At 21, Troy Guard left community college in San Diego to return to Hawaii, his birthplace, where he mentored under Roy Yamaguchi, celebrity chef. Guard recounts, “I started in the pantry, worked my way through the kitchen, and over the next eight years opened restaurants with him [Yamaguchi] in Tokyo and New York City.”

At 38, Guard opened his first restaurant in Denver. “I knew the culinary side of the business pretty well,” says Guard, “but I had to quickly learn financial management and people development.”

Today, Guard is the owner and chef of the 12-restaurant TAG Restaurant Group. The company describes its eight concepts as ranging “from a bubbly breakfast joint, HashTAG, to the quick-casual Bubu, to the show-stopping modern steakhouse, Guard and Grace, and everything in between.”

In this episode, Guard explains how building the right team and delegating responsibilities became the foundation of his business expansion. "Today we successfully operate TAG Burger Bar, TAG Raw Bar, Sugar Mill Bakery, Los Chingonas Taqueria, and Guard & Grace Steakhouse because of the team we developed and the modifications I made to my role.”

Guard recommends that operators who wish to grow their concepts follow three steps: First, place yourself in the role that fits you best. Second, fire yourself from other responsibilities to allow the right person room to perform them. And third, implement systems and procedures for consistency.  Trust your people but place your faith in the systems.

Guard envisions a bright future for the TAG Restaurant Group. "Our short-term priorities include a focus on implementing appropriate technologies that improve operations while continuing to emphasize the guest experience."

“My family had a farm in North Dakota,” says Michelle Korsmo, CEO of the National Restaurant Association. “I was raised knowing that helping each other was the best way to help ourselves and that together people really can make a difference.”

Korsmo gained early restaurant experience working at TGI Fridays before becoming a state government lobbyist. From there she transitioned to CEO positions with the American Land and Title Association, the National Wine and Spirits Association, and eventually the National Restaurant Association.

Korsmo discusses her responsibilities as CEO which go beyond member representation and lobbying. “Watching the growth of education among students is particularly satisfying,” says Korsmo, adding, “The food safety, culinary skills and management development provided through our Pro Start program is successfully training our future leaders."

According to Korsmo, the association’s acquisition of RestaurantOwner.com increased its engagement with independent restaurant owners and operators via education and support. “I believe it is the absolute best collection of information and education for the hands-on restaurant owner available on the web today.”

As for the future of the restaurant industry, Korsmo envisions employment and sales growth, increased competition, and additional use of technology. “The National Restaurant Association will continue to use its efforts to best represent our interests while supporting the membership with the rapidly evolving industry we are a part of."

When Peter Yang’s parents immigrated to San Diego from China, they did not aspire for their children to be employed in food service. “My parents were trained designers in China, and had always hoped their children would graduate college and choose professional careers,” says Yang. Nevertheless, he grew up in the family restaurant and went on to develop Pokeworks, the world's largest fast-casual, premium Poke brand with 70 locations nationwide.

After earning a degree in engineering and a brief corporate internship, Yang joined his father and brother to open a full-service Chinese restaurant in Flushing, New York. “My interest was always in restaurants, and my passion to create is what led my brother and I to develop our own concept.”

Yang credits the growing healthful dining trend and his childhood visits to Hawaii as inspirations for the inaugural Pokeworks location in 2015, a 700-square-foot counter-service unit. Pokeworks’ fresh, healthy, and crave-able take on traditional poke bowls, burritos, salads, and sides was an immediate success. “Our initial thought was to expand slowly; but we received over one million views on Insider Food [a social media food network], creating tremendous interest in growth.”

Here, Yang details his business development process from concept ideation to expansion to franchise development. He also explains how cross-utilization of fresh seafood contributes to interesting menu offerings and managing food costs. Pokeworks’ current 1,200-square-foot counter and limited on-site dining units operate with relatively few staff and produce more than 30% of the concept’s sales from online guest pick-up orders.

Eatzi’s Market & Bakery (Eatzi’s) was created by award-winning concept developer Phil Romano in 1996 as a joint venture with casual dining restaurant company Brinker International, Inc. Soon after its launch, Adam Romo joined Eatzi’s as the company’s first CFO. 

"The initial acceptance was way above expectations," says Romo, adding, "The concept successfully offered something new and different, restaurant-quality cooking in a European market setting." With multiple open kitchens, the aroma of fresh baked goods, and opera playing in the background, Eatzi’s entertained customers and quickly developed a loyal following.

Eatzi’s successful Dallas debut led to expansion in Atlanta, the District of Columbia, Houston, and New York City. However, says Romo, "Expansion was not successful, and the profit drain led to a sale to a profit equity firm that had difficulty with continued operation and eventually went into bankruptcy."

In this episode, Romo explains how Eatzi’s was revived when Phil Romano purchased it out of bankruptcy in 2006 and Adam rejoined the group as its CEO. "We learned from our mistakes with location, size of facility, and operational challenges," says Romo. Extensive customer research was the foundation of their new business model. "We learned that our guests look to us for quality, convenience, theatre, price, and value so every decision made must enhance those five branding principles." 

Today Eatzi’s operates seven successful Texas locations in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Plano, and Grapevine. The units are 5,500 square feet, trimmed down from the concept’s earlier 10,000-square-foot locations. Off-premises dining accounts for 90% of Eatzi’s sales with on-premises business accounting for the remaining 10%. 

Eatzi’s appears poised for future growth with its commitment to quality and personal guest service. The concept continues to provide convenient online ordering, delivery, and "grab-and-go" sales for which it is famous.

Emily Hunt Turner is the founder and CEO of All Square Enterprises, a Minnesota non-profit organization. A former civil rights attorney, she created a restaurant and food truck business that provides a fresh start for people with a criminal record.

Says Emily, “By investing in those recently released [from prison] and those with criminal records and trying to move forward, we provide a sense of purpose and appreciation while receiving a loyal hard-working family of staff members.” The organization’s name suggests being “all square” with society.

She launched All Square Enterprises six years ago as a small cafe seating 50 people and operating five days a week from 11 am to 8 pm. Its specialty grilled cheese sandwiches are served in four squares, each representing four steps of entering society from incarceration -- space, light, open, and free. The sandwich varieties include basil pesto, Jamaica jerk, and jalapeño popper with fries, soup, and salad as sides.

In this episode, Emily shares how she learned to overcome her lack of restaurant experience and how her unusual opening promotion succeeded in raising startup capital. "This truly took a village to open,” she says. “We had assistance from community members to assist with design, construction, and equipment. She adds,” But my offering free grilled cheese sandwiches for life promotion for [a donation of] $1,000 was miraculous. We had 62 responses allowing me to have the necessary funds to open.”

Emily spends time with staff and management at the restaurant and attends food truck promotions, but she works primarily on the organization’s fellowship program. "We offer family services and legal assistance. We also teach entrepreneurship as a way of preparing our staff members for the rest of their lives." 

Sisters Jackie and Jessica Rodriguez started working in the family restaurant business as teenagers. With time and hard work, they have grown into leadership positions in this successful multi-concept hospitality company in El Salvador. What started as a San Salvadorian bakery created by their grandparents, grew into a 20-unit chain under the leadership of their father. 

Sixteen years ago, the family jumped at the opportunity to purchase a small hotel and their concept diversification plan was underway… Today Grupo Lorena consists of Hotel Villa, 16 Lorena bakeries as well as Don Beto Cafe, Fontana Bar and Restaurant, and La Tartaleta. The family decided to become a franchisee of the Japanese seafood concept, Sushi Koi as a way of continuing its multi-concept expansion. 

"We believe it is important to pioneer concepts, becoming the first in the San Salvadorian market helps us create impact, further our growth and increase our brand value" says Jessica, who heads up Marketing and Brand Management.

In this episode, we learn the distinction between a family operating restaurants and a restaurant business that happens to employ family members. Jackie, who leads operations, purchasing and Human Resources explains, "You don’t simply get a position in the company because you are family…you must qualify and get selected based on education and experience."

This is a story of successful concept development, profitable operations and strategic expansion by a family that has created a culture of responsibility, accountability and reward.

In 2014, Cameron Gerber bought a hotel and restaurant near his home outside Varney, a small community in Ottawa, Canada. After trying to sell the real estate, he and his brother Andrew opened a casual full-service concept on the property, with no restaurant experience. Their first restaurant struggled until they renovated it into Pebbles Family Buffet, which became a local hit. 

The success of the buffet, fresh bakery, and gift shop required the brothers to develop operating systems and procedures to improve efficiency and profitability. "We learned so much from the information and operating materials we found on www.restaurantowner.com, it remains our go-to reference to this day," says Cameron. 

In 2019, Pebbles Family Buffet increased its guest capacity to more than 250 seats and expanded its food-to-go program. They built a 10,000-square-foot commercial kitchen for the Pebbles Pantry, which delivers seven popular dinner offerings to more than 100 community grocery stores. 

In this episode, Cameron explains the importance of the business’s relationship with its staff and how his vision of Pebbles as a family became a reality. Says Cameron, "We show our care by involving our staff members in our daily operations, menu planning, and community marketing."

Over the next few years, Cameron and Andrew say they plan to continue their commitment to expansion, marketing, and staff. "We see Pebbles with an expanded bakery and gift shop and a pantry that has doubled in its production," says Cameron.

Alex Eagle was general counsel for Austin, Texas-based fast-casual concept Freebirds World Burrito before becoming its chief executive officer in 2018. Albeit his hands-on restaurant experience was limited, he forged ahead with plans for the concept’s improvement, leaning on his attention to detail and ability to motivate others.

Quoting Jim Sullivan, CEO and founder of leadership and development training site Sullivision.com, Eagle says, "Good leaders may not have all the right answers, but they have all the right questions." He adds, "And I had plenty of questions."

Eagle had no question that Freebirds was an exciting concept with great quality and an energetic team, but he found many of the units were underperforming. "Previous leadership may have spent too much time on brand expansion and not enough on consistent operations," says Eagle.

Thus, Eagle spent time with unit managers and staff to discover opportunities for improvement. He gained confidence to implement a three-step program. The first step was improving both operating consistency and kitchen efficiency. Step two was keeping staff members happy. Says Eagle, "Going above and beyond staff expectations in the areas of quality of work, compensation and quality of life became our mantra." Step three involved marketing product quality and promoting successful limited-time offerings.

His efforts paid off. Freebirds World Burrito completed its past fiscal year with increased sales, improved margins, and 64 profitable Texas units.

Since this recording in August 2024, Freebirds World Burrito was purchased by Texas-based Sun Holdings, Inc.

Tom O’Keefe is managing director of the 17-unit Louisiana and Texas family-style concept Southern Classic Chicken. O’Keefe says that he was initially drawn to the company by its 35-year customer following that he describes as "cult-like."

Says O’Keefe, "Brothers Howard and Leon Fanning had just taken over operations and were placing emphasis on growth when I decided to join. The combination of qualified people, a popular product line, established operating procedures, and great unit-level economics made this scalable."

In this episode, O’Keefe explains how his legal background and previous experience with Al Copeland’s restaurant enterprises helped him successfully build the Southern Classic Chicken franchise program. "Growth through franchising requires proper selection and consistent field support," says O’Keefe. "We pride ourselves on working hard at both."

Among the concept’s menu offerings are bone-in chicken by-the-piece and a chicken tender sandwich — the D.I.Y. Chicken Sandwich. Most of the company’s locations require half- to one-acre sites to accommodate free-standing units offering seated dine-in service, a walk-up order pass thru, and a drive-thru order window. In 2025, the company plans to launch a smaller unit design with less on-premises seating and more space dedicated to walk-up and drive-thru service.

Southern Classic Chicken’s adherence to hospitality business fundamentals has helped it maintain high customer loyalty and better than industry average unit sales volume. Says O’Keefe, "In the short term, we plan to keep our emphasis on customer service and consistent operations while we continue to grow throughout the Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas markets."

As immigrants from the Soviet Union and speaking little English, Piroshky Piroshky Bakery’s founders launched the business 32 years ago in a 350-sq.-ft. space at Seattle’s Pikes Peak Market. In this episode, owner Olga Sagan tells how her grandparents created an Eastern European pastry business that is now a nationally recognized brand.

"Quality never goes out of style," says Olga. "We use the finest ingredients and follow the same traditional family recipes every day when making our sweet and savory Piroshkis," she adds.

"The secret is in the dough. Our daily offering includes traditional piroshki such as cabbage and rice, beef and cheese, and potato and cheese, as well as new popular additions like veggie chipotle, and smoked salmon. Our sweet offerings include chocolate cream hazelnut and cinnamon cardamon braided twists."

Olga joined the family business 24 years ago. She quickly saw the need for operating systems to improve consistency and efficiency. "My finance background was very helpful in structuring the growth of the business." Soon after, the concept had three Seattle locations supported by a production commissary. Olga bought the business in 2017. Within two years, she added two locations and offered online ordering for pickup and delivery. Her pop-up locations in several cities to build awareness of the brand led to Piroshky Piroshky Bakery’s successful nationwide shipping business.

"I am very excited about our short-term future," says Olga. "We have a great team of people and a pastry with a point of difference. California is currently a huge online market for us and may become our next retail market area."

Learn more at www.piroshkybakery.com