Phil Roberts co-founded Parasole in 1997, and he’s launched one successful concept after another, including nationally known Buca di Beppo and The Oceanaire Seafood Room. Phil is bold, innovative, and knows what people want before they do. This was one heck of an interview, so enjoy some advice from a man who has proven himself…
Month: October 2010
Book Update – Mic Heynekamp of Eddyline Restaurant & Brewery and Soccoro Springs Restaurant & Brewery
Mic and Molley Heynekamp started Socorro Springs Restaurant & Brewery in 1999. After three and a half years of planning, they took their original $1,000,000 business plan down to $100,000. And they wound up starting with only $70,000. Ten years later they opened Eddyline Restaurant & Brewery. Both restaurants have been very successful, and Mic…
Schedulefly Is A Lot Like A Hot Dog Stand
It occurred to me today that running Schedulefly has many similarities to running a hot dog stand. Both have simple menus and a clear focus on who they want to serve. We want to serve restaurants. Not hospitals. Hot dog stands want to serve people who want hot dogs. Not salads. We’re alike quite a…
To Get Better, Try Removing Features Instead of Adding Them
Wil sent me a quote this morning from the book “Made To Stick”: A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add but when there is nothing left to take away It is a quote from French Poet Antoine de Saint Exupéry. The quote is so good, yet so…
Different
I just finished reading Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd. If you are interested in learning more about how to separate your restaurant from your competitors, and how to build a highly loyal customer base, read this book. The author is a Harvard professor who is known for producing some fantastic business case studies. This is…
Over 1 Million Alerts Served Each Month
With customers in 9 different timezones, our email servers are working round the clock! In fact – we now send more than 1 million helpful email and text message alerts each month. Alerts such as: – Weekly schedules – Time Off requests – Shift trade requests – Message Wall broadcasts – Daily Crib Sheets –…
Book Update – Chris Sommers of Pi Pizzeria
Pi Pizzeria of St. Louis has been wildly successful in a short amount of time. They opened their first location on “Pi Day” (3.14) 2008, and by that October then-Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama enjoyed some of their pizza after a St. Louis campaign rally. He loved it, and Pi, which was already very…
Book Update – Scott Maitland of Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery
We’re going to start pulling out a few quotes from each interview, and posting them here. There is so much incredible wisdom and advice and knowledge in these interviews that we can’t hold onto it until the book is completed. It wants to get out. It needs to be available. Scott Maitland started Top of…
Keep Your Eye On the Middle of the Target
My buddy David lost his job at a very large bank recently. His position was eliminated. He has a very mature, philosophical perspective on what happened. And his email to me on the topic is full of about as much business wisdom as you could squeeze into a paragraph. “I see business as a series…
Restaurant Schedules Are Flyin’ In All 50 States
We have had a good week here at Schedulefly. A bunch of restaurants from a bunch of different cities joined the family this week – and are now scheduling and communicating with staff online. I decided to mess around with Google Earth and plot some of them – just curious where they were all located…
Book Update – How Some Restaurant Owners Have Built Cathedrals
I recently read a business parable that stopped me in my tracks: Three stone cutters were asked about their jobs. The first said he was paid to cut stones. The second replied that he used special techniques to shape stones in an exceptional way, and proceeded to demonstrate his skills. The third stone cutter just…