Corner Booth Podcast

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  

Getting "money, money, money" to finance their businesses is always a hot topic of interest for restaurant owners and operators. Meet Celeste Deal, chief sales officer with ARF Financial. She has 24 years of funding experience and has provided more than $120 million in 12,000 different transactions with small-business operators. 

Here, Celeste shares her knowledge to help us secure funding, manage debt, achieve a return on investment, and prepare for succession planning. In this interview, we can learn the essential steps of restaurant debt consolidation, expansion, and improvement. 

Celeste illustrates how one restaurant's plan to expand into a space next door was consummated with two loans. The first financed design, construction, equipment, and decor. The latter financed small wares, inventory, and working capital as needed. 

She also explains how food truck operators can obtain funding to move to brick-and-mortar locations and how established restaurants can finance trucks for catering. 

Learn from an expert on successful start-up, expansion, and franchise financing in this "must-listen" episode.

Mike Stasko, president of Columbia, Ohio-based Sunny Street Café, was influenced by his father’s career in the restaurant equipment and supply business. He eventually went to work with his father at Rise & Dine, a breakfast and lunch concept where Mike learned how to manage its operations and business development. Mike rebranded Rise & Dine to Sunny Street and opened the first of what would become eight Columbus locations. 

In this episode, we learn what makes Mike’s full-service breakfast and lunch restaurant business successful and how he is growing it via franchising. Says Mike, “Franchising is the best way of getting into the business for yourself without being by yourself,” adding, “We have been very careful with the franchise partners we select and continue to actively support them.”

Sunny Street is open from 6:30 am to 2:30 pm daily. Each unit seats 100 to 120 guests, with space for private and group dining. “Most locations are in suburban shopping centers, making the family our primary guest. Weekends are huge,” says Mike. “Children have helped our pancakes become the number-one seller.”  

Sunny Street recently redesigned its packaging for off-premises dining to meet growing customer demand for third-party delivery and curbside pick-up, which account for approximately 20% of sales. Mike’s immediate goals include maintaining strong daily operations, growing the catering and delivery business, and supporting Sunny Street’s 22 franchisees in Ohio, Illinois, and Texas.

Giorgia Caporuscio was born in the small town of Terracina, Italy, an hour from Naples. In her youth, she dreamed of becoming a flight attendant to pursue her love of travel. At 19, she moved to New York City to work in her father’s pizza restaurant.

The experience changed her direction. “It was love at first bite,” says Giorgia, adding “I became intrigued with the process of authentic pizza making and wanted to master the art.”  

Giorgia traveled back to Italy to study under master pizza maker Antonio Biglietto in Naples, and she went on to win first place in the World Pizza Championship. In 2019, she returned to New York City to attend culinary school and, upon graduation, take over operations of Don Antonio, her father’s initial restaurant.

In this episode, Giorgia shares her story of how she succeeded in New York City’s competitive Hell’s Kitchen dining market and the specific challenges, including:

• Balancing the dynamics of a traditional family business with today's demanding labor market.

She also explains:

• Why in-house delivery works better than third-party delivery post-Covid.

Fuwa Fuwa is Japanese for Fluffy Fluffy, which, in this case, also translates to a successful, fast-growing soufflé pancake concept. Benson Lau started in 2018 with one small cafe in Toronto and has quickly grown his business to 40 locations throughout Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. During the summer of 2024, Benson and his team opened their newest unit in Orange County, California.

“It's incredible to experience this. I am overwhelmed by the acceptance of our unique soufflé pancake menu,” says Benson. “Our point of difference is truly the menu offering. Guests tell us they have never seen such light fluffy soufflé style pancakes for breakfast, dessert and all day.” 

Fluffy Fluffy is a counter-service, open-kitchen concept, with units that range in size from 1,200 to 2,400 sq. ft. Most locations seat 30 to 40 guests and are open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

“The addition of our crunchy waffle sandwiches called Croffles, along with our wide variety of desserts and coffees, help us build guest traffic during lunch and early evening hours,” says Benson. Although these delicate soufflé items may not travel well, most Fluffy Fluffy locations post 20% of revenue from pick up or delivery.

In this episode, Benson explains his approach to daily operations and his short-term growth planning. Benson says, "I see myself as the team captain. Our success depends on people having fun while working well together. We offer today's guests an affordable luxury that is sweet and healthy. As long as we are able to enjoy our work, we will continue to share our happiness one pancake at a time.”

Business school graduate Darren Spicer studied the success factors of the growing regional coffee sector while managing a unit of drive-thru coffee chain Dutch Bros. He and his two co-founders developed the drive-thru specialty beverage concept Clutch Coffee Bar, which was launched in 2018 in a second-generation drive-thru location in Mooresville, North Carolina.

“We succeed because of our commitment to offering quality and a well-trained staff that remains focused on the guest,” says Darren. “Mastering the brief conversation is what we like to call our approach to guest service. It has become our motto.”

The 450- to 850-square-foot walk-up and drive-thru kiosks are popular havens for those looking for freshly roasted coffee, cold brews, specialty energy drinks, smoothies, and shakes. Growth came quickly, with the concept’s second through fifth locations in second-generation takeovers that required little remodeling. The three owners each assumed responsibility for different areas of the business, allowing Clutch Coffee Bar to succeed in operations, marketing, and expansion more quickly. With 10 units and plans for nine more, Clutch Coffee Bar is quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing concepts in the Carolinas.  

As a child, Sarah Johnston, founder of Houston’s Fat Cat Creamery, hand-cranked creative homemade ice creams for family and friends. Following a career as a commercial real estate marketer, she leased space in a neighborhood strip mall to turn her childhood love of craft ice cream into a successful business. 

Fat Cat Creamery offers quality uniquely flavored frozen desserts and baked goods. “I started working with alcoholic beverages in some of my ice cream creations and it soon became my specialty,” says Sarah. “Waterloo Strawberry and Cream” made with gin and “Milk Chocolate Stout” with beer are among the concept’s signature products. Add handmade waffle cones, fresh-baked cookies, brownies, and old-fashioned sodas to complete the menu.

Sarah shares how monthly “flavor meetings” promote creativity and staff engagement. She also explains how seasonal tastings for customers helped build the business’s loyal following. From a single retail location, Fat Cat Creamery has grown to distribute its wares via wholesale distribution and an airport kiosk location. 

Garrett Reed, CEO of Layne's Chicken Fingers, said he fell in love with the Texas-headquartered concept as a student at Texas A&M University. The original College Station, Texas unit began operations in 1994. In 2015, Garrett approached the concept's owner to express his interest in expanding the brand. He became the concept's owner two years later.

In this episode, Garrett tells how he leveraged his passion for the company's products and his respect for its culture with standardization of operations and franchising. He also explains how he converted second-generation restaurant locations into Layne's Chicken Finger units as an effective expansion tactic.

Listen and learn how Garrett selects franchisees and manages the fast-paced growth of Layne's Chicken Fingers. The brand continues to emerge in the Lone Star State, with its reach including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and units soon to open in the District of Columbia and Virginia. The company projects it will be operating 14 units by the end of 2024.