Our book, “Restaurant Owners Uncorked,” had not received a review on Amazon in over a year until recently (I’ve learned that even though the book is selling very well, it’s rare for people to write reviews, especially when the book is no longer brand new). So we were excited to receive another “5-star” review last […]
Read MoreOur book, “Restaurant Owners Uncorked” (“ROU”), is currently ranked #16,981 out of over 8,000,000 paperback books available on Amazon.com. The stats update hourly, and I don’t fully understand how they are measured, but it’s the second highest rank we’ve achieved (it was #10,294 on April 2). Anyway, it seems pretty cool that we’re in the […]
Read MorePhil Roberts is a legend in the business, having launched over a dozen successful restaurants, including Buca di Beppo and The Oceanaire Seafood Room, which both went public. He owns Parasole Restaurant Group, whose restaurants dominate the scene in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area. Phil is bold, innovative, and knows what people want before […]
Read MoreMic and Molley Heynekamp started Socorro Springs Restaurant & Brewery in 1999. After four 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. That’s right – they used 7% of what they orginally calculated they’d need to get started! Ten […]
Read MoreDuring his interview for Restaurant Owners Uncorked, Tad Peelen of Joe’s Real BBQ and Joe’s Farm Grill talked about the dilemma of debt, the value of technology, and how to retain great people. But what he had to say about a highly unconventional yet successful way of creating word-of-mouth buzz really caught my attention… Wil: […]
Read MoreMatt Frey left a career in corporate sales to open Bub’s Burgers & Ice Cream with his wife, Rachel. Both had worked in restaurants, but had never owned one or even managed one. Seven years later, Bub’s was featured on the hit Food Channel show, “Man v. Food.” During his interview for Restaurant Owners Uncorked, […]
Read MoreKeith Paul and his wife, Heather, opened their first restaurant in 2000. Now they own A Good Egg Dining Group, which has six extremely successful and popular restaurants and a catering business. When I interviewed Keith for Restaurant Owners Uncorked, he said something early on that caught my attention for the brilliance of it’s simplicity. […]
Read MoreOf all of the “Aha!” moments I had when conducting the interviews for Restaurant Owners Uncorked, the largest lightening bolt struck when Jon Myerow of Tria Cafe in Philadelphia and I had this exchange… Wil: “Is it challenging to find people for your team that share the passion that you have?” Jon: “Yeah, it is. […]
Read MoreDave Query has built an amazing restaurant group at Big Red F. His restaurants are extremely popular and very successful, and if you’re in Denver or Boulder, you’d be missing out if you didn’t visit them. Dave is genuine, honest, colorful and smart as heck. During his interview for Restaurant Owners Uncorked, he talked about […]
Read MoreJim Parker co-owns Red Hat on the River with his wife, Mary Beth Dooley. He left a very successful, 25-year career in the movie and film production business in 2003 on a whim to start a small bistro in Irvington, NY. Eight years later, Jim and Mary Beth are at their restaurant seven days per […]
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