Yesterday Luke Person from Lift Films and I went to Chapel Hill, N.C. to interview Scott Maitland for our first Restaurant Owners Uncorked video interview.
Words can’t adequately express how incredible this video is going to be. Scott spent nearly two hours answering my questions about what it takes to be a successful restaurant owner, and Luke is as talented as they come in producing amazing videos.
Here are a few pics from the shoot…
Scott told me early on in the interview that when he first got started, he viewed his restaurant as a mission. It was his mission to prevent a chain restaurant from dominating downtown Chapel Hill by opening in the location he currently occupies.
A mission. I like that mindset. Heck, I love it. THAT is the mentality you need if you are going to succeed as an entrepreneur in the restaurant business, or in any business. It’s not about the money. It’s about the mission.
But of course that exchange was just the tip of the iceberg. We talked about lessons he’s learned, advice he’d give any aspiring restaurant owner, the value of growing one location vs. opening more, how to find great people for your team, why doing inventory is so important, how to negotiate the right lease, what a typical day is like as a restaurant owner, and on and on.
By the way, we’ve got our work cut out for us to edit this video down. I’m not sure what we’ll wind up with, but I can guarantee it’ll be longer than the five minutes I thought it would be. We’ve got nearly two hours of pure gold to work with, so it’ll be a fun project pulling out all of the best nuggets.
Wil