Sam Hart is the Chef/Owner of Counter in Charlotte, North Carolina. The first time Sam cooked for others was when he was 21 living in Utah after door-to-door mormons came knocking and looked hungry. He then decided to ditch the advertising industry and go to culinary school at 21. He staged at Alinea in Chicago and worked in many other restaurants in many positions before returning to his home town of Charlotte and opening Counter just two years ago. He has since opened Biblio and is planning his third concept.

Unstoppables! Please consider taking this survey about our listener demographics so that we can better determine how to best serve our listeners. Less than 10 simple questions. Here is the link: CLICK HERE

Show notes… Calls to ACTION!!!

• Join Restaurant Unstoppable Network and get your first 30 days on me! Connect with my past guest and a community of superfans.
• Subscribe to the Restaurant Unstoppable YouTube Channel
• Join the private Unstoppable Facebook Group
• Join the email list! (Scroll Down to get the Vendor List!)

Favorite success quote/mantra:

• "You're always going to have problems in life. The goal is to have better problems today than you had yesterday."

In this episode with Sam Hart we will discuss:

• Pairing music with food
• Advertising
• Culture
• Mental health
• Working at Alinea
• Being "counter" to the rest of the industry

Today's sponsor:

Ovation - Do you want real-time feedback from your guests instead of 1-star reviews? Ovation uses a 2-question, SMS-based survey, and frictionless integrations with online ordering platforms and other tools to enable restaurants to easily resolve guest concerns in real-time, get more 5-star reviews, discover insights to improve, and drive revenue. Unstoppable listeners who sign up will get$100 off their set-up fee! Visit ovationup.com/unstoppable to learn more.

1Huddle - 1Huddle is a coaching and development platform using quick-burst mobile games to more quickly and effectively level up and fire up your workforce. With a mobile-first approach to preparing the modern worker, a library of 3,000+ quick-burst skill games, and the option to instantly create personalized content – 1Huddle is changing the way restaurants develop their workers by transforming traditional manuals and videos into deceptively simple, highly effective mobile games proven to level up workers quickly.

Key clients include Loews Hotels, Novartis, Madison Square Garden, Yum, FB Society, Hakkasan, TAO Group, and the Dog Haus.

Restaurant Systems Pro - Join the 60-day Restaurant Systems Pro FREE TRAINING. This is something that has never been done before. This 60-day event is at no cost to you, but it is not for everyone. Fred Langley, CEO of Restaurant Systems Pro, will lead a group of restaurateurs through the Restaurant Systems Pro software and set up the systems for your restaurant. During the 60 days, Fred will walk you through the Restaurant Systems Pro Process and help you crush the following goals: Recipe Costing Cards; Guidance in your books for accounting; Cash controls; Sales Forecasting(With Accuracy); Checklists; Budgeting for the entire year; Scheduling for profit; More butts in seats and more… Click Here to learn more.

Knowledge bombs

1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
   • Storytelling
2. What is your biggest weakness?
   • Too trusting
3. What's one thing you ask or look for when interviewing/growing your team?
   • What are your goals? How does Counter play into that?
4. What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
   • Finding a team to replace my current team (because they are going on to bigger and better things)
5. Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
   • You must be willing to give back what you take away
6. What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
   • We want to represent every guest, not just the loud and annoying guest
7. What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
   • Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
   • GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM
8. What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influence operations?
   • We avoid Instagram
9. What is one thing you feel restaurateurs don't do well enough or often enough?
   • Be open and transparent with their staff
10. 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?
    • This life is precious
    • Meditate
    • Give back

Contact:

Instagram: @chefloosley @counterclt @bibliocharlotte

[email protected]

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!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.

And finally, don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Huge thanks to Sam Hart for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

Restaurant Unstoppable is a free podcast. One of the ways I'm able to make it free is by earning a commission when sharing certain products with you. I've made it a core value to only share tools, resources, and services my guest mentors have recommend, first. If you're finding value in my podcast, please use my links!