00:00:00:00 - 00:00:06:24
Chris Tripoli
One of the slogans that I live by for years. In fact, everyone needs to eat in restaurants, but not everyone needs to own a restaurant.
00:00:07:01 - 00:00:09:00
Rob Napoli
Chris Tripoli where's the coolest place to travel to?
00:00:09:06 - 00:00:20:04
Chris Tripoli
The middle of the Caribbean on the island of Antigua. The people there were incredibly nice and the weather is just so relaxing. It just made work feel so differently.
00:00:20:05 - 00:00:28:07
Rob Napoli
What is it about the restaurant space and the hospitality space in general that you really love working in, and what's drawn to it over the last few decades that you've been doing this?
00:00:28:09 - 00:00:41:04
Chris Tripoli
I'm just a lifer in this industry. I got involved in working with food and I just thought, this is really fantastic. It's a people business. You enjoy serving people, but you do this because you must enjoy working with people.
00:00:41:09 - 00:00:46:24
Rob Napoli
It's a people business, but so many parts have to come together to create the whole, to have that guest experience. Right.
00:00:47:01 - 00:00:52:22
Chris Tripoli
The principle is you have to like working with people in a way that serves people. You.
00:00:52:23 - 00:00:56:12
Rob Napoli
When you come in and work on a project like what is the starting point?
00:00:56:14 - 00:01:05:04
Chris Tripoli
We've got to make sure that we understand what they themselves want as the goal. But you've got to really love whatever it is that you said your goal is.
00:01:05:06 - 00:01:11:17
Rob Napoli
Now it's like, what advice would you give to somebody who wants to open a restaurant? He said, don't. And so a lot of things overdo it if you don't love it.
00:01:11:19 - 00:01:23:05
Chris Tripoli
If you just don't have that personal connection, I don't know. It's going to be too hard down the line.
00:01:23:07 - 00:01:53:22
Rob Napoli
Hey, y'all. How are we doing? We are back for another episode of hospitable, and today we have a really cool guest, somebody who has decades of experience in the hospitality industry. Chris Tripoli, he's worked as a concept developer, owner, operator, restaurant consultant. He's created a awarding restaurant, concepts, consulting on a wide variety of projects across the world and developed and successful foodservice programs for things like airports, parks and theaters all the way to medical centers and fine dining.
00:01:53:24 - 00:02:02:05
Rob Napoli
And so I'm really excited to kind of chat, kind of this whole landscape. Right. If we talk about restaurant hospitality tech. So, Chris, welcome to the show, my friend.
00:02:02:07 - 00:02:05:00
Chris Tripoli
Oh, thanks for having me, Rob happy to be here.
00:02:05:02 - 00:02:22:03
Rob Napoli
Yeah. You know, one of the things for me kind of jump in, I know that you have gotten to travel the world doing what you love and if I'm not mistaken, you've gotten to do some really cool projects. And, you know, US, Mexico and Canada, but also the Caribbean in the Middle East talk to me. How do you, wait one.
00:02:22:05 - 00:02:34:02
Rob Napoli
Where is the coolest place you travel to and what are some of the differences that you have to take into account when you're traveling, especially in places like the Caribbean or the Middle East, where maybe the culture is a little bit different, especially when it comes to the restaurant, how you've been able to kind of navigate those waters.
00:02:34:02 - 00:02:35:17
Rob Napoli
I think that's be a great place to start.
00:02:35:19 - 00:02:56:01
Chris Tripoli
Oh, wow. Yeah, the fantastic memories I have there. I've been very fortunate in order to work with some really interesting groups that just happened to be, you know, scattered around the world. It's hard to pick a favorite. But you know what, though, one of the most pleasant places I've been I ever worked was right in the middle of the Caribbean on the island of Antigua.
00:02:56:03 - 00:03:24:17
Chris Tripoli
I just I wish I was able to have gone there more for pleasure because, you know, just because you're in a beautifully pleasurable atmosphere, if you're there to work, you pretty much only see your hotel room and work the site, the restaurant, the meeting with clients and bingo. When you're done working, you fly home. But the people there were incredibly nice and obviously, you know, just being, around the, the Caribbean and the weather is just so relaxing.
00:03:24:17 - 00:03:27:13
Chris Tripoli
It just made work feel so differently.
00:03:27:17 - 00:03:38:10
Rob Napoli
Yeah I call it that island lifestyle. You know, when you're in that island lifestyle, everything just feels a little bit more, I don't know, easy fun.
00:03:38:12 - 00:04:00:01
Chris Tripoli
And it is challenging. Yeah. You made that point. That's to go back to that point. It is it is a little challenging when you know, you're brought in because of a certain expertise that they're wanting, either development, systems operations, brand improvement, these kinds of principles that a lot of smaller growing restaurant groups are looking for.
00:04:00:03 - 00:04:36:15
Chris Tripoli
But then you find yourself in an area where you are, without any purveyor connections. You're in the Middle East, for example. You know, like we did a lot of work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and bouncing around to working with a two unit, company that was really a fantastic story there in Muscat, Oman. So you're, you know, you're there and you're trying to provide what, you know, they're needing, but you're learning at the same time because the guest, profiles are totally different and their expectations are totally different.
00:04:36:15 - 00:04:47:11
Chris Tripoli
And you're trying to find purveyor relationships, that you don't have. So I do. I enjoyed the challenge, but, yeah, it was a bit of a curveball.
00:04:47:13 - 00:05:05:18
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I can imagine. And, you know, it's always fun when you get to travel for work because it's it does open up a lot of unique, cool opportunities. But sometimes because you are there for work, you don't get to experience everything the way you do when you're traveling just for pleasure. And so sometimes that does, you know, change the memories a little bit, right?
00:05:05:18 - 00:05:34:09
Rob Napoli
Travel is such a sentient memory. And we we have these experiences. So that's really cool. I know we kind of just jumped in, but you have a wealth of knowledge and experience. And I know you also have this amazing corner Booth podcast where you interview, different restaurants and do some cool things. So how did you fall into the restaurant space and I think maybe kind of what is it about the restaurant space and the hospitality space in general that you really love working in, and what's drawn to it over the last few decades that you've been doing this?
00:05:34:11 - 00:05:54:06
Chris Tripoli
Well, yeah. Just to give you a really quick summary, I, I'm like many others that you may have met, I'm just a lifer in this industry. You know, I started working in it as a teenager and I pretty much never left. I know absolutely nothing about how other industries work because from the age of 15, I started busing tables.
00:05:54:06 - 00:06:19:06
Chris Tripoli
I got involved in kitchen work, and something just clicked. One of the biggest things that clicked, and I've tried to remember this for years, is to try to always go back and do what he did is that I was really well mentored. I don't even think I knew to call it that at the time. But the general manager of the my very first steakhouse seafood, very high end restaurant I was in, he could just tell that I was interested.
00:06:19:08 - 00:06:41:17
Chris Tripoli
And so he, you know, he kind of showed me and he brought me in, and I was invited to come in every day after work. And I remember doing my homework, sitting in their office while Darryl Anthony, the bookkeeper, was taking reservations. He would show me how we did reservations. I was doing daily reports, checking in deliveries, and that I loved the way the restaurant worked.
00:06:41:19 - 00:06:59:01
Chris Tripoli
I got involved in working with food and I just thought, this is really fantastic, the way, you know, you cook in the kitchen and the way people just had to click. I think that's probably one of the things that was one of my earlier memories and the one that I still treasure today, even though it's been years and years and years longer.
00:06:59:03 - 00:07:18:03
Chris Tripoli
And that's it. It's a people business. Yeah, you enjoy serving people, but you do this because you must enjoy working with people. Yeah, yeah. I just thought maybe all businesses were like this. Imagine my surprise when I learned that they weren't. But, you know, I'm in this kitchen. There's young people, old people, different colors, different languages no one cared.
00:07:18:03 - 00:07:37:09
Chris Tripoli
Everyone's working and you fit and you do the job well and everyone's happy with each other. It can be a good experience. Yeah. If you don't fit, you don't do the job well then you're creating a poor work environment. And that's something that we learned later. We really had to spend a lot of time on in this industry.
00:07:37:09 - 00:07:40:20
Chris Tripoli
And that was the work environment and the management staff relationship.
00:07:40:23 - 00:08:10:01
Rob Napoli
Yeah, it's interesting because I think every team, every at every level and company, right, there needs to be some sort of process and, and relationship and work environment. But I think really when you look at hospitality and or thinking like people serving people, especially in like a kitchen or at a hotel, it has to run at a different level because at the end of the day, you're working with other people for an experience, whether that's to have a meal, dining experience, a check in experience.
00:08:10:01 - 00:08:26:12
Rob Napoli
And so it just feels a lot different because if something is off, it affects everything. Yes. And a lot of moments that something's off, you can always kind of counteract that. You can course correct, etc. but if you're in the middle of a lunch rush, I mean, I grew up when I was 14, my first job was busing tables at, all you can eat pizza buffet.
00:08:26:12 - 00:08:43:19
Rob Napoli
My dad was a manager there. And if you're in the middle of the lunch rush and you don't properly plan, and all of a sudden you need pizzas for the whole line, and you got 40 pizzas coming out, you got things drop and you're trying to cut and serve, and you know It does. If you don't have that down to a T in the science, it affects so much of a plate's not ready.
00:08:43:19 - 00:09:01:03
Rob Napoli
It's too cold, too hot or whatever. And that that's I think so cool about restaurants. And so when you kind of looking at your background as you tie down these things, you know, that's where I think so many things could go wrong. It's a people business, but so many parts have to come together to create the whole to have that guest experience right?
00:09:01:05 - 00:09:24:02
Chris Tripoli
Absolutely. And as I went through my career from getting into management, and then I was very fortunate that I met a couple people that are interested in that idea of mine. And so I got to own my own restaurants for a while. And then when I moved in to developing restaurants for other people, and starting to consult and write and get involved in the website, which led to the podcast, anyway, all of that stuff, the principle never really change.
00:09:24:02 - 00:09:51:07
Chris Tripoli
The principle is you have to like working with people in a way that serves people. And, if that principle is the foundation in this business, you'll find a way of getting the right services, the right, theories, the right marketing and technologies. But if the people aren't fitting, then you're going to have a hard time with the other parts of the other pieces of the puzzle.
00:09:51:11 - 00:10:16:23
Rob Napoli
Yeah. So again, it this when you talk about the concept of a restaurant, right. You've been an honor operator. And so time is and you know, when we look at starting a restaurant and we're getting things kicked off, there's a lot of moving parts. There's the staffing element to it. There's the menu, the branding, and there's the technology. But where do you start when you when you come in and work on a project like what is the starting point?
00:10:17:00 - 00:10:49:12
Chris Tripoli
You know, that's a very good question, Rob, because, you know, I mean, everything you mentioned is important. Obviously, we've got to talk about, you know, the product. We have to develop a point of difference. There's going to be systems and technologies. There's the finance side. There's finding the right, real estate side. But after a little while, I found that the most important thing first, if you're developing a concept or helping somebody open their first restaurant, is we've got to make sure that we understand what they themselves want as the goal.
00:10:49:14 - 00:11:06:10
Chris Tripoli
And I don't mind telling you sometimes in that discussion, it gets a little uncomfortable because you see that what their goal was maybe is going to be difficult in order to fit in other words, there have been a few people that I've actually talked out of the business because they just saw this as a quick financial avenue. Yeah, I went, really
00:11:06:10 - 00:11:23:20
Chris Tripoli
That's why you're going to do this? Yeah, I see these restaurants they're busy. I want to get my piece of the pie. I'm going to jump in. I've got a couple of investors. We're going to do 2 or 3 really quick. We're going to sell and get out. Okay. I'm thinking well I'm glad we're having this conversation first because that this is not really an industry for that.
00:11:24:00 - 00:11:44:14
Chris Tripoli
I mean that doesn't necessarily mean of course you can't develop long term wealth again. And it doesn't mean that you can create a brand and sell it. Of course you can. But what I want to hear first is somebody leading with passion. Yeah, I'll help develop a process out of that. But you've got to really love whatever it is that you said your goal is.
00:11:44:16 - 00:12:05:23
Chris Tripoli
Are you really looking at opening your first restaurant from a culinary point of view? Because you've got an expression that you want to put forward because of your food training? I get it, if you want to get into the business, mainly because, you know, you're, you're it's a it's a family extension and you're taking, oh, you know, the South American recipes that you are raised as a kid and you want to introduce them to that.
00:12:05:24 - 00:12:17:11
Chris Tripoli
Your particular. Okay, I get it. Okay. Now, now we can start working on the other pieces. But what's the point. And the point really needs to be connected with a passion. Yeah.
00:12:17:13 - 00:12:30:18
Rob Napoli
You know, it's really funny. I have a friend who has a mission who was, is was had a couple of Michelin star restaurants in the UK. And I remember I interviewed him on another podcast that I did, and I was like, what advice would you give to somebody who wanted to open a restaurant? He said, don't.
00:12:30:18 - 00:12:47:16
Rob Napoli
It's one of the hardest thing to do it if you don't love it. You know, hey, this guy has a michelin star and multiple room, two different restaurants from the one he worked at to when he started. And that's it. That's from Michelin star chef. And he actually made the transition technology after his career of actually cooking because he says, I think he's like, I love cooking.
00:12:47:16 - 00:13:10:11
Rob Napoli
But when I was running the restaurant, there are so many other pieces that I wasn't able to be in love with the cooking aspect. Right. And like, that's where I think these things like passion has to come through it when it comes to restaurant. And I mean, if you look at McDonald's in this audience, right, we've all we've all seen the documentary and I'll say the things like, when you see those things happen, that's why the arches meant something to somebody was it was it was built out of passion.
00:13:10:12 - 00:13:30:10
Rob Napoli
You franchise, because you know, you love the burgers. You love the fries, you love the drive up experience. It was a place to go to on a Friday night. Yeah, obviously there was money that was made to it and it became very commercial down the road. But if you look at all the origin stories from the best restaurants, whether it's as a red sauce joint, that's, you know, home cooked American meals, home cook American Italian meals, right, versus like a pizza restaurant.
00:13:30:10 - 00:13:35:19
Rob Napoli
And those are the things that I think really shine, shine through. And I saw, oh, yeah, I loved when I, when are you.
00:13:35:19 - 00:13:55:17
Chris Tripoli
You are right on the money. And I think the friend that you're referring to would probably love the slogan. One of the slogans that I live by for years, in fact, was on the consulting website was one of my core beliefs was that everyone needs to eat in restaurants, hopefully more often. You know, it's an industry that needs steady customers, but not everyone needs to own a restaurant.
00:13:55:20 - 00:14:17:05
Chris Tripoli
Yeah, and it because it isn't for everyone. And, it's a very demanding industry. If you do have that passion, it's easier to see your way through the demands. It's a financially tough one. We all know how tight the margins are. But again, if you're passionate about what you're doing and it brings you a high level of satisfaction, it's worth the financial risk.
00:14:17:05 - 00:14:25:04
Chris Tripoli
And you'll find a way of making it through the tight margins. But yeah, if you just don't have that personal connection, I don't know. I don't know. It's going to be too hard down the line.
00:14:25:05 - 00:14:46:05
Rob Napoli
Yeah. Well I think that's really interesting too, because if you think about restaurants there's different types of restaurants too, right? There's, you know, there's certain restaurants that you open up in tourist locations that, you know, you're going to get tons of transit, but you're not getting really long term customers like that tourist that comes in. It's because they want to experience in their in Times Square versus, you know, the restaurant in Brooklyn, if you're going to go off the beaten path to Brooklyn to eat there because that's an institution.
00:14:46:05 - 00:15:03:08
Rob Napoli
And I think when you're opening those restaurants and doing those things, it's really important to understand the why behind it and the passion of the location to what you're looking for. You know, everyone has to eat and hopefully more often is that because you're wanting to create a loyal base that comes in, comes back multiple times and kind of becomes like family and eats there?
00:15:03:08 - 00:15:21:13
Rob Napoli
Or is that a transient like, this is all about volume because it's a great location. And those are things that I think we instinctively know. But when you actually start thinking about that makes it really hard to figure out, how do I own and operate a restaurant right? Yeah. So it starts with passion, right? And looking for passion.
00:15:21:15 - 00:15:40:06
Rob Napoli
And then we get into, you know, I think the brand side of what does it want to be are you sit down, you know, what's your price point. Right. And then you kind of get into putting in process in place. And we all know that restaurants run on a number of technology. You've got point of sale, you've got reservation, you've got accounting, you've got all these things.
00:15:40:06 - 00:16:05:09
Rob Napoli
How do you go about evaluating the tech landscape? So let's say we got past passion. And yeah, a place of you know, we know what we want to be. How do we actually evaluate okay, what systems we put in place, how to pull all this together. How do we go through that evaluation process. How you teach that for our restaurant tours, especially because if you're a restaurateur your whole life, you might not know all the technology is out there and might be overwhelmed by the amount of data you can now get running a restaurant.
00:16:05:11 - 00:16:08:23
Rob Napoli
How do you go about that process and evaluation?
00:16:09:00 - 00:16:26:22
Chris Tripoli
And yeah, that's sort of just a natural part of what we call the funneling process or yeah, once we understand the concept, the passion behind it and all the other items that we talked about, now we know what they're looking at, what their point of difference is going to be. It might be a style of service. It might be, seasonal menu.
00:16:26:24 - 00:16:51:18
Chris Tripoli
We know a little bit more now about their size, price point, hour of operation. So then it just kind of funnels down into now here's what are the absolute minimum to start with recommended types of technology you're going to need. And so today, of course, you know, we're so much further along, then, you know, I can remember, you know, decades ago where.
00:16:51:24 - 00:17:17:08
Chris Tripoli
Holy moly, just trying to plan, budget and find POS that's going to help you stay current on your numbers was bulky and it was difficult. However, it is a little bit easier now. And that's really where we start. We start by going from the front and working to the back. We'll say from the front, from a customer point of view, what kind of technology is going to be helpful for us to create a guest experience reservation system?
00:17:17:13 - 00:17:50:05
Chris Tripoli
How are we going to greet? Is this a casual counter service, in which case, you know, these kiosks are getting popular and we're going to want to talk about those. Some people really are enjoying more about the convenience of order online, finding a specific place to go, pick up and leave. Okay. Well, let's talk about the technology to handle the online ordering, how it connects to the POS into the kitchen and boom, to my separate to go counter, or how we can go from the kiosk and yet still have somebody behind the counter.
00:17:50:07 - 00:18:14:09
Chris Tripoli
Or maybe it's full service. And now we want to talk about a reservation system that helps me manage the dining room or it isn't just collecting information. Who's coming in at seven, who's coming in at 7:15 but the cool technology that can monitor the timing of tables, they can give us by different colors and messages to help me manage table turnover and make the dining room manager actually more aware and smarter.
00:18:14:12 - 00:18:44:21
Chris Tripoli
So we'll get into that. But the absolute minimum meal is a POS system that's going to be able to help you manage product and labor. It's it's if this is their very first concept, we're going to be talking about how important prime cost management is because that 60 to 65% of every dollar. And so if we don't have a POS that they're going to understand is going to be kept current on item sales and labor by the hour, labor by department.
00:18:45:01 - 00:19:04:09
Chris Tripoli
And if you're not going to be looking at these reports, say at the end of every shift or at least once a day, then you're not going to be utilizing the technology that's available, and that's at a minimum. Yeah. So that's kind of how we start. And then we go from there. I'm loving the technology that is making invoice management and payables so much easier.
00:19:04:11 - 00:19:26:22
Chris Tripoli
Money management is easier now. And, the idea of having your item cost and inventory managed now. So, we get into that and highly recommend it. Whether you're a first timer who's casual or maybe, you're more established in your high end, that behind the scenes technology is, it's just almost mandatory now in order to manage your money.
00:19:26:24 - 00:19:44:17
Rob Napoli
Yeah. And it's really interesting because depending on the vibe you want to ride, whether you're a quick service or a fine dining, that does change how you kind of leverage that, that technology. And, you know, QR codes are super popular. And I think you are going to have a great time and place. I go to the airport.
00:19:44:19 - 00:19:57:09
Rob Napoli
I love that I can that I do it all and have it paid for when it comes, and I can eat quickly and run. So I know that I can run off to my plane I'm not waiting for the check. And you know, having that kind of like, hey, like I need the check and I take your card and swipe it and all that stuff.
00:19:57:09 - 00:20:28:14
Rob Napoli
So how do we like when you think about that? And we're looking at those different experiences. How does that come about? You know, when it comes to more of a fine dining where probably less table turnover, you're there for more of an experience, you're sitting down. How do you kind of manage those conversations of what's needed versus something that's more not super quick service, but kind of middle price points that like 40 to 60 versus 100 to 150, because I don't I feel like there's not much difference between those two spaces except for like the look and feel. Right?
00:20:28:15 - 00:20:29:09
Chris Tripoli
Right.
00:20:29:11 - 00:20:31:00
Rob Napoli
So how do you go about that process?
00:20:31:00 - 00:20:49:18
Chris Tripoli
And, you know, you made a really good point, because the way I try to teach it is, I try to teach a little bit more of the experiences together rather than your experience as being different. Yeah. Yes. When we work with more of that, we'll call time management food service, where it is an airport, or others.
00:20:49:18 - 00:21:12:19
Chris Tripoli
A more commercial environment. Yeah. QR codes, convenience all the way. The the more obvious the menu is, the quicker I can order, the quicker I can pay. Typically, the happier I'm going to be. And that's what it's about. We want the guest to be happy, but now what we'll find is if you're fine dining and you know you're going to have a very high check average, and you want that guest experience to be special.
00:21:12:21 - 00:21:32:17
Chris Tripoli
Now, what we're finding is some people that are more in that casual dining are feeling like, I there's certain things I guess I don't have to do. And I like the point that you're making when you said there isn't that much difference. And you know, what we teach there really isn't. Guess what if I'm sitting and it's full service, I'm still expecting the steps of service.
00:21:32:22 - 00:21:56:14
Chris Tripoli
I'm still expecting and should be deserving, to feel wanted, appreciated. I should hear some suggestive selling. I should get a compliment on what I ordered. Somebody should be coming by to make sure that my experience is going well. Save room for dessert. Now, if I'm only spending $45 a person versus a, a special night, and I'm spending $145 a person, those steps should still be met.
00:21:56:20 - 00:22:21:07
Chris Tripoli
That's where we started coining the phrase that it doesn't have to be a special occasion, restaurant, to make somebody occasion feel special. Yeah. So so the technology in those situations are needed, but it's all behind the scenes because you're still expecting the personal interaction. You're not really expecting to, you know, order on a QR code.
00:22:21:09 - 00:22:39:06
Chris Tripoli
Obviously there could still be tableside handhelds. Those work for ordering, and it helps time the orders in a little bit. Better for the kitchen. Yeah. While you're ordering, I'm printing rather than take a bunch of orders and then, like we used to remember, then you go to the pos station, you bring them all in at one time, and then the kitchen's going great.
00:22:39:06 - 00:23:00:20
Chris Tripoli
I got eight tickets in eight minutes. So, I mean, there's still some technology in full service. It's wonderful. I also like the inventory management, a full service when you're talking about high end inventory, cost of product, fresh perishables, wine inventories. So now that's important. But that doesn't that doesn't show to the guest at all.
00:23:00:22 - 00:23:21:02
Rob Napoli
Yeah. And those are things that I think are super important from the from the ownership side. And this is where I think technology becomes such a, a really cool piece. And why restaurateurs need to understand the value of technology and the value of choosing the right things and having the right pieces to that, because there's always ways for you to kind of mitigate an operating costs.
00:23:21:06 - 00:23:41:19
Rob Napoli
I, yeah, you know, talk about primark, prime number. Right. And that, that prime number is kind of like the, the building block and everything is built off of. And so, you know, we think about also staffing, staff planning, right on a Monday night versus, Thursday night or Friday night. Right. On the weekends and, some places are more aligned to like the Monday Night Football game.
00:23:41:19 - 00:23:59:20
Rob Napoli
And so also understanding the events in your area because the restaurants are a big part of the community. And understanding how the community reacts to those type of things is also super, super important in your in your planning purposes. And how do you go about doing that? How do you stay abreast of all the things that are happening so you don't get slammed on a Monday when you're expecting it to be a slow night and understaffed.
00:24:00:12 - 00:24:21:19
Chris Tripoli
Right. We'll see. And that's the idea that if we have this information and we do, we have the we have the availability of this information today where it's coming to us during the day, it's coming to us by the hour. We can do sales by the hour. We can do sales by person, not sales by station. So it's really up to management to take a look at it and learn from it.
00:24:21:19 - 00:24:46:06
Chris Tripoli
Because what's going to help us realize, Monday evenings is by making sure that we're managing by the week, and we can see what previous weeks on Mondays have been doing. And as long as we stay attune of using our information not like we used to in the old days or all the information went into an old database and an accountant say on May the 10th told us what we did well or what we didn't do well.
00:24:46:06 - 00:25:11:22
Chris Tripoli
During the month of April. And see, those days are long gone. Yeah. Profit and loss statements are no longer information technologies taught us that they're more confirmation of hopefully what you already know. Because to your point, you want to plan your labor week by week. You want to know your sales week by week. You're looking at weather forecast, community involvement, special, things that might be going on that might be impacting my particular business.
00:25:12:03 - 00:25:32:16
Chris Tripoli
And you're scheduling that. You're coming up with a revenue goal and a labor target week by week. Yeah. So by the end of the month, you know, the best management, the best restaurants today are managed week by week. And they know that after four weeks, they hit a period goal. Yeah. You know, we're not waiting for panels to give us that information anymore.
00:25:32:18 - 00:25:53:16
Rob Napoli
Yeah. And I love that. And I think there's so much things that we can kind of glean for that. I mean, I remember back even, you know, 20 years ago when I was working in the restaurant, like in the summertime, we knew that if it was going to rain and there's a high chance of rain because we had an all you can eat pizza buffet with a game room that most people's backup plans at the pool is not, you know, not available.
00:25:53:18 - 00:26:09:03
Rob Napoli
The theme park is closed because the rain we're going to be flooded, right? So we were always checking the forecast the night before the week of and then looking at the night before, it's like, hey, there's a 60, 70, 80 or 90% chance of rain. You better be ready for a busy day tomorrow. And those things are easier to start.
00:26:09:03 - 00:26:22:21
Rob Napoli
Tracking and managing and filing, I think, is really important piece of the puzzle. When you need to know who is coming into your restaurant, why they're coming and what's the experience they're looking for, and what are they at their existential factors that could impact that.
00:26:22:23 - 00:26:40:03
Chris Tripoli
And, you know, this used to be difficult. Everything you're talking about, I can remember in the early days of owning a restaurant, I had managers. We were doing this manually, pretty much. I mean, we had these older POS. And in order for us to learn about what you just talked about, we were actually going and doing hourly readings.
00:26:40:06 - 00:27:09:20
Chris Tripoli
So we were looking at customer counts and tickets in the kitchen, from between 8 and 9. So to help us realize about how long does it take for tables to turn later in the night versus earlier in the night? And then that would help us with, say, you know, things like scheduling staff expecting when we're going to order, you know, the option to release the earlies, stations and all of that is so much easier to know now, we actually had 18 combo.
00:27:09:20 - 00:27:37:20
Chris Tripoli
I'm really aging myself now. We had 18 column the old ledgers, and the managers were writing in the hourly report for sales, staff, customer count, PPA check average, and it helped us in our weekly manager meetings to learn then about Tuesday afternoons versus Wednesdays. Yeah, Fridays. The early afternoon, busy happy hour and early meals because the people were getting off of work, you know, on their way home.
00:27:38:01 - 00:28:01:12
Chris Tripoli
So we had to kind of do some of this manual malarkey that now is just please take full advantage of the technology that's available and have your managers learn from it. So much of that we don't have to go to the POS anymore. It's all handheld. Yeah. Bingo. And I say use it. You know, turn it on, walk through the restaurant and, you know, go ahead and set those timers to manage your you your utilities and dim your lights.
00:28:01:14 - 00:28:03:12
Chris Tripoli
I mean, come on it that it's there.
00:28:03:16 - 00:28:29:11
Rob Napoli
Yeah. It's never easy. So that's a great kind of transition into, you know, you have this amazing technology that gives us all this data and we can we can easily consume that. How do you how should restaurants and restaurant operators be managing? That is a daily meetings or weekly meetings. Like what does that cadence to actually look at this and really be very insightful and thoughtful, because too much data can also be it's a blessing and a curse, right?
00:28:29:13 - 00:28:42:09
Rob Napoli
And you don't know how to look at the data and really understand that, to turn that into insights. So what is your kind of best recommendation is at weekly meetings. Daily meetings. How do you kind of coach on managing the data that's coming in and leveraging that on a regular basis with your teams?
00:28:42:09 - 00:29:06:09
Chris Tripoli
That that's absolutely a great, great picture because it helps us go through what are the priorities to manage a shift and seeing all those things have their place. Should we have a weekly meeting? Yes. We don't have to be over meeting, but I do think that key staff and managers should have the same time once a week where they sit in, they have a short agenda where they're always reviewing the same things.
00:29:06:14 - 00:29:24:06
Chris Tripoli
You don't just show up with a cup of coffee and a legal pad and one guy does all the talking, and the other three guys are just acting like they're listening. They're really here for the free coffee, and then they go back and nothing changes. Everyone needs to participate, and they need to know that we're planning things like revenue and key things like labor management.
00:29:24:08 - 00:29:45:06
Chris Tripoli
How about, guest comments? How about people in training? How about the labor, the schedule, the cost, marketing, special occasions? That's about it. 6 or 7 key things. And they need to be looked at weekly. Then at the next week we can judge ourselves and hold ourselves accountable for how well did we do. And those 7 or 8 key things that we said we were going to be doing?
00:29:45:10 - 00:30:09:04
Chris Tripoli
Did we hit our targets? Did we schedule correctly? Did we finish, you know, our people in training did the event, you know, work the way it should? So, those are the kinds of things weekly meetings do have a time and place now. Over information over meeting has no longer a time or place in our industry. One of the best things I like to do when I walk into a restaurant is lock the damn office door.
00:30:09:06 - 00:30:32:11
Chris Tripoli
Who's serving a customer in an office? That's what I'd like to know. Get out there live on the floor. Because between the information that's on your handheld and what you can do by going to the POS, you're informed. Yeah. By touring and moving managers that stand are not managing. Yeah. they’re spectators, you know, move. Do the figure eight.
00:30:32:11 - 00:30:55:20
Chris Tripoli
Go from the door, go touch the tables, talk to the guest, walk through the bar. Go into the kitchen. Time your tickets, go back to the front door and do it again. If you're moving, you're managing and the technology's in your hand. So if you want to check something, you can check it. When you, you no longer need to go sit in the office, in order to learn something or check on something.
00:30:55:21 - 00:31:18:13
Chris Tripoli
Yeah. That's, that's. So that's it. Now, there is still, you know, there's still this weekly ties into the period. The period still ties into, say, quarterly evaluations. Everyone should have an annual plan. So we've got expectations of what we're expecting for revenue for expenses. But an annual plan is a lot more than a budget. It's a plan.
00:31:18:13 - 00:31:34:05
Chris Tripoli
It's. What are the owners expecting from the guest experience? So how are we going to review that? How are we going to do a menu audit. How are we going to do seasonal menu. When do we do that. When do we do our key staff evaluations or write it in. When do we do it? Are we going to be branching out?
00:31:34:07 - 00:32:03:06
Chris Tripoli
Maybe this year we're going to be building more of our, third party delivery, our off premise, catering. So you kind of plan what you're going to be doing and when you're going to be doing it. And that helps build a budget to work from. So some technology really helps us with our annual planning. Yeah. Our quarterly evaluations, but it still breaks down to week by week and shift by shift, ways of succeeding today.
00:32:03:08 - 00:32:25:06
Rob Napoli
Yeah. And that's I think it's really, really impactful to understand, how do we leverage data and how do we utilize the technology that's there to easily maneuver and still plan accordingly and manage accordingly, day by day, week by week, month by month. But that let it overlay consume us, right. So locking that lock in exactly. Or not letting it overlay consumers.
00:32:25:17 - 00:32:27:12
Rob Napoli
And taking and it also experience.
00:32:27:14 - 00:32:45:12
Chris Tripoli
Helps you put your focus where it needs to be. Because if we take a look at the bigness, you know, let's say I'm a manager today and, you know, I know that we have an annual plan this unit is supposed to be doing say, you know, $3 million a year. Okay. How does that divide down to help me do my Wednesday shift better?
00:32:45:14 - 00:33:04:11
Chris Tripoli
Yeah, well, it really does. And so some information, the massiveness of the information doesn't really help. But if I know that this week my goal is this. And in order to do that we need to have a customer per person check average of this. So I'm working Wednesday I should have X amount of customers. Where am I at?
00:33:04:13 - 00:33:23:19
Chris Tripoli
Am I above goal? Am I below goal? How is my per person check average? Should I be more on the floor listening to the staff building that check suggesting desserts? Am I on target? Am I off target once we build it, you know, break it down. Break it down to daily. And by the shift, I can do a better job.
00:33:23:21 - 00:33:45:15
Rob Napoli
Love that. Yeah. And that's super impactful and a great way to look at it. You know as we I know we're getting close to close to time. And we could probably spend hours talking about this. And it's a lot of fun when you look at 2025. Right. It was we were recording this. It's just the end of Q3, starting Q4, a lot of things going and there's a lot of opportunity to grow next year.
00:33:45:15 - 00:34:01:06
Rob Napoli
And I think, you know, technology is growing the online ordering, all these things are growing. What are you excited about in 2025? What are the things that you've kind of kept a finger on the pulse of that you're excited for? Is trends of 2025 coming along next year?
00:34:01:08 - 00:34:29:09
Chris Tripoli
Oh, got great point. Well, the first one that comes to mind, I think is probably the biggest, point in. And because it transgresses all, all segments, you know, we're hearing this from, larger full service chains and we're hearing it from, say, the smaller limited menu counter guys all the way down to say the recent change in what we're hearing about from, you know, Big Boy International Coffee House, Starbucks.
00:34:29:11 - 00:35:05:01
Chris Tripoli
Yeah. And it's and I think it's going to permeate it's going to start late this year and goal next year. And it's going to be the rediscovery of the guest. Because sometimes going towards cost concerns, which we've had a tremendous amount of supply chain issues, labor challenge, everything that was post-Covid, brought us to, a certain point of paying more attention to very good points, but points of cost, points of efficiency, points of business, and in some cases, people of over divulged into that area were kind of overblown into that.
00:35:05:01 - 00:35:29:22
Chris Tripoli
And, we found that, we can't lose the war of the guest experience. So I think we're going to find, next year is going to be a great year of balance. You don't want to lose the edge on buying better inventory control, managing the numbers, use of technology to save time and create better efficiencies. But that's not, that's not in itself success.
00:35:29:22 - 00:35:52:03
Chris Tripoli
That's to create, a better opportunity for us to improve our operations. And our operations are going to be measured by the improved guest experience. We've gotten very fortunate, Rob, and that the guest has defined value as their number one thing. And some people value a tremendous amount of convenience, so they're willing to pay for that packaged convenience.
00:35:52:03 - 00:36:11:03
Chris Tripoli
Getting it at my home, I open up, I have restaurant food. I know it costs a little bit more, but I want that convenience. People value to their experience in a restaurant if it was worth their time. So I think what we're going to see, we've heard it from the big guys, we've been hearing it from the Darden's and we've heard it from Starbucks.
00:36:11:05 - 00:36:26:01
Chris Tripoli
We're going to hear it, I think, from the smaller independents on how do I measure, my guest experience, do they value their time here? So we're going to be seeing a lot of it, I think in, in this next year.
00:36:26:03 - 00:36:46:24
Rob Napoli
Well, that's exciting because I you know, what we wanted to talk about here was the guest experience. How do we create a guest experience. And so I think this is going to be super tactile for others next year as we head into now into 2025, as we round out Q4 going into next year, that that focus on guest experience and how do we use technology to create that guest experience is a it's a great, key takeaway for this episode.
00:36:47:01 - 00:36:56:20
Rob Napoli
Chris, I know I could talk to you forever, but how can the folks find you? How do they get in touch with you? How do they learn more? They want to reach out and, contact you.
00:36:56:22 - 00:37:20:13
Chris Tripoli
Oh, I'd love it. Love it if they would. We could, talk more about these principles or other things at the restaurant clinics.com, the restaurant clinic.com is the place I would refer everyone. I'm a principal in that group. Small group. Just working with restaurants, helping with concept in the developing managers to become, more efficient, creating more, awareness and better training of staff.
00:37:20:13 - 00:37:24:23
Chris Tripoli
So anybody want to talk about any of that? Go to the restaurantclinic.com
00:37:24:23 - 00:37:41:10
Rob Napoli
Awesome well, I'll make sure to put it in the restaurant clinic.com. In the show notes, all you got to do is click on that, pull it up, and they'll be able to be directed to the website. I'll also put a link to the Corner Booth podcast, which is I know your podcast, Chris, have look up couple of episode so love it.
00:37:41:12 - 00:37:43:06
Chris Tripoli
Oh good. That's nice. Thank you. Yeah.
00:37:43:06 - 00:37:54:18
Rob Napoli
You bet. Absolutely. So put that there. If you enjoyed this conversation, I promise you you'll love the corner booth. So go check it out. Chris, thank you so much for being a guest today. I really appreciate the time, the energy and the insights. Thank you, my friend.
00:37:54:18 - 00:37:57:05
Chris Tripoli
Oh, Rob, thank you it has been been a joy.
00:37:57:07 - 00:38:14:13
Rob Napoli
You bet. Well, thank you for listening. And that's another episode of hospitable. If you could, as always, be a tier one like subscribe rate review. If you have guests that you want to highlight on the podcast, if you have topics that you want us to cover, let us know. All my information is also in the show notes. And until next time, be well.
