678: Stacey Poon-Kinney on Volume Hides Everything
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Release Date: 12/23/2019
4 Ways to Improve Hospitality with Technology
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Jon Alexis is the owner of (2 locations) and (2 Dallas locations and 1 Austin location). is celebrating 30 years as a family-owned business. Under Alexis’s vision, TJ’s has expanded from a neighborhood favorite fish market to two award-winning restaurants with fish markets, plus a robust catering company. is Jon's fast-casual poke concept known for it’s uber-fresh ingredients. Malibu Poke also features a unique tech-based self-serving kiosks which allow guests to choose facial recognition features that “remember” their order history. Check...
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695: Megan and Dino Santonicola on Knowledge, Organization, and Persistence
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Megan and Dino Santonicola are owners of located in Dallas, Texas. They are a dynamic duo with Dino, a master of pizza, and Megan, with her 20 years of experience in the Dallas restaurant and hospitality industry. In 2011, Dino became the executive chef and master pizzaiolo of in Dallas. During his 7 years with Cane Rosso, Dino grew the concept and brand from one location in Deep Ellum to 9 locations from Dallas to Houston to Austin. Megan and Dino met while working at Cane Rosso where Megan developed and...
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694: Kulsoom Klavon on The Future of Food Halls
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Kulsoom Klavon is the Vice President of Curation at (owned and operated by ) and today we're here to tap into her unique perspective on F&B in the food hall world. Kulsoom is responsible for selecting all the food and beverage concepts that go into 's locations (currently Legacy Hall in Plano, TX, and a food hall in Nashville opening this fall (with additional Letters of intent in other markets) and is an incredibly dynamic food-insider. Her unique background has provided her with a successful strategy in the face of the ever-changing nationwide food hall trend. Show notes… Calls...
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693: Terry Pham on Failure is Not Trying
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Terry and Jennifer Pham opened the first in 2002 and, despite a challenging economic climate, grew 15-20% each year. In 2007, Fat Straws launched its second store in north Dallas. Even the 2008 recession didn’t slow Fat Straws’ continued growth, due in part to the Pham's focus on quality control, outstanding service, community-based marketing and an emphasis on strong relationships–with customers and employees. Today, has reached a total store count of 4 locations and is looking to expand across the DFW area to bring “happiness in a cup” to even more thirsty customers. Check out ...
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692: Todd Coerver on 3 Steps to Recovering a Lost Brand
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
Todd Coerver is the recently-announced CEO of the Austin, Texas, hamburger chain, . Prior to his current role, Todd served as CEO and as chief brand officer and Chief Operations Officer. And if we go back EVEN FURTHER... Before his role at , Todd spent 14 years at Whataburger where he ended his tenure as VP of marketing and innovation. Check out P. Terry's founder/owner Patrick Terry's as mentioned in today's episode! Check out as mentioned in today's episode! Check out as mentioned in today's episode! Show notes… Calls to ACTION!!! Subscribe to the Join the private Join...
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691: Patrick Terry on Taking the Leap into Business Ownership
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
In 2005, after a career in advertisement and owning two pizza places, Patrick and Kathy Terry decided it was time to go all-in on burgers. With that, was born. The vision was to re-create the burger joint Patrick remembers as a child: simple, with a focus on quality and great customer service. 15 years later has scaled to 16 locations in and around Austin, TX with plans to expand into Houston and San Antonio within the next year.
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690: Chris Schultz on Bringing Solutions Instead of Problems
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
This is Chris Schultz's 2nd time on Restaurant Unstoppable. We met over 4 years ago at the NRA show and he was on a panel I was hosting. A few months later I hosted Chris on Restaurant Unstoppable, ! Hands down, one of my best interviews out of 691 total episodes. It was so good, I re-published it last week. In that episode, we discuss how Chris helped scale from 200 to 20,000 locations. Then we discussed how Chris helped launch and Scale from its first single unit to 400 locations. When we last left Chris, his focus was on bringing MOD international. That was 3 years ago. Today, and...
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689: Chris Schultz ARCHIVED-Scaling Culture
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
This is a REPEAT EPISODE!! One thing I'd like to do going into the future is to build on my pre-existing relationships. Who were some of our best guests? Where are they now? Let's get them back on the show and continue learning. Chris Schultz is absolutely one of those standout guests. Today, I'm bringing to you his original interview so you can get caught up because on Thursday we're bringing him back! Here is a link to the original: At the time of this interview, Chris Schultz had spent 15 years with the Starbucks Management and Leadership team before joining , aka the MOD Squad in 2009....
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688: Justin Turner on Scaling a Scratch Kitchen
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
A Chicago native, Justin Turner got his start in fine dining serving for years as a private chef to NBA star Shane Battier. When Shane was traded to the Rockets, Justin followed to Houston, but when the baller moved on again, the chef stayed, converting a yellow school bus into one of Houston’s first food trucks and naming it after his grandfather: . His gourmet burgers and fries were wildly popular and led to a fleet of buses, a spot at NRG Park and now 4 brick-and-mortar restaurants. Show notes… Calls to ACTION!!! Subscribe to the Join the private Join the email list!...
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687: Steve Raggiani and Joe Scalo on Fixing the Broken Review Culture
Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore
What if there was a way to help us find the food we’re craving, in a no-bullshit, dead-simple, dependable manner recommended by people we actually trust? According to Steve Raggiani and Joe Scalo, there is a better way and it's called the . Show notes… Favorite success quote or mantra: "It's about the food." In today's episode with Steve Raggiani and Joe Scalo we will discuss: How deep and useful are the recommendations on 8it app? The obnoxious "old way" of finding a good place to eat in a city strictly about the food; the app specifically suggests restaurants based on food The online...
info_outlineAs a descendant of restaurant operators Stacey Poon-Kinney caught the restaurant bug early. After 8 years of managing a restaurant chain, Stacey and her father took over Megan's Cafe in 2007. After a successful 2 year run, Stacey decided to rebrand to The Trails Eatery and expanded the restaurant footprint to twice the size, but her success was followed by near-total failure in 2011. On the edge of losing total hope, Stacey reached out to the Food Network and Robert Irvine's Restaurant Impossible for help and the rest is history.
Check out Episode 641 with Greg Scheinman as mentioned in today's episode!
Show notes…
Favorite success quote or mantra:
- "The magic is in the details."
In today's episode with Stacey Poon-Kinney we will discuss:
- Growing up in kitchens
- Connection through food
- The value of money and hard work
- Valuable lessons learned at big franchises
- Volume hides everything
- Mentors
- When it is and is not appropriate to flip out on your team
- Structure in the kitchen
- Being pregnant in a managerial role in the kitchen
- Taking over an existing restaurant
- Get tax records if you're taking over restaurants
- Butts in seats earns money
- Regulars are key to success
- Always look for a lesson in bad situations
- Community is no longer spacial
- Applying to Restaurant Impossible for help and what that's like
- The importance of insurance
- Water damage and how to deal with it
- Dealing with a break-in
- Fear is a great motivator
- POS customer service
Today's sponsor:
BentoBox empowers restaurants to own their presence, profits and relationships. The hospitality platform disrupts third-party services that come between the restaurant and the guest. BentoBox puts the restaurant first and offers tools that drive high-margin revenue directly through the restaurant’s website. BentoBox is trusted and loved by over 5,000 restaurants worldwide including Union Square Hospitality Group, Eleven Madison Park, Gramercy Tavern, Lilia and more.
Restaurant365 is a cloud-based, all-in-one, restaurant-specific accounting and back-office platform that seamlessly integrates with POS systems, payroll providers, food and beverage vendors. It generates accurate real-time reporting and analysis in user-friendly dashboards, facilitating immediate, data-driven decision making. Restaurant365 eliminates manual, error-prone processes and is designed to help restaurant businesses grow with functionality that helps optimize labor costs, reduce food costs and increase revenue.
Foodager and Bevager have reinvented hospitality management. With these tools, you'll lower your food cost by up to 5% on your kitchen inventory and lower your pour cost by up to 10% on your bar purchasing. Don't forget the 30 hours of labor you'll save each month. Additionally, Bevager and Foodager integrate with countless POS and accounting software. To learn more head to bevager.com/unstoppable or foodager.com/unstoppable.
Knowledge bombs
- Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
- Communications
- What is your biggest weakness?
- Communication
- What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
- Kindness, consideration, a sense of humor
- What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
- Time Management
- Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
- Vintage hospitality
- What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
- Challenge staff to remember three new names of customers
- What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
- One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard
- Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo
GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM
- Name one service you've hired.
- Way Front marketing in San Diego
- What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influence operations?
- ToDoist list making service
- Yelp Nowait
- Toast POS
- Insight Timer meditation app
- 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?
- Live from your heart
- Ask questions
- Say thank you
Contact info:
Website: www.thetrailseatery.com
Instagram personal: @spkcooks
Instagram business: @thetrailseatery
Facebook: @TheTrailsEatery
Twitter: @TheTrailsEatery
Thanks for listening!
Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!
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Huge thanks to Stacey Poon-Kinney for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!