Speaker: 0:08

If you've ever wondered how to keep your mindset sharp and positive during really challenging times of your business, then today's episode is for you. Eric Cachitore and I have a very in-depth conversation around the guiding principles that he uses as an entrepreneur, why those principles are so important to the success of business, how to keep your mindset really, really sharp during challenging times, and the difference between living in the gap and living in the game. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to catch Eric's podcast, which is called Restaurant Unstoppable. He's interviewed over 1,200 restaurant owners and operators, and his podcast and his content has a vast amount of knowledge. At the end of the episode, he also tells us about his next exciting project that is going to deliver even more value and collaboration and community on top of what he's already been doing all these years. Welcome to the Restaurant Leadership Podcast, where we coach independent multi-unit restaurant operators to build systems that drive profitability and reclaim time so they can scale with confidence and spend their time and energy where they want to, not where they have to. I'm your host, Kristen Marvin, restaurant coach and author of Multi-unit Mastery. If you are an independent restaurant owner managing multiple locations, you know the chaos that comes with growth. Inconsistent execution across your restaurants, managers who won't take ownership, constantly answering questions your team should already know the answers to. You're stuck in your current role when you want to be playing a bigger strategic role as you scale. You don't have the right leaders in place or you keep losing them. And you're not sure how to find great people and actually keep them around. We work with passionate independent restaurant owners who found success with their first few locations and are ready to scale strategically. Our clients aren't looking to just survive expansion. They want to thrive through it. They're committed to developing strong leaders and creating exceptional guest experiences. Through the independent restaurant framework that we teach in multi-unit mastery, we coach independent restaurant groups to move from chaos to confidence by focusing on three pillars: people, process, and profit. You can grab a gifted copy of the book at irfbook.com. On this show, we bring you real coaching conversations, leadership strategies, and the frameworks that you need to lead like a CEO instead of operating like a worn-out manager. And here's the thing: coaching has changed our clients' businesses and can change yours too. If you've never experienced what it's like to have someone in your corner who actually gets the restaurant world, we'd love to connect. We offer one-on-one and group coaching. Head to kristenmarvin.com slash contact for a complimentary coaching session and let's talk about what's possible for your restaurant group. Eric, thanks for being here again. Second time you've you've been able to join me on the show, which is amazing. First time, uh we all we always have the most amazing conversations on and off the air. So excited to have you back on. But the first time I met you, you were in my living room recording at my dining room table. And it was it freaked me out.

Speaker 4: 3:45

Great host. So hospitable. I felt at home. It was awesome.

Speaker: 3:48

You had some, I think you had a breakfast burrito for the road, but yeah, you rolled, you rolled up.

Speaker 4: 3:54

I think I got like a week supply of Red Bull too. Yeah, 100%. 100%.

Speaker: 3:58

You were you were fueled for the road, but yeah, you rolled up in your in your huge truck uh with the logo. And I'm sure my neighbors all thought we were having maintenance or stuff done or so, or someone was moving into the house. It was just uh awesome.

Speaker 4: 4:11

You'd be surprised how many people walk up to my camper and they go, is there a restaurant in there?

Speaker: 4:15

I'm like, what says on the side? I know. So thanks for joining me again. Really appreciate it. Um there's something top of mind that I wanted to kind of dive in with you today. I was coaching a brand new leader yesterday, um, a culinary leader who who's who's been pretty mistreated in the restaurant. And I'm I'm hearing a lot of people's PTSDs of working for former employees and they they desperately want to start over when they start a new job and they want to trust their leaders. And this this gentleman had just got promoted, loved the company that he worked for, super excited and optimistic about the future. But unfortunately, he's in one of those situations where the person that he's taking over for left. And so he's left to his own devices to train, to train himself. And on top of that, he's looking ahead at the schedule for the next six weeks and realizing that they've they've allowed so many requests off in the kitchen that he's very short-staffed and he's gonna have to be training himself, working stations and figuring out how to basically survive the next six weeks and offer the experience that he's really proud of. And so sitting across the table from this guy, you know, obviously my heart was going out to him. And my my vision and my hope for him was to try to get him to a place from a mindset perspective of looking at the next six weeks with excitement and opportunity to learn and grow, not him being set up for failure and crashing and burning before he even got a chance to really step into this role.

Speaker 4: 6:03

And so this individual who will remain anonymous, yeah. What's their role?

Speaker: 6:07

They are now walking into or um going into the executive chef position.

Speaker 4: 6:12

And they were a Sioux chef?

Speaker: 6:13

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 6:14

And they were paying out of their own pocket coaching for with you?

Speaker: 6:18

No, it's kind of a it's a group thing that I do with restaurant groups, yeah.

Speaker 4: 6:22

First of all, whoever this guy is, like we should say their name or this guy we should say their name because like that is the kind of person you want on your team, the person that's going out and actively looking to grow. Totally. You know, like but never mind, I guess.

Speaker: 6:34

I no, but they're but their owner, they know the ownership group, uh, ownership team of the restaurant group is incredibly um bought into investing in their team. And so, you know, just an incredible conversation. But I'm curious because it's it's been it's just been looming for me. Like, how do you how do you keep yourself in a positive mindset when you know you've got really challenging times coming up in your business?

Speaker 4: 7:02

Well, let me get vulnerable and say I I'm not always in a positive mindset. I think we all we're all human, right? Like, I think I'm better at getting back into that mindset when I find myself when I'm low, and uh, there's a bunch of things I do. Um, I think one of the first things I realize is when I take the pressure, when I when I take myself out of it and I say it's not about me, it's not about like when I so you know I host Restaurant Unstoppable Podcasts, and Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast isn't the Eric Cachatori show, it's the the restaurant unstoppable show with the mission to inspire, empower, and transform the industry. And my job is to uh serve my listeners, and um, you know, if I just focus on what the job is, my job is to take care of other people. I think a lot of the times I have imposter syndrome, like who's gonna listen to me? Like, who am I to tell successful restaurant tours or any restaurant tour for that matter what to do? I've never done it. I'm here to learn, I'm here to be a student. So that imposter syndrome is of like who are who do you think you are, Mr. Cachitory? Like, you're not the person for this job. Um, but at the end of the day, my job, it isn't about me, it's about the people on the other end of this podcast and serving them. So when I focus about when I focus on what the the mission is, what the purpose is, and why I do it, that helps me get out of my own head and say, no, just just make it about everybody else. And I there's this one quote that I I heard, and I'm gonna paraphrase it, but if you help enough other people achieve what they want in life, you can have anything in life. And it was that quote that was a kick in the ass that got me to start the podcast. And it's always been about service to others first. So I think when you reconnect with the why, the purpose, and how you're uniquely positioned, you might not be the guy, you know, you might not be the all-star, but maybe you're a great supporting act, you know, and your job is to help that all-star. Um so when you have clarity on who you are and why you do what you do, and you can get outside of your head, that always helps me.

Speaker: 8:52

It's so true. And I mean, come on, like Mr. 1200 podcast episodes, you've had more in-depth conversations one-on-one with restaurant owners and operators than so many of us have. I mean, you get so much information, yeah.

Speaker 4: 9:06

And I think that what I like, you know, in full again, in full transparency and vulnerability, like I've never owned a restaurant. Um, I've I've been like an AGM, like that's as high as I've progressed in my my like my career in hospitality. I grew up in the industry. I worked in restaurants throughout high school and college, but it was always a side hustle. Um, it was never my full-time thing. I intentionally wasn't taking on a lot of responsibility because I was working a full-time job while working in the restaurant industry for most of my career.

Speaker: 9:33

Yeah. Here's the thing 80% of restaurants fail because they don't have the systems, not because they have bad food or service. If you're ready to stop being the bottleneck in your own business and start building something that can actually scale profitably, I want you to put multi-unit mastery, my new book, directly in your hands for free. Go to irfbook.com right now and grab your copy. When you do, you're going to get access to some additional tools that are not available anywhere else. This is about building a legacy, not just another location. Stop putting it off and go get your book. Again, that's irfbook.com.

Speaker 4: 10:22

So, um, you know, I do have that imposter syndrome, but to your point, yeah, I have also spoken to I've produced 1200 episodes. How many restaurant tours in that 1200? I'm not exactly sure. Over a thousand. Uh, and I've gotten a lot of perspective, you know, and I think that that is my unique selling proposition is that I can come at it from a clean perspective, and I have a lot of different perspectives from different people. Uh, and ever no two restaurant tours are exactly the same. There is no one way, there is no necessarily right way, it's just the right way for you. There's there is only one way, right way, and that is unique to the individual. But there are how many people in the world? Yeah, billions. So that means there's billions of right ways.

Speaker: 11:03

It's crystal clear, right? It's I agree with you 110%. When you know your why and you're very passionate about what you do, and you're living your why every single day, or the majority of the time, it very much helps you overcome those really tough, challenging days, right? It's it's true for for restaurant owners, for restaurant operators. I don't know that a lot of younger people know what their why is yet in this business and if they've made a decision to, you know, to make this their career or not. I think there's a lot of people still on the fence about that. But I know this, I work a lot on mental fitness. I coached a lot about staying in a, you know, helping people get into a really healthy mindset and a growth mindset. But there is that really sticky, nasty gray area between when the hard moment presents itself and then making that switch to remembering your why and your passion. How do you how do you make that switch?

Speaker 4: 12:09

I think it's just being, and they say the peak of emotional intelligence is self-awareness, right? So uh it's in that moment of recognizing that you're being emotional and recognizing that emotions are uh the the lower part of your brain, the more prime, you know, the the primitive part of your brain. And we have since evolved these outer parts of our brain, our frontal lobe that has the ability to override emotion. Uh and it's and it's in that moment of feeling like I when you feel depressed, when you feel like you can't do it, uh it's just like saying, These are just emotions, they are not serving me. What is my why? What is my purpose? Like in focusing on what matters, the people on the back, it's not about me, it's about serving other people. And if you make it about giving, giving, giving, if you're constantly making deposits, deposits, deposits, the universe, you just have to have faith, the faith that the universe is paying attention to that. And you can't track the you know, your withdrawals, they kind of just come at you um unawaringly. Uh, but over time, um, that that compounds, those those deposits compound and and you move in the right direction.

Speaker: 13:08

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that. Um, it's so important to name it and just recognize what what's going on.

Speaker 4: 13:16

Yeah, I think you're a huge fan of Dan Sullivan, as am I. I just recently chewed up all of Dr. Benjamin Hardy's books. Um, and one of those books, uh, I think you actually just put an email about this yesterday, the gap in the game. The gap in the gain is part of it is it's focusing on gains. Like, what did I do today to move towards that five-year plan? Like, what did I do today that is is a move in the right direction? And when you focus on the gains, um, it's just you just live, you just exist in a better place. It's really easy to focus on the gap, which is the the place between where you currently are and where you want to be. And you that that's a that's not a mindset of abundance, that's a that's a scarcity mindset. That's a like why why me mindset. You know, and when you perception is reality, what you choose to focus on is what you'll see. Um so that and another obviously uh be the what is it uh be future you now or be tomorrow, is it be your future self today or be your future self now? That's another Dr. Benjamin Hardy book. And that whole idea is like who is that? What is that vision for yourself in the future? Um, what are you doing? What does it look like? Well, be that person today. Don't wait until tomorrow. Be that person now.

Speaker: 14:25

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 14:26

I like to say be tomorrow, you today.

Speaker: 14:28

Okay.

unknown: 14:30

Yeah.

Speaker: 14:30

I mean, the gap in the game.

Speaker 4: 14:32

I don't think I'm getting in trouble.

Speaker: 14:34

We're we're saying where it's coming from. Yeah, exactly. We're giving credit where credit's due. The gap in the gain is so important. That's something that I, you know, I told you I've been going down the rabbit hole with Dan Sullivan recently. And I read about this a week or two ago, and I was so inspired because I have been working with a client that I just am having a hard time getting out of that scarcity mindset and that gap. And so they're in the book, and and you know, I talk about this in the newsletter, page page 48 of 10x is easier than 2x if you're listening and you've got the book. Uh, Danless eight questions to help you get yourself out of the gap and into the game. And I went over those eight questions with a client, and it was actually a really powerful moment because he was actually driving to a funeral. And we were talking about burnout, and he was just in a really bad head headspace. And then we went through those questions one by one. And the demeanor change, the mindset shift, the energy change, just the body language shift that happened and what we were able to celebrate in the work that we've been doing together for the last six months was just a really incredible, impactful moment for him on the you know, driving to someone whose life was over and and us being able to reflect on understanding where he wanted his just what kind of leader he wanted to be and what kind of life he wanted to live.

Speaker 4: 15:59

Um what were those questions? Can you rant can you list them off? Are they long questions? Are they short questions? I have the book behind me. I can go read them too if you want.

Speaker: 16:06

Give me a sec. The eight questions are how have you grown as a person over the past three years? You want me to ask you these things, or you want me to just read the questions?

Speaker 4: 16:16

Oh man, how long is this podcast?

Speaker: 16:19

All right, I'll just read the questions. Have you how have you grown as a person over the last three years? What are the biggest things you've learned in the past 12 months? What are the 10 important things that you've accomplished in the past 12 months? What meaningful experiences have you had in the past 90 days? How are you clearer on your goals and vision than you were 90 days ago? In what ways is your life different and better than it was 30 days ago? What important progress have you made in the past seven days? And what progress have you made in the past 24 hours?

Speaker 4: 16:52

Yo, I can answer those questions if you want me to.

Speaker 2: 16:56

I'll try to keep it quick. Let's try the top. Yeah, let's do it. Okay.

Speaker: 17:04

How have you grown as a person over the past three years?

Speaker 4: 17:07

I have more clarity in who I am and what I want to do. And how I want to do it.

Speaker: 17:14

What are the biggest things you've learned in the past 12 months?

Speaker 4: 17:19

More clarity on who I am, what I want to do, and how I want to do it.

Speaker: 17:24

Okay. What are the ten important things, most important things you've accomplished in the past 12 months?

Speaker 2: 17:32

I mean, that's a lot of things to cover in a list, but um I think sometimes you gotta stop before you go.

Speaker 4: 17:41

Uh stop doing what you were doing, get out of commitments that you were in to get into new commitments, be more intentional with relationships, be more selective. And I think kind of one of those things of who I am and what I'm trying to do, it's it's about um, you know, I think it's all about relationships. I think at the end of the day, what makes humans uniquely us, some people think it's uh opposable thumbs or ability to stand upright, and those are all evolutionary benefits, but really it's our ability to communicate um and to be there are no species that can, you know, unless you're in a hive, uh, there are no species like the the human that are able to work together in a tribe and to all have a specialist, and every individual can come together and be something special to that tribe. Um, and I think it's our ability to to fill niches and to communicate and to work together for a common good for a common goal. So um I think one big thing is I'm getting really intentional about the relationships I want moving forward. Uh, it's more about freedom for me, prioritizing freedom of purpose and freedom of relationships above all else. Yeah. If you can have freedom of purpose and freedom of relationships, time goes by like it's nothing.

Speaker 3: 18:48

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 18:49

Because you're doing what you want with who you want. And I if you have what you want and who you want, if you have like your definite purpose in life, your why and you're doing with people you love, money we need it, but it's not the most important thing.

Speaker: 19:03

Yeah, it's the result of living right, your freedom of purpose. Absolutely. What meaningful experiences have you had in the past 90 days?

Speaker 4: 19:13

Meaningful experiences I've had in the past 90 days. I think it's about um stating my intention publicly, um, telling people being vulnerable, um, opening up and saying, hey, money's tight right now. I'm turning away sponsors that are offering me six figures. Um, and it's because they're asking me to do things I don't feel right doing. It's not aligned with my mission, my values, my vision. And when you take money, it has strings attached. It pulls you off those things. So it's really about getting intentional about who I am and why I'm doing what I'm doing and and being unrelentless about staying on course. No matter you know, I think early in your career you say yes to everything. Later in your career, you have to say no to the things that don't make sense. I think just saying no more and saying yes to what matters more is feeling really good right now.

Speaker: 20:03

Yeah, and that's when you know that something powerful has really shifted in your business, right? We'll talk about what success means here in a little bit, but um, that's a big goal for me recently is saying no more than I'm saying yes.

Speaker 4: 20:14

Yeah, I know I'm not giving you lists of things, but that's the general generalizing.

Speaker: 20:19

Okay. So you mentioned being clearer earlier, but how are you clearer on your goals and your vision than you were 90 days ago?

Speaker 4: 20:27

Um I think it's for me, it's about I mean I think there needs to be context before I share. So with a podcast, and you know this, there's three ways to make money generally, primarily sponsorship one, affiliate marketing to, and using your podcast to promote your own products and services. So I got to where I am today, 12 years, 1200 episodes from the support of sponsors, and I'm so grateful for my sponsors who helped me get here. But the reality is that the game is is changing and it has changed over the past 12 years. And uh the I think if you're the more money you ask, and if you can get to that point where you're asking for a lot of money, it like again it comes back to strings. So for me, um, it's about trying to shift away from sponsorship and shift towards creating a resource, uh uh, an offering to my community um that is about transformation, it's about coming together, it's about uh I think you know, my interviews are my inspiration. My mission statement is to inspire, empower, and transform the industry. My my interviews are my inspiration. Um my going deeper with the workshops um in the community are is like the empowerment of like, okay, these are the things we've learned. Now we're going deeper, we're we're we're bringing it, we're slowing it down, we're going deeper, and then we're going together is the transformation. It's like you know, we're coming together, we're we're helping you connect with the individuals, giving you the relationships you need and being there for you. And I think it's in relationships back to the human part of things, is that that is where we achieve transformation. So 100%. Am I answering your question right now?

Speaker: 22:01

No, no, you're good. You're good. I it's it's fun to watch you process through, right? Because you we had we did not rehearse this, you had no idea that I was gonna ask any questions. We're just a fellow lover, we're fellow lovers of Dan Sullivan.

Speaker 4: 22:12

So that's the original question again.

Speaker: 22:14

So it was how are you clearer on your goals and vision than you were 90 days ago?

Speaker 4: 22:18

Yeah, so I think for me it's about prioritizing relationships. It's to your point, it's who, not how. Um and if you focus on the right who's the how takes care of itself. And for me, um, yeah, it's the who's, it's the technicians, the the specialists, the managers that do what you could never dream of doing, but it's also the the people you want to serve. So for me, um, I'm I'm bringing together my I'm bringing back my masterminds and I'm prioritizing, I'm going to past guests and saying, hey, I want to do a mastermind, but if I have to serve somebody, I want it to be you. If I have to send one, two hours a month with somebody, I want it to be you. And I want those masterminds to dictate, to steer. I want the best in the industry's passions, curiosities, pain points. I want to serve those people who help me get here by giving their time and knowledge to my listeners. If I can reverse engineer the challenges and curiosities of the best, that's gonna serve thousands of people. I have to live vicariously through these people. So if you can make if you can curate a community of badasses and choose who you serve, I mean that's the clarity I have today. It's about who do I want to serve and who do I want to promote? Who do I want to partner with, who I believe in? Because if I have if the future is me promoting people, I gotta believe. I'm not an actor. So who do I want? It's it's it's choosing freedom of relationships over money.

Speaker: 23:39

Love it. In what ways is your life different and better than it was 30 days ago?

Speaker 4: 23:47

Um I I think it's just knowing that I'm on the right path. Uh and I'll be honest, like I'm I'm con I'm just constantly hovering over the zero mark on my all my checking accounts right now, you know. But I know it's not that I can't make money. I I'm I have my best downloads uh of 2024 this month, you know. Sorry, 2025 this month. Nice. So like the the the podcast is doing great. I'm doing work, the best work I've ever done, the work I've always wanted to do, honest, transparent, journalistic work. I'm traveling the country in my truck hamper, following word of mouth. Like this is the dream. I'm literally living my dream, but it's coming at a cost, right? And I think that that cost is I'm con like I live on the edge, I push the envelope. So I'm getting what I'm living my dream, I'm getting what I want, but it's cut, it's not easy. Yeah, I think but the it's the it's in doing the hard thing, choosing to do the hard things that is where growth comes. But when you're in the middle of a hard thing, you're like, Can I swear in this?

Speaker 3: 24:45

Yeah, you're like, fuck, this sucks.

Speaker 4: 24:48

It totally but you have to remind yourself, like, I'm doing it, I chose this, I have autonomy right now. Yeah, like yeah, freedom, like that is freedom. We all want freedom, we all want autonomy, and I have to I remind myself of that every day. Like, I am literally doing what I want to do.

Speaker: 25:03

Absolutely. Quipping a bit well, it goes back to the mindset um that we were talking about when we first started the conversation. You know, it's when you recognize that those negative thoughts are coming into your head and those emotions are starting to tick up, it's a it's a reminder that these are not who I am. This is just a moment in time, these are just my emotions and my thoughts. Um, and then you make the choice as to what you're gonna do with those and how you're gonna move forward. So, okay. Um, what important progress have you made in the past seven days?

Speaker 4: 25:37

Um, I'm actively um reaching out actually in the past seven days. Well, the past two weeks, I was forced to slow down because I went to a friend's wedding in Cancun, Mexico. And I thought that that was gonna be relaxing. And I came back from that more exhausted than I was when I left.

Speaker 1: 25:53

I was like, fuck.

Speaker 4: 25:54

Then I came back and I don't know, like you get to a point where you're like, you you rather not go on vacation because you know when you come back from vacation, you're just gonna be like, where the hell was I? Like you lose all that momentum, and then you have to like put the the loose ends back together, and it's just like oh. So um, I guess the progress. Um, so I was gone for a week, got back, went to Maine, was I did work from Maine, but um I ended up taking like two or three days where I just let myself be a vegetable. I was like, you need to let you need to like do nothing, yeah, recharge, rejuvenate, yeah, and just breathe, go for long bike rides, get it, go for long hikes, and that's what I did, and I kind of just got clarity. So I guess that's my win is just kind of slowing down and regrouping to move forward.

Speaker: 26:37

Yeah, it's huge progress. Uh what progress have you made in the past 24 hours?

Speaker 4: 26:42

I'm kicking myself in the ass and I'm getting back after and I'm reaching out to my network. I'm cold calling, or not cold, like warm, warm leads, you know? Yeah, uh telling people my vision and how I want to evolve this thing and saying if I have to serve anybody, I want to serve you. Are you in?

Speaker: 26:56

Love it, love it. Um, Eric, how are you defining success in as a as an entrepreneur?

Speaker 4: 27:06

Well, I mean, I think we this is why we have visions, this is why we have um mission and purposes, you know, statements. So, my success, um, my purpose is to inspire, empower, and transform the industry. And uh if I guess my vision of what that looks like is uh a future, I want to see fewer 100 unit operators and more 20 to 30 unit operators that are hyper local, that are making an impact in their community. I think I like I said, like there is no right way. Um, but if I'm opening a restaurant tomorrow and I want to make the world a better place, the way I'm doing it is by going deeper. I think it's about impact, not reach. I think that we live in a world that rewards reach. Um I think reach comes at the expense of impact. Um, where we prioritize vanity metrics, we prioritize you know, uh wealth and power over again, the thing that matters most is relationships. And I think at the end of the day, if you look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, what is on that list? Like, let's just get real. It's it's security, you know, whether that be like your physical environment, like food, shelter, uh, it's feeling secure from the outside threats. You know, we we get that from community, we get that from working hard and storing away vegetables for the winter and and having our stock of resources to get us through the hard times. Uh, and then it's beyond that, it's being seen, feeling valued, being loved. And then beyond that, it's growing personally, becoming a better version of yourself. And then beyond that, it's it's self-actualizing, having your definite purpose in life, and all those things, the things that we need to be happy, are so attainable, but we don't prioritize it.

Speaker 3: 28:46

Yeah, so you yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 4: 28:49

I want to do that for first. I want to stoke awareness in operations and say, Do you want to be happy? Do you want freedom? Freedom isn't with more money, it's choosing to do what you want to do on your terms, and that's in reach for most of us, all of us, I could argue. You know, and I think it's it's keeping up with the Joneses and and falling prey to consumerism, you know. Um, I think marketing is the humanity's Achilles heel because we're we're all being hit with these messages of more and more and more. Uh and I think we just need to wake up and say, no, all we need is to be is to have our purpose and to be loved and to be valued and grow and to to to just find our purpose in life. And we can all do that.

Speaker: 29:35

Yeah, it's so, I don't know if you've if you've seen this in your time as an entrepreneur, but I feel like since I started my journey three years ago, there is just more and more and more and more entrepreneurs coming on the scene, people that are getting out of operations, that want to start their own businesses, that want to make an impact in the industry. And maybe this is a byproduct of just what's happening in the world right now, but there is a There is a sense of transparency and honesty and vulnerability out there that's larger than I've and louder than I've ever seen before from entrepreneurs. And the sense of community and support is matching that. And I'm sure that they're very closely aligned. But are you are you seeing that? I mean, the community of entrepreneurs right now that are supporting each other, it just seems to be just very vast.

Speaker 4: 30:24

100%. And um, I believe fullheartedly that we go further together. And I think that again, that is part of what makes us uniquely us as human beings, yeah, is our ability to fill a hole in a in a tribe. Like this tribe needs a chef. Okay. This tribe needs a director of beverage. This tribe tribe needs a marketing director or a a dishwasher or but in in every role in a restaurant is an opportunity to be seen and valued, you know. Um, and then you know, the whole reason why I started this podcast 12 years ago is because I was looking for a podcast for restaurant owners uh at that time, and still to this day, I dream of opening my own restaurant. Um, I've might have been scared straight a little bit. Uh I wouldn't do it unless I had a million dollars to burn or an army of people to go do it with.

Speaker 3: 31:14

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 31:14

But um the whole point of starting the podcast was because I was listening to these entrepreneurial, marketing, tech-driven personal growth podcasts back in 2012, and it was blowing my mind how open and generous these tech entrepreneurs were. Um, and I thought to myself, why don't we do this in the restaurant industry? We hold our information close to our chest, we guard our information because it's so cutthroat and competitive, you know?

Speaker 3: 31:37

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 4: 31:38

And I wanted to create a podcast where where people felt encouraged to share, to open up, to realize that the more you give, the more you get. Um, and I've and I think in the past 12 years, and and I I I'm not saying it's just restaurant stoppable, but there's so many people who are buying into this idea of abundance and giving. And um the the faster information flows, the more progress we make.

Speaker: 32:02

Yeah, 100%. Hey there, podcast friends. I hope you're enjoying these impactful conversations and leadership insights I'm bringing you each week. Before we dive back into today's episode, I want to take a moment and reach out and ask a small favor that would go a long way in supporting the show. If you've been loving the content I'm providing, please take a moment to leave a rating and review wherever you listen to your podcast. Not only does it make my day, but it also plays a pivotal role in helping the show grow. Your reviews boost my visibility, attract new listeners, and encourage exciting guests to join me on the mic. So if you want to be part of my show's growth journey, hit that review button and let me know what you think. Thanks a million for being awesome listeners. I think what I've seen in the last year specifically is that I I don't know, I'm I'm rapping with this question of like, can you have true success if you're not honest about the opportunities in your business? And I think that I've heard more and more restaurant owners really start to talk about what their struggles are and what their challenges are in their business. More and and they're letting the ego go. And there's a clear separation of people that are still hanging on to the ego and still fighting the changes that are happening and they're really struggling in their business. And then there's this group of people that are just again, they're just open and they're vulnerable and they're asking for help and they're saying, I'm really, really having a hard time with this. Who else is having a hard time with this? Are you seeing that too?

Speaker 4: 33:35

Oh, 100%. And because it's weird. It's um we live our our whole industry is about creating a false reality and transporting people. That's what we do. Um, we don't want our guests to know how hard it is. Yeah, uh, and all the the media that surrounds the restaurant industry is consumer-facing media. It's it's not media for each other, it's media for our our potential guests. So we're constantly creating this facade, this not real existence of we have our shit together. Um, we are like your like we are your choice for escape. And it's like a that you know, the duck on water. We're above the water, it's cool, calm, collective. We have our shit together, but below water are we're frantically running around trying to figure it all out, and that's not sustainable. And I think what's weird is like that we've gotten so far away of what the hospitality industry is. Um, a hospital the the the hospitality, I mean, yeah, we're about giving warmth and generosity and welcoming people in, but it's not about I think we prioritize creating false realities and escapes more than actually just being human. And what is that like back to the core of what it is to be human? Seeing people, giving to people, giving purpose to people, giving community to people, like literally feeding people, nourishing people, not just the body but the soul. Um, and the sometimes the best ways to do that is through vulnerability and empathy and and just meeting people where they're at and letting them know they're not alone.

Speaker: 35:10

Yeah, I think I'm excited that restaurant owners are starting to open up more, but I am seeing that there's just a huge gap in what you said between the what the restaurant, how the restaurant owners are showing up in their personal lives and what and how they're showing up in their business. And I think that there's a huge disconnect on the again, the hourly teams. What's the purpose? Why are they there? What does hospitality actually mean? Um, it's not a transaction, right? It's about how you make somebody feel. So I'm hoping that that these really vulnerable, tough conversations start to, in a healthy way, spill over to the hourly staff of protecting mental health, of it's okay to have a comp that we can have a conversation if times are tough, but let's look at the opportunities because I think there's so many people that are struggling with turnover, and there's so many negative thoughts out there about the the people that are entering the restaurant industry. And I don't know that we're doing anybody as a service by hiding how hard the industry is, right? Like, yes, we want to provide a great guest experience, but then a guest goes, I'm gonna go open a restaurant. This sounds great, and then this looks great, it looks easy, and then they have no idea what they're getting into. So I I don't I don't know what the where the lines are there.

Speaker 4: 36:25

Well, it's interesting. Um, you know, yeah, it's hard out there. Like, and I I get a little irritated when I hear coaches and consultants say, you know, there's plenty of good people out there, you they just don't want to come work for you, and um, because it is hard, you know. Like I don't want to like just make people feel like they're doing something, they're the problem, but we have to look and take a step back and like look at the industry. Like, there are more restaurants today per capita than ever before. Yeah, you know, the the market is more saturated today, and it's not just restaurants, we're meeting people at every points, every touch point of life, whether that be delivery or pickup, or you know, like like you can literally pick up your phone and look at look at your phone and blink twice, and you have food coming your way. So there's just home like at the grocery store, you can get prepared meals at the gas station. You can get prepared meals, like you can get pre prepared meals that you put in the freezer for next week, you know. Like we are finding so many different ways to bring food and to make eating more convenient for the consumer. Um, you know, and I think that uh we have to think what is the restaurant industry? It's about restoration, you know, it's not necessarily about feeding people, it's about restoring people, it's about being a community, it's about creating space for people to be people, right? Is that the restaurant industry or is it feeding people? Feeding people is just one of the ways we make money, right?

Speaker: 37:45

Yeah, yeah. No, it's great. I think what's coming, you know, my coach is coming out right now, but I think anybody that's that's listening to this show right now, I would challenge you to go back and think about your purpose. Why are you in the restaurant industry? Why have you opened a restaurant? And are you actually living your purpose today? And and if you are, amazing. Have you shared that with your team? Is everybody moving in the same direction? And are you are you surrounding yourself with people on your team that share that same purpose because it's so important to the sustainability of the business? And look, I went to two, I've been out a lot in Denver since I moved back, just very curious about what's happening here. And I've heard so many wonderful things and so many challenging things, but you know, guest traffic being down 20% in a lot of restaurants is absolutely real. And and I went to three restaurants the other night on a Saturday, six o'clock, seven o'clock, and eight o'clock. And they were less than half full. And the bars were less than half full. And it's, you know, I think about the days of running really busy restaurants where the guests coming into the space were the ones providing the energy to the environment, you know, and and how do you create energy to a restaurant on a Saturday night that's half empty or a third empty? That you know, it's the the people, right? Your staff is they've got to be in it, they've got to be engaged, they've got to know why they're doing what they're doing, just like we talked about earlier. And that all starts with the owner.

Speaker 4: 39:16

Yeah, and I think it it it back to relationships, right? So it starts with 100%. It starts with the owner. The the the most important relationship anybody has is with themselves. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is my lane? It's that self-awareness, it's understanding your why. And I think that I think this is actually like great segue into my my principles. I mean, I don't know how much time we have, but do I have a hard time?

Speaker: 39:42

No, no, you're good. Go ahead.

Speaker 4: 39:43

So, like uh, like these principles used to be my core values. And recently, um, after doing self some self-assessment, um, I realized like these aren't my core values. These are just these are the the principles, the the the traits I saw in my my my guests, the people I'm making an example of. So those I'm gonna also run run through them, then I'll dissect them a little bit. But the first principle um is they have they they prioritize freedom. Uh the second principle is they have integrity, the third principle is they are students, the fourth is they are teachers, the fifth is they are communicators, the the sixth is they are collaborators, and uh that's where I I end it right there. And I think that's at the core of it, and I can go deeper into all those, but to talk about you know why this was a great segue is they they prioritize freedom. And I think freedom is in doing hard things. I think when people hear the word freedom, they're like, I just want to go sit on the beach. Yeah, like I don't want to, I wanna like just meander, yeah, you know, like they just want to be a a balloon in the wind, you know, free, you know. But I think freedom is in choosing to do the hard thing. The freedom comes in the choice to do the thing that you want to do that's aligned with your vision, your values, your why, uh, and you're doing the the specific thing that you're uniquely qualified to do. Yeah, and guess what? That perfect storm is hard to make. Yeah, that is hard. That is not easy, but if you work every day towards achieving that, that autonomy, that sense of autonomy is freedom, right? And that's what this country is built on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is but that's all freedom. It's it's the choose, it's the the choice of freedom or happiness. But I think happiness is freedom, right?

Speaker 3: 41:34

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 41:35

You know, we can choose to be happy today, we can choose to work towards our autonomy, our freedom today. And in pursuit of that, I think you find happiness. Freedom of purpose, freedom of relationships, freedom of time, and freedom of money in that order. I think the most successful people prioritize purpose and relationships, and then time you're doing what you love with who you want. You can do it forever, you cannot work people, and the money will come.

Speaker: 41:57

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 41:57

Um, any questions on that first principle?

Speaker: 42:00

No, thank you.

Speaker 4: 42:01

Uh so the second was they have integrity, and this is I feel like probably one of the most overrated like core values or like principles. But when I say integrity, it's it's like they they follow through, they say they're gonna do something, they talk about it, but they walk it. They they walk the walk, they start, they do it, they take action.

Speaker: 42:19

Yeah, and it's the right thing, right? It's the right thing for everyone involved.

Speaker 4: 42:23

Yeah, and I think it's it's easy to say you want to do something, but it's hard to start. And I think that the most successful people, they get it into their head, and as soon as it's in their head, they're they're calling somebody to get one step closer. They're finding the right who's, like you would say, you know, like they're figuring out how do I make this happen. Yeah, uh, they are students, they're constantly learning. Yeah, uh, you are a student before you're ever a teacher or a master, you know. And I think we have to if you think that like that your days of learning are gonna come to an end, you won't make it very far because the world will progress beyond you. So you constantly have to be learning. Um, you and I think being a student also means having an open mind. Um so it's not just like being a student in like I want to learn new skills, but it's also understanding that the world is more complicated than we can even begin to understand.

Speaker 3: 43:12

Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 4: 43:13

Whatever you thought was reality could be the complete opposite of reality.

Speaker: 43:19

Absolutely.

Speaker 4: 43:19

So keeping that mind open and being open to different perspectives and ideas and thoughts and getting out of your own way is what it means to be a student, I think.

Speaker: 43:27

Love it. Yeah, core values. Uh and one of my core values is curiosity for sure. It goes really hand in hand with that.

Speaker 4: 43:33

And then once they figure something out, they have to get themselves out of whatever that thing is. They learn the skill, they learn the the how, and then they have to teach it. Yeah, you have to, you're constantly ascending. But as you ascend, there's a void that you're leaving in your as you go up. So you have to be able to pull people into that void. You have to create opportunity for others, you have to teach, you have to be a teacher, you have to create opportunity, like, and that's what so we're constantly learning and we're simultaneously teaching because if we want to move to that next level, then we have to empower, we have to recreate ourselves and others, we have to create that opportunity for others.

Speaker: 44:12

Yeah, Eric, that's where I see the majority of the restaurant owners and operators that I work with, they get stuck. They're learning, learning, learning, and they're not teaching enough. And that stops their development and their growth to moving on to the next level.

Speaker 4: 44:26

Which brings me to communication.

unknown: 44:28

Communicate.

Speaker 4: 44:29

Perfect. So, you know, you're out there, you're learning, you're teaching, but um, you're constantly, you don't just teach once, you're constantly communicating. And the things you need to be communicating um is your purpose, your values, your vision, uh, the structure, the systems, processes, procedures, protocols, training of how like the the the cadence, right? Of how we do this and how we communicate the strategy, like you know, this is where we want to be in five years, and and this is how we're gonna do it. And this is the the the rituals, the language, the the meetings that we're gonna have to make sure that we're holding each other accountable, we're listening.

Speaker 3: 45:05

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 45:06

Did you do what you said you're gonna do? No, why or why not? Okay, well, let's try a different approach and next week let me know if you did it or not. Uh, and that's communication. And um, you know, it's not enough to write these things down, your purpose, your vision, your mission, your structure, and like all this stuff. You have to surface it constantly. You have to be, you have to be to the point where you're annoying. Yeah, you know, and that's what the most successful people do. They constantly communicate where we're going and how we do it, why we do it. And then they know they can't do it alone. Even if they're replacing themselves, they know that if they want to go the furthest, they go further together. So they collaborate with other people who are strong or they're weak. They get their they get out of the way.

Speaker 3: 45:46

Love it.

Speaker 4: 45:46

Uh, and that's those are the the the four, or did I say four or five? How many principles do I have?

Speaker 3: 45:50

I think you've got five or six.

Speaker 4: 45:52

Three, four, five, six principles. So those those used to be my core values. And I realized, no, these aren't core values. That's not what got me here. That's what gets restaurant tours, the most successful restaurant tours. Those are the patterns, those are the principles I've learned.

Speaker: 46:05

Nice. You've got a great structure for your for your business. You know exactly who you are, you're very self-aware, you know exactly where you're going. You're you've got great measurements for success. What's next for you?

Speaker 4: 46:16

Uh, I think what's next for me is continuing down this path of just trying to do what I do better than I did it yesterday. Uh, and for me, that is knowing what I'm good at and what who I am. Um, I'm a connector, I'm a promoter, and I hate that this is what the test told me. I'm also an influencer.

Speaker: 46:37

I hate that word too. I hate that word. Somebody called me that a couple weeks ago and I cringed. I just like opened my cringe.

Speaker 4: 46:44

Um and but it's true, like in my my in my entire life, I've never been the most talented person in the room. Um, I but I was always really good at seeing the talents in others and admiring people for what they were good at. And I think when you're young, you don't recognize that as a skill. You just think that that's you, everybody sees this. Yeah, um, you know, I wasn't the best student, but I could tell you the social dynamic of every class I was in. You know, I was uh I aced lunch and recess, I'll tell you that much right now. Um, you know, and so I'm really good at um cutting through the BS and and paying attention to social dynamics, understanding who's full of shit and who's sincere. And um, and that's so as I move into the future, I just want to lean into the relationships I trust the most and be a promoter and a connector of good people doing good work. And I think that's what I bring to this world 12 years, 1200 episodes of listening and and finding patterns and understanding and realizing that there are no two people who are exactly the same, and there's no one size fits all. So I want to help people in the restaurant industry understand who they are, where they're going, and then I want to connect them with the tools, technologies, services, individuals, peers, mentors that can help them get there.

Speaker: 48:05

Yeah, love it.

Speaker 4: 48:06

Because we can't do it alone. We have to collaborate.

Speaker: 48:08

We have to collaborate, collaboration over competition all the time.

Speaker 4: 48:11

Yeah.

Speaker: 48:11

Um, any fun projects coming up or anything you want to talk about?

Speaker 4: 48:15

Yeah. So um been pretty public. I think I mentioned it earlier. I'm trying to get away from sponsorship. Um, again, not no hard feelings, no disrespect to that model, but it's just not for me because of how I want to do things going forward. And I want to prioritize relationships, not money. So, in order for me to do that, I'm changing my business model. So, up to recently, like all my income has been from sponsorship, and I'm trying to create a service, it's a it's a recurring membership model, basically. So it's a listener-supported podcast, not a sponsor-supported podcast. Uh, and the way that I want to support my listeners is by um offering three tiers of uh membership. So there's restaurants, so picture restaurantstoppable.com LLC at the very top, the mother company, right? The the holding company. Below that is Restaurant Stoppable Podcast, and then adjacent to that is Restaurant Stoppable Network. Uh, Restaurant Unstoppable Network has Restaurant Unstoppable Library, Restaurant Unstoppable Live, and Restaurant Unstoppable Masterminds. So Restaurant Unstoppable Library is $14.99 a month, and it's just a way to get access to my backlog of 1,200 episodes with searchability tools. So you can find exactly the content you're looking for, but it also has a unstoppable bot, which is 1200 episodes worth of transcribes, uploaded to my own private LLM, uh Custom GPT, where you can ask it any questions based off of over 2,400 hours of unscripted, unprompted, organic conversations with students and mentor. Nice. Me talking to leading restaurateurs, how'd you get here? Um, you can use that AI bot to find certain episodes you're looking for, and then there's also ad-free early release bonus content.

unknown: 49:57

Okay.

Speaker 4: 49:57

Uh, and that's $14.99 a month. This is a huge sales pitch, I'm sorry, but it's a good thing. No, no, no, no, it's great. Are you live is basically the tier above that that's $47 a month, and that is being a part of the conversation. So um basically four types of events workshops, mentoring sessions, power hours, and these are me collaborating with the people I'd go to tomorrow to serve my audience. So um, and that becomes the bonus content that you get in our you library. But it's essentially just me connecting my listeners with people like you. You've done a workshop. Um, I have power hours with experts who are the best that I've had on the show. Maybe we can have you do a power hour in the future if you're ever interested.

Speaker: 50:39

I'd love to.

Speaker 4: 50:41

And we also um do mentoring sessions. So that's like people come to me and they say these are my challenges, this is what I'm curious about. You know what? I know somebody, let me reach out to them and see if they can help you. And I'll schedule that as a live event. And anybody in the community can show up to that live event to be a part of that conversation.

Speaker: 50:57

Awesome.

Speaker 4: 50:58

And then masterminds, everyone's heard of a mastermind. And I'm honestly I'm reserving this right now to go back through my backlog of past guests because I want to bring them into the community and have these leaders across the nation steer the ship.

Speaker: 51:09

Nice.

Speaker 4: 51:10

And I'm charging them because there's great value in being a connector.

Speaker: 51:13

Sure, absolutely. I love it. Well, Eric, I know how much um work and emphasis and strategy and thought has gone into all of that. You know, redoing a business model is absolutely exciting and extraordinary. And um absolutely wish you all the best. Yes, please. Any way that I can help and support and connect with you on that to make it a success, please, please um don't ever hesitate to reach out.

Speaker 4: 51:37

So well, you were a great guest. I hope you continue to be a great guest and collaborator uh as we go forward. And uh just one final message to your listeners like you don't have to do it alone. Um, you are not alone. You what you are going through, I promise you, there is somebody else going through that. And if you get vulnerable and you open up and you talk to people um and you share, uh you you will go further together.

unknown: 52:00

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 52:01

Um, and there's power in numbers. So don't be afraid to knock on doors, don't be afraid to join communities, don't be afraid to reach out to coaches like Kristen uh and get the help you need uh because it's it's more attainable than you realize. So choose to go further together.

Speaker: 52:17

Yeah, here, here. Eric, how can people find you?

Speaker 4: 52:19

Uh head over to restaurantunstoppable.com. And if you're interested in joining those live conversations and these live events, head over to restaurantstoppable.com slash live. And thank you in advance if you join, if you choose to join us.

Speaker: 52:33

Yeah, love it. Um, Eric, thank you. I say this to you all the time, but it I just can't say it enough. You know, over 1200 episodes in the podcasting space. You've paved the way for people like me. I I know you just got number one, it's probably been a month or so now, right? Number one on the on the list of top 100 restaurant podcasts, which is such a huge fucking deal. Yeah. I saw it on LinkedIn. I was like, this is so cool. So congratulations.

Speaker 4: 52:58

Thank you. Thank you for that. I will say I don't really trust those lists.

Speaker: 53:01

If I'm I would, I would number one. That's right.

Speaker 4: 53:06

Somebody did a Google search and I have 1200 episodes, and that's why they made me number one. There are so many great podcasts out there right now. Um those lists, no offense to the people that make them are marketing tactics. They're just trying to get your eyes. Don't pay attention to them.

Speaker: 53:22

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 53:22

Well, find what you like, what works for you. There's tons of great resources out there.

Speaker: 53:26

Totally, totally. Well, thank you for your time, and um, that's gonna do it for us this week, and we'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 4: 53:32

Thank you, Kristen.

Speaker: 53:33

Thanks.