Sue Straughan, a tenured hospitality specialist and Corporate Director of Business Solutions for the food distributor Ben E. Keith, shares her remarkable 40+ year journey in the industry, detailing how a necessity job at Baskin Robbins evolved into a profound passion. The discussion centers on her pivotal experience working for Houston's restaurant, where she learned that "chaos and hospitality could coexist in a way that was beautiful", and how she applied these high standards to help turn around the struggling James Coney Island chain. This success was achieved not by raising prices, but by relentlessly focusing on systems, consistency, team pride, and the overall guest experience, demonstrating that flawless execution on the basics is the key to driving sustained sales and word-of-mouth growth.

10 Takeaways 

1. Prioritize Execution over Complexity: The most successful businesses, especially in restaurants, focus on doing fewer things perfectly rather than many things averagely. This requires a constant discipline to maintain simplicity.
   
   
2. Hospitality and Chaos Coexist: High-volume restaurants (like Houston's with 1-3 hour waits) prove that it's possible to execute 100% flawlessly and maintain composure ("calm in the middle of chaos") by having robust systems and an intentional team culture.
   
   
3. The Menu Should Serve the Concept: Keep the menu small and focused (e.g., Houston's one-page, 22-item menu). Introduce new items only if they meet strict time standards (e.g., eight minutes at lunch) and, if needed, replace an existing item to prevent complexity creep.
   
   
4. Structure and Systems Build Culture: Employees thrive when they know what is expected of them. Implementing detailed, consistent systems, from cleaning standards to specific service greetings, creates a "well-oiled machine" and instills a sense of pride in the team.
   
   
5. Invest in Your Team's Pride: Simple things like new uniforms, standardized training, and daily pre-shift meetings can significantly boost team mentality, tenure, and passion by making employees feel valued and reinforcing the importance of their role.
   
   
6. Sales Growth Should Precede Price Hikes: The turnaround at James Coney Island focused first on driving sales by improving the guest experience before considering raising prices. The four ways to drive sales are: raise prices, encourage higher spend per visit, increase visit frequency, or attract new customers.
   
   
7. Focus on Low-Hanging Fruit for Revitalization: Start improvement efforts by addressing what the customer sees first, such as clean parking lots, fresh paint, working signage, and clear glass. These visual cues are essential for first impressions.
   
   
8. Measure and Reward Hospitality: Implementing a rigorous system like a 10-page mystery shopper report, coupled with accountability and financial rewards for achieving high scores (e.g., $1,000 manager bonus), can directly correlate with rising sales.
   
   
9. Focus on What You Can Control: Don't rely on external factors like the weather to drive business. Concentrate effort and resources on perfecting the inside of your four walls: the guest's experience from driving by to walking out.
   
   
10. Reverse-Engineer Customer Frustration: Identify the top five things consumers are most frustrated with in your industry (e.g., long waits, inconsistent quality) and intentionally do the exact opposite to stand out and "blow their mind."
    
    

This episode features Donnie Madia of One Off Hospitality, a James Beard Award-winning Chicago restaurateur, discussing the paramount importance of human connection, service, and soul in hospitality. Madia shares his origin story, starting as a bartender who learned to view himself as an "independent contractor" focused on cultivating customer relationships. He critiques modern distractions, calling mobile phones the "contraption" that destroys in-person dialogue. While he supports using AI for administrative tasks, he strongly opposes its intrusion into service roles, citing a machine that folds napkins as an example of soul-destroying automation. Finally, Madia highlights his support for The Giving Kitchen, an organization providing essential mental and financial health lifelines to hospitality workers in crisis.

10 Takeaways

1. Independent Contractor Mindset: Madia spent 10 years bartending, learning to build a personal clientele by treating his role like that of an independent contractor, focused on entertaining and taking care of people.
   
   
2. Service is Built on Trust: True hospitality is guests trusting the restaurant and staff. Service involves simple, mindful tasks, like making eye contact or going the extra mile, which foster genuine human connection.
   
   
3. The "Contraption" Problem: The average person checks their phone 27 times per hour, leading to wasted time and missed connection opportunities. This requires employers to actively teach mindful presence and eye contact.
   
   
4. Signal vs. Noise and the 85/15 Rule: Madia advocates for spending 85% of time on micro-tasks (hyper-focused work) and 15% on macro-distractions (noise) to maximize effectiveness, arguing most people have this ratio reversed.
   
   
5. Relationship Over Transaction: Long-term success is not transactional; it requires selflessly building trust and credibility. Repeat customers are the byproduct of a wonderful, relationship-driven experience.
   
   
6. AI as Tool, Not Soul Replacement: AI can assist with admin (emails, accounting). However, automation should not replace human roles that build camaraderie, such as folding napkins, which would destroy the soul of the business.
   
   
7. The Investment in Staff: Madia's philosophy focuses on the intangible value of staff investment. Paying people well and treating them with respect leads to low turnover, continuity, and team camaraderie, offering a superior experience.
   
   
8. Hospitality is Essential: Restaurants are essential human spaces for congregation and escape. In a digitally isolated world, people increasingly crave the authentic human experience and the memory and story of food cooked with heart.
   
   
9. The Giving Kitchen Lifeline: Madia champions The Giving Kitchen, an organization that provides vital financial and mental health resources to hospitality workers facing crises (e.g., severe injury or financial disaster).
   
   
10. Power of Authentic Connection: An example of true connection: The Giving Kitchen's representative hand-delivered invitations to restaurateurs in Chicago, resulting in a near-perfect attendance rate, proving the effectiveness of intentional, non-digital engagement.
    
    

This episode of "Restaurant Owners Uncorked" features a conversation with Eric Scheffer, owner of The Scheffer Group in Asheville, North Carolina. Eric provides an update on his successful concepts (Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian Restaurant, Jettie Ray's Oyster House, Gan Shan, and a fifth on the way) and shares a harrowing account of the 2024 Hurricane Helene flood. This 1,000-year disaster crippled Asheville, leaving the city without power and water for months.

Eric and his team immediately pivoted, mobilizing their four dark kitchens to feed the community, eventually serving nearly 50,000 meals in partnership with World Central Kitchen. The biggest challenge was securing water: Eric brokered a personal "handshake deal" over bourbon with a Texas water tanker driver. This, combined with the ingenuity of a local plumber, led to the creation of a temporary, complex filtration system, allowing his restaurants to safely operate. Demonstrating remarkable community leadership, The Scheffer Group then helped 21 other local restaurants replicate the expensive system to get them back online.

Eric reflects that the tragedy changed his philosophy, underscoring the vital importance of deeply supporting employees who are often "a paycheck away from nothing." He emphasizes that in business, self-reliance is crucial ("the cavalry is not coming") and success hinges on the ability to pivot and be resourceful. Despite seeing the dark side of disaster profiteering, Eric remains optimistic about the economy stabilizing and Asheville's strong rebound.

Key Takeaways

1. Community Heartbeat: Restaurants are vital social and physical hubs, essential for leading disaster relief and support.
   
   
2. The Pivoting Imperative: Business survival requires an immediate capacity to pivot operations, such as shifting to counter-service, to navigate sudden crises.
   
   
3. Disaster Mobilization: Eric's group successfully leveraged closed kitchens and existing stock to serve nearly 50,000 meals in partnership with World Central Kitchen.
   
   
4. Resourceful Solutions: When city utilities failed, water was secured through a personal "bourbon and a handshake" deal with a contracted tanker driver and a plumber's innovative filtration system.
   
   
5. Mutual Aid: Eric's team extended their water solution to help 21 other Asheville restaurants quickly achieve operational status.
   
   
6. Employee Focus: The crisis reinforced the importance of deep employer support for staff, many of whom face significant financial precarity.
   
   
7. Self-Reliance: External help (FEMA, government) is unreliable. The core philosophy is that "The cavalry is not coming," forcing businesses to figure it out themselves.
   
   
8. The Dark Side: Disasters expose the "disgusting" reality of individuals and companies exploiting human tragedy for obscene financial gain.
   
   
9. Optimism/Stabilization: Eric sees stability returning; commodity prices (fuel, distribution) are starting to drop, suggesting a positive year ahead.
   
   
10. Vendor Partnerships: Communicate financial struggles with vendors; negotiating product alternatives or pricing can foster collaborative survival.
    
    

Julian Boyd, CEO of D’bo’s Daiquiris, Wings & Seafood, shares the incredible story of the Memphis-born brand, pioneered by his parents, David and Latisha Boyd, starting with a food truck in 1990. Built on faith and the philosophy of "People, Service, Profits," D'bo's became known as the "godfather of hot wings" in Memphis. Following a personal tragedy, Julian earned his MBA to strategically guide the company's franchising expansion. The concept continually evolves—adding daiquiris and seafood—and successfully adapted to post-COVID challenges through on-site experiences and smart tech integration. D'bo's is now focused on intentional growth across the Southeast and Midwest.

10 Takeaways

1. Wing Pioneers: Founded in 1990 from a food truck, D'bo's is credited as the "godfather of hot wings" in Memphis.
   
   
2. Entrepreneurial Grit: The founder maxed out five credit cards for capital when banks refused, demonstrating immense belief in the concept.
   
   
3. Core Philosophy: The business success is rooted in "People, Service, Profits," prioritizing customer and staff well-being above all.
   
   
4. Faith and Family: Julian's drive to grow is deeply tied to honoring his late older brother, emphasizing family first.
   
   
5. Strategic Education: Julian pursued an MBA with a family business focus to learn how to scale the company through intentional franchising.
   
   
6. Menu Evolution: The concept has adapted over 35 years, expanding to include daiquiris, seafood, smash burgers, and fried catfish to diversify revenue.
   
   
7. COVID Adaptation: The quick-service model thrived during the pandemic, boosted significantly by the ability to sell to-go alcoholic daiquiris.
   
   
8. Profit Protection: D'bo's switched its primary online ordering to DoorDash Storefront for its crucial 100% chargeback protection feature.
   
   
9. Experiential Revenue: New on-site events like brunches, karaoke, and live music were implemented to increase sit-down traffic and spending.
   
   
10. Headwind Strategy: To manage rising costs, D'bo's focuses on menu innovation (e.g., loaded fries) and increased volume rather than aggressively out-pricing customers.
    
    

Brandon Laroque. Brandon, who owns The Goat Bar in Raleigh, NC, details his extensive career in the hospitality industry, starting from a country club to bartending at a renowned comedy club, which eventually led him to open six of his own bars, primarily using a "flipping" strategy. The core of the discussion revolves around the challenging decision to retire and close his successful, long-standing bar due to mounting stress from employee issues and the difficulty of verifying increasingly sophisticated fake IDs, which led to legal problems with alcohol law enforcement (ALE). However, his retirement was abruptly cut short when he was devastated by the theft of over $3 million in cryptocurrency from a cold wallet. This financial catastrophe forced Brandon and his wife to make the difficult choice to reopen The Goat Bar, facing new bureaucratic hurdles with the city to reinstate expired permits. The segment concludes with Will transitioning into the formal podcast interview, eager to share Brandon's compelling and dramatic story.

10 Takeaways

1. Longevity and Experience: Brandon and his wife have a combined 70 years of experience in the hospitality industry (30+ for him, 40 for her).
   
   
2. The GOAT Bar's Success: The Goat Bar, a dive bar in Raleigh, has been a highly successful "cash cow" since opening in 2003, built on years of hard work, self-maintenance, and a strong local following.
   
   
3. Entrepreneurial Spinoffs: Brandon's experience at Charlie Good Nights comedy club, where he was forced to be hands-on, spawned approximately 30 different bars opened by former employees, including six by Brandon himself.
   
   
4. "Flipping" Bars: Brandon developed a strategy of opening, establishing, and then selling (flipping) bars, noting his favorite part of the business is the opening process.
   
   
5. Growth Challenges: He learned the hard lesson that owning multiple bars brings "three times the headaches and one and a half times the money" compared to a single location.
   
   
6. Impact of 2020: The COVID-19 shutdown (2020) and subsequent reopening severely impacted the business, leading to employee turnover and stress, contributing to the decision to retire.
   
   
7. Sophisticated Fake IDs: A major stressor was the rise of highly realistic fake IDs, often from China, that are nearly impossible for bar staff to verify, even with ID scanners, leading to legal action from ALE agents.
   
   
8. Control State Regulations: The bar operates in North Carolina, a control state, where the state controls liquor sales, which means the bar pays a high tax (approx. 75%) on liquor purchased from the county ABC.
   
   
9. Retirement Derailment: The planned retirement, which included moving to Las Vegas, was unexpectedly ruined by the theft of over $3 million in cryptocurrency from a cold wallet.
   
   
10. Forced Reopening: The financial loss forced Brandon and his wife to abandon retirement plans and reopen The Goat Bar, leading to new challenges with re-securing permits from the city.
    
    

In this episode, Chris Gannon, co-founder of Bolay Fresh Bold Kitchen, shares his journey in the restaurant industry, influenced by his family's legacy in hospitality. He discusses the unique culinary experience Bolay offers, emphasizing health-conscious choices and community dining. The conversation explores the challenges of supply chain management, labor issues, and the importance of hospitality in creating memorable dining experiences. Gannon advocates for encouraging youth to join the hospitality industry, highlighting the valuable life skills it imparts. The episode concludes with a discussion on growth strategies, particularly the benefits of joint ventures over franchising.

Takeaways

• Chris Gannon's background in hospitality stems from his family's legacy.
• Bolay focuses on nutritious, bold flavors from various cuisines.
• The restaurant industry is evolving towards healthier food options.
• Community dining and breaking bread together are essential for connection.
• Supply chain challenges are a significant concern for restaurants today.
• Hospitality is crucial for creating memorable dining experiences.
• Labor challenges and minimum wage increases impact restaurant operations.
• Encouraging youth to work in hospitality teaches valuable life skills.
• Joint ventures may offer more control than traditional franchising.
• The restaurant business thrives on teamwork and collaboration.

Alex Smereczniak, co-founder and CEO of Franzy, shares his entrepreneurial journey and the development of his franchise marketplace platform. Franzy is described as the "Zillow for franchising," using an AI engine to match prospective franchise buyers with suitable brands based on their background, net worth, and goals. Alex's journey began with a profitable college laundry and dry-cleaning service, inspired by his entrepreneurial father's advice to either work for himself or have people work for him. After an unfulfilling stint in consulting at Ernst & Young, he started 2U Laundry, raising $33 million in VC and eventually verticalizing by building physical laundromats. This led to franchising the concept under Laundrelab, where he experienced the franchise ecosystem's inefficiencies firsthand, particularly the high, unregulated commissions (up to 60%) paid to franchise brokers. This lack of transparency and incentive misalignment inspired him to create Franzy. Franzy's three pillars are Educate, Discovery, and Support, aiming to democratize the process with transparency, data, and a flat-fee model (around 40% of the fee) that removes the incentive to push higher-paying brands.

10 Key Takeaways

1. Entrepreneurial Inspiration: Alex's father's advice to "work for yourself or have people working for you"heavily influenced his career path.
   
   
2. College Business Success: His college laundry business, WakeWash, grew from $25k to $250k in annual revenue after securing a booth at orientation week and leveraging a subscription/gym-membership model with 70% margins due to breakage.
   
   
3. Consulting Burnout & Motivation: Alex found corporate consulting at Ernst & Young unfulfilling, realizing he was optimizing for working less rather than doing fulfilling work, reinforcing the need to work for himself.
   
   
4. 2U Laundry & Vertical Integration: The "Uber for laundry" concept, 2U Laundry, raised $33 million in VC, eventually requiring vertical integration by building expensive physical laundromats ($1 million each).
   
   
5. Laundrelab Franchising: The solution to scaling the expensive laundromat model was franchising the brick-and-mortar business, Laundrelab, and layering the delivery service on top.
   
   
6. Franchise Brokerage Pain Point: Experiencing the high (up to 60%), unregulated commissions and lack of disclosure in franchise brokerage was the direct inspiration for Franzy.
   
   
7. Franzy's Transparency Model: Franzy addresses broker conflicts of interest by implementing a flat-fee structure(around 40% of the franchise fee), making the fee consistent across all brands, removing the incentive to push the highest-paying brands.
   
   
8. Franzy's Three Pillars: The platform focuses on Educate (blogs, podcasts), Discovery (AI-driven matching from 4,000+ brands), and Support (lending, legal, real estate intros).
   
   
9. Franchisor Value Proposition: Larger brands like Driven Brands use Franzy because it offers a high ROI—finding good operators for a fraction of their lifetime value (estimated at $500k to $1 million+).
   
   
10. Advisory Approach: Franzy’s role is to advise and guide prospective buyers, providing data and disclosing risks (like those associated with emerging brands), but ultimately leaving the decision to the individual.
    
    

Wil talks with Donny Bradley, founder and CEO of Lola Beans, a drive-through “fun beverage” coffee brand based in Chattanooga that’s now franchising. Donny traces his hospitality instincts to moving often as an Air Force kid and appreciating people who made him feel welcome, plus big family gatherings rooted in New Orleans/Biloxi culture. A six-month stint in Soldotna, Alaska during his medical-device sales career sparked the business idea: a small coffee shack where barista Jenna built genuine relationships, not transactional service. Donny returned home, scraped a house on a C-minus property, opened the first Lola Beans in September 2020, then a second location in 2022 with two drive-through lanes and fast, face-to-face iPad ordering. He candidly describes early operational lessons (41% food cost, too many SKUs) and how mentors helped streamline supply chain and economics. Inspired by Nick Saban and Truett Cathy, Donny emphasizes culture, coaching, and hiring for hospitality as the real scalability engine. Lola Beans officially began franchising in February, landed a major Texas development deal (starting with Dallas-Fort Worth), and aims to stay an operator-led, people-first brand that creates “good energy” for guests and meaningful growth for team members.

10 takeaways

1. Hospitality is universal. Donny’s earliest lessons came from classmates welcoming him at new schools, proof that hospitality is about making people feel safe and seen, not a specific industry.
   
   
2. The spark moment matters. True Blue in Soldotna, AK showed how one authentic barista-customer connection can inspire an entire business model.
   
   
3. Drive-through doesn’t have to be robotic. Lola Beans uses dual lanes and iPad ordering face-to-face to keep speed high and humanity higher.
   
   
4. Speed is a tool, not the goal. Their “14 cars in line, out in 7 minutes” target exists to buy time for relationshipswith regulars.
   
   
5. Early operators learn by doing (and fixing). Donny opened in 2020 thinking he’d drop a shack on a lot; zoning, codes, and real build costs rewired the plan quickly.
   
   
6. Food cost discipline can be learned fast with the right help. Cutting SKUs from 196 to 126 and consolidating vendors dropped costs from 41% to ~28%.
   
   
7. Two-product customers extend dayparts. Coffee ritual + afternoon energy/teas/“Lola Colas” keeps sales strong beyond morning rush.
   
   
8. Culture scales what founders can’t. Donny frames culture → behavior → results; the goal is guest experience even when he’s not there.
   
   
9. Franchise growth should be “best first, biggest later.” Truett Cathy’s philosophy guides selective franchising and saying no to misaligned partners.
   
   
10. People are the real competitive moat. Like Chick-fil-A and Publix, Lola Beans wants employees so well-trained and cared for that customers stop shopping around.
    
    

Wil provides  a special update on the evolution of "Restaurant Owners Uncorked" from a podcast, started in 2010, into a comprehensive community featuring articles, books, films, and eventually a subscription-based forum for restaurant owners to share advice and solve problems. Brawley emphasizes the community’s commitment to celebrating successful operators and carefully vetting partners, specifically highlighting Restaurant Systems Pro, led by CEO Fred Langley, as a trusted resource for improving restaurant margins and efficiency. He differentiates this recommended company from others that lack adequate customer service, underscoring the importance of reliable service and transparent contracts within the industry.

Meet Kimberly Fleer, an industry veteran and mental wellness advocate. Kimberly shares her personal story of entering the hospitality world at age 15 to find financial support and a sense of family that was absent at home, rapidly excelling in roles from server to sommelier. While the industry provided valuable skills and camaraderie, it also became a means to mask and ignore childhood trauma, eventually leading to severe substance abuse. After achieving sobriety in 2020and losing a close friend to overdose, Kimberly recognized a critical gap in the industry's system of care: a lack of resources, education, and open conversation about mental health and recovery. She now works to address this through her company, Last Call, by helping employers embed preventative measures, normalize vulnerable conversations, and create recovery-friendly workplaces to save lives, improve culture, and dramatically reduce high turnover rates.

10 Takeaways

1. Hospitality as a Double-Edged Sword: The industry offers family and community, but its high-pressure, hard-working, and "play hard" culture can easily enable substance abuse as a coping mechanism for underlying trauma.
   
   
2. The System of Care Failure: Historically, the industry lacks onboarding or continuous resources for mental health, making it difficult for staff to seek or even know about recovery pathways (detox, inpatient, etc.).
   
   
3. Vulnerability is Leadership Strength: Leaders who are authentic and vulnerable about their own challenges (e.g., stress, personal issues) build trust and create a safe culture, countering the pressure for staff to appear flawless.
   
   
4. The Stigma Barrier: Normalization of excessive use makes staff fear speaking up about their struggles, as it's often incorrectly perceived as a sign of weakness or a risk to their job security.
   
   
5. Post-Shift Decompression: Service staff are often in "fight or flight" mode after an intense shift. Employers need to provide healthy, non-alcoholic ways (e.g., group de-briefs, self-care education) to regulate the nervous systeminstead of immediately turning to alcohol/drugs.
   
   
6. Prevention Over Reaction: Proactive measures—starting with mental health education in the onboarding processand daily pre/post-shift check-ins—are vital to prevent burnout and crisis situations.
   
   
7. Run Towards the Storm: A core theme is the need for leaders to face difficult conversations and systemic issues head-on, rather than ignoring or running away from them.
   
   
8. Recovery Boosts Retention: Actively hiring and supporting people in recovery leads to exceptionally high staff retention (e.g., 94% retention in one case study) and creates a more reliable, motivated workforce.
   
   
9. Transferable Skills: The industry attracts and develops highly talented individuals with immense transferable skills, making it an excellent place to build a career, especially for those seeking a fresh start.
   
   
10. Bring the Human Back: The ultimate goal is to "bring the human back to hospitality" by prioritizing the wellness of the people who serve, recognizing that personal health is essential to professional performance.
    
    

Keith Benjamin, co-founder of Uptown Hospitality Group in Charleston, tells the story of how throwing massive Penn State tailgates set him on a 20-year path from NYC bartender to operator of six concepts—while raising three kids under five. After buying small equity stakes in New York bars and becoming an operating partner at 29, he felt pulled to Charleston and went all-in on a $5M buildout of Uptown Social, a 10,000 sq. ft. sports bar and nightlife hub inside a 1915 building. He recalls surviving COVID—shutting down 48 hours after his wedding—then creating Bodega, a New York-style breakfast sandwich brand that grew from a parking-lot pop-up to multiple locations. Uptown Hospitality later added Share House, the upscale tavern By the Way (with partners from Southern Charm), and The Waverly, a wedding venue. Through rapid growth, thin margins, seasonality, and crushing liquor liability laws, Keith stays centered on preparation, service, and his belief that restaurants and bars are the emotional backbone of a community—and that operators carry that responsibility on their shoulders.

10 Takeaways

1. Hospitality people “run into the fire.”
   You’re either wired for the chaos and unpredictability of restaurant ownership or it will spit you out.
   
   
2. Preparation beats the playbook.
   Every shift changes at minute one; the only constant is how ready your team is for the unexpected.
   
   
3. Tailgates were the training ground.
   Running $40K-per-season Penn State tailgates taught Keith energy management, leadership, and crowd control.
   
   
4. From golden handcuffs to ownership.
   High-earning NYC bartending could have trapped him, but he insisted on a path to management and equity.
   
   
5. Charleston was the “chips all in” leap.
   With no collateral, Keith borrowed from friends and family to take on a 25-year lease and rebuild a 1915 building.
   
   
6. COVID nearly crushed the dream—but sparked Bodega.
   Forced shutdowns led to launching a breakfast-sandwich concept that quickly exploded in popularity.
   
   
7. Growth exposed growing pains.
   Opening multiple concepts while having three young kids humbled him and revealed how thin the margins can be.
   
   
8. Food-heavy concepts are a different math.
   Booze-driven venues thrive; a full-service breakfast-and-lunch model did not, leading to a fast pivot to QSR.
   
   
9. Liquor liability laws threaten the industry.
   South Carolina’s rules once assigned 100% blame to anyone who served one drink to someone later in a wreck, pushing insurance premiums into the stratosphere.
   
   
10. Service and community are the lasting moats.
    With heavy competition and rising closures, the only real differentiator is how you make people feel—because restaurants are the heart of every community.