Focus More On People, Less On Transactions | Josh Kopel (Restaurateur) | DH048

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Digital Hospitality featured Josh Kopel

Quotes from this Podcast:

Surround Yourself with the Right People:

[00:04:00] People that are going to listen to your show or to my show, they're not people that follow the herd. They're people that are trying to do something different, trying to do something unique and trying to do something memorable. And the only way to do that is to continue to surround ourselves with people that have done it before and people that are willing to be vulnerable.

A Great Realignment:

[00:09:49] Ultimately, at the end of the day, I would rather be seen as a mediocre restaurateur and a world-class father than be seen as a world-class restaurateur and a mediocre father. And so for me, there's been this great realignment.

A Difference Between Busy and Profitable:

[00:29:19] When is this shit going to stop? When are people going to see the difference between busy and profitable? And understand that those are not the same thing. Those are the conversations we need to have. Instead of trying to figure out how to compete with Taco Tuesday, why don't we say, 'how do I establish enough value that I have a consistent customer base.'

Restaurant Industry is Optimistic:

[00:35:10] We are, as an industry, more optimistic than we are savvy. So we don't negotiate aggressively because we know it's going to be fucking great until we get it right. The nature of entrepreneurship is extreme optimism. The nature of becoming a restaurateur is the ability to be able to look into the abyss and say, 'oh, it's not that deep.' And we're very good at doing that.

Always Be Learning (ABL):

[00:44:29] I learned in my early 30s that my professional success was exclusively determined by the speed at which I was able to learn new things. Every year, without exception, I look back on the man I was and the things I thought, and I think to myself, man, what an idiot that guy was. And this year is no different. Look, I just read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and the 22 Immutable Laws of Branding over the weekend. Short books, really valuable information. And I turned to my wife yesterday and I was like, 'Oh my God, I was wrong about everything.'

Related Links to Click:

Shawn Walchef on FULL COMP | Transform Your Restaurant Into A Media Company

Yelp Blog Post by Josh Kopel | Lessons in Leadership from a Terrible Manager

Yelp Blog Post by Josh Kopel | The Path to Reopening: Move Forward by Working Backward

Official Josh Kopel Website | From Serving the Community to Serving the Industry

Josh Kopel Instagram profile

Josh Kopel LinkedIn profile

FLO: Restaurant Growth Accelerator

Full Comp Media

Preux and Proper

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Whoever tells you that working in the restaurant industry is easy is lying. Josh Kopel knows this better than all.

Born in Baton Rouge and relocating to LA to carve his lane in its innovative food scene, Joshua Kopel quickly found that his biggest innovation to the West Coast restaurant industry was honesty and vulnerability.

“So many people in this industry are completely full of shit,” laughs Josh Kopel on his episode of the Digital Hospitality podcast. “It's true. Everybody's having the best day, the best week, the best month in the history of their business up until the moment that they closed their doors for good.”

Yup,