From Fine Dining to Barbecue Empire: Chef Andy Husbands’ Journey, Success, and Lessons Learned
Chef Andy Husbands, in an interview with Chef Adam Lamb, talks about his shift from fine dining to barbecue and the expansion of his brand to six restaurants.
He shares his journey from San Francisco to opening Tremont 647 in Boston, then establishing Smoke Shop Barbecue.
Husbands emphasize the challenges of owning a restaurant, building a strong team, and transitioning from high-profile American dining to barbecue.
He discusses the significance of maintaining brisket quality and the cultural importance of barbecue. The conversation also covers personal aspects such as family, aging, and contentment in his fifties.
Andy highlights the connection between success and the quality of his marriage, emphasizing the importance of having a partner who is also a business partner. He discusses his journey into writing best-selling books, and his passion for writing and teaching.
Additionally, he commits to supporting local causes and community involvement in business. Chef Andy discusses limited engagement on social media, prioritizing work and family, and touches upon challenges in expanding the business, team building, and managing customer and employee expectations.
We conclude by discussing the complexity of pricing, personal aspirations, and the importance of self-care.
From Fine Dining to Barbecue: A Chef’s Journey
In this episode, Chef Adam Lamb sits down with Chef Andy Husbands to delve into his fascinating journey from the world of fine dining to the realm of barbecue. Chef Husbands shares his experiences and insights, shedding light on the challenges and triumphs that have defined his career.
Key Themes:
- Transitioning from Fine Dining to Barbecue: Chef Husbands discusses his pivotal shift from the high-pressure world of fine dining to the laid-back charm of barbecue. He reflects on the journey from San Francisco to opening Tremont 647 in Boston and ultimately establishing Smoke Shop Barbecue.
- The Art of Barbecue: Husbands emphasizes the cultural significance and culinary artistry of barbecue, underscoring the importance of maintaining brisket quality and the deep-rooted traditions associated with this style of cooking.
- Balancing Work and Family: The conversation delves into the personal aspects of Chef Husbands’ life, touching on family, aging, and finding contentment in his fifties. He underscores the connection between success and the quality of his marriage, emphasizing the significance of having a partner who is also a business partner.
- Writing, Teaching, and Community Involvement: The dialogue explores Chef Husbands’ foray into writing books, including their best-selling book, and his passion for sharing knowledge through teaching. Additionally, he expresses a commitment to supporting local causes and engaging with the community through his business.
- Challenges of Expansion and Self-Care: Chef Husbands candidly discusses the complexities of expanding the business, team building, and managing customer and employee expectations. The conversation also touches upon the importance of self-care and personal aspirations during a demanding career.
Join Chef Adam Lamb as he delves into Chef Andy Husbands’ inspiring journey, offering a glimpse into the world of culinary entrepreneurship, the art of barbecue, and the intricate balance between professional success and personal fulfillment.
For a deeper dive into the episode, click here.
Realignment Media
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Hey, chef. Welcome back to the show. I'm curious. What kind of restaurant do you wanna own?
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What's the name? What's the groove in the room? How many seats is it? How's the place smell?
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What kind of concept is it? What kind of food? How does the food taste? Do you see yourself
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working there all the time, strapped to the oven because you're scared that maybe someone else
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will fuck it up? Are you hoping that the concept is gonna be so strong that one restaurant won't
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be enough, that the demand will come, that you'll need to expand it to 2, 3, maybe 4 different
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restaurants? How are you gonna manage those? What kind of team do you have to build? If you've
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been in the grind for any time, then you probably had these questions going around in your head,
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maybe on the way home from work when you're tired and you think about how nice it'll be to finally
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be your own boss and not have to answer to anyone else. It's scary. I know. If you're like me
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and have had thoughts like this from time to time, then I'm sure you're left with questions.
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In this episode, I speak with chef Andy Husbands from Boston, Massachusetts, an acclaimed chef,
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pit master, and a dear friend.
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It's great. You mean, you must have caught me on a good day, though. That's that's what I see.
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I remember some not so good days, you know.
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We're gonna talk about how he went from fine dining to barbecue and discovered a secret sauce
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that allowed him to grow his brand into 6 restaurants. So if you're like me and you wanna know
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how to grow a brand and become master of your own destiny, then this is the episode for you.
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And we'll get to that and so much more right after these messages.
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People in this industry, you know what you've got, you know what you've gone through, and you
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know that I've mirrored that in my own path. Right?
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Yes.
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So, and, and, and so I think there's always just deep respect for, people that are doing the
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same things that we do, which is, I love it. I'm not gonna be like, boohoo. We have such a hard
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job and make little profit. I'm more like, it's an intense job, and it's worth it.
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This is Chef Life Radio, and I'm your host, chef Adam Lamb. I'm a culinary career coach dedicated
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to assisting hospitality professionals just like you to enjoy their careers without having to
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sacrifice their lives. I coach chefs on leadership, communication, culture, and relationship
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mastery. If you've lost your passion, purpose, or drive, you either wanna move up or out, then
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let's connect. Go to cheflifecoaching.comforward/discovery. And now let's get to the good stuff.
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So to catch everybody,
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chef Andy Husbands was born and raised in Seattle. He worked at several very high profile San
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Francisco restaurants. 1995, he took a motorcycle ride across the country and fell in love with
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Boston where he opened up Tremont 647. And right next to that, in the same location, there was
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a restaurant slash bar that was named Sister Sorrell. They used to do pajama brunches and taco
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Tuesdays and seasonally influenced dinner menu. When I met him, he was at the height of his,
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success in that location. And when he closed Tremont 647 in 2018, he decided that he was going
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to learn the pit master trade and ended up developing a concept called Smoke Shop Barbecue,
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which he's grown into 6 locations all across the Metro Boston area.
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Honestly, we start we started doing it. Chris Hart, who's our team leader, and I started doing
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it because I I had bought him out as my he was my partner in my restaurant, and I bought him
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out after a year. We were best friends. And and I think we both missed each other. It was like
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a divorce, and we wanted to get back together. And we said, hey, let's go do that competition.
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Him and I both love to cook. We both love to compete. We also both really love bourbon. So it
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was a really good, you know, good idea to do, and so we just started doing it, and we kinda
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caught the bug. We we got we got clobbered, by the way. We got clobbered for 5 years straight.
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Really?
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We we were arrogant and, you know, thought, oh, we're we're chefs. We're restaurant people.
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We know what we're doing. Right. And, no, we didn't know anything. And, you know, but if the
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community took us in, I remember that first competition we went to, it rained, our tent fell
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down. This guy named uncle Jed's like, come with us, and he took us over to his tent. You know,
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there's a warm fire, some bourbon, just good conversation, and it was just really good times.
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And so we we caught this. It wasn't just the bug of cooking barbecue and eating barbecue. It
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was the community, I think, that we really latched on to. Right. For sure. Yeah. And often people
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look at these, especially the the competitions, and think people are, like, vagabonds or something
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in RVs. But when you get to know these people, yes, some of them are chefs, and some of them
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just are professional barbecue people.
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Right.
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Some of them are lawyers and doctors and plumbers and everything in between and just people
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who are passionate about real good food cooked, you know, indirectly over fire, right, or wood
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or something. Right?
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So That said, that's a great that's a that's a great, description of it. And so you guys decided
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to keep going down the wormhole. And when did you decide that it would make a great restaurant concept?
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Well, what happened is we kept going down the wormhole, and we, eventually got sick of losing
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and, tempted to Chris. And we we decided to to win, and we have been doing okay. But what we
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did to win and I'm gonna tell everybody how, because we won the world championships. I should
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again, Chris Hart let us. I'm not the lead pit master on our team.
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K.
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And I write my books with Chris Hart, which I'm sure we'll talk about. So, you know, we we practiced.
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That's how we won. We we did couple of things. We practiced, which is like any sport you gotta
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do, and we we we do some science. We brought some science, like beet glue and things like that,
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which I don't know what to get into, but we did some stuff like that. And we brought some technology.
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And we have some MIT kind of people on our team that were able to kinda create technology that
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really way we monitored stuff and the way we figured stuff out was really kinda cool. It all
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kinda came together. We started crushing our our area and then, you know, eventually worked
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our way up to the Jack and won the Jack in 2,009.
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Now you're still running a restaurant at this time. Right?
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Yeah. Still running my American restaurant, change the menu every 2 weeks kind of stuff. But
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I had the restaurant for I had the restaurant for 21 years. Right. But around the year 16, 17,
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I was bored. I love my job, and it paid okay, and it was a it was a good job. But, you know,
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you do the same job even though the menu changes every 2 weeks or what have you, new people.
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It's still the same job in the same restaurant, the same place, and I just worked, and I wanted
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another challenge. I I I know this guy. His name is Brian Lesser. We partnered up. We we we
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started meeting and saying, let's do something together. That that was what we were gonna do.
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That was the plan. Let's open a multi unit concept together. That's what we wanted to do.
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Got it.
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And we both knew each other. We knew each other's reputation, you know, and we I thought I thought
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I wanted to do an Izakaya, a Japanese pub, because I freaking love them. The next question anybody
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should ever ask me is, what do you know about cooking an izakaya? And the answer is nothing. And
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Like, as if that's gonna stop you.
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Right. And, you know, it's after airing, oh, I can do that. But, you know, really like barbecue
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and Japanese. And and when you really wanna get good at something, you really gotta immerse
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yourself in the culture. And I think it would have been a it would you know, I'm glad I didn't
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do it because I you know, I mean, I'm sure I would love to immerse myself in the culture and
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go for something like that, but my partner looks at me and goes, why aren't we doing barbecue?
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And I was like, I had never thought about it. And there's actually a technical reason also,
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and I I I so give me a couple of weeks. Let me think about this. So I did some research. I kind
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of wrote out some menus, looked at other places, and then I started talking to the people at
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Winston Industries who make CVAPs. Yep. And that was the game changer that I was looking for
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because the best barbecue I can give you is the barbecue that's been out of my smoker, rested,
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and I give it to you. That's yep. Hands down the best. We all know this. So how do you do the
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next step? And CVAPs are are just a such a they're, you know, created for Kentucky Fried Chicken
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to keep things crunchy and juicy. Yep. And so that's what you kinda want. You want that bark
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on the brisket, but you still want it to be juicy. And when I started reading about it and learning
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about it, I went down there and worked with them. I'm like, this is the piece of equipment I
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need to help me kinda maintain that, you know, that that quality that I wanted. So, that's kinda
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how it went. I mean, it was just kind of like, you know, we opened up 1 in 2016, wild success,
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and we've opened up about about 1 a year. Mhmm. Since then.
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Yeah. All in Boston?
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All in the Boston area. So Somerville, Cambridge, but, you know, within 5, 6 miles of each other.
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Yeah. I was born in Somerville. And what do you think has been the biggest challenge as you're
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opening up a restaurant a year and there's a pandemic?
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Well, I mean, before the pandemic, you know, the biggest challenge is I didn't know what the
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hell I'm doing. And and and and and and I'm really focused on that part right now. I'm very
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convinced that there's many, many chefs like me, men and women, who are in their safe, late
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forties, early fifties, who have multiple units and may maybe the same style, right, you know,
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like IAF or maybe 3 different restaurants, 4 different style restaurants. And it comes to the
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point where you're not really cooking anymore. You're teaching and and leading, and you don't
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know all the stuff that business people would know. And that's my challenge right now, you know,
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is to learn how to grow a team, and I I've made some big mistakes while we're growing this thing.
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And when we got to 3 units, we actually, started to fail literally. Like, we were profitable
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day 1, unit 1, profitable day 2, unit 2. Day 2's open unit 3 opened, started losing money everywhere
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because we can run it back back and forth between 12. But 3, you can't you can't play zone.
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And so we and our training was awful. Our follow through was awful. And actually what had to
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happen is I had to reorg and basically change my entire executive team to people that were around me.
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Mhmm.
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You know, like a a director of ops, you know, culinary director, those people all had to be
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changed out because they were single unit operators. Great people. Love them, but replaced by
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people who know how to run multiple units.
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Right.
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Now arrogant chefs and owners like me when I was young, laugh at Cheesecake Factory. I wish
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I had worked there for 5 years now because the knowledge that these people have that I work
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with are are it's just unbelievable how they do it. And and it's more than just, you know, great
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food. It's really, really about team building and and and, you know, communication and how we
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do things and process. You know? It's it's really fascinating. So And
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it's and great systems.
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Yeah. Really good system. You know, I often say that if I didn't own the place, they'd fire
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me. You know, it's, Get
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out of our way so we can get that shit done.
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Right. I mean, like, at one point, I was in the kitchen, and I I jumped in the kitchen, and
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I wanted to help, like, put outsides and but he kinda froze. And the general manager looked
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at me and goes, Andy, can I talk to you for a second, Toby? I went to talk to him. He's like,
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you can't be back there.
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They just walked you out.
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Know you. So that's one of the interesting things is that people don't know me. Where at Tremont
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647, they knew me. They knew my passion. I was passionate, right, in which I no longer you know,
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they knew what I expected. They knew that I might go bonkers about something if that happened.
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You know? But here, these people just look at that's some dude who owns 6 restaurants, and they
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don't know me. So which is kinda cool because guess what I get to do? I get to walk around,
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shake hands, goof around with everybody. I see a problem. I write it down on a pad of paper
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or send an email out and say I'm seeing this. I'm seeing that. Can you guys just look at it,
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please? Which is
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Gone are the day gone are the days when you would try to actually fix the problem.
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Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Yes. I though I have a problem today, and I'm I'm we we could do some
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spotter reports, and I got one today, and it's persistent issue that's been happening. And I
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just that's my I really wanna just go down there and fix it. Like, I wanna roll down there and
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fix it, but that won't do any good. It really won't. Right. You know? Then I then I have to
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be there all the time. Right. That's just ridiculous.
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So you said something that I thought was interesting. You said, passionate, but but no longer.
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Do you wanna talk a little bit more about that?
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Well, I'm talking about I'm just phrasing it nicely. I used to be people would call me intense.
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You know, I would really focus in on stuff and look. I wasn't I wasn't throwing pans or knives
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at anybody, but I got, you know, I'm a product of an eighties, nineties chefs, and I used to
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be pretty intense or passionate. It's a nice way of saying I would yell and scream and stomp
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my feet like a little baby. Right. And, you know, I'm I'm not proud of that by any means, but
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I can own it. I certainly can own it, and I know that I'm a better man now. So, you know, so
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it's just it's it's kinda cool. I'm I'm still very passionate. This is this is the thing I love.
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I love barbecue. Barbecue is the coolest cuisine. I'll tell you why. It is it is the cuisine
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of celebration, family gatherings, get togethers. The way to look at it is nobody cooks a brisket
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for themselves. When you cook a no. I mean, there's crazy guys like me that do, but but when
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you cook a brisket, you you know what you're doing? 12 hours of love for those people that are
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coming up. You just had 12 hours cooking something for somebody, you must love them. Like, that's
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what that is about. It's so cool when you think about it. You know, it's not like you came over
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and threw a burger. And I'm like, no, man. I've been thinking about it twice since last night.
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That's pretty cool. I mean, that's that's a dedication to a relationship that I didn't necessarily
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put 2 and 2 together with, with barbecue. And at the initial poll, like, what was it? 1 of the,
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like was it just your fascination with one of the oldest types of cuisine of the United States
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that you decided to
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Yeah. I mean, I love history. So, you know, barbecue is a cuisine of, like, heritage and necessity,
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what was around. That's why, you know, they use post oak and Mesquite in Texas because that's
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what's there. Right? That's why they use peach because that's what's there in, in Georgia. Right?
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Fun fact, the reason there's gold sauce in South Carolina
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Right.
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Is not is not because it mustard grows there. It grows in Canada as everybody knows. It because
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a bunch of Germans moved there and brought brought their heritage with them. Really. I mean,
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that's why how it came about. It's kind of cool. Right? I love that stuff. You know, cold saw
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used to be fermented. That's why we put vinegar in it, to represent that fermentation.
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Good flavor.
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So I love the history, history of it. I'll you know, we definitely owe a lot to black culture
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for for barbecue, which is super cool and interesting. So I love all that part of it. But I
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also you know, I worked at the East Coast Grill for Chris Schlossinger for many years. Yep.
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So live fire is like I'm just fascinated by it. So it's an easy transition to being a working
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live fire in a grill and working barbecue. And it's it's what it what I like about it is I mean,
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now the nowadays, you can really dial it in with a lot of, like, tools and computers and stuff
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to really monitor your fire, but I really like and we're we're driving to Kansas City next week.
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We're dragging a a smoker with us, and this has no this has no computers on it. It's like open
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the door a little more, close the door a little bit more. Right? And I love that, like, kinda
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hands on cooking, hands on working with it. It's just, you know, it's it's like a live band.
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It's different every time. Right?
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And you have to be completely present. It's not like you can, you know, nap on it. I, oh my
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gosh. I did a, I did an event with a friend of mine in Fort Lauderdale, and it was actually
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in Dallas. So we had to prep everything, put it in a truck, take it all the way over. And the
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last day was supposed to be this at this dude ranch that had these huge rotary smokers. So we'd
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load them all up at nighttime and set them alight. And we got back the next morning, and all
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of them had gone cold. And none of the meat was cooked. Talk about a nightmare. Anyway, I digress.
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So as a chef, accomplished chef, author in his fifties, Like, you know, how how's your health?
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You know, how's your energy? Does do you feel like you're going? Like, do you see a point where
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you might want to pull back a little bit? I mean, what are your thoughts?
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Well, I can't physically do what I used to do, and I know that. But, you know, that's transition
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of life. So you won't see me in a kitchen banging out, you know, 12 hours, you know, 5 days
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a week. I'll still jump in the kitchen. I still have events I have to do, teach class tomorrow.
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So I'm still very active in boots on the ground. My job is really the future, so I really that's
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what I do is I will think about the future for the business. My health is great besides my shoulder.
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You know, I'm running somewhere between, I don't know, 10 20 miles a a week. Wow. So, every
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morning, up early and I go to the gym, I have you know, I'd also like to mention that along
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this thing of when I opened my restaurant, I got married.
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And Congratulations.
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And there's a direct correlation of between my success and being married, and I'm telling you,
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to the to this wonderful woman. So having a an amazing partner, a strong partner, partner who
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understands you is is is very, very important and very for me at least. And along with the that
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that wife, we we we also have I have 5 year old twin daughters.
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Wow. Congratulations, brother.
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Thank you. So so I I have to stay young and I have to stay active.
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So And daughters will do that for you. Nope.
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Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's it's great. I couldn't I couldn't be happier. You know? So everything's
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I mean, you know what I feel like? And I don't know if a lot of people feel this way that like,
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I do, but I feel feel like, you know, effing finally. That's what I feel like in my fifties.
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Finally, I feel like good about everything. I feel mentally strong, physically strong. Like,
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I feel that, like, it is going the way it should. Now I think a lot of it has to do with maturity,
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right, and just being more comfortable with myself. Right?
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Yep.
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Has to do with I drink a fair amount less. I barely drink at all. You know, it has to do with
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a lot of things. Right? But I just feel like I'm finally hitting my stride. And and and I feel
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I just feel tickled about it, and I'm honored. Can you
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talk a little bit can you talk a little bit more about what you mean by there's a direct correlation
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between success and the quality of your marriage?
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Yeah. I mean, I just you know, for me, I love having a partner who you stand with and you, you
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know, you are more than just partners at like, she's my partner in business. You know, even
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though she's not on the documents, you know, she helps guide me and talk to me about things
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and helps me see issues in a in a different way. You know, she has a different approach than
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than I do. So it's great. It's actually when we met, she was a a associate publisher of a rather
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large magazine. So she was actually working more hours than I was, which I loved because she
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was she understood what passion and drive meant. And so what I do have to do those hours, which
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are rarely these days, but I still have to do them now and then. You know, she's like, go get
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them. You know? And that's and that's you know?
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Right. And she also had a life of her own, her own career. So it's not like she's sitting at
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home waiting for you to show up and say, honey, how was your day? Right. Right. And do you think
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that being with her, like, it'll like, you felt more comfortable with taking risk? Because clearly,
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you know, opening up a restaurant a year is is not an easy thing to do, especially when you
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said, like, year 3 or restaurant 3, you're like, holy shit. What the fuck is going on with this?
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Well, I'm I'm rather risk averse, which is really great. I have a partner who is extremely risk
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averse, and he handled all the leases. So that which is the most important part of your business,
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if you didn't know this to everybody, that's what's the most important part is your lease. It's
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like the foundation of your house. You don't see it. You don't look at it. You don't even give
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a care about it. But when there's a storm, you're gonna be like, is that foundation gonna hold
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up? And so that's and then no no one ever thinks like, oh, there's gonna be a storm because
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COVID's a storm. Right? There's storms coming through. So so the risk thing, but not no. Because
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she's she's very conservative, more so that I just feel confident that, you know, it's it's
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good to have somebody with you who understands you and can help you also grow and become a good,
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you know, a better person. We're always trying to be better people and, you know, you help each
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other grow, you know, and and and do you think? You know, someone you trust, you know?
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Yeah. What's her name?
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Rice.
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I've written a couple books, self published. Of course, that's probably, you know, not either
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here nor there, but you've been you your cookbooks have done very, very well.
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Mhmm.
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And why did you decide that you wanted the right cook? As if you didn't have enough on your plate.
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Well, my mentor is Chris Schlessinger. And so I watched what he did, and I wanted to be him.
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I opened a restaurant like he did, and then I said, okay. Now I'm gonna write a book. And so
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I wrote a book. It didn't sell well, the first one. I wrote it with Joe Yonan, who's now, I
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believe, the food editor for the Washington Post. Great guy. Great book. We're very proud of
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it. No pictures. Bad deal. But, you know, you do the work, and I think it's important to do
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the work. And so I did the work, and that helped us get another deal. And once you can show
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you can do the work, people take notice, and it also, you know, helps you get other gigs. You
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know, you don't make any money in in books unless they sell. And Pitmaster, which is my best
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selling book, you know, we do okay with it. You know, it's it's been out for 6 years now, and
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it still sells every year. It is a top rated, you know, barbecue book, and I'm very proud of
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it. So why do I write books? I I like to. I like to teach. Teaching is, I think, an essential
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part of being a chef, as I know you know. And I I don't know. I just enjoy it. It's things I
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I do whatever I want. Right? Like, if I wanna do something, I do it. And if it is to me, it
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seems like like it's it's a fun process. And now if you've written 6, you kinda know the process.
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Sure. And do you have another book in in process now, or are you thinking about 1?
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We, Chris Hart and I, are thinking about 1. I don't wanna give it away, but we have some ideas.
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But it's been a while because, look, I've written 1, 2, 3 books on barbecue, a book on I don't
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know, like, a book on burgers, and a book on just, like, restaurant stuff. So Wicked good. Yeah.
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Yeah. And, you know, I want I want them to try something to say.
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Right.
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I I could easily easily, from what I have on my on my computer, I could put together and, you
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know, rehash stuff and rework stuff. I could do that, and and fine. But that's not I don't was
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talking to my buddy about it, and he was kinda asking me, well, why am I doing it? And I was
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talking to my buddy about it, and he was kinda asking me, well, why am I doing it? And I'm like,
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well, there's there's a money thing, which is fine, but that's not money I'm not money motivated.
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I obviously wanna be paid like everybody does for their time. I'm doing it because I love growing
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things, and I love the challenges. I love, you know, helping people. Like, we, we get to, like,
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we are, we're growing our teams. We get to see people, you know, grow within their jobs and
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it's so neat to do. It's fun, and and that's why I do it. So for me, it's like I like to kind
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of build things and and Right. Take on challenges.
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One of the things that I admire most about you is that there's not anything that you're doing
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that does not have some type of charitable component to it. Yeah. You you believe strongly in
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in community mission and, you know, you and I were connected through Share Our Strength a long
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time ago and, but yet you still endure, you that you think that that's an essential part of doing business.
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Yeah. It's it's an yes. I I think community is really important. The one thing that I'm really
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kind of trying to push now is so we get an unbelievable, probably one a day at least, of a charitable
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request through our website. Yep. And, you know, we don't we don't really have we're trying
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to figure out how to deal with it, but generally, it's it's a yes if it's local. When people
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are writing us from California, it's probably a no. But, you know, we're just trying to figure
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out how to be a better make a better part of the community and make a make a make an impression.
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But what I want people to know about this is what we tell them is we'll give you a gift card.
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We have no problem. Here's for your auction. Here you go. But within the next year, we need
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you to dine with us personally.
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Ah. Ah.
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And and and because we want the circle to be complete. Right. Right? I I do this thing called
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Taste of Ginger. I believe it's called Taste of Ginger, and it's for diabetes. And this gentleman,
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doctor, doctor King, he runs this this organization, and he, every year, comes into one of my
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restaurants and always makes sure that I know that he was there. Ask for me. If not, leave me
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a note. You know? And and he just says, hey. Thanks for supporting us. And I often think there's
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this disconnect. I don't know if you've ever dealt with any boards that do charities, but I
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look at these boards and I'm on a couple, and I'm like, when was the last time you were in in
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my restaurant or one of these restaurants? Right. And in fact, you know these people because
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you get them to go do stuff. Why don't you give a call and send your neighbor there? They would
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love to have it, and they would take it, and they'd make them look great. You know? Yeah. Like
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so I love that I I want that circle of community to really happen.
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Yeah. The reciprocity, man. Like, absolutely. I totally get it. And it's not like you're asking
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for the moon. I mean, just come in and
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have dinner. Yeah.
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I get some stuff comped anyway, but, you know, just come in.
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Yeah. You know, and tell your neighbor. Right? Exactly. How
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how busy are you on social media? Are you just doing busy.
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My personal one. You know, I I do some Instagram stuff. Sure. I'd love to do more, but I'm just
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not that focused. You know? Maybe because I'm old, but, like, I see the traffic that goes to
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our website, and it's only about, say, 6% comes from social from our from our social media.
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Yep. That doesn't mean that more aren't, like, going to our website than going and stuff. And,
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you know, we have 15,000 followers there. I have, like, 7, 6,000. You know, I put put stuff
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up that interests me and that's stuff that I'm interested in, but I'm not crazy about it. I
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think my time is better served, you know, working for my teams and and working for my family,
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doing those things. You know, I think that's my time's better that way.
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Yeah. And I was, you know, not surprised, but a little taken aback, you know, that you got a
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Wikipedia page. It was pretty awesome. So to get back to team building. So restaurant 3, every
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you're losing money across the board. You decide that you have to pivot and change some of your
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executive leadership, to folks who are more more skilled with multiunit, but you also said leadership.
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So I'm just curious, like, how does that relate now? Do you have what specific training plans
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do you have in the units to maybe take a junior manager and actually train them up to become
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a general manager of the next door?
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Well, I can even start even below junior managers. We, just started English as a second language classes.
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Yay.
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So we are now having that complimentary to our team members depending on your level, whatever
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you wanna do. And so we're very excited about that because we'd rather we much rather hire from
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within whenever possible, so go from within. We're your kind of your first restaurant first,
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second restaurant you're gonna work at. English is not necessary, not in the kitchen. Our director
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of barbecue ops, you would call him culinary director. We call him Dobo, director of barbecue
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ops. He's, trilingual, Portuguese, Spanish, English, so, you know, we don't you can speak any
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language. It doesn't matter to us. We can you know, as long as you can know what 8 ounces look
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like, we're good. So, you know, we really try to build from within. And then we have, you know,
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junior managers and managers. We're continually working with them to build them, to become to
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grow. And as we grow, you know, they get to move on to different levels. Right now, though,
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we're actually in a whole process of reorg. We just opened our 6th unit, and I was told this
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was would happen. By the way, I got told that at 3 units, problems would happen, and I thought,
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of course, not me. Right. Exactly. And then I got told that unit 67, it happens. I'm like, no.
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Not me. They did. You know, we have a problem that we're looking at and we're working on is
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kind of like who owns what. And we opened a restaurant, and I felt the opening wasn't was a
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little clunky and Right. Who needed a little bit more focus in some areas. And so now we're
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looking at our org chart and working with these awesome HR, partners, and we're working with
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them to really kinda get it get it right. So everybody kinda understands their roles and who
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they report to and what we expect of them and their expectations. I think that probably the
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no. I think for I think for businesses in general, but I'll talk about restaurants. 1, meeting
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the customer's expectation. The brand and whatever your brand is, you know, and you really need
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to meet the expect their expectation. If you do not, you're gonna get dinged. Right? Yep. And
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then the same thing for the for the team members is is they're aware of their expectations or
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what we expect from them. And and therefore, they can, you know, work within the system. Right?
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You don't ever wanna surprise them and they're like, I didn't know I was supposed to do that.
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That's that. You you know? Right. You know? So, you know, we don't want someone to say that's
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not my job, but we don't want them to say that because we they're not team players. We don't
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want them to say it because they didn't know. Right. Right?
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Right.
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You know? I mean, yeah, argumentally, taking out the garbage the other night is not the waiter's
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job. So if they said that's not my job, I'm like, yeah. I get that, but let's just do it. Right?
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Right. But if if it was, like, you know, whatever, taking an order from table 22, well, that
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is your job. Right? So, like, I'm just hypothetically talking here, you know, so I think managing
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expectations and managing expectations of your team members is just as important.
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Have you felt pressured or motivated in any way since since the return of the customer after
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shutdown to be more aggressive as far as associate compensation or benefit packages?
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For our team members? Well, we do a 3% kitchen fee, which is really great. Probably 1 out of
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a 1000 people ding us on that. They don't like it. Try to explain to them why it is good. It's
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a funny conversation because they're like, well, why don't you just why don't you why do I have
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to pay them? Why don't you? I'm like, well, just so you know, you pay you pay them no matter what. Right?
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Either way. Right.
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You know?
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It's just explicit now.
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But I get it. I get it, though, because, you know, we all hate more fees. We all hate these
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more fees, and so I get it. And, you know, I try to explain to them, like, listen. If I did
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if I I'd have to raise my prices by 10% for them to get to 3%, and it's just confusing. But
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but we do things like that. You know, as far as benefits, I mean, we're we're pretty good with
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our we have good I think we have good packages for our, management friends. And in Massachusetts,
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everybody gets health insurance, so that's part of it. We have to pay 50% of everyone's health
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insurance, so you get that, which is nice. And, you know, we bonus out our managers. You know,
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they're based on, our our general managers and and and kitchen manager based on, you know, certain
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metrics. But, no, I don't I don't feel we pay well. Our just just to put it in perspective,
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our average cook, I think, makes $22 an hour, and our average waiter is making $32 an hour.
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Awesome. So Awesome. You
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know? Yeah. We're a barbecue joint, but they're doing alright. You know? So, you know and with
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the way we see them, you know, we're compassionate. We're empathetic. We're there for them.
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You know? And, know, the reason we know it's well is we they they they they kinda give us they
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they refer their friends to us. And we know that that is, you know, it's working. Right?
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You're right. Got it. And, for you personally, what are your hopes for the future?
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Good question. What are my hopes for the future? Well, I wanna continue growing this. Our goal
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is to get to 10. Why 10? I don't know. We just chose that number. That was what we chose when
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we originally were doing it, and and kinda see what happens. You know, I wanna keep keep active,
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keep involved, watch my girls grow up. You know, I'm not one to sit around. I love adventures,
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so we'll see what happens. But, yeah, that's it. You know, world peace would be nice.
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And I was just curious because I remember you saying that, you know, you do a fair amount of
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running in the morning. Are you actually engaged that as, like, your own kind of self care?
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Your self nurture? Or Yeah. Able to take time?
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The problem is is, you know, Sri Kim, is that, like, I don't get a lot of free time. Right?
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Right.
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So I'm either at work, driving home, or with my family. I don't really see my friends very often
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unless I go to a barbecue event or something or football game. So that's my time in the morning.
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You know, I usually get up early so I can have coffee by myself, and then, yeah, I run and I
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go to the gym. So those are the 2 those are what I do for myself, and I enjoy it. Like, I I,
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you know, I I don't really think about self care, but I guess not to do what it is. Right? I
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just do what makes me happy. I do what I wanna do, and it makes me happy. So yeah. You know?
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And I and I can feel it if I don't go running. And I also like to cook, like so I I usually
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need a day where I'm spending 2, 3 hours in my own kitchen just cooking. It's my that's my zen.
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That's like my, you know, my my just it just calms me. I love it. So, you know, that's that's
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kind of my my my stuff, but I think it's important. But I can I love being my family, so I'm
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not gonna not gonna not do that? Right? And Sure. Sure.
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So do you have North Carol do you have North Carolina on your list for for any competitions?
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No. I was just down there, though. I was in Knightstown, a place called Prime Prime Barbecue.
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Chris Pietro. He's actually coming up here in October for a guest chef. Guest's pit pit master.
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He's so talented, and so I like him a lot. So I was just down there. But, no, we we really compete
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locally, and then there's a couple bigger competitions that we like to go to.
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Well, what I'm trying to tell you is that the next time you're in the neighborhood, will you
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please let me know?
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Yeah. Yeah. Because I'll make
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the drive. I don't care. It's all good for me now.
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I wish I had told you because I was down there a few months ago at at at prime barbecue, and
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he he does a real good job.
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Oh, brother. I thank you very much for this time. It's such a pleasure to reconnect. I know
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you're a busy guy, so I'm very grateful for the time. And I wish you continued success, good
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health. And as as a father of 2 adult girls, you know, in their thirties, man, oh, man. What
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a joy. Yeah. I mean, it almost drove me insanity when they were younger, but now
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it's awesome. Yeah. That's great. Well, I'm happy for you. Awesome. Well, thank you so much.
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I appreciate it.
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Thank you, sir. That's it for this episode of Cheflife Radio. If you're ready to take your career
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to the next level, then sign up for a free discovery call and find out what's possible for you
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at cheflifecoaching.comforward/discovery.
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And the link is in the show notes. Here at Chef Life Radio, we believe that working in a kitchen
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should be demanding. It just shouldn't have to be demeaning. It should be hard. It just doesn't
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have to be harsh. We believe that it's possible to have more solidarity and less suck it up
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sunshine, more compassion, less cutthroat island. We believe in more partnership and less put
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up or shut up, more family and less fuck you. Stand tall and frosty brothers and sisters, but
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consider for a moment. For all the blood, sweat, and effort you put into what you do at the
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end of the day, it's just some stuff on a plate. None of it really matters. It doesn't define
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you as a person or make you any more special or less than anyone else. It's just a dance that
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we're engaged in, so we might as well laugh and enjoy every bit of it. Or didn't you know that
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the purpose of your life should be to enjoy it?
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I like to have a offer. Love it. I am humble. Goddamn Rory Fox all I live on now.
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Reach out to the show at facebook.comforward/chefliferadio, Twitter at chef life radio, Instagram
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at chef life radio. Visit the website atchefliferadio.com. Subscribe to the podcast at any of
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the major podcast directories. Please take a moment and give us a thumbs up and write a review.
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It really does help spread the news. Thanks for listening. Until the next episode. Be well and
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do good. This episode was produced by me, Adam Lam. It was recorded in the Basement Bunker Studio
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in Wardle, North Carolina. Coproduced by Thomas Steffensen of podlike.com. Chef Life Radio is
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a production of Realignment Media.