560: Zane & Brandon Hunt on Treating Your Small Business Like a Big One
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Release Date: 11/23/2018
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Sother Teague is the "Creative Drunk." He is the Founder of Sother Hospitality, Beverage Director at Amor y Amargo, Cohost of the Speakeasy Podcast, author of "I'm Just Here For The Drinks", and most importantly, a bar tender. Favorite success quote/mantra: "If you're the smartest guy in the room, you're in the wrong room." In this episode we will discuss: Partnerships Theater of hospitality Lawyers Popups Bars/bartending Today's sponsor: : Are you a chef, owner, operator, or manage recipes in professional kitchens? meez is built just for you. Organize, share, prep, and scale recipes...
info_outline 1068: Kate Holowchik Chef/Owner of Lionheart ConfectionsRestaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Kate Holowchik is the chef/owner of Lionheart Confections. Kate grew up baking with her family and began baking in corporate kitchens, such as Panera Bread, during college. After going from kitchen to kitchen, from FOH to baking in BOH, she eventually started Lionheart Confections, a baking popup based in New Hampshire, in 2020. Favorite success quote/mantra: "Lead with a kind heart and live unapologetically." In this episode we will discuss: Mentors Popups Toxic kitchens Today's sponsor: : Are you a chef, owner, operator, or manage recipes in professional kitchens? meez is built just for...
info_outline 1067: Matt Berry & Vinny and Dante Marino Co-Owners of DeadProof Pizza CoRestaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Matt Berry, Vinny Marino, and Dante Marino are the Co-Owners of in New Hampshire. DeadProof Pizza Co is a mobile pizza vendor based in Manchester, NH. Chef Matt Berry created the concept and sought Dante and Vinny for help with marketing. They are all now co-owners of the wildely popular concept. Favorite success quote/mantra: "If you're scared, do it scared." In this episode we will discuss: Pop-ups Marketing Pizza Finding the balance Today's sponsor: : Boost your efficiency and profitability without adding labor costs. MarginEdge is a complete restaurant management software that...
info_outline 1066: Irene Li Co-Owner of Mei Mei DumplingsRestaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Irene Li is the co-owner of in Boston, MA. Irene grew up in Boston in a Chinese-American family where food was always paramount. She realized her love for cooking while attending Cornell. She and her brother and sister opened Mei Mei Street Kitchen, a food truck, in 2012. In 2018, Irene bought out her co-owner siblings in order to take full control of the business and take it in a new direction, a direction dedicated to identifying and addressing food injustice. She soon realized that dumplings were the most popular item on the menu, and doubled down on that item. Today she sells dumplings...
info_outline 1065: Peter Minich CEO of Fresh City KitchenRestaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Peter Minich is the Owner/CEO of based in Boston, MA. Peter got his start in the industry at the age of 16 and eventually made his way to Vail, CO to ski and work in kitchens after school. He worked in restaurants there and soon found himself at the Culinary Institute of America. He worked in many fine establishments all over the country until he became the VP at Fresh City in 2010. He bought the company in 2014 and has been the CEO ever since. Today, Fresh City Kitchen is primarily an office catering company. Favorite success quote/mantra: "Mise en place." In this episode we will...
info_outline 1064: Edison Yee Principle Partner at Bean Restaurant GroupRestaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Edison Yee is the President/Partner of headquartered in Springfield, MA. Edison Yee's father opened a restaurant in Massachusetts 5 decades ago which operated until 2018. Edison started working in his dad's restaurant at the age of 10, back in the 1970s. In 1990, Edison took over the family business and today serves as President. In 2002, the family opened their second concept, and another followed in 2006. Today, Bean restaurant Group operates 16 restaurants. Favorite success quote/mantra: "Mise en place." In this episode we will discuss: Family business Putting on a show, an...
info_outline 1063: Dan Haggerty Co-Owner of Industry East and StashboxRestaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Dan Haggerty is the co-owner of and in Manchester, New Hampshire. Dan got his start in the industry as a dishwasher in an upscale Italian restaurant in Massachusetts. He moved up to prep cook and hated it. He asked if he could be put on FOH and that's when he fell in love with the restaurant industry. After taking many jobs both in the industry and outside of it, he eventually started a "traveling mixology" business which turned into a brick and mortar restaurant (Industry East) in 2020. Stashbox opened soon after that. The future is bright for this NH restaurateur! Favorite success...
info_outline 1062: Justin Alpert Restaurant Architect at 42 ArchitectureRestaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Justin Alpert is the owner of based in Boston, MA. Justin grew up just outside Boston and enjoyed going to restaurants as a kid with his family. He became an architect after school and designed spaces in the realms of medical and residential. He soon realized he did not enjoy the cut-throat, profit-driven mindset of the firms he worked for and decided to start his own firm focusing only on restaurants. 42 Architecture opened in 2020 and is growing today. Favorite success quote/mantra: "Support those that support others." In this episode we will discuss: The essential SEVEN things to...
info_outline 1061: Eric Cacciatore on What's Next for Restaurant Unstoppable!Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Eric Cacciatore, Founder and Host of Restaurant Unstoppable is joined by Jared Parisi, RU's editor, and Callen Meola, RU's Community Manager, to discuss the future of Restaurant Unstoppable and share some very exciting announcements! Join the NEW ! Show notes… Favorite success quote/mantra: Eric: "Ain't nothing to it but to do it." Callen: "Do the next right thing." Jared: "Darkness is difficult and pathfinders are few." In this episode we will discuss: The very exciting future of RU! Today's sponsor: : Are you a chef, owner, operator, or manage recipes in professional kitchens? meez is...
info_outline 1060: David Lombardo President & CEO at Lombardo's Hospitality GroupRestaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
David Lombardo is co-owner, CEO, and president of . David is a fourth generation owner of the Lombardo's brand of restaurants and event spaces. His grandfather, Sal, turned the old Lombardo's into a supermarket and event space. Today, Lombardo's consists of several concepts, including catering, nightclubs, event spaces, restaurants, and wholesale. Before joining the family business officially, David attended UVM and worked at and became the Assistant General Manager at Legal Seafoods. Check out as mentioned in today's episode! Check out from Predictive Index as mentioned in today's episode!...
info_outlineZane and Brandon Hunt hail from Detroit, MI. They came to Austin, almost 10 years ago with the idea to open a pizza joint. In 2011 they started where they could, with a mobile food trailer they named Via 313 Pizza. Their vision was to offer the first Detroit style option outside of Detroit. It didn't take long for their native Detroit style pizza to take center stage within the Austin community. One trailer became multiple trailers and by 2014 the works to open their first brick and mortar location was in motion. Today. Via 313 operates 2 trailers and 3 brick and mortar locations.
Show notes…
Favorite success quote or mantra:
"If you can't change your people, change your people.
In this episode with Zane and Brandon Hunt, we discuss:
- Approaching successful people asking to learn from them. You'll be surprised how many people are willing to share their knowledge.
- Understanding that you do not need to be good at everything to run a successful business. You just need to know what you're good at and who is good at what you're not.
- When scaling, offloading the things you're not good at or don't enjoy doing, first.
- Why you need to do something if you expect people to invest in you. People don't invest in ideas. People invest in other people and what their capable of. Show people what you got.
- Starting where you can, and scaling into your ultimate vision.
- Creating your systems, processes and procedures while you're still small so you have something to scale into.
- Matching your vision with a community and demographic that will support it.
- Giving up responsibility to people who want it so you can create balance in your life.
- Knowing your strengths and staying in your lane.
- What you know where you're strong, look to other business owners to partner with.
Today's sponsor:
Cashflowtool.com A simple powerful and predictive cash flow companion for Qickbooks. Simple, because it requires no data entry, is always up to do and works on any device, anywhere. Powerful, because with it's built-in cash flow calendar, activitiy feed and anomaly detector, you instantly know all aspects of your cash flow with no surprises. Predictive, because you'll know your cash flow today and anticipate it tomorrow.
Knowledge bombs
- Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
- Great food, attention to detail, and taking care of your people at all costs.
- What is your biggest weakness?
- Over expanding too fast.
- What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
- Hire your weakness.
- What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
- Staffing.
- Higher pay. Don't ask, "What can you do for me?" Instead, ask, "What can I do for you?"
- Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
- Be truthful.
- What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
- Bring free ice cream to first time guest.
- What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM - What's the one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
- Spend money on things that will help them make more money.
- What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your four walls of your restaurant and how has it influence operations?
- If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be?
- Do what makes you happy.
- Don't sweat the small things.
- Give it back to your community.
Contact info:
Thanks for listening!
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Huge thanks to Zane and Brandon for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!