What if the reason your restaurant isn't built to last is because you designed it to survive instead of dominate?

Philippe Massoud opened ilili in November 2007, a 10,000 square foot Lebanese restaurant in New York City, nearly $7 million in debt, in the middle of a financial crisis, with critics questioning whether anyone wanted Lebanese fine dining at that scale. Nineteen years later, the restaurant is still breaking records.

In this conversation, we get into why going smaller and safer is often the riskiest move an operator can make, how Philippe grew revenue 30% annually for five consecutive years after weathering the financial crisis, and why running a restaurant with two guests in mind changes everything.

If you're building something real in a market that keeps getting harder, this episode is the one to hear.

To learn more about ilili, visit ililirestaurants.com.

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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

What if the reason your margins are tight has nothing to do with efficiency and everything to do with strategy?

Chef Michael White held five simultaneous Michelin stars under the Altamarea Group before co-founding BBianco Hospitality Group with hospitality attorney Bruce Bronster in 2020. Together, they run a restaurant company that deliberately prices below the competition and still gets guests back three and four times a week because of it.

In this conversation, we get into why their three C's, cuisine, consistency, and conviviality, are the real operating system behind a loyal guest base, how volume answers margin problems that efficiency never can, and why knowing your lane inside a close partnership is the thing that keeps the business from falling apart.

If you're still chasing 20% margins and losing guests in the process, this one lands where it counts.

That's Chef Michael White and Bruce Bronster. To learn more about BBianco Hospitality Group, visit bbiancohospitality.com.

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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

What if your guests aren’t choosing your competitors, they just forgot you exist?

Ben Leventhal has spent 20 years building the infrastructure that connects diners to restaurants. He co-founded Eater in 2005, co-founded Resy in 2014, sold it to American Express in 2019, and is now the CEO and founder of Blackbird Labs, a loyalty and payments platform built to give independent restaurants the tools that large brands have had for years.

In this conversation, we get into why 42% of restaurants aren't profitable and what role loyalty plays in fixing that, how frequency and access are more valuable than acquisition, and why the independent restaurant's biggest competitive disadvantage is being invisible to guests who already love them.

If your regulars aren't showing up as often as they should, this episode is where to start.

 To learn more about Blackbird Labs, visit blackbird.xyz.

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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

What if the most valuable thing you could do for your restaurant is make yourself unnecessary?

Rob Herold has operated a single Chick-fil-A in Bowie, Maryland for 17 years. While most operators chase more locations, he went the other way, building a business that runs without him so he could coach leaders, serve communities overseas, and climb mountains with his son.

In this conversation, we get into why your time is worth more than you think, how hiring a virtual assistant became the highest-leverage decision he ever made, and what it really costs operators to insist on doing everything themselves.

If you are drowning in your own business and calling it dedication, this one will change how you see your calendar.

To learn how to delegate like Rob, check out the free step by step guide below:
https://resources.belaysolutions.com/partners/full-comp

To learn more about BELAY Solutions and how they can help you reclaim your time, download their free Freedom Framework here or text COMP to 55123 to get the link sent directly to you.

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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

What if the city everyone dismissed as a chain mecca was actually the smartest place to build a restaurant empire?

Rachel Cope didn't wait for permission to prove Oklahoma City wrong. As Founder and CEO of 84 Hospitality Group, she's built a multi-concept portfolio (Empire Slice House, Gorō Ramen, Burger Punk, and Elisabetta) by doing what most operators won't: saying no to the wrong opportunities, coaching her team instead of managing them, and treating a secondary market as a competitive advantage rather than a ceiling.

In this conversation, we get into how Rachel identifies the line between opportunity and distraction, why you cannot grow to the next thing until your current operation runs without you, and how an athlete's win-or-learn mindset changes the way you build culture.

If you're operating in a market people underestimate, including yourself, this one is for you.

To learn more about 84 Hospitality Group and their growing portfolio of Oklahoma City concepts, visit 84hospitality.com.

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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

What if the reason you keep breaking your own promises is that you're relying on willpower to keep them?

Jeff Fenster is the founder of Everbowl, the superfood franchise he's built across more than 30 states. Three years after his first time on the show, he's back with a sharper answer for how he actually wins: he strips out whatever gets between him and the result instead of trying to become a more disciplined version of himself.

In this conversation, we get into why your truth changes the moment your perspective does, how to treat AI as a multiplier instead of a crutch, and why building a personal brand has nothing to do with wanting to be famous.

If you're grinding on discipline and still coming up short, this one will change how you operate.

That's Jeff Fenster. To learn more about Everbowl and their franchise opportunities, visit everbowl.com.
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Today's episode was brought to you by Square. If you want restaurant tech that actually supports how you run your restaurant, find out how Square can help at square.com/goodstuff.

Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

What if you are the biggest obstacle to your restaurant's growth?

Kyle Willis, VP of Growth at BELAY Solutions, has spent years watching high-capacity operators hit the same wall: too busy doing the work to actually lead the business. Growth always stalls at capacity, and most operators have no plan for getting out from under it.

In this conversation, we get into why delegation develops your best people and multiplies what you can do, how a structured 30-60-90 onboarding relieves pressure fast, and why time is always the more expensive currency.

If you are running at full capacity and still not moving the needle, this is where you start.

To learn more about BELAY Solutions and how they can help you reclaim your time, download their free Freedom Framework here or text COMP to 55123 to get the link sent directly to you.

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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

Most operators think growth means adding more. More menu items. More locations. More channels. More promotions. More complexity.

Randy Sharpe’s approach at Wahlburgers was the opposite.

When Randy stepped into the CEO role, the brand had 17 menus across roughly 98 outlets. Some locations were creating more pain than profit. Some models were diluting the brand. The business did not need more complexity. It needed more clarity.

In this episode, Randy breaks down the fourth question every operator has to answer: can this restaurant grow without becoming harder to run?

We talk about simplifying menus, defining operating models, testing new products, growing catering, investing in better systems, building franchisee buy-in, and using field support to create compliance. Randy also explains why cutting what is not working can be the most important growth decision an operator makes.

This is the episode for operators who want to grow revenue without adding chaos.

To go deeper, download the free 2026 Restaurant Playbook at joshkopel.com/square

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Today's episode was brought to you by Square. If you want restaurant tech that actually supports how you run your restaurant, find out how Square can help at square.com/goodstuff.

Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

What if the smartest restaurant you could open wasn’t the biggest, busiest, or most celebrated, but the one you could control?

Kim Alter didn’t build Nightbird to chase stars. She built it to survive—and more importantly, to profit. In an industry obsessed with growth and recognition, she chose discipline: tight costs, small footprint, and total operational control.

In this conversation, we unpack how Kim turned a 20-seat restaurant into a high-margin business, why she was willing to run unsustainably in the short term to build long-term stability, and how consulting sharpened both her standards and her boundaries.

This is for operators ready to stop chasing validation and start building something that lasts.

To learn more about Nightbird, visit nightbirdrestaurant.com.

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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com

Dan Simons had the systems. He had the corporate restaurant training. He had the operational discipline. And his first independent restaurant still failed in 14 months.

That failure became the foundation for Founding Farmers.

In this episode, Dan breaks down the third question every operator has to answer: can this business actually survive?

We talk about why good food, good service, and even good systems are not enough if the concept is misaligned with the market, the business is undercapitalized, or the ownership structure is built for short-term pressure instead of long-term durability.

Dan explains how Founding Farmers was built around alignment between farmers, investors, employees, guests, and leadership, and why that alignment matters more than most operators realize. We also get into product-market fit, capital, team retention, sustainability, AI visibility, PR, and what it really takes to build a restaurant that is still here tomorrow.

This is the episode for operators trying to make it through the early years and build something durable.

To go deeper, download the free 2026 Restaurant Playbook at joshkopel.com/square

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Today's episode was brought to you by Square. If you want restaurant tech that actually supports how you run your restaurant, find out how Square can help at square.com/goodstuff.

Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you'll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com