when was the last time you went to a steakhouse and they actually brought out a platter on a velvet pillow of different steak knives that you could select customized to your personality well, that’s just one of many little detail in a sea of amazing details that I experienced in a restaurant called BLVD Steakhouse in Waco, Texas.

Today’s guest is Zachary Luke, executive chef, but he’s so much more than that. He was an instrumental part of creating this restaurant, and we talk all about the ins and outs of operations. Everything from From menu crafting, to financials, and maximizing profit, to ordering efficiencies, to the leadership piece, and staffing.

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You’re tuned in to the Restaurant Rockstars Podcast. Powerful ideas to rock your restaurant. Here’s your host, Roger Beaudoin.

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Hey everyone. Welcome back. This is the Restaurant Rockstars podcast. So glad you’re here. Zach, welcome to the show today. How are you, my friend? Hey, what’s up, buddy? This is awesome. We met in Waco weeks and weeks ago, and I was speaking at a food show, and I was staying at the Even Hotel, and, the restaurant just drew us in.

What a beautiful space. But you are the creative force behind that restaurant. So we’re going to dive and talk about all the ins and outs of the restaurants. But do you generally make a habit of greeting all your tables or every night you go out there and you you’re part of the personality of the place.

You’re not just in the kitchen, you’re overseeing everything, but I don’t know if you knew anyone at our table or if it’s just something you do. No

clue who any of you guys were actually. I try to touch as many tables as possible every night that I’m there. It’s just I like to get on a personal level with my customers, simply because I want to know what their idea and what their thoughts are after they’ve received their food.

I never actually talked to anyone beforehand. That’s why we created, that’s why we had the amuse bouche. We want to send something out. We want to send, we want to fish. So we want to cast the line and we want to drill reel back in. So I’ll go talk to the people and just try to get an idea of what they think of us.

And I try to just. Tweak it from there, back and forth from the front to the back.

We enjoyed it. And again, your personality was very charismatic. We were already into our meals. We were enjoying the food. It was very creative. The flair that you put into every dish was certainly evident, but it’s such a personal touch.

So I’m glad you do that because, there are a lot of chefs that are just in the back and they stay there and they don’t really want to come out. And I think that’s such a competitive advantage. And I think it. It creates raving fans for the business because they put a face to the food and they enjoy the experience as we did.

So that was my, yeah, go ahead.

And on top of that, if you’re spending good money on quality food, You would want to see who’s back there doing it. You would want to meet who’s, who the creator is. And it’s, yeah it’s very personal. And a lot of people it flatters them.

Yeah. I it’s touching people in a personal way. And I think that’s hospitality. That’s what hospitality is all about. And it’s so many things, it’s the ambience of the place. And as I mentioned, you sent us some beautiful photos of the restaurant and it clearly is a beautiful restaurant.

So there’s the ambience, it’s warm, inviting, and comfortable. It’s dynamic. And then the food was really, like I said, it’s creative and everything about the experience was just spot on. Like you wish every dining experience was that way. And then on top of it, you came out and you made us feel special. So thanks for welcoming us.

My first time in Waco, and I think we all have heard of Waco. Chip and Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper put it on the map. Has that done much to drive tourist business to Waco? Have you seen that in your restaurant?

Absolutely. We we house a lot of out of staters, so, it’s not.

It’s not realistic for a local to come in and just stay the night in the hotel when they live, 15 minutes away, but they will dine. They’ll come and eat, and then they’ll take off. But yes, a lot of out of staters come, and they stay in these hotels, and being as close as we are, it’s walking distance, we’re in a good spot.

You’re touching out a really interesting topic because when people stay in hotels, unless there’s something really special or magical about the restaurant in a hotel, it’s so typical for them to want to get outside the doors and go into the town and explore the local feel and the restaurants.

And clearly Waco has a bunch of restaurants. So it’s about you want to get as many of the hotel guests to try you and also draw people that aren’t staying in the hotel. Is there a secret to that? What’s the marketing schtick behind that? It’s,

it’s, it sounds crazy the way I’m going to put it, but as much as you want the people in there first.

You gotta be selfless. You gotta come last because people want to explore the town. So put yourself last because they’ll always come back and stay and then, hey, I didn’t know you had this huge restaurant in there. Oh, wow. This is such a plus one on top of that. So we let the people come in, check in, and then we allow them, hey, Go check out the place, man.

Waco’s awesome. It’s a small town, but we’re growing and then come back and see us. And then they always do.

Yeah. That’s terrific.

Being selfless.

Yeah. Oh, that’s a very interesting take and and I’m glad that’s a fresh and a bigger. Perspective, I think, than the typical, no, I want to be, I want to grab all the business I can and I want to keep them here and I don’t want them to leave.

And again, it is about experiencing what’s out there beyond the hotel. The hotel has its amenities. The town is growing and vibrant. I got a chance to go downtown and check out the whole Magnolia compound. That was very interesting. But again, you come back to a comfortable spot and the hotel was very comfortable for me.

And I enjoyed the whole experience. Let’s talk about let’s talk about menus. Do you change that menu often or how often, like what, tell me about your process with your menu. There’s tables that stay, but you’re always bringing in new things to keep it fresh. What do you do?

Yes we’ve only been open just over a year now, so I wanted to establish a firm ground.

Let the people know the kind of product that I’m trying to bring in. I do work with a local beef company Iron Table, and they are a Texas raised Wagyu. And then I also outsource an Australian Wagyu, A5, and it’s one of the best that I think you can get. Getting closest to Japan and overseas, but the salmon, the scallops We don’t want little bitty shrimps.

We want nice prawns. We want you three prawns that are as long as your, palm to finger. Yeah we want to step outside the box, but we don’t want to scare the people at the same time. So yes, we have some staples. Potatoes would be a staple for us. I do a pavé and the people love it with the salmon.

Again, we do all our Wagyu. So we grind in house and make our own patties. We try to keep it. Simple, yet elegant. And being in the center of Texas, we have an array of source resources that we can choose from. We just want to be careful

and we want to pick the right

ones.

Wagyu is interesting to me because I guess you’re an educated person, more about this than perhaps I do, but it’s a Japanese, Beef brand, right?

Or the cattle are literally wagyu and they’re bred a special way and there’s something, but now you mentioned it’s Texas sourced. So did they import the cattle from Japan, and now they bred them with American cattle? What’s the process there? And this is, and tell us the differences in the flavor of that beef and why it’s a higher quality and more expensive.

Tell us, give us some education on that.

So the, a couple of guys went over to Japan and. Managed to grab some of their DNA and they brought it back to the States. They started their, it’s crazy.

It’s real.

So they’re breeding

Japanese cattle here in Texas.

Yes.

Yes.

And it’s a beautiful thing.

So when you go to the store and you see a nice package of red meat and you see the big eye in the middle of your ribeye and it’s nice and white, when you look up a couple shelves, you’ll usually see a small amount of Wagyu. And if you put them up next to each other, the marbling. Inside the beef looks like a spiderweb as opposed to your regular store bought brand.

I’m not saying that any of the beef is bad, but when you get to a certain level of this beef and the rendering of the fat, the smoothness, the silkiness of this fat, it’s so good. And not to mention the beef tallow. The beef tallow is actually good for you. Raises your pH balance, it makes your hair nice and shiny and full your skin gets nice and flush.

It’s a good product and you can make anything out of it too. Candles, I use it in my butter. I use black garlic and bone marrow from the Wagyu from the Wagyu bones. And I use the beef tallow to stretch that and make it a nice silky texture. It’s really nice.

So when you, next time you go to the store, look around,

look

up.

It’s usually that spiderweb. That’s such an interesting way to describe marbling. And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that, but I will, I’m curious. I want to look at that.

Sure. Spider webbing or more or less like shattered bits of, It looks like shattered glass, the way the marbling goes into the meat.

It’s really intriguing.

Nice. Fantastic. Now you must have, obviously you’ve got different cuts and types of beef because you are a steakhouse after all. So we talked about the Wagyu. Are there lesser, not lesser quality, but obviously pricing variations between different, you’ve got ribeyes and the standard T Bones and New York Strips and Sirloins and all that kind of stuff.

But what’s really popular?

Our most popular, ribeye is king. Ribeye is king. But our next, no, our next popular is our 8 ounce New York. And that’s because we spread it across the menu with the ahi. The ahi tuna is really nice. And it comes with an eight ounce New York. It’s just a smaller, better priced piece of beef and the people seem to like it.

And the next runner up is the chateaubriand, the center cut.

Do you marinate your meats and do you prepare special blends of spices? Like how do you bring out those flavors? Are there rubs that you offer? Is it just the beef? Let the beef speak for itself? Is every dish different?

Yes, let the beef speak for itself, but I offer for free what other restaurants usually upcharge for, and that’s sous vide.

I sous vide all the beef before it goes out.

So it’s sitting in that water for hours before we, before it’s ordered. And then when it is ordered, it’s cut and it’s, it’s got rosemary and garlic and thyme setting inside that bag. Some of the chateaubriands or the tomahawks, I’ll drop the bone marrow, the black garlic bone marrow butter in with the tomahawk.

So we’ll sous vide that whole bag. And so when it comes out, it is

beautiful. That sounds amazing. Like you’re making me hungry and it’s almost lunchtime here on the East Coast. You’re in central time, so you got a little time. Let’s talk about your staff. What do you look for in the people that work for you?

Do you look for experience? Do you look for an attitude and approach and then you mentor? What’s your leadership style? Tell me about staffing. And it’s been a challenge across the country. Are you also having challenges? Oh, absolutely. Give us a whole picture of the staffing thing.

I try to keep it not necessarily a skeleton crew, but a minimum crew, because I’ve gone through quite a bit and I know what one person can manage.

I know it varies from person to person, but we find that when we hire you, right? And one thing about my hiring process is, ah, I don’t like seeing this giant list of all these things you’ve done and everywhere that you’ve been. Granted, it is a nice compliment to the application. I just, I want something, I want someone that can be molded.

Someone that would be better at listening. And yes, I have to have a couple experienced chefs in the kitchen. It only makes sense because it limits your training time. But at the same time, you want to make sure that everyone can listen and be a sponge because if they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, as a crew, we’re not going to make it.

We’re going to have all these faults and negatives. And if we do it all at the same time in the same rhythm, then as unity, we’ll make the best dish possible. And the crowd will be happy after that. It’s just getting our bearings together and performing as a solid team. That’s what we drive for. And the two people that we have now, I don’t care if you’re male or female.

It doesn’t matter to me. If you’re willing to learn and you’re willing to take the steps that I took my whole life, then. I think you’re going to be a good fit.

So would you say that mentoring and shadowing exists in the kitchen, either you personally or someone below you that you trust, that’s been with you a while, that’s got the skillset to bring others along?

If they’re, if they have that passion and they’re willing to learn and they want to learn, but their skillsets need a bump up. What’s the process there?

Just because I’m the executive chef doesn’t make me necessarily always on top. My sous chef is 60 years old and he’s got a lot of experience out of San Diego and in the whole west coast, so I shadow a lot still.

I want to keep learning, and I want to make sure that if I’m constantly learning, my team can constantly learn, and we’re gonna, we’re gonna just evolve into something better, no matter what. You always want to listen to the ideas. You don’t have to necessarily take them all, but you want to listen to them, and then take and alter where you see fit.

And sometimes, those little things, Could make your crew very happy because they see those little things and they know that you listen to them and they see it going out the window and you get plates coming out 10 times better. You know the drive is always there, they’re going to show up, they’re going to be early and they’re going to leave late.

And they’re gonna, they’re, he’s 62, I believe, and he still tries to hang in there as long as he can with me, but he’ll eventually say, all right, kid, I’m going home, I’m too tired now. But yeah, I always do some shadowing and they, and vice versa. They shadow me, but I always try to learn from someone else.

In the heat of battle, it’s Saturday night, it’s 730, the tickets are on the floor, the kitchen’s 800 degrees, it’s like multiple personalities come together, and consistency, and quality and approach, and plate presentation, and perfection is the goal.

goal. How do you keep all that together? How do you keep people, their temperatures from rising, you keep them calm, just performing at their best and keeping them motivated? There’s got to be a key to that or a success. Or is it just the respect, right? You laid a foundation of respect.

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The respect is there.

Simply because I like to have fun. I’m always chopping it up. I’m always laughing. We drop something, no big deal. I probably got something backed up for you, bro. It’s not it’s never the end of the world and there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. And if I have to go out front and tame a table, then I’ll have to go out front and tame a table.

I’ll be right back. But I never leave them when it’s thick. Never. I’ll have my maitre d or food and beverage if I need to cut a chateau. Here’s the knife. I ain’t leaving the crew. We’re going to get this, we’re going to get through and then I’ll,

I’ll step out. Fun is probably the key word because there’s a chemistry.

In the heart of the house, and people working together and enjoying working with someone and putting, your heart and soul into something, even during the most challenging of times. There’s such fulfillment, I think, and gratification at the end of a tough shift where you just chill out and you debrief and you’re like, wow, that went really well.

And this went sideways, but you guys just handled it. And it’s that’s a beautiful thing.

If the passion’s there, most people will jump on board. Because they see that you’re going up and they see the passion drives a lot of things. And it drives a lot of people. And if you’re a very passionate person in someone else’s establishment, people just almost have no choice.

They get on board.

Yeah, you got to, it’s this is the way it is. And it’s a company culture now, I think you’re talking about, and it’s a true. Culture in that kitchen where you’re either like minded and on board and moving in the same direction or it’s just not a good fit, and that happens too.

That’s awesome. So have you had you mentioned you got a skeleton crew. So you got a core group of people that are just, that have been with you a while that you trust, that you respect, that have the skill sets. But somebody new walks in the door, you’ll bring them in, you’ll give them limited shifts.

We got to find a balance now between labor scheduling and efficiency and having enough people to put the food out wonderfully and meet the demand. But then, not everybody can get 40 hours a week and they need to make their money. So there’s that balance again.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to give anyone the time that they need and the wages that they’re looking for.

And that’s what helps. Bring, that’s what helps brings the applicants in because I’m willing to work with you. If you’re willing to do what we need to do as a team, I’m willing to work with you and I’m willing to work whatever you need to work. You’re going to be with me, but you’re going to work when we need to work.

Your first week might be 60 to 80 hours, but if you’re up for it, great. We’ll see you next week. If not, we’ll tone it down. And if you don’t want to be here, that’s great too I don’t just let, I don’t I don’t just let people go out the door. I don’t say, you didn’t make it, sorry.

I at least give them some guidance, right? Why don’t you try the hotel next door? It’s a little slower pace, might be up to your speed. Or, I got a couple people that I could give you some information on maybe you can give them a call. I never just leave someone empty handed because that’s the worst, man.

I don’t know, a lot of people have, Have never jumped into a situation and not quite made the team and then just let go out the door without anything, a pat on the back or nothing. That’s it’s rough.

So sometimes you can put someone in a different position that they might be better suited to them versus maybe what they originally applied for.

And you work with them for a little while and it’s like you give somebody an opportunity if their heart’s in the right place and if they work hard, right? That’s a good philosophy. And, I love the fact that You work with people and that you’re paying the solid wages and you’ve built a reputation because again, that’s a big picture thing.

It’s not short term profitability. It’s like that makes sense because we’re actually lowering turnover, which costs us far more money than paying people what they’re worth and making sure that they belong in your kitchen.

That’s a

great philosophy. for sharing. No

tricks, no gimmicks, man. Let’s cut the crap and let’s get to it.

What do you want? And let’s see if I can give it to you.

And you’re a genuine straight shooter. I’m getting the sense that you tell it like it is. You don’t hold any punches and it’s here we go. You’re part of the team. Let’s go. Yeah. Not a lot of people like those left hooks, yeah.

The unexpected, of course. You gotta be, you gotta be straightforward people. Sure. Let’s talk about finances and being held accountable to food costs during inflation and maintaining margins and costing out menus and making sure that everything that goes out is costed out. What do what do you do?

What’s your approach there?

As time goes on, things do fluctuate. Things go up. Things go down. I try to keep a minimum average and then three times that. So, if eggs are a dollar, we want to sell them for three. That’s the crappy side of it, but we have to make a living.

Of course we have to make our wages and I try to keep it as fair as possible and on both sides. We need to make the money, but we want to make sure that the customer can afford it. And you have a lot of these high end restaurants that, quite frankly, I haven’t even been to yet. I’d love to go, do anything to go, but it’s just so far out of my price range, the elegance, I don’t think I’d ever be able to taste something like that.

So I just try to bring all that knowledge to my house. And try to express it that way.

That’s interesting because there are lots of restaurants out there that are perceived to be this elegant experience and it’s higher priced and there’s a perception there, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality matches the perception of the guest.

And that the experience, does that live up to it? And there’s so many things, the service that you provided and your team, like we had re we had really amazing service as well. We had personable people. They were attentive. They were knowledgeable. They made suggestions, which I travel a lot and I don’t see this a lot.

And it really comes down to training. So is that a combination of you and your GM? Tell us about the overall staff, front of house people. Back of house and training that happens to deliver these experiences that I certainly had. So it

goes back to the application process and how I say I don’t like a lot of experience.

There are times where you need some, and so I’m very specific on where that, what I’m going to pick out of that experience. Some have Vegas experience, some have just local high end, right? I try to get a combination of those and see where we’re at. We communicate daily with group chats and, and face to face conversations, and I try to put all those pieces together here.

Not just with management. We don’t have to go from the top down. I could just go abroad. If I’m here and everybody’s here, we’re just going to talk about it right now. We don’t have to do the trickle effect because I know what I want here and I know what we need to do out here. So they listen to me and We try things like we give a, before your steak comes out, they come around and they let you choose your weapon.

Oh, I remember this. You have your array of knives.

That was amazing. It was almost like,

Yeah, it was like the velvet pillow comes out and there were probably 10 or 12 really amazing knives and all the handles were different in the, that was a hook.

Everybody’s, everyone’s different. You can have a seven foot one big 340 pound fella and he wants the big knives.

He wants something that he can hold. Or you might have the 87 year old petite woman that wants the small knife. You just never know what your customer has what your customer wants. Which brings me back to what you were saying about the suggestions. The people are here. Let’s guide them to where they need to go.

Make them feel comfortable. Make them feel pampered. Make them feel like they are the only ones here. Give them the advice, what you would like. Almost, tell them what they should eat, or if they pick something, explain how to eat it. Give them the best experience possible. Communicate, get on a relationship, a personal relationship with your customer and really just leave the table wondering if there’s more, like they’ve had a good time.

Is there going to be something else before we leave? You never know. I’ve gifted tables bottles of wine because they were just so pleasant. I’ve given desserts to anniversaries and birthdays. I like to do nice things for people because, the world might sometimes seem like a crappy place, but If you go somewhere where you’re nice and relaxed and you’re comfortable and you know the people around you, or even if you don’t know the people around you, the vibe around you is so subtle and smooth and you’re comfortable always, you just shoot something out there, man, you might make somebody’s day.

You just said it really best. I’ve got this philosophy when I owned restaurants, and we talked about in pre shifts and all the time, it’s like, it’s people are not just coming in for the food and drink, they’re coming in for an experience, this is entertainment, I used to call it take people on the magical journey of everything we’re about and everything that’s special and everything that sets us apart from the competition, because more than likely, Every restaurant in the USA, anywhere in the world really gets new customers in every day that don’t know the first thing about the place, what they’re going to enjoy, what’s unique, special, and it’s really up to the staff to be so well educated and so well informed that they’re educating, informing, and entertaining, and presenting the experience.

And some of the things you mentioned bring people back again. They talk about it, leads to positive online reviews, all those thingscome from your approach so im really glad you shared that also. Do you guys do any regular pre shifts in the kitchen and in the front of the house? Just like that team huddle, and what would those look like?

Yes and no. Large caterings, yes, we always have a team huddle. Just to give a quick rundown. Who’s passing what hors d’oeuvres. How often we need to pass these hors d’oeuvres, how often you need to change plates just, bus runs, meaning have your kitchen boy running with the bus tub and cleaning up tables but when we have our morning crew and our night crew, it’s pretty simple, pretty self explanatory, I keep the morning menu real tight, real simple, people aren’t here to spend time with us.

40, 50 on breakfast. They want a quick egg, some bacon, some toast, and they’re out the door. Maybe his wife wants an avocado toast. Something simple. Something fast. Get the people going. Again, being selfless. All right let’s go something really affordable on this side. Nothing. Just fill your belly.

Let’s get the, hit the town. I’ll see you later. And I’m there at the breakfast time, believe it or not. Wow.

Do you ever sleep?

I question that sometimes, too. You just get caught up in it, man, and the love is always there. So you just, sometimes you never want to leave it. And you want to make sure that everything’s right and everything’s always put in its place.

Your mise always there. I want to be the first one in and the last one out no matter what. No matter what. Yeah, some days I do cut out early. That’s because I’m just going to catch a couple extra Z’s or come see the

family. Yeah. And there’s where the trust comes in because the show must go on even when you’re not there, even though you’re there.

That’s right. Yeah. So are you doing three day parts? Are you doing lunch as well? I do breakfast and dinners. Breakfast and dinner. Thank you. Give your team a rest.

Does, The owner and myself, we would like to do lunch, but it’s just not logical right now with the profits that we’re gaining and the crew that we have.

Let’s, if it ain’t broke, let’s not fix it.

Sometimes these things evolve, and it’s interesting to say, because the numbers still have to work for breakfast, they clearly work for dinner, and I’m coaching a consulting client right now of mine, and they’re opening a first restaurant for the very first time, and we’re running numbers, the lease is really expensive and all that kind of stuff, and I’m putting, helping them put projections together, And it was obvious they thought they were going to be open for lunch and dinner, and basically, with 70 hours a week that they have to staff lunch and dinner, based on what we think they’re going to do for lunch, it didn’t make sense to do it.

And when I ran the numbers just for dinner only, they were going to make a couple hundred thousand extra dollars at the end of the year, versus what they would do if they opened for lunch in this concept. So it’s that’s a balance, and that’s a balance. You’ve identified the fact, okay, breakfast and dinner works, it’s not broken, don’t fix it, but it’s like everyone, a lot of people that are looking at this don’t really see the ins and outs and how financial decisions impact.

You’re either going to make money or you’re not, and there’s

marketing costs to that

too.

That’s because people are trying to be too difficult.

Yeah.

You’re trying to tack on too much. Keep it simple. You know the bare, bare, the bare necessities. You know what these are, so just run with those and then try and stack from there.

You don’t have to just pile it all on, on at once. Yeah, there is A huge load when opening a new place, yes, but when you finally get established and you’re ready to open those doors you better be thinking very simple.

It’s, okay, so simple is important to maintain. It seems like it’s harder than ever.

To run a kitchen because there’s so many people now with food allergies. Now, how do you do that when you got dairy free, gluten free, you got celiac people, you can’t cross contaminate prep areas in the kitchen because something might hurt, make somebody sick and even worse. But then there’s the training aspect where everybody needs to know because these questions come up.

Wow. That’s training unto itself just on food allergies and food safety. Is that a huge part of what you do? Like, how do you deal with that? hey It’s

all about the communication. Yeah, it’s all about from the time they set the reservation We see we ask them. Oh, there you

go. There’s

this right there on the reservation And it alerts either the food and beverage director or me personally.

So we look into that we Assign the waiter or waitress from there. We communicate with them this table 207 nut allergy Make sure you remember that. And they pull their notebook out, they start writing. So when that table finally comes, they let the kitchen know. 207’s here with the nut allergy. And then so we then get prepared.

Okay, we need to set aside. Okay, we need to set this aside, put this over there, put this over there. We could potentially use this. And then we wait for the order. They’ll give us a heads up. That’s when we gather the material and then we start cooking after that. So it’s all about the communication. And then I’ll come to the table to let them know, Hey we’ve prepared your dish with all everything set aside on a whole new area of the kitchen.

Or, whatever the case may be, I just let the table, I assure the table that they’re going to be fine.

That’s a great that’s the approach that you need to take, but yeah starting with the reservation, finding out what you’re dealing with before someone just walks in the door and throws it on you Oh my gosh.

All right. That’s preparation.

And the team knows I’m big on washing your hands. Huge. I wipe, I clean, I sanitize all the time. I’m not a neat freak, but I’m very picky when it comes to sanitation in the kitchen and being clean. So much so that the team knows that they don’t have to be stingy with the gloves.

If you know what I mean, they will use those gloves. I’m not worried about the money right now. Let’s use those gloves and wash those hands. That way we know we’re always clean. Best practices.

And that’s obviously, and you’re leading by example. It’s they’re seeing that approach and they’re going to mirror that performance and those practices too, because that’s just the way we do things.

And it becomes clear.

Yeah. No one’s working and looking out of the side of their eye to make sure that I’m white. They’re just doing the right thing.

How would you describe the dynamic between front of house, back of house? Cause some restaurants it’s like this and servers are afraid to approach the line when it’s, the heat of battle.

Like I talked about, Oh, I need a recook or I need this. And everyone’s just tensions flare, but somehow the, the show goes on maintaining the calm. Do you have any issues like that? Or is it just

we know? We did at first when, cause I wasn’t always the executive. I was the executive, Sue.

I was the Sue, then the executive Sue. We didn’t always have the good bond between the front of the house and the back of the house. And It was about attitude, communication, and how much fun you’re having. Sometimes the stress and the workload gets the best of people, and they just aren’t the same anymore.

And sometimes you have your turnover rate because of that. Unfortunately, those kind of things have happened, and it But it’s brought me to the top, and it’s, my crew is not walking on eggshells, whether it’s the front or the back. They never walk on eggshells around anyone. We’re, if we have a steak coming back to go up, to be cooked up, no worries, we’re gonna get it taken care of.

They have no issue coming and asking, because they know, even though we’re busy, we’re swamped, it’s always gonna be respectful. Yes ma’am, you got it. No worries. Let your table know that we have three more minutes on that. They don’t have to worry about coming into work and being, upset that so and so is here.

We’re all, we all get along. If we can’t, then we can’t be here.

Terrific. Now you’re in a brand new property. Like it’s only, I think you said it’s only a year old or so,

roughly. Yes, sir.

Yes. And it looked state of the art. You sent me some beautiful photos that we’re going to include in this, but the bar, it’s I can’t imagine not having any product.

The bar was like every bottle I’ve ever seen in my life was there and the equipment. Must be state of the art and brand new and all that. How about technology? Do you rely heavily on scheduling software and, all that kind of stuff, inventory costing, or are you doing it the old school way?

I do it the old school way.

As much as it drives my upper management crazy, they trust me enough. They trust me enough and we’re doing fine. But yes, I was brought up the old school way. I do it pen and paper and I pass it up. Pen. That’s how we’re operating. The inventory and the scheduling, it’s pen and paper. Thank you. We do technology, we have our toast system our POS and then we have group texts and group me.

So yeah, we are in tune to technology. We’re not cavemen back there.

I really appreciate that approach because I’m an old school guy and I always did the pen and paper, and there’s a lot of technology out there that can be efficient, but it’s not. But there’s a learning curve and it can be frustrating and all that kind of stuff.

But I always believe that an operator, a GM, anyone kitchen manager or chef needs to know how to do it manually, right? The foundational pieces of figuring out your food costs and your labor costs. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. And if once that system’s in place, if you regularly follow that, I think that’s all you need to do.

And I did it like that for 23 years. So thank you for sharing. thats

awesome

So what’s next for you? What do you do now? Will they open up new locations, other hotels? Do you see yourself traveling and gonna stick around in Waco for a while? Honestly,

Roger, I have no idea. This past year has gone by so fast and The exposure that I’ve had as of lately is, it’s got me out there.

I’ve got a couple chefs out of Vegas asking if I’d like to come on board and, my original goal was to get out, learn and stage in other kitchens and learn as much as I could. And I still have that goal. I’d like to have this restaurant to a point to where I can maybe leave for a little bit and go learn under someone and Bring my knowledge and my creations back and bring the knowledge that I got from someone else and bring the creations up into the restaurant.

I would love to do anything like that. Anything that would enhance not only me and my family, but the crew behind me. I can’t speak enough about the guys behind me. I really can’t, man. They’re the rock. I can’t express how much I love these guys and gals. Don’t get me wrong. There’s both.

I make sure that we have an even amount, to balance out the kitchen, because believe it or not, sometimes the women are right, and they know what’s going on, and they’re fast and efficient, and they have that delicate touch that sometimes us men don’t have. And then, sometimes you get the nice rough beef and the fish filet in that the girls don’t want to do, and that’s where we step in to get the dirty work,

that’s called balance and staying in your lane and like respecting people for their skill sets and learning from different people. But I think you said it best earlier, it really is about passion and fun and your team are just, sounds like you can count on them, you can trust them, and it just makes your job easier, not harder.

That’s definitely a tribute to how you run things.

Yeah, and they’re 100 percent behind me. They know if I leave for a little while, they know I’m gonna come back because let’s be real, the boulevard’s my baby. I brought her up, even with another executive in front of me I helped 100 percent with the menu, with the building of the chairs, the tables, the artwork inside.

Yes, sir. I came when the chairs were still wrapped in plastic. The tile wasn’t even on the ground. The bar wasn’t even established. I’ve been there since day one, and I’ve worked real hard, and I have a lot of pride in that building, and I don’t want to leave it. But, I do want to take time to better myself so we can be something of the best.

I want to be the I don’t want to be the best, I want to be around the best, so therefore I can make someone else behind me the best.

Fantastic. I had no idea that I think I knew that you were there from the beginning, but literally when the tile was put in and nothing was, and it was a raw space, and you lent that creativity to putting it all together.

That’s got to be so gratifying. You’ve definitely made a mark on the boulevard for sure, and I can’t wait to come back to Waco next year. And we,

we have all this artwork throughout the building too, and some of them are local. So one of the girls I went to high school with she painted the whole mural on the backside of the flowers.

We sat right in front of that. And I was,

I was facing that mural and I found it very soothing. And I’m a color person anyway. I live my life in color and it was, and it, the whole length of the wall, it had to be 30 or 40 feet long and there it was. And behind me was the grand piano and the lighting fixtures and everything about it was just such a, It’s beautiful,

isn’t it?

It’s beautiful. Thankfully you sent me some of those photos, because we’re going to include them with the episode. It certainly was. Zach, thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you, buddy.

That was the Restaurant Rockstars podcast. Thank you so much, everyone, for tuning in. Thank you. Chef, you lent so much to this experience about what it’s like to not only run a great kitchen, but to to put yourself into every aspect of the business.

So you shared a lot. Thank you for that. Thank you so much, for it bro everybody stay well, stay tuned. We’ll see you in the next episode. Rock on.

People go to restaurants for lots of reasons, for fun, celebration, for family, for lifestyle. What the customer doesn’t know is the thousands of details it takes to run a great restaurant. This is a high risk, high fail business. It’s hard to find great staff, costs are rising, and profits are disappearing.

It’s a treacherous road, and smart operators need a professional guide. I’m Roger. I’ve started many highly successful, high profit restaurants that I’ve now sold for millions of dollars. I’m passionate about helping other owners and managers not just succeed, but knock it out of the park. I created a game changing system and it’s filled with everything I’ve learned in over 20 years running super profitable, super fun restaurants.

Everything from creating high profit menu items and cost controls, to staff training where your team serves. From how you serve and sell, to marketing hooks, money maximizing tips, and efficiencies across your operation. What does this mean to you? More money to invest in your restaurant. To hire a management team, time freedom, and peace of mind.

You don’t just want to run a restaurant, you want to dominate your competition and create a lasting legacy. Join the Academy and I’ll show you how it’s done.

Thanks for listening to the Restaurant Rockstars podcast. For lots of great resources, head over to restaurantrockstars. com. See you next time.