there, which
5:15
you had to have been to pick up a job like that, 'cause it it
5:18
had it, it, it couldn't have been an easy job to get.
5:21
Am I right? All right, so when I was a
5:24
visitor out there, the Palms had just opened up and went into 9
5:29
steakhouse for dinner and the GM was walking around, he's
5:33
touching tables and we started me and my girlfriend started
5:36
talking to him and just saying, you know, we're we're bartenders
5:40
from Philly out visiting. And he's like, oh, well, you
5:44
know, let me give you a tour. Ghost bar was the rooftop bar
5:48
wasn't even open yet. I'm sorry, it was open.
5:51
Rain wasn't open yet. The nightclub gave us a tour.
5:54
The nightclub took us up. The ghost bar bought us drinks,
5:57
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I kind of mentioned to him,
5:59
you know, I'm thinking about maybe moving out and he's like,
6:03
well, if you move out, pop in and talk to me.
6:06
We'll see if there's anything going on.
6:08
And he just knew me as Dana Philly didn't know, you know,
6:11
'cause we kept saying we're from Philly and blah, blah.
6:14
So when we, when I decided to move out there, I went straight
6:18
to the 9 Steakhouse, straight to that manager said, hey, I'm
6:21
here. And he remembered he's like Dana
6:23
Philly. I'm like, yeah, he's like, well,
6:26
you know, it's the outside. Seasonal bars are starting to
6:30
close. We have to move those bartenders
6:32
in. I don't know if we have
6:33
anything. So he said right as we were
6:38
talking about it, the managers that run all the events and
6:42
private parties for the hotel started walking by.
6:45
And they're like, hey, do you need any workers?
6:47
He's like, yeah, start tomorrow. And I was like.
6:50
OK. So I got my foot in the door
6:53
with working events, Bartending and serving at events lasted
6:57
maybe about a month. I network with everybody I
6:59
possibly can to move into like the bartending position and and
7:03
then I just started bartending. I actually managed for a little
7:05
bit too. They they need a manager up at
7:09
Ghost Bar and Ghost Bar, it was at the time probably the hottest
7:13
lounge in the world. And they're like, they needed a
7:17
manager. And I was like, well, I'm
7:19
managing experience. I did some back in Philly at the
7:21
bars and and they're like, OK. And I'll never forget.
7:26
The pay as a manager, as apparent to what the bartenders
7:29
were making, was so minimal and awful.
7:33
I took the job because I couldn't pass up managing one of
7:36
the hottest spots in the country, the world, and then
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realize I am miserable because I'm watching the bartenders
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count their money every night and I'm living paycheck to
7:47
paycheck. And I was like, this is not why
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I moved out here. This is not fun to me.
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And I asked how I just, can you just put me back behind the bar
7:55
Like I, I'm just not happy with this and I'm going to move home
7:58
if this is what I'm stuck with. And they're like, no, no, no,
8:01
put you back behind the bar. And then I just bartended for
8:04
the rest of my my tenure there and loved every minute of it.
8:08
Nice, but Vegas was not your speed so.
8:12
Yeah, You know what? You either love it or hate it.
8:14
There's no in between. I like, I just felt that it's a
8:19
different world and East Coast, West Coast, different ways of
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life and different world. And, you know, every majority of
8:27
the people there were West Coast, you know, it's pretty
8:31
slow and easygoing and East Coast is boom, boom, boom and
8:35
this and that. And it's fast-paced and, and
8:38
intense. I felt like there was not a lot
8:42
of family feel out there. There was no history.
8:46
There was no, you know, like your neighbors, you didn't
8:50
really know your neighbors and you didn't spend time making
8:53
friends because it was so transient that the minute that
8:56
you try to be friends, someone, they're moving away anyway.
9:01
And so it just got to the point. It was just like, it was just a
9:04
lot of I missed what we had back in in Philadelphia and the East
9:08
Coast and that feel of family and history and generation and
9:13
that kind of stuff. So I did my three years, like
9:16
going to college again and. Came back with a little cash in
9:21
your pocket and now you kind of switched gears a little bit, I
9:24
mean, still in the industry, but you had an opportunity to go to
9:27
Aramark and then from there Sodexo.
9:29
What were those? So when I got back, you know, I
9:35
got into management now that I'd had been managing and I just
9:40
wanted something a little more stability, which is always, you
9:43
know, the challenge. It's hard to make that jump from
9:46
front of the house to Alex in management 'cause you're so
9:49
afraid of the money and the differences.
9:52
And but it's it's stability and I was able to manage some
9:55
places. And then I pretty much before
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the job at Moon now, was offered a position as my dream job,
10:05
which was running all the bars at the Lincoln Financial Field
10:09
for the Philadelphia Eagles. And I'm a huge fan, huge
10:13
football fan, huge Eagles fan. And when I had the opportunity
10:17
to actually manage the stadium and run bars in the stadium, I
10:21
could not pass it off. It was just like a dream come to
10:24
like my office was at the link every day and I would go down to
10:28
work every day and loved it. Unfortunately, back at that
10:32
time, the recession hit in O 9 and all major companies were
10:37
doing a lot of layoffs. You know, football season was
10:40
over. So a whole bunch of us got laid
10:43
off and I got laid off from that job, which then brought me into
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just kind of going back to bartending till I get kind of
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find something and figure out what I wanted to do next.
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And I did start managing at FCM at that point.
11:02
I'm sorry, I was bartending at that point and I was kind of
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going off and on. So then I just went back
11:07
bartending, but then went to Sodexo again, it was a catering
11:11
management position there that was very challenging.
11:18
Didn't really love the job per SE.
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You know, you're dealing with a university that had high
11:27
expectations and expected your staff to be, you know, Ritz
11:32
Carlton staffing and the staff that you you had to deal with
11:36
was unionized and I was dealing with more like McDonald's
11:40
staffing. And you were stuck in the middle
11:43
trying to, you know, manage your staff and make the university
11:47
happy, happy. And it was just completely
11:49
challenging. It was probably one of the most
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challenging jobs I ever had to deal with.
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And so that what's a big? Lesson that you were able to
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pull out of that challenging experience though, Dana.
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You know, what I've really learned is how to deal with
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union workers. You know, union.
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I mean Lincoln Financial Field was union when Aramark seduct.
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So they're all union. It's just I never really, I
12:14
never worked for union at that point, never dealt with union.
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You know, Palms Casino is not union.
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So just the trials and tribulations of dealing with
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union and documentation and workers and what you can, you
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know, what they can, what they can do and lack a better word,
12:34
get away with and not get fired. It was the most challenging part
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'cause it's they, you know, could do what they.
12:42
Want there was no accountability.
12:44
There was there was no accountability because they knew
12:46
that they were always going to have a job because the union had
12:49
their back. So that was probably the biggest
12:53
struggle when it came to the university in Sodexo.
12:58
So you weren't happy there? So how did the opportunity to
13:01
join FCM come? Back so that's so interestingly
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so FC Ms. been around that time we had several different
13:07
locations and when one of the manager or actually it was
13:14
director of operations back at that time had a friend that has
13:19
a Italian cafe Bistro that wanted to put a bar in and
13:25
they're like, hey, can we do you know anyone that can consult and
13:29
help build a bar in our lunch, our lunch spot.
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And the one of the guys that I used to work with at FCM at the
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time was like, hey, I got this perfect person for you.
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And they reached out to me and they're like, here's Dana.
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She has worked all different levels, build bars, hung out.
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Yeah, worked at different places from stadiums to casinos to
13:51
everything in between. She could she could probably do
13:55
it for you. So FCM actually got me this
13:59
consulting job in the middle. And then I was there for another
14:03
two years. And then FCM reached back out
14:06
and like, hey, we need a manager back here.
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Like, thanks for helping them out.
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But we, we, we're looking for management now.
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And that's when I was asked to go to Morgan's Pier.
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And that's what I started at Morgan's Pier.
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So tell us what Morgan's Pier is all about, because this is kind
14:21
of a special place. Yeah, Morgan's Pier is my baby.
14:24
Like Morgan's Pier has been around 14 years now.
14:28
It's a seasonal outdoor, you know, 500 seat restaurant,
14:32
entertainment center. Basically, it's on the water in
14:36
Philadelphia, most popular spa in the city in the summer
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because Philadelphia is a very shore town, beach town.
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Everyone runs off to the Jersey Shore in the summer.
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So if you're stuck in the city, you're coming to Morgan's Pier
14:51
and it's just full. It's like restaurant by day and
14:56
then nightclub by night and we have live bands and DJs and all
15:00
different kind of things going on, entertainment and things
15:05
going on like karaoke and and quizzo and again quiz night and.
15:12
Just like a like a trivia thing. Yeah, trivia night.
15:16
Yeah, we do a lot of events, so we host birthday parties and
15:20
21st birthday parties and 40 birthday parties and baby
15:23
showers and all that kind of stuff.
15:25
So there's always something going on, but it's just so
15:28
energetic. It's always busy, full of life.
15:32
And who doesn't like to drink outside on the water, right?
15:35
Like. Now what about the winter?
15:37
Is it still a pretty hot spot to be?
15:38
No. So it's seasonal.
15:40
So we are open April through Halloween, basically through the
15:44
end of October. So we're closed now at the
15:46
moment, just winding down, rethink everything.
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We take a little bit of a break and then, you know, get things
15:53
rolling and get back open up in April again.
15:56
But so Morgan's Pier is just one of many restaurants under the
16:00
FCM Hospitality umbrella. How many restaurants?
16:05
How many concepts are we talking about here?
16:07
Right. So right now we have 14 bars and
16:10
restaurants. They're all different for the
16:14
most part. You know we have all.
16:15
In Philly. All all in Philly. 1 is in the
16:20
suburbs. Just a little outside of Philly
16:22
in Ardmore. Lola's Garden which is a indoor
16:25
outdoor restaurant. But what I like I like to tell
16:28
people, you know, we have these big outdoor beer garden like so
16:32
Morgan's Pier and Liberty Point are our two biggest seasonal
16:35
outdoor very busy locations. We have 3 Mexican restaurants,
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Rosie's Taco Bar, Rosie's East and Juneau, so they're all
16:46
similar in concept. Then we 2 nightclubs, the
16:50
Concourse night or dance Bar, which is basically just a
16:55
throwback 70s, eighties, 90s kind of club that's fun for all
17:01
ages over 21. But you know, we, it's like now
17:05
you get the, you know, the 4050 year olds that are becoming
17:08
empty nesters and they want to go out and they want to dance.
17:11
And so we offer this spot, this place in Philly for dancing.
17:15
But it's, it's the young kids too.
17:18
Yeah, Dolphin is our smaller nightclub that just offers DJs
17:25
on the weekends. And then we have our two I I
17:28
called our two fancier restaurants, but they're just
17:31
casual dining, Lola's Garden and Harper's Garden, which are just
17:35
beautiful decorated indoor outdoor locations that tend to
17:40
more like an Italian menu and host a lot of events.
17:45
We have good event space in both of those locations.
17:48
Craft Hall is our Mecca of entertainment.
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It's a brewery, a sports bar, a kids playground located.
17:57
We have a stage area for fans and DJs and events.
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We host a lot of private events. There's always something going
18:04
on at Craft Hall. It's actually where my office is
18:06
located. So I'm at Craft Hall every day
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and it it's a lot of fun because it's just so much to do it.
18:14
It's very and a dog park too, so it's very family centric.
18:19
You bring your kids, you bring your dog.
18:20
Good place to go watch sports on TV while your kids are playing
18:23
in the playground. There's a game room with arcades
18:27
and pool table and like all different.
18:29
Stuff. It's just like a a giant Chuck E
18:32
Cheese for dolls. Yeah, it's a lot.
18:35
It's great. It's a lot of fun and then
18:38
Lucy's is our newest sports bar. It's a sports dive bar.
18:42
We used to have Lucy's back in the day and we kind of resurrect
18:47
it in a different location and it's just a a dive sports bar
18:52
with TV's to watch games. Within our basement there is a
18:56
club with a DJ and dance floor. So that's like the good spot for
19:01
the 21 year olds, the young kids, the college kids, they all
19:04
hang there and then the craft halls where all the families and
19:08
go. So two different, very different
19:13
locations for different crowds to watch sports.
19:17
So lots of different concepts, no repeats of the same concept.
19:22
Is there any thought about doing that?
19:25
No, because normally the way our concepts even come to flirtation
19:30
is my owner. There's one owner and he's
19:33
really the brain behind all the concepts.
19:36
And he usually finds the space. And when he finds a, a good
19:41
space, then we decide what are we going to put in this space?
19:46
You know what? Rosie's, Rosie's East and Juno,
19:48
they're all like basically the same concept with the Mexican,
19:53
you know, we do a lot of pop up beer gardens, so we Walnut
19:56
Garden, Liberty Garden and Parks on Tap and they're all pretty
20:00
much the same concept, just different names.
20:02
And Parks on Tap. It's a collaboration with the
20:06
city of Philadelphia and the Parks and Rec where we take a
20:11
pop up your garden and we take it to a different City Park
20:14
every week and we donate. Some of the sales back to that
20:20
neighborhood park to help with the renovations or things that
20:24
they need in, in that neighborhood.
20:26
And we've been going on at 7-8 years now.
20:28
We've been doing Parks on tap and it again, it's, it's a great
20:32
program that we do. And we, you know, bounce around
20:37
the neighborhoods and it's, it's and what?
20:39
Does that look like like it's more than just like a truck that
20:41
pulls up I'm guessing? Yeah, it's very labor intensive.
20:46
It takes a lot of big team to get this together, but we have a
20:50
like a kitchen trailer, a bathroom trailer and a bear, a
20:56
beer trailer. And then we also bounce around
20:59
with picnic tables and chairs and things to just fencing.
21:05
And we just plop it all in there and set it up.
21:08
Do it for five days, two day, one day, remove it the next day,
21:11
put it in the next part, oven back up again.
21:13
Wow. So it's very a lot of.
21:16
Work, but sounds like so much fun I I have to imagine the
21:18
residents of each. Of the neighborhoods love it.
21:21
Yeah, it's very casual. The neighborhoods love it.
21:24
Very family. Again, bring your kids, bring
21:26
the dogs outs, outdoor drinking, which everyone loves.
21:31
So so that's really good. And then when we have Walnut
21:34
Garden, Liberty Garden, they're basically the same concept but
21:37
stationary. So Liberty Garden is located
21:40
right outside the Independence Mall and the Liberty Bell.
21:43
So it's more like a tourist area that anyone's coming to the city
21:48
to do all the history and tourist things in the city of
21:51
Philadelphia. We're right there and it's a pop
21:52
up your garden. You come for lunch and cocktails
21:56
while you're walking around. Walnut Garden is located in the
22:02
middle of Center City. Rittenhouse Square, which is
22:05
really the Mecca of Center City, and Walnut Garden has a really
22:10
unique story. It's pretty cool.
22:13
It was just an empty lot in the middle of the block in downtown
22:18
Philadelphia. And what was in this, this empty
22:21
lot was a McDonald's, A a McDonald's, a Mellon Bank, like
22:29
a bank and a shoe store. And during the pandemic and the
22:35
riots in 2020, these three stores were burned down and in
22:40
these three stores, so that this lot became this empty lot.
22:44
And it was empty for three years, just building up trash in
22:49
the middle of a very nice predominant area in Center City
22:53
shopping Mecca. And my owner just got this idea
22:57
is like, let's take this lot and let's just throw a pop up beer
23:00
garden in there and see what happens.
23:04
And the neighborhood and everyone just really was drawn
23:07
to it. And now we're on our fourth year
23:11
and we're still open even though it's all outdoor, but we have a
23:13
heated tent and we're doing this huge like winter Wonderland,
23:17
like Christmas pop up. So it's a great location.
23:20
We'll have that open till next week and then we shut down.
23:23
For any thoughts to make a permanent structure there, make
23:25
it year round. You know, it just gets too cold
23:28
in Philadelphia. It's just freezing.
23:30
And when? But like an indoor structure, if
23:32
people like coming to the air. And need a tense but people just
23:36
aren't out and about like majority of our business.
23:40
Is also just hunker down during the winter, you don't see
23:42
anybody. Yeah, yeah.
23:44
Like Philly hibernates, you know, so no one wants to be cold
23:48
and we hibernate. The only time that we actually
23:50
come out in January, February is for football with playoffs and
23:54
Super Bowls, you know, so, so that keeps the city thriving now
23:59
that we actually have a good football team.
24:01
But before that, we hibernated. And you don't see each other
24:04
again until like April. Exactly.
24:07
Gotcha. So lots of really cool, fun
24:10
concepts that you've described there.
24:13
As somebody goes from one of these different locations to
24:17
another, is there a common thread that they would notice?
24:25
I mean, yeah, most they're we're very casual, right?
24:28
There's nothing, there's nothing uptight, there's nothing stuffy.
24:33
It's all, you know, we don't have dress codes where like some
24:37
of the nightclubs have dress codes.
24:38
And it's really we're just all interested in having social
24:44
spaces. Like that's our biggest concept
24:48
that we just find social spaces, a place, an area for people to
24:52
just congregate, to meet, to mingle, to socialize.
24:56
And that's kind of always was, you know, you, you, it's
24:59
important to have good food and good drinks, but to have an
25:02
atmosphere where people can to be social and enjoy life.
25:08
That's kind of what we really strive for.
25:11
So yes, they're all experiences at all locations, you know, but
25:18
some tend to different age groups.
25:20
And, and that's the biggest thing, you know, like if you're
25:24
going going out to watch an Eagles game, you have kids,
25:27
you're going to go to Craft Hall, you're not going to go to
25:30
Lucy's, you know, but you're going to go to Lucy's.
25:32
If you're still that young energetic person that just wants
25:35
to scream and party and curse at the TV and yeah, then you're
25:38
going to Lucy's. So you know the concepts are
25:41
similar but tend to different types of of crowds.
25:46
Dana, what's the biggest challenge for you in managing so
25:49
many different locations? Well, so I mean, I have a core
25:55
management team at every location.
25:58
So I'm very fortunate to have good managers at the locations
26:04
that they're, they're on site, they're running locations, I let
26:07
them run the locations and I'm just here for support.
26:10
So I oversee all the managers and I'm just here to support
26:14
them. I don't micromanage.
26:16
It's more or less here's what's going well, here's what we need
26:19
to fix. What do you need help with?
26:22
You know, that's kind of what I do.
26:24
So I really put a lot of the success on my team and and my
26:29
staff and a lot of it is retention.
26:32
A lot of my managers have been with me for a very long time.
26:35
A lot of our staff have been with us for a very long time and
26:41
that's been very important to me.
26:42
I've always tend to hire within first.
26:46
So many of my managers all started out as, you know,
26:51
servers and bartenders and they took the plunge.
26:54
They want to jump to the jump to the dark side, I say.
26:58
And you know, and then they, that's where they're at now.
27:02
So internally, you know, it's training from day one, working
27:08
your way through the company, through the ranks, knowing what
27:11
to do. And then I know I, I know that I
27:14
can trust you because you've been with us a long time.
27:16
You know how we do things. There's times I have to hire
27:19
from the outside world, you know, because you we've we've a
27:23
lot of our concepts grew very quickly.
27:26
You know, we're open 3 three-year at one point and
27:30
there was just not enough staff internally.
27:32
So to, you know, to find management outside, to find
27:38
management at all obviously is the biggest challenge in today's
27:43
world. Anyway, after the pandemic, a
27:46
lot of people realized I don't need to be in the business to
27:50
make money. I don't need to be working those
27:54
hours and those late nights. I don't need to do this to, to
27:59
have a living. And a lot of people jump ship.
28:02
You know, after the pandemic, they realized that like most
28:07
people, they realized they had other talents and had other
28:10
dreams and took the opportunity for that happening to go ahead
28:15
and and find something else to do.
28:19
And that's what many people in this world did, right?
28:21
So what I'm finding now is nobody wants to be in this
28:26
business as much anymore. Meaning nobody wants to be at
28:29
the management level or people even don't want to work sort of
28:32
at the front line servers, bartenders, OK.
28:35
It's been very challenging because again, they, they, it's,
28:42
you know, it's a way of life. It's not for everybody.
28:44
I, you know, I think working in the industry is definitely not
28:48
for everybody. And you know, a lot of people
28:52
did it just to work their way through college and things like
28:55
that. And very few people make it a
28:56
career and most people don't want to make it a career now.
29:01
It's hard. It's really hard.
29:04
The experience is different these days.
29:07
The money is different. What I found is, you know,
29:11
people aren't friendly anymore and it's very challenging for
29:16
staff, you know, and I think that's in in any so people.
29:21
Weren't weren't friendly during COVID but they haven't come back
29:25
around. And they're worse.
29:26
And they're worse. Yeah, well, what we, you know,
29:29
it's just so everything is social media, right?
29:34
And everything is on your phone and no one knows how to
29:37
socialize and forgot how to socialize and no one's
29:41
socializing the way we used to. You know, it's so people tend to
29:49
be just not friendly. They forgot to how to be
29:53
friendly. People are very becoming
29:57
narcissistic and just all about me, me, me and very selfish.
30:03
So it's like you have to have what I want when I want it.
30:06
And I don't want this and I don't like this.
30:09
And instead of just being kind, they're just really mean.
30:13
And, and it's, it takes a toll. You know, it's the staff gets
30:18
beat up a lot and it's getting better.
30:21
You know, this is immediately like after the, the, the
30:25
pandemic and like things were getting back to normal, but then
30:28
I think people forgot how to act being cooped up for months and
30:33
months. And so that's what we found.
30:35
We found that people are just selfish.
30:38
So I want to address this from two sides.
30:41
First of all, from the employee's side, how do you
30:44
coach your team through those kinds of experiences?
30:47
What? What do you tell them?
30:49
How? Can you know when they always
30:50
said the customer is always right, Right.
30:52
Well, that's that's just not true anymore, you know, and all
30:57
you can do is support your staff and have your Staffs back in any
31:01
situations, you know, So a lot of times, you know, in the in
31:05
the service industry, you just always back down.
31:08
You always just apologize. I'm so sorry.
31:10
Here's another, here's another, here's a dessert, here's a free
31:14
drink will comp your meal, you know, and that's still out there
31:20
and that still is justified. But a lot of times, you know,
31:25
it's not about, it's not about the food and drink anymore.
31:29
It's about you won't let me in because I don't have an ID.
31:33
And then they're, they want to fight you.
31:36
You're like, but you have to have an ID, valid identification
31:39
to get into the bar. And because they don't have it,
31:43
you're not letting them in. You're the worst human being in
31:46
the world, you know, and it's crazy.
31:50
Yeah. So aside from that specific
31:52
example that you gave right there where somebody just
31:54
doesn't, you know, they're oblivious to the rules and they
31:58
think that they deserve an exception there, can you give us
32:02
a couple of other examples? Here's what I'm wondering, Dana,
32:05
is are there people who are being rude and obnoxious at your
32:11
restaurants that don't recognize that they're being rude and
32:14
obnoxious? Can we give people, some, I
32:17
don't know, quick etiquette lessons here on how to behave
32:20
when you're eating out? Many people are not self aware,
32:25
you know, people are not self aware of what what's happening,
32:29
but you know, that's how you coach your staff to just diffuse
32:33
the situation. That's the first step.
32:35
You just kind of diffuse it the the nicest, best way you can.
32:39
You just want the customer to leave happy, you know, so you
32:42
just supporting the staff and helping them to understand how
32:47
to diffuse, how to make the customer happy.
32:50
But I'll also, you know, belittling yourself because you
32:54
didn't do anything wrong some in certain aspects and.
32:58
So, from a guest perspective, what can we do to make our
33:02
server's life better? Let them know.
33:05
How do we let them know that they're appreciated?
33:09
Well, I mean, a lot of it, it's just, it's just human behavior,
33:14
right? It's just like human decency, is
33:16
what you're saying. Yeah, like just be kind.
33:19
That's all it is. You know, I mean it, it can hurt
33:21
the tip too, but no, it's just be kind, you know?
33:25
You don't know if that person's with everyone's has bad days
33:29
now, right? Everybody has mental challenges
33:32
and bad days and you don't know what's going on in a person's
33:35
life. And vice versa too, with a
33:37
customer, customer might lash out.
33:39
You don't know what's going on. And these are just new, like
33:44
rules and ideas that we didn't have to deal with 20 years ago
33:48
in the industry, you know? And so it's just adjusting to
33:52
new human behavior, new patterns, new ways of, of just
33:59
behaviors in the way people are acting.
34:01
And, you know, and it's like when you have staff members that
34:07
are veterans, you know, as opposed to young, younger
34:14
employees, the way you handled things in the 90s just doesn't
34:17
cut it now, you know, like. What's the biggest change that
34:21
you've seen from now? Well.
34:23
You know, like say you're, you know, the chef in a 90, you
34:25
would throw pans at your, your employees, right?
34:28
Can't do that anymore. It's just the way that you speak
34:34
now, you know, everything is very offensive.
34:37
So you just have to watch what you say and how you speak.
34:40
You know, back in the day, you know, you yelled at someone and
34:44
now you have, it's not, there's no more yelling.
34:47
You have to be very professional because people get offended very
34:50
easily. And, and it's, it's, you have to
34:53
change just the way that you're managing, you know, because if
34:57
your employee is having a bad day or a mental day and you just
35:01
have to, you know, you, you want to be sincere to it, you want to
35:08
understand, but you also have a job to do and you got to get the
35:11
job done. So you're, you're in there, just
35:13
do what you need to do. So for me, it's coaching by
35:17
staff, how to handle situations, coaching the managers, how to
35:20
handle situations with the servers and, you know, front of
35:24
house. And it's just a very different
35:30
way of doing things than it used to be.
35:32
And it's all changed and it's a challenge.
35:36
I want to talk about the award that you won Philadelphia
35:40
Business Journal Woman of Distinction honoree in 2021.
35:45
What led to that recognition, Dana?
35:49
You know, I was kind of surprised, but at the time, our
35:55
PR manager thought that this was for everything that we were
36:00
doing during the pandemic and our employees and staffing.
36:07
I think that's what really led to it.
36:09
One thing I, I noticed the biggest challenge obviously for
36:12
everyone during the pandemic is, you know, what do we do?
36:16
No one knew what to do and what my owner was all about and LED
36:23
me to be all about. It was all about making sure our
36:26
staff was OK, making sure the employees were OK, you know, on
36:30
that. I call it the D-Day where we had
36:33
to shut down all the bars and restaurants and I had to lay off
36:36
my staff. And at the time, I had over 400
36:38
people on staff. And I'm just like, wow.
36:42
Like it was the most horrible day ever, right?
36:45
You're laying off, shutting down all your restaurants.
36:48
You don't know what's happening. And then as things came along
36:52
and, you know, and we realized, OK, here's what we got to do.
36:56
And then the city's, you know, had so many rules and
36:59
regulations of what you were allowed to do and how you could
37:01
get back, open up and, and get your business rolling again.
37:06
What we found is because we have a lot of outdoor seasonal
37:08
locations, we were already prepared for this, right?
37:12
We were already prepared to be outdoors, to be 6 feet apart,
37:17
whatever all the, the, the rules were at that time.
37:20
We were able to get people back to work, back to work safely for
37:26
what we know and we needed to do.
37:28
And so it was just coming up with the ideas and the
37:31
innovation of getting our locations open by following all
37:35
the rules that we had to get people back working, living.
37:40
That's kind of what I think what led to the award because we were
37:45
just all about our employees and getting them working and, and
37:48
being able to pay their bills and, and their mortgages and
37:52
their families and, you know, and eat.
37:54
And so it was and the rules were constantly changing.
37:57
So everything we did, we had to constantly change.
38:01
And when we finally got like a procedure in place or a policy
38:05
in place, here's another role and then we had to change it.
38:08
So we did whatever we could to make sure we could stay open,
38:12
stay in business and get and keep staff working.
38:15
So I think that's what a lot of that was geared towards at the
38:18
time when I was nominated for that.
38:21
So you guys had a lot of this outdoor seating already that had
38:24
you well positioned during COVID.
38:27
I'm curious, did you guys also make a pivot to doing a lot of
38:31
carry out like many restaurants did or was that not?
38:34
Yes, so it was interesting. Rosie's Taco Bar, you know, we
38:41
we weren't doing a lot of take out there at all prior and again
38:47
during the pandemic and during the time of the riots, our front
38:51
window got smashed and we're like all right, what are we
38:54
going to do? We turn that window into a take
38:57
out window like all right, and there we go.
39:00
And then our take out business became like 50% of the business
39:06
and it just grew and grew and grew all because of this window
39:08
got smashed and we're like, this is great.
39:11
And so, yeah, so we, you know, we took again, a very horrible
39:16
negative experience and turned into a positive and it doubled
39:20
our business. And now even Rosie's Taco Bar,
39:23
we actually took the property next door to us and made that
39:27
for take out only. And it's been a thriving take
39:30
out addition to Rosie's Taco Bar.
39:33
And nobody had to throw a rock through a window for you guys to
39:35
come up with that idea. Not at this time, yeah.
39:38
Yeah. So, yeah.
39:40
So I mean, definitely, you know, we just took all these
39:45
experiences and turn them into positives.
39:48
What is the future of FCM? Look, like you said at one point
39:52
you guys were, you know, opening up to three locations in a
39:54
single year. Are you guys kind of taking a
39:56
little bit of a breather or is there some more development?
39:59
So I won't, I won't allow my owner to open anything right now
40:03
like we decided, because even this past year, 2025 is like,
40:09
you know, we're going to focus on what we have, fix them, make
40:12
them better, whatever we have to do.
40:14
And then we ended up doing. Three more pop ups build an
40:19
outdoor bar at one of the locations and I was like, all
40:22
right, so much for no, nothing new this year.
40:25
So now we're, we're trying to start 2026 off with the same
40:28
idea of nothing new and just really pay attention to what we
40:33
got going on and how we can make them better, you know, is there
40:39
anything that's going stale? What can we do?
40:43
You know, working on our, really our marketing, you know,
40:45
marketing is so different nowadays with, with social media
40:49
where you know, for years and years, as always, newspaper and
40:53
radio and, and magazines. And now it's just all social
40:57
media. And listen, I'm in my 50s.
40:59
I don't, I, I'm barely could know how to use Instagram right
41:03
now, you know, so it's really just learning how to adapt to
41:08
the way of new marketing and advertising.
41:10
So we really want to bang that down this year and focus on
41:16
learning and and what can we do to help all our businesses on
41:20
that aspect. So I've never met your owner.
41:23
I don't know his or her name, but I know your owner.
41:27
They're they're an entrepreneur and they have trouble sitting on
41:30
their hands and not creating something new.
41:32
Am I right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
41:35
He I know he he won't stop. It's just funny because I always
41:39
on the 1:00 I could tell him no. So he listens.
41:42
No, but I mean, if he finds a location and we come up with a
41:47
concept, we'll do it. He's not going to hold back, but
41:50
we're definitely, you know, trying to really focus on what
41:54
we have at the moment and make them better.
41:57
And so as you look in 2026, a big initiative that you have is
42:00
really figuring out sort of social media, this new way of
42:03
marketing. What was a big initiative that
42:05
you guys tackled in this past year in 2025?
42:10
Again, adjusting to the new, like new trends, new behavior
42:16
patterns of what we learned. The drinking behaviors have
42:20
changed. Well, everybody is basically
42:26
doing gummies and smoking vapes and not drinking.
42:30
So that's a huge change in the atmosphere, right?
42:34
People are not going out and drinking like they used to, you
42:39
know, because they're all, again, they're just gummies and
42:41
vaping. So you have to adapt to that.
42:45
And so we're just figuring out, you know, what we learned is
42:50
drinking hours have changed in people's lives again since the
42:53
pandemic where you had to be in early and that still stayed like
42:58
that didn't change a lot. You know, bars in Philadelphia
43:01
close at 2:00 AM, but people are going home by 1:00 AM.
43:04
People are not closing the bars as much anymore.
43:07
And staying out that late, starting earlier and, and
43:10
heading home earlier is the new pattern.
43:13
And you know, because I remember in the nineties, 2000s, we
43:18
weren't going out till 11:00 PM at night, you know, and, but
43:21
now, so now you know, you focus on the earlier times and the
43:24
happy hours and, and you know, so it's, it's really figuring
43:28
out what the new trends are and drinking, you know, we noticed
43:33
craft beer has dwindled a lot. You know, craft beer went
43:37
through a very huge phase for five, 810 years, and now
43:43
everybody's just drinking RTD's, which are ready to drink cans
43:48
that are, you know, your vodka and clubs in a can, your
43:52
seltzers, your vodka, iced teas, everything's in the cans huge
43:57
right now. People's flavors it like the
44:02
tastes have changed. Is it a perceived like health
44:05
improvement? What's behind?
44:07
It, I think it's a little of all that the taste tastes have
44:10
changed. You know, everyone's on the
44:13
healthier kick. Let me have vaca club because
44:15
there's no calories. Yeah.
44:18
So that again, it's all the different trends and behaviors.
44:22
So you're just constantly adjusting to, to that and then
44:27
you know you have dry January. So now we're working on all our
44:31
locations, having a special menu of mocktails and things because
44:35
you got to stay with that trend next month or your sales are
44:38
going to be down. Can you guys do anything like in
44:41
the adaptogen space with these these mocktails?
44:44
Like I'm making stuff up here because I don't know what you
44:47
would put in. I'm like Ashwagandha or like
44:50
other. Sort of things furiative
44:54
cocktails without alcohol or now there's non alcohol alcohol like
45:00
vodka, there's non alcoholic vodkas out there and non
45:03
alcoholic wines. So you you're taking vodka and
45:07
gins and that are non alcoholic and making them into mocktails.
45:11
It's a little bit of a trend now going on here, so.
45:15
Keeping you on your toes. So let's shift gears, Dana, I
45:20
would I would like to hear about a big serious challenge that
45:23
you've overcome in your life. How you got through that and
45:26
what did you learn? Well, you know, I was thinking
45:30
about a lot of it. I, I kind of brought it up
45:36
earlier with my move to Vegas. You know, it's always kind of a
45:41
been a challenge. It's a, it's a special lifestyle
45:44
being in the business and, you know, nights and weekends and
45:48
the hours that you work, being a bartender and a manager and, and
45:52
it's not for everybody. So then that does take a, it's
45:57
challenging on having a personal life, right?
46:01
So it's hard to meet someone. It's hard to have a family.
46:08
And so I think, you know, at the time I've decided to move to
46:12
Vegas is because all my friends were getting married, all my
46:14
friends were having babies and I just wasn't in that part of my
46:18
life. So I was like, I'm just going to
46:19
pick up and move across the country and make money, you
46:22
know, And then I always thought that's been challenging to me
46:26
for a very long time, just being in the business and, and working
46:30
those hours because I couldn't go to parties.
46:34
I couldn't do a lot of holidays. I was always work, work, work
46:38
and I always work weekends. So I was not being able to
46:41
socialize, you know, and then it's always just being with the
46:45
people that you work with. When once you get in management,
46:47
it's like, well, I'm not, I can't hang out with my staff.
46:50
I can't drink to my staff. I can't date my staff.
46:52
Like this is things that you're not supposed to do.
46:55
So then it got even more challenging to actually have a
46:58
life and a social life. Getting in the management, you
47:03
know, it got a little easier. But now I'm extremely fortunate
47:09
for the position that I'm in because I do not work nights and
47:12
weekends and I can actually go out and have life and, and to be
47:19
with the family and things like that and date.
47:22
And so I'm doing that now. And so I think it, you know, I,
47:26
and I'm in my 50s, so I think I always struggle with why am I so
47:32
like, why can't I meet someone? Why am I not dating?
47:35
What is wrong? Like, so on a personal level, it
47:38
was just, you know, that lonely side of it.
47:40
I have a million friends. I still did a lot of social
47:42
things, but now I can really do it.
47:45
And life has been energetic and and exciting because I'm able
47:49
finally in a position that I can, can do that.
47:53
Yeah. As you look back on those
47:55
earlier years, Dana, do you have any regrets?
47:59
Was there anything that you would have done differently with
48:01
hindsight? You know, I actually don't
48:04
because I love what I do. I, I've been able to live the
48:10
life that I wanted to, the lifestyle I wanted to, you know,
48:13
like being a, a single woman. I, I, I was able to my, my
48:20
house, I have a couple of houses, I have a shore house.
48:23
I have, I've, you know, I was able to support myself, be very
48:26
independent. And it's all because of the work
48:29
that I do, you know, and again, just bartending and living the
48:33
lifestyle a lot. You know, I like good bottle of
48:35
wine. I like to go to a good dinner
48:37
and, and, you know, I worked very hard to have all this.
48:40
And so I don't regret that, you know, I mean, back in the day,
48:45
missing some holidays with family and stuff, it was always
48:49
rough, you know, But again, I'm in a position now that I get to
48:53
spend all the time with my, my family and my friends.
48:57
And so, so I don't really regret because I'm, I'm where I want to
49:01
be. And again, I love, I love what I
49:05
do and I love being in this, in this job.
49:08
And it's not for everybody. And I just feel like that I've
49:10
been doing it for a long time. I don't can't imagine doing
49:13
anything else, you know, like I'll be 80 years old bartending
49:17
at the diner or something, 'cause I'm not.
49:19
Yeah, like it's just, and it's a social aspect.
49:24
Met so many people and made so many connections and it's been
49:29
fun. It's just a fun job.
49:31
Any advice you would give for folks who are where you were
49:36
and, and sort of struggling with that?
49:38
I love what I'm doing here, but I feel like I'm missing out on
49:42
some of those social aspects because when everybody else is
49:45
having the parties and the holidays and whatever, that's
49:48
the time it's busiest at the bars and the restaurants, and
49:50
that's where I got to be. What I found is, you know, if
49:56
it's that important, make time for it.
49:58
So like you have to, if you're in a position where someone can
50:04
cover for you for that one night, so you could go to that
50:07
wedding, go to that wedding, you know, don't miss the important
50:11
things with family and life, you know, 'cause you're not going to
50:13
get them back. And I feel again, I've been
50:18
fortunate for years now I've been able to, to do that.
50:22
But you know, when you're in your 20s, you don't think about
50:25
it, you don't care. You're like, I don't care.
50:27
I'm missing Christmas. I'm going to go make tons of
50:30
money at the bar Christmas night.
50:32
And you don't like real, you don't think about it.
50:35
It's not as important to you, you know, but just if, if it's
50:38
something really important, don't miss out on it.
50:41
Find someone to cover your shift and, and do it.
50:44
And you know, and I always encourage my staff as long as
50:48
it, as long as it's covered and we're good, take off what you
50:51
have to, you know, my managers, if you need off, let's get it
50:55
covered and go do what you have to do.
50:57
Family's more important so. Dana, what's your superpower?
51:06
I all sit still like I am very energetic in the sense and I
51:10
don't drink coffee and I don't do drugs.
51:12
So everyone just says not understand where I get this
51:16
energy that I could be out all day, all night, work everyday,
51:21
I'm doing something. If it's going to a football
51:23
game, a basketball game, a concert or out to dinner.
51:27
It's just the the energy to just barely sleep and go out every
51:33
day. So I think everyone's always
51:36
asking me, how do you have this energy to do this?
51:39
But you only live once. You know, that's all.
51:41
I feel like you and you have the opportunity to do it.
51:44
Just do it. You're like the Energizer Bunny.
51:49
Yeah, without the coffee. I do drink a lot of wine though.
51:53
Wine. Wine works.
51:55
Wine gives you energy. Yeah, well, I say, you know,
52:01
everyone just says you're again, I'm in my 50s and I feel
52:05
younger. And I was like, well, I drink a
52:06
lot of wine. It preserves.
52:09
I like that, you know, sometimes when we have when we make a
52:14
mistake in the moment, it can feel like a big set back.
52:18
But when we look back at it in hindsight, we have some
52:23
gratitude for it becomes, you know, a teacher to us.
52:26
Can you think of a moment like that for you?
52:38
A moment that felt like a mistake or a misstep at the time
52:42
that now you look back at, you're like, oh, actually kind
52:44
of glad that happened. That steered me in a different
52:46
direction or taught me a lesson that ended up being really
52:49
helpful to me later on. I don't know.
53:02
Nothing comes to mind. Yeah, sorry.
53:05
No, that's fine, we pass it. How about how about some daily
53:11
practices or habits, Things that help you start your day or keep
53:15
you on track? Well, you know, a lot of what I
53:22
do right now is very e-mail based and organized, being
53:28
organized. And I just feel like I wake up
53:33
every day and right away I just kind of roll over and I'm like,
53:36
all right, any, any fires I have to put out from the night
53:38
before, you know, so I don't even get out of bed and I'm
53:42
already checking my emails to make sure nothing burned down
53:46
the night. Everyone's OK, nothing broke,
53:52
whatever it is. And you know, I kind of start
53:55
off my day. It's probably not the best way
53:57
to start off the day because then I get angry sometimes, you
54:00
know, like you start off and you're checking your emails and
54:03
then you see that one bad review.
54:05
And I'm like, here we go. So I'm going to start my day
54:07
with one star review because of this, this, this.
54:10
And but it's just, I'm still writing things down constantly,
54:18
you know, and just to stay organized.
54:22
So routines, it's just again, it's just routine.
54:29
Every day I roll over, check the weather, make sure, check the.
54:32
Weather check the e-mail. Get angry at the One Star
54:36
reviews. The outdoor locations, the city.
54:37
All right, It's gonna rain today.
54:39
You know, it's all again. It's the minute I wake up.
54:42
It's work. Yeah, yeah.
54:44
Which is fine. Well, what's what's something
54:46
fun that you like to do outside of work we haven't already
54:48
talked about? Well, like I said, I'm a huge
54:52
sports fan. So Eagles.
54:54
Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, Sixers.
54:59
But I'm a huge Eagles fan. I very fortunate I live right
55:03
next door to the stadium. So the tailgate party's at my
55:08
house and everyone comes over and then we just walk over to
55:12
the stadium for game time. I travel to a lot of weight
55:16
games, so I love to travel and I use sports as a reason to go
55:22
visit a city, you know, So wherever the Eagles are playing,
55:25
we'll fly there to go to the game, but then experience the
55:29
city. That's kind of, you know, that I
55:32
do use these Eagles as an excuse.
55:34
You know, we just went to LA last week for the game and and
55:39
my goal is to go to every football stadium and I have 3
55:43
left. Oh, which are they?
55:45
Three being both Ohio's so Cleveland and Cincinnati.
55:50
Come hang out with us. And and Buffalo and we play
55:53
Buffalo in two weeks and I'm planning on going finally if I
55:58
don't have to dig my seat out of the snow.
56:00
So, which means that you've. Saved the best for last.
56:04
You're gonna come to Cleveland and Cincinnati.
56:06
Come visit me, yeah? So I mean, so that's really a
56:11
lot of my life if it revolves around traveling and football.
56:16
Fun stuff. Well, Dana, I've just got one
56:19
more question for you today, but before I ask it, I want to do 3
56:22
quick things. First of all, anybody who wants
56:25
to get in touch with or learn more about what they're doing
56:29
here at FCM, go to fcmhospitality.com.
56:33
It's a great launchpad to each of the individual websites for
56:38
all of their restaurant and you can learn more about what they
56:41
do. Get in touch with them, reach
56:43
out to ask any questions there. Also, as a reminder, if you want
56:47
to get more restaurant employees access to benefits that actually
56:52
carries a financial upside for the company, reach out to us at
56:54
AD back benefits.com. Finally, if you'll take just a
56:58
moment and leave a comment or review on your favorite podcast
57:02
app to hold a special place in my heart forever.
57:04
Thank you very much. So last question for you, Dana.
57:08
A year from now, you and I reconnect and you are
57:12
celebrating something big. What's that big thing you're
57:14
celebrating one year from today? Yeah, probably opening another
57:19
restaurant. Even though you said that's off
57:22
the table for 26. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
57:27
Hopefully an Eagles Super Bowl and a yeah, you know, just
57:32
another successful year here at FCM.
57:36
We're we're just started going through numbers for the year and
57:41
see you know what, what our successes were.
57:44
We did have a very successful year this year.
57:46
All the numbers were up at most of the locations, couple
57:49
locations we're down a little bit, but we can do to hopefully
57:52
get them back up. We're really focusing on events.
57:56
So definitely event driven. We feel like everybody's looking
58:00
for experiences now. Like that's like the culture.
58:03
And again, more of the the guest behavior is people are looking
58:07
for experiences. It's not just like going to a
58:09
bar restaurant. They want to have an experience,
58:13
have a party, focus on something that that they can they can get
58:18
involved in if it's like paint night or again, quizzo or
58:23
experiences like that where there's something for them to
58:26
do, you know, so at our website, all the locations, you know, we
58:31
have a concept for everyone. So business, you want to have a
58:36
business party with 1000 people, we can do it.
58:38
Or if you want to have a little bridal shower for 15 people and
58:42
everything in between. So I'm hoping that, you know, we
58:47
have another successful year even better than this year.
58:50
Awesome. Dana Kanellikio from FCM
58:54
Hospitality, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing
58:56
both your time and your story with us today.
58:59
I really appreciate it. Oh it was fun.
59:01
Thank you for inviting me. Folks, that's a wrap on another
59:04
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
59:06
Thanks for learning with us today.