Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] A few years ago, I worked with Bob and Kate Carpenter. They run a place called Sunnyside Kitchen in Escondido, California. They were actually one of the founding P3 members, and they appeared actually on this podcast a long time ago and shared this story. But you're gonna have to go way back to find that conversation, so I'm gonna share that story on today. It was talking about how Bob was able to get the next person who got online to stay because there's always a line out the door. And he would always say, I always have eight people in line and I can't survive if I only have eight. I need that ninth. So how do we get that nint in the door? There's a story about that. I'm going to share that on today's episode of Restaurant Strategy.
[00:00:37] There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
[00:01:08] Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close. I am your host. I'm the founder and CEO of Restaurant Strategy. It's a company that does a lot of things right. So we run live events, we. We host a coaching program. We run a membership site. We also put out this podcast, two episodes of this show every single week, all meant to help you level up, build a more profitable restaurant. This podcast is geared towards independent restaurant owners. My program, my coaching program, the P3 mastermind, same thing. It's an extension of this show. It is geared towards independent operators. Mostly, it's about teaching you the things that the big groups and chains already know. The companies that have CEOs and CFOs and accountants and all of that, teaching you the systems that they use to generate 20% or more in monthly profit and teaching you how to integrate that into your business. If that sounds interesting, if you're ready to make more from your business, then go to RSProfit.com, grab some time on the calendar, chat with me or someone from my team. We just get to ask each other a bunch of questions and see if we can help you. If we can, we'll talk about what the next steps look like. I promise you there's no pressure. We're bringing tons of people into this program every single year. My question is, why not you again? Rsprofit.com as always, that link is in the show notes restaurant owners. You want a steady, predictable flow of new customers, right? If that is the case, then you need to check out Restaurant Scale Secrets. They have a fully done for you marketing system that has already helped TV tons of restaurants, including more than 50 members of this restaurant strategy community. They work with a ton of my P3 members. I recommend Restaurant Scale Secrets because I know it works. They run meta ads, they run Google Ads, and they have an entire automated system to get people into your orbit and to get them coming in and coming back. The program works. It's why I recommend it not only here, but to all of my P3 members. You get to fill tables and add tens of thousands to top line revenue. So. So if you're ready to take that whole piece of marketing off your plate and start filling your seats, head to restaurantscale secrets.com chip book a free discovery call. There's no pressure. Get to meet Monica and her team and you'll see what they do and what they have already done for so many people in this community. Again, restaurantscalesecrets.com chip as always, you'll find that link in the show notes.
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[00:03:58] One operator put it like this, Ovation is a game changer. It helps us identify issues early before they turn into bigger problems. Another operator starts every staff meeting by reviewing recent Ovation data, giving the team one source of truth to work from. With heat maps, goal tracking and performance dashboards. Ovation doesn't just tell you what's wrong, it actually helps your team fix it. You can even assign action items and track the follow through on those items. So if you want to get all the answers without having to ask all the questions, go to ovationup.com chip to book a demo. Mention this podcast and guess what? They'll waive your setup fee. As always, you'll find that link in the show notes.
[00:04:43] Okay, so we're talking a lot about stories. The stories we tell, the stories that that help give our guests things to talk about. The stories that help illustrate who we are to our employees. Bottom line is human beings are storytellers, right? The narrative is how we communicate everything. Whether it was way back with cavemen talking about saber toothed tigers or you know, why we should go to the. The hot, new, cool restaurant that we just discovered. Stories matter. Stories help illustrate our why.
[00:05:12] Sunny's Head Kitchen is a small place in Escondido, California. Little breakfast brunch place, right? So it's open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch. It's owned by Bob and Kate Carpenter. I adore them. They were longtime listeners. They've been longtime listeners of this podcast. Bob, Kate, if you're listening. Hey, I hope you're doing well. They were founding members, the P3 mastermind. In that initial group. They were with me for the better part of, I don't know, year plus in the program. I adore these two. Bob and Kate used to talk about their place, right? So they specialize in paninis, quiche, you know, like muffins and, like, cinnamon rolls and all those breakfast and lunch stuff, salads, bowls.
[00:05:49] And they had, I think, three tables inside and four tables outside. Bottom line was this tiny place, but they really relied on a line out the door. Line out the door told people like, oh, crap, what's that place? We got to go there. Everybody in town knew it, and they fell in and all of that. The way Bob would tell the story, because Bob was often at the register and Kate was back in the kitchen cooking. And it's a whole open kitchen, so everybody can see everybody there. But Bob used to talk about how he had a line, and there's pretty much eight people that could fit in line from the register to the door. And he said, so what happens is the door would open when the ninth person would go to get in line. And there was always that moment where they were like, oh, do I want to bother waiting in line? Or should I just go somewhere else? Do I have the time? And the way Bob would say it is that he's like, I can't survive if I only have eight people in line. I always need that ninth person. So we always thought of a way to engage with those people. And he said, I was really good at looking for. At looking for sports teams logos or college names. He said, that was my superpower. He's super, super talkative, really engaging, loves connecting with people. I think it's why he loves hospitality so much. But he said he got really good. He would see somebody with, like, a USC hat, and he'd be like, oh, hey, what's going on? What do you think about the Trojans? And that would keep him anchored in line. And then they would talk about USC a little bit, and he's like, and maybe I know Nothing about college football, but I knew enough to engage and to know that USC was the Trojans and they were going to be okay or good or bad this year, or they got some new recruit. I can engage right now. I could see a college, you know. You know, I could see Stanford say, oh, Stanford. Did you guys go to. Did you go to Stanford? And without a doubt, they say, oh, yeah, I went to Stanford. Or like, oh, actually, no, but my daughter's getting. My daughter just got in, which is like, oh, congratulations. It led to a story about the shirt they were wearing as a way to engage and keep them engaged in line long enough so they didn't. So they didn't leave.
[00:07:38] It's a way of playing defense. Remember the very first episode of this whole arc of Story Time? I was talking about this place in Italy called Porto Marina, and I was talking about how they play defense by giving out white wine. Because once you've been given something, you don't want to go away and give your business somewhere else. It's like, whoa, they gave me free stuff.
[00:07:54] That law of reciprocity kicks in, and you think, like, I can't go anywhere, right? So I'm gonna stay put.
[00:08:02] In many ways, the same way. So when the owner engages with the person in line, it's really hard for the person to say, oh, yeah, listen, I actually have to go. It's weird, like. Cause now you know each other. And they would call out. It was a really energetic place. There's tons of people in line. There's people waiting for their food. But still, he had to get really good at keeping that conversation going across the lines.
[00:08:24] Now, part of this connects to this engagement that we were talking about, right? I said a few episodes ago that I think you know a lot about a few of your guests, but most of your guests you know almost nothing about. And I challenge you. And on the next episode, I'm going to challenge you to go even deeper on this. But this was how Bob did it, right? Bob and Kate Carpenter have run their little business and grown their little business to go from five days to six days to seven days.
[00:08:46] Now they're more successful than ever. And I think they've done it because they continue to connect with that ninth person in line.
[00:08:53] Make no mistake, your restaurant can't survive if you just come in and serve good food.
[00:08:58] If you just provide good service, people can get that. A lot of places, your place will survive if you make a personal connection with people. Listen, I'm certainly preaching. You know, I practice what I preach how many personal stories do I tell on this thing? So you guys know I'm a real person who's been in this industry, who goes out, who has a family, who has needs.
[00:09:18] I try to share stories so you understand some context and how I view the world. Right? I'm no different than any of you. Been doing this for a very, very long time. Care deeply about hospitality, care deeply about restaurants. And I had the privilege of working with some people who've taught me a great deal about this industry. There's things I know, and so I turn on the microphone and try to share them. There's things I see, there's things I believe. I try to turn on the microphone and share them. I. But make no mistake, that's why I share personal stories, why I have my son on an episode. It's why I talk about the trips I take, but the restaurants I've gone to, about my experiences working in restaurants.
[00:09:56] My job here today is just to share the story of Bob and Kate Carpenter, that ninth person in line. Make no mistake, your restaurant can't survive with eight people in line. It needs the ninth person. The only way you keep the ninth person in line is by making them feel special, giving them a reason to stay.
[00:10:13] And by extension, you have to give them some way to go talk about you. That's these stories.
[00:10:19] So when they say, oh, where'd you go to breakfast today? Oh, I went to Sunnyside Kitchen. Oh, was it good? Yeah, it was good. Panini was good.
[00:10:25] If Bob doesn't connect with them, that's it. They talk about how good the panini was. Nobody has moved to do it.
[00:10:32] Nobody has moved to go there on their own. But if they say, oh, I went to Sunnyside Kitchen today for breakfast. And they say, oh, really? How was.
[00:10:39] Was really good. And you'll never believe it. I was talking to the owner, the owner's like talking to me across like about the TROJ and do we think that new recruit's going to be good for us this year? And like, yeah, it was great. We were like, we're just talking shop until it's time for me to order.
[00:10:51] That becomes a whole different thing.
[00:10:56] Make no mistake, that's what kicks your business to the next level. And you may not see the great restaurants doing that, but they do.
[00:11:05] So either you've got this massive footprint, you know, and sort of the marketing might that comes with spending millions of dollars like Chili's or Applebee's or Outback or whatever, where you do hand to hand combat, you engage with people you give them something to talk about, you give them something that they can't help but rave about. And the great food and the great service is not what they're going to rave about. They're going to rave about the flourishes, the engagement, the personalized attention, the way you went above and beyond.
[00:11:33] You got to give them a story to tell, otherwise they're just talking about food. Nobody talks about food. Nobody cares about food. They care about what happened when you were having food.
[00:11:43] Talk about the way you felt, where you went, what it looked like, the good food, the good service. It doesn't matter, really. It really doesn't. Our people, most diners don't know enough about the food and wine to let that truly resonate and be part of the decision making process. It's the emotional side of things and that's the stories.
[00:12:04] Listen guys, I appreciate you being here. Thank you very much again. If you want to learn more about the P3 mastermind, go to RS profit.com I appreciate you very much and I will see you next time.
