Forktales

Home Run Inn is a family owned & operated establishment with nine restaurants throughout the Chicago area. They’ve been making pizza since 1947 and began creating and selling frozen pizzas for grocery store distribution nationwide in the 1960s.  

Dan is the 4th generation leader of Home Run Inn Pizza. He started in the family business at the age of 13 as a busboy. 

Home Run Inn’s signature square-sliced pizzas originated in the 1940s when the tavern would slice the pizza into small sample-sized pieces to entice customers. 

The restaurant’s frozen pizza was born after a regular customer used to request par-baked pizzas to take to his summer home in Wisconsin. 

Home Run Inn Pizza has a synergistic relationship between the restaurant brand and the frozen brand and doesn’t view the relationship as cannibalistic when it comes to sales for either brand. 

“Everyone who has a restaurant wants to get into CPG. They want to put it in grocery stories. They think it’s easy to do CPG.” (Michael) 

“Our first distributor was our bartender. He would take pizzas after work, walk them down to the corner grocery store and pick up the cash the next day.” (Dan) 

“Our frozen pizza production facilities model and mirror what we did in the restaurants. My uncle would say, ‘The reason we make it like that is because that’s the only way I know how.’” (Dan)

“Pizza is like sex. It’s all good, but some is better than others.” (Michael) 

“The (Home Run Inn Pizza) restaurants drive brand awareness on the marketing side for our frozen pizza.” (Dan)

“A brand is a promise. Many times, an agency is hired to create that story or build that authenticity. What’s beautiful about what Home Run Inn Pizza has, is that (story) is already baked in.” (Michael) 

00:00.22

vigorbranding

And with some great guests and so I thought well we should keep it going. It’s good for social media. It’s good for you know it’s good. So I mean you know I’ll be honest’ve I’m only done a few of these but it’s been fun and you know I don’t know it’s just ah, you know the guys do a great job. So it turns out all right? yeah.

00:06.19

Dan Costello

Um, yeah.

00:16.98

Dan Costello

Um, cool, Awesome. Look forward to it. Don’t give hi.

00:19.29

vigorbranding

Yeah, yeah, yeah, know yeah this will be this will be a lap for you I mean you know it’s just just like your story and I mean it sincerely I mean great story, great family. Great product. It’s just you know it’s just it’s just super cool. We got a guy here working the production Robert who you’re already his fan. He’s a huge fan of home run his friends.

00:28.80

Dan Costello

Gun.

00:36.54

vigorbranding

Took him there and he you know is one of his best buddies is out there archer ra and thirty first street with archer a thirty first yeah Yeah, so yeah, yeah, so yeah, yeah, heyan on one thing we’re you know can keep casual and loose. We’re already kind of rolling here. Um, just 1 thing he got to do once we kind of finish up the convo.

00:42.27

Dan Costello

Ah, okay, nice Robert very good.

00:55.40

vigorbranding

We just gotta have you hang on the line thus til your tilll your file kind of uplis what locally so we’ probably just got hang out for extr

Joseph is the former host of Forktales and is currently working as the VP of Digital Experience for 3 Owl. He’s also the author of “Stop Blasting My Mama” (a book about effective email marketing) and “The Bullhearted Brand: Building Bullish Restaurant Brands That Charge Ahead of the Herd.” 

Joseph’s book, “Stop Blasting My Mama,” tackles the topic of email marketing and how modern marketing is overrun with overly aggressive terms – like blast and campaign – to describe what should be a friendly and civil interaction with consumers. 

Consumers today have more power today and can ignore brands – or cancel brands – whenever they want to. 

Technology is changing the restaurant industry and restaurants need to get onboard with that technological evolution or risk being left behind. 

“One day we’ll be able to do a podcast without mentioning the pandemic. Today is not that day.” (Joseph)

“I always cringe when I hear the words ‘e-blast’ or things like that because it’s antithetical to behaviors of humans in general. Nobody is walking around saying ‘Gosh, I really hope I get blasted today.’” (Joseph)

“I like to think of this world that we’re in as one big party. If you walked into that party alone and you said at top of your lungs, ‘Hey everyone, I just want you to know that I’m really cool.” You’re immediately not and you’re going to have a hard time convincing everyone that you are.” (Joseph)

“Restaurants are the backbone of every single economy – from micro local to federal. If you lose restaurants in the city center, you’ve lost the city center.” (Joseph) 

“The first victims of AI are the ones who phone it in. The mediocre hamburger won’t be there anymore.” (Joseph) 

“Bro, we are not eating bugs. It’s not happening. Unless there’s some sort of nuclear holocaust, Americans are not eating bugs.” (Joseph) 

00:01.20

vigorbranding

Well hey there um some of you watching this may be a little confused right now usually ah Joseph is on ah on the left side of your screen and for those that who are watching ah this podcast. The reason he’s on the right side is because he’s a guest a guest today. And I was honored to be 1 of Joseph’s guests way back when um, the reason we’ve switched sides is Joseph has accepted another position. He’s no longer with vigor or the provone marketing group but he’s off into some wonderful new things that he’s going to talk to us about and we’re excited to to catch up with Joseph. Um. For those don’t know my name is Michael Pavone I’m the Ceo of the provevone group and we have several different agencies in our holding company and we’re excited to talk to Joseph. He’s created 67 fantastic episodes and we’re going to hit a little bit of your. History the the the good old days. Ask you some questions and just just find out what you’re up to.

00:55.28

Joseph Szala

Awesome. It’s great to be here.

01:00.95

vigorbranding

Ah, since you’re in your house. It probably is always great to be there. But anyway, all right? So ah, let’s see let’s it’s talk. Let’s talk about a little bit. What have you been up to talk about your career which you’re heading to now and what you’re excited a

Caroline serves as Chief Operating Officer of Tupelo Honey and is a champion of high-growth, employee-centric workplaces. She joined the company as part of the initial senior leadership team in 2013. 

In Caroline’s nine-year tenure, she has been responsible for Tupelo Honey’s workforce expansion efforts, founding and leading its human resources and training teams and growing the brand from two locations and less than 100 employees to 22 locations and more than 15,000 employees. 

Tupelo Honey’s goal is to be at the forefront of the employee experience and at the forefront of what can be the new experience for restaurant workers. 

Sixty percent of Tupelo Honey’s management positions are filled from within the company. .

Like a lot of restaurants, many Tupelo Honey managers started as servers or dishwashers, which helps them relate to entry level employees and makes them better managers. 

Communications methods like text alerts for younger workers (instead of email) work well for Tupelo Honey and its employees. 

It’s important for companies to initiate conversations with employees about culturally significant events that might impact employees, even if those conversations are difficult to have. Those conversations build trust with employees and show that a company cares. 

QUOTES

“The restaurant industry is being required to level up in how we’re looking at the employee experience.” (Caroline)  

“We have to add the human element back (in restaurant employment) and care about people holistically. They have a life outside of work and they want support beyond just a paycheck.” (Caroline)

“Entry level workers want to stay. They want a path to grow their careers.” (Caroline)

“Younger workers and millennial workers learn differently. We’ve had to recognize that there’s a different way to communicate with them.” (Caroline) 

“Every employee is different and restaurants can’t have a one-size-fits-all program. You have to have options for everyone.” (Caroline) 

“What we do is simple. At the end of the day, it’s about one guest, one relationship and one experience.” (Caroline) 

00:00.00

vigorbranding

Everyone today I’m joined by my new friend Carolyn Skinner she is the Ceo so Ceo oh not yet although Carolyn there has been a history of people on this show getting rapidly promoted. So don’t want to dangle the carrot it could happen.

00:10.69

caroline

Hello that.

00:14.32

vigorbranding

Ceo of tupalo honey which we’re going to dig into the concept a little bit throughout this episode talk a lot of other things as well for now Carolyn say hello and give a little backstory.

00:24.80

caroline

Yeah, thank you Joseph for having me. Um I am Caroline Skinner chief operating officer I am a native of Asheville North Carolina which is also the home. Um, an original location for Tupelo Honey um and our restaurant brand has been around for about 20 years we really started to grow in the last ten years I’ve been with the company for 10 years and seen pretty much all of the last twenty of our 21 locations launch in open so I’m really happy to be here.

00:53.85

vigorbranding

I awesome yeah and I appreciate you taking the time out so we work together put together an awesome production sheet I think there’s so many great things to talk

JUICER is bringing dynamic pricing to the restaurant industry. Together with their customers who operate more than 4,000 restaurants across the globe, JUICER is applying machine learning algorithms to help restaurants optimize their digital menu pricing. 

Carl is also the co-author of “Delivering the Digital Restaurant,” a book that explores the world of off premise food and the massive disruption facing American restaurants through first-hand accounts of restaurateurs, food industry veterans, and start up entrepreneurs.

Dynamic pricing in the restaurant industry can mean lowering prices to increase traffic during slow hours, increasing prices for specific menu items to reflect changes in ingredient costs, or increasing prices for all menu items during peak hours, peak days or peak seasons. The result is a pricing model that ensures the right time for each sales channel to optimize a restaurant’s profitability and the guest experience.

JUICER’s focus – for now – is on off-premise dynamic pricing, where the adjustment of prices is easler. On-premise dynamic pricing is more difficult (because of menus with fixed, printed prices) but will be more likely in the future. 

“What JUICER is trying to do is become a full-service solution. We take 12 months of transactional data, put that through our algorithm, come up with recommended prices based on different times of day, and then our team will implement those price changes.” (Carl) 

“Consumers today are already experiencing dynamic pricing on DoorDash and Uber Eats. The delivery prices will change. The challenge is, restaurants aren’t getting any of the upside of that dynamism.” (Carl) 

“The challenge of dynamic pricing as a term can be somewhat divisive. What we’re doing at JUICER is completely avoiding anything related to surge pricing. We’re talking about relatively small changes in prices that don’t cause a negative reaction. In many ways, the customer doesn’t even notice many of the price changes.” (Carl) 

“There’s only one Taylor Swift. In a marketplace, there are hundreds of other pizza places that you can go to.” (Carl) 

“The whole idea of delivering the digital restaurant is to help restaurants understand that they have to optimize their off-premise channel. It’s far more than just turning yourself on DoorDash or Uber Eats and letting those channels run themselves.” (Carl) 

00:00.41

vigorbranding

Everyone today I am joined by my new friend Carl Orsburn it’s oars burn or born say with me everyone um, all joking aside Carl. Thanks for taking time out of your day and your week hang out with me while you say hello and for those that don’t know you give a little bit of backstory.

00:17.53

Carl Orsbourn

Thanks! Thanks! Jo really good to be here and glad we get to spend a few few minutes together today. Um yes, I’m Carl Osborne I’m the co co-founder at juicer a dynamic pricing company for restaurants. But so. A lot of people know me from my first book that I wrote with Meredith Sandland delivering the digital restaurant that book became a bit of a bests selller and really um, cemented I t

The first Dog Haus opened in Pasadena, California in 2010. Since then, Dog Haus has expanded to include 91 locations throughout southern California. 

Dog Haus has garnered critical acclaim and national attention for its signature all beef Haus Dogs and handcrafted proprietary Haus Sausages, as well as its 100% genetically tested, humanely raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free Black Angus beef. 

Many start-up restaurants rely on a celebrity name to drive consumer interest, which calls into question the quality of the food and expertise of the celebrity when it comes to the offering. 

Consistency of quality is important. Some restaurant brands don’t have standards – or don’t clearly define the standards – which means different dining experiences between each location or even at the same location. 

“Our advantage is the quality of the food. It’s the product itself.” (Justin) 

“We are created by people who are very much into food. That’s been our goal since day one.” (Justin) 

“Zeroing in on the quality of the product. That’s not a different story. So many brands think their product is ‘the best.’ What (Dog Haus provides) is reasons to believe why that’s true.” (Joseph) 

“How do you get someone to pay $8 for a hot dog when Costco sells it for $1.50. That’s a unique challenge for us. We do that with high quality ingredients. It’s not just a hot dog and you know that when you see it.” (Justin) 

“Quality matters, especially on delivery.” (Justin) 

“(Some restaurants) make it as cheap as possible and maximize profitability, get the money and go. I think now more than ever, the delivery game has changed that. After I’ve paid for delivery fees and that (meal) comes back tasting like garbage, that’s horrible.” (Joseph) 

00:00.00

vigorbranding

Everyone and today I’m joined by Justin Bartek you probably remember our episode from early on in the fork tales days I had to have him back because so much has changed since then Justin won’t you say hello and ah give us a little update on where you’ve been and where you are now.

00:16.68

Justin Bartek

Yeah, man, it’s good to see you Joseph as always in the past few months about five months ago now I joined doghouse worldwide which is a hot dog brand but we do smash burgers hot dogs, gourmet sausages breakfast burritos that are actually killing it. Um. And more so it’s very exciting to be over here I’ve sort of been put in a position to help with those virtual brands that they have called the absolute brands. But I’m also you know there’s always so much to do that I’ve been helping with my own connections and background to all across the organization. So. It’s been great.

00:50.71

vigorbranding

That’s awesome. So um, for those don’t remember you you used to be at the Ramen company Jinnya I Still go there. Still love their ramen.

00:56.60

Justin Bartek

I’m correct.

00:58.38

vigorbranding

Um, and as you said now you’re in this new position. Jinnya is a brick and mortar. It’s full service. Well it’s actually fast casual technically there’s coun

Troy was born in Hawaii. His family goes back five generations in Hawaii and was among some of the first missionaries to arrive on the islands. He started as a 14-year-old dishwasher in Maui and eventually worked his way up to a sous chef working with his mentor, Chef Roy Yamaguchi. 

Hawaiian culture emphasizes “ohana” which means family. Troy has worked hard to embrace that same family atmosphere in his restaurants. 

It’s difficult to maintain a restaurant culture as a restaurant grows. Owners often find themselves having to choose between managers who are a good cultural fit but underperform as managers or vice versa. 

Taking care of guests is critical and is the foundation of any restaurant’s success. 

Troy’s vision for TAG Restaurant Group changed during COVID. His new steak restaurant in Houston opened three months before COVID and struggled in 2020 and 2021, but rebounded in 2022 to become a successful location today. 

“(When it comes to ingredients), I was taught early on working in California, Hawaii, New York and Hong Kong that you utilize what you can from where you’re from.” (Troy)

“Authentic and real. I think everyone can see when something is genuine. We try to hire people who are genuinely hospitable. Even if they don’t know how to cook but they have a good attitude and want to, we like those types of people.” (Troy) 

“The days of people staying for 10 plus years are probably long gone.” (Troy) 

“Pay is, of course, one factor, but it’s not THE factor.” (Joseph) 

“Our core values are passion, imagination, courage, caring, humility, harmony and ownership. That’s what I want to see in people. I want to give them ownership to do what they think is best.” (Troy) 

“It’s really tough to foster a culture when you spread out (to multiple locations).” (Joseph) 

“Two weeks in (at my first restaurant), we were $40,000 in the hole. My investors said if you don’t change we’ll have to close. The second month we lost $20,000. The third we broke even. And the fourth – I swear to God – we made $40,000. We made an $80,000 swing in four months by just focusing and working together. ” (Troy) 

“Marketing can get people to visit once. It’s the restaurant’s job to get them to come back.” (Joseph)

00:00.81vigorbrandingEveryone today I’m joined by chef troy guard from tag restaurant group which you’re going to learn all about if you’re not already familiar. Um Troy say hello give a little bit of backstory.

00:11.84Chef Troy Guardgood morning good afternoon good evening whatever time we’re listening to here. It’s March Seventeenth St Patrick’s day and I’m just chilling in my marketing’s ah my marketers’ room right now. So talking to Joseph in the. Excited to be on board. Thanks for having me.

00:29.77vigorbrandingAwesome! Well Troy so you grew up in Hawaii um, which it’s islands that I absolutely love and now you find yourself imp possibly the complete opposite. You’re a mile up in the air in Denver.

00:35.91Chef Troy GuardUm, you know.

00:42.93vigorbrandingUm, what led you to Denver from Hawaii and and how have those roots from the islands influenced your cooking and your outlook on life.

00:50.48Chef Troy GuardYeah, thank you so yup board on the islands we’re 5 generations of being in Hawaii even though we’re white where you know some of the first missionaries to come over there which is kind of cool. Um, great stories back there. Um I left when I was. You know, 21 and just kind of just went all over the plac

Chowly is a cloud-based solution that helps restaurants of all sizes integrate third-party online ordering systems into point-of-sale (POS) systems to manage orders, payments, billing, and more.The end result is a technology that saves restaurants time and money.

Earlier this year, Chowly launched its Restaurant Control Center, which serves as a centralized hub for integrations and empowers restaurants with consolidated data and business insights. 

Sterling found that a lot of online ordering systems had great consumer experiences or great operations and back-end experiences for restaurants, but not both. Chowly’s acquisition of Koala allowed them to offer superior experiences to both consumers and restaurants.

Sterling predicts that dynamic pricing will take off in 2023, with companies like Sauce, Pricing and Juicer leading the way. 

Apps need to provide an intrinsic value. They can’t just be used to check a box. 

Dynamic pricing will be a shaky system at first, but after 18-24 months, it will have found its footing and be widely accepted by consumers. 

“Co-opetition is wild in the restaurant space. The amount of overlap of features from point-of-sale to online ordering companies to loyalty systems to marketing systems – everyone’s got overlap of features.” (Sterling)

“I feel like the restaurant industry is going through a bundling cycle right now. It’s not uncommon to see industries go through bundling and unbundling cycles.” (Sterling)

“The consolidation has to make sense. It has to pair well together. Consolidation for consolidation’s sake isn’t helpful to anyone.” (Sterling) 

“The first question to ask is, ‘Do I need another app on my phone?’ I’m at the point now where the only time an app really matters is if it’s completely built with the customer in mind.” (Joseph)

“Half of the restaurant industry is small operators and independents. We don’t have the same big-player mentality (as the travel industry).” (Sterling) 

“You can’t commoditize a really great burger. The airlines are very much commoditized. The experiences are very similar. In a restaurant, they’re completely different.” (Sterling) 

“As digital threatens the viability of restaurant dining rooms, the question becomes, ‘What makes my dining room worth sitting in?’” (Joseph)

“Restaurants need to meet consumers where they are. I don’t think on-premise is going away, no matter how much I love the convenience of getting my food delivered to me.” (Sterling)

00:00.55vigorbrandingHey guys today I’m joined by my new friend sterling Douglas he’s the co-founder and Ceo of Chali which we’re gonna dive into a lot so many things happening over there and just so you know we’ve been chatting for about 10 minutes on all things. So I think it’s gonna be great episode. Ah. Sterling say hello and give up a backstory.

00:17.83Sterling _Chowly_Hey Joseph thanks for having me on I’m excited to kind of dive into a bunch of these topics that we were getting into yeah cofounder Ceo Chali where digital platform that enables restaurants to expand their off-prem capabilities before. Chaey I used to be an actuary deep into data analytics and just found that data really wasn’t moving cleanly between restaurants and you know that really prompted kind of the founding for chaey so that we could take data from you know uber eats grubhubs of the world an

David is a performance excellence coach focused on teaching, consulting and executive coaching for small to medium sized businesses, including many restaurants. 

David spent six years as a business/excellence coach for Pal’s Excellence Institute. Pal’s – or Pal’s Suddenly Service – is a drive-through only 31-location restaurant chain located in northeast Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. The restaurant is known for its speed, hospitality, cleanliness and people. 

Pal’s relies heavily on word-of-mouth marketing. That word-of-mouth allows Pal’s to spend roughly half as much on marketing as some of its similar competitors. 

According to David, COVID gave restaurants a second chance to make a first impression. Restaurants that were struggling before the pandemic were struggling after the pandemic, pointing to an internal flaw that contributes to that struggle. 

Some restaurants used the pandemic as a chance to reset and improve themselves to make a second first impression and win over new customers after the pandemic ended. 

“What we see now is a lot of sculptures and spokescharacters have been discontinued. Architecturally speaking, we’re getting modern boxes that don’t have much life.” (Joseph)

“If you look at the new (restaurant) designs, they’re all basically the same. You really want to stand out in a sea of sameness.” (David) 

“How often in life do you get a second chance to make a first impression? If customers are coming back (after the pandemic), we have a chance to win them over and leave all that past behind.” (David) 

“If people aren’t buying it, it’s because they don’t want it.” (Joseph) 

“If you think about a restaurant and what it does, it’s really a manufacturing operation. You’re manufacturing food in real time for a specific order based on your menu.” (David) 

“Systems are one thing, but activating them tends to be where the rubber meets the road and where most people hit the road.” (Joseph) 

“Twenty percent of the effort is putting a system in place and 80% of the effort is sustaining it. You have to make it a habit. You have to change in a way that it’s harder to go back than it is to go forward.” (David) 

00:00.91vigorbrandingEveryone today I’m joined by my friend David Jones he’s the president of a company called the excellence advisory which we’ll get into in a little bit. Um, but before we do David why don’t you say hello and give a little bit of backstory.

00:11.50David M_ JonesWell hello joseph and thanks for having me on today I considered a personal and professional honor to be here with you speaking to your audience and I’m actually an engineer by training 25 years in corporate America and then I had the great blessing and ability to work with. Pals through their business excellence institute which I hope we get to talk about and did that for 7 years and ah and today I do teaching consulting and coaching executive coaching for small to medium sized businesses including a lot of restaurants.

00:49.83vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. Yeah, so pals is um, essentially what prompted our connection on Linkedin. Um, and honestly it’s a concept I had never heard of they’re they’re not here in Georgia or in Central Pennsylvania so I just never come across them. But what really grabbed my attention and prompted our discussion was. Um, pal’s sudden service is what it’s called has these amazing huge sculptures on their buildings sculptures of their food like hamburgers and drinks and all kinds of things and this just struck

Meredith is the CEO of Empower Delivery. The company’s software combines the consumer journey, the product journey, and the logistics journey into one integrated piece of software. The software enables all restaurants to profitably and sustainably serve the growing consumer demand for delivered meals.

Meredith is also the co-author of “Delivering the Digital Restaurant,” a book that explores the world of off-premise food and the massive disruption facing American restaurants through first-hand accounts of restaurateurs, food industry veterans and start-up entrepreneurs.

Many restaurants face complexity in the number of tools and apps they use to manage their day-to-day operations. 

The restaurant industry is showing unprecedented levels of technological innovation – particularly when it comes to ordering – which makes third-party apps and aggregators important for streamlining incoming orders. 

Innovation is also being seen in restaurant loyalty programs, which have come a long way since the Subway punch cards of the past.

“A lot of restaurant brands were forced into adopting delivery (during the pandemic) when maybe they otherwise didn’t want to.” (Meredith)

“For operations, it’s really about eliminating complexity. There are so many channels and consumers are coming in so many different ways that it creates complexity. As you eliminate complexity, you will find that you have better financial outcomes.” (Meredith) 

“Every facet of the restaurant industry is being revolutionized by technology.” (Joseph) 

“Not every server can be the best, but technology can take the elements of that best server and make them consistent across every server. Technology used well in that setting should make the experience better.” (Meredith) 

“The restaurant industry is one of the only industries where all five senses are engaged.” (Joseph) 

“A really sophisticated digital restaurant is using 15-20 pieces of software.” (Meredith)

00:00.00vigorbrandingEveryone today I’m joined by my friend Meredith Sandlin she’s the Ceo of empowered delivery and the co-author of delivering the digital restaurant if you are on Linkedin Chances are you have seen her or heard from her because she is out there rocking it. In the media talking about digital or delivery digital. All that stuff. So Marilyn before we hop in while you say hello and give a little bit of backstory.

00:24.58MeredithHi there. Well so good to be on the show. Um I’ve been listening and it is such a good podcast. So I’m excited to be part of it. Um, so yeah, my name is Meredith Sandland and I am the Ceo of empower delivery as well as the co-author of. Delivering the digital restaurant. Ah, your roadmap to the future of food and also the forthcoming delivering the digital restaurant the path to digital maturity which will be out in a couple of weeks here maybe by the time this podcast hears I don’t know we’ll find out.

00:54.94vigorbrandingDad’s awesome if it is. We’ll definitely have a link to it or at the very least have a link to pre-order I’m excited to get my hands on it. Um, you probably can’t really see it folks but right back here and on my bookshelf is the book and so um I’m excited to read the new one. Um.

01:08.90MeredithUm, if you think awesome.

01:12.15vigorbrandingSo delivery. It’s acing it is just like a really big challenge for restaurant brands large and small. So I think before the pandemic a lot were sort of adverse to it because they didn’t really see the value. Ah

Seasoned is the only social community exclusively for service industry workers. The app allows hospitality workers to connect and share insights and experiences. It’s also a job listing resource that connects restaurants looking for staff members with potential employees looking for work. 

Traditional hiring websites aren’t well suited for hourly jobs and careers in the hospitality industry. Seasoned solves that. 

When it comes to hiring, the hospitality industry faces challenges from other hourly sectors, which often offer jobs that are less stressful than restaurant work. 

It’s essential for restaurants to focus on the benefits that they can provide to their employees in order to attract and retain quality workers. 

Centralized ownership, not franchise ownership, often does a better job of creating a successful HR and hiring model. 

“The pandemic had a historic impact. It slingshotted all of us past the laziness and apprehension and forced us to change and one big change is the labor market.” (Joseph)

“If you look at the actual things that you gain from working in a restaurant, there’s an incredible number of attractive qualities that you gain from working in a restaurant. The skills that you build in a restaurant are going to help you wherever you go.” (Zach)

“I was a busser for six months, and to this day whenever I have a bad day I think to myself, ‘At least I’m not bussing tables.’” (Joseph) 

“With younger workers, what you’re hiring for is attitude, reliability and coachability. You can teach anyone to do the job within the restaurant, but having those attributes […] you can teach anyone to be great.” (Zach) 

“Instead of ‘You work for us,’ it’s ‘We work for you.’ That shift is really impactful (when hiring and retaining talent).” (Zach)

00:00.00vigorbrandingEveryone today I’m joined by my friend Zach Anderson he’s brand partner at seasoned a system that we’re going to dive into here in a bit but before we do Zach say hello give a little bit of backstory on yourself.

00:11.91Zach AndersonThanks Joseph hi next meet everyone. My name’s Zach Anderson my like Joseph mentioned I’m a brand partner over it seasoned I’ve been in the restaurant space for about 15 years across a mix of both operations as well as on the vendor and supplier side working in. Various capacities across things like ad media to voice ai kiosk hardware and most recently I’ve been over here at season working on our mission to help bring the service industry together by offering a community-based product for restaurant workers to engage each other and find great jobs.

00:45.49vigorbrandingThat’s amazing. Yeah I’m really excited to pry in I’m I’m kind of holding myself back because we will get to it but I do want to talk about the the big l word right now which is the labor issues that we’re challenged with in the industry. Um, from my point of view. It’s kind of a long time coming. Um, anybody that thought we you know restaurants could continue to operate the the way that they had for as long as they have just really was blinding themselves in a lot of ways. So I’m going to use the pw word now I’m getting sick of saying it. But since the pandemic you know the pandemic had this historic impact I think it’s slingshot at all of us. Ah. Past the laziness or apprehension and just forced us to change and 1 big change is the labor market not just the availability of people but the people willingness to work the work ethic and the passion for the i