August 26, 2024 • 24 mins
Brian O’Malley knew from a very young age that the hospitality industry was for him. Washing dishes at a hotel at 15, he fell in love with the atmosphere created in the kitchen as well as when he rotated through other positions from porter to room service where he began honing his hospitality skills.Understanding that the hospitality industry was going to be his career choice, he majored in Hotel and Restaurant Management at The University of Wisconsin Stout..The first Kitchen Social opened in November of 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. As of June 2024, there are 5 Kitchen Social locations with 2 in Columbus, 2 in Cleveland and one in the Cincinnati market.Brian has been married for 28 years to his wife Emily and they have three daughters: Brenna, Nora and Rowa
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hail from South End, Indiana, born and raised, home of
the fighting Irish and matter of fact, my first job
was working at the Holiday End, the Notre Dame Holiday Inn,
when I was fifteen, washing dishes. I was going in
for the interview. My dad made sure I put it
on a suit going in there looking for that dish
washing job. And it was only fifteen. He hired me
anyhow because I looked the part, and quite frankly, I
(00:22):
just absolutely fell in love with washing dishes. I love
the kitchen, I love the experience, I love the people.
I got to do a little what they called a
porter at the time, so I was doing some room service.
I was taking bags to rooms, and I just got
really a full view of what the hospitality experience was
all about, what the business was all about. And funny enough,
as it was going, it was one of those ones
(00:42):
where you knew, like, this is probably something I'm going
to end up doing.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, that's cool. I'm glad to kind of explain that
because I was going to ask you about that about
your affiliation with this industry, because you've been doing it
for a long time and you've got such an interesting
and cool ascension up the Ladder and now running everything
with Kitchen Social, which we're going to talk about in
just a second, about your mission, what you do, locations,
what you offer. But I did want to ask about
(01:07):
the industry in general, and I imagine it's ebbed and
flowed and it's changed, and I know COVID changed everything,
and you can talk a little bit about that in
our conversation. But as you were a young person getting
into it, I know, for the short time I was
in the industry, it's friggin hard work. So as you
were getting to it a little bit older and becoming
a young adult, what turned you on about the industry
(01:28):
and how high did you want to go?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
You know, I knew right away as I went through
through through the years in high school that this is
where I was going to end up. I knew I
was going to end up in the business. So I
went to college University Wisconsin style studied hotel, restaurant management,
speech communication. So I made it in with a hospitality
management degree because I knew it's what I wanted. You know,
the industry is. It's funny is I've been managing for
(01:53):
thirty six years and I was talking with one of
my young managers the other day and I said, you know,
the things that you're managing today are the exact, exact
same things I was managing thirty six years ago. Because
the one thing I do know is that it's people.
It's all about people. It's about building relationships. And as
we went through I knew that one of the things
that I was good at was getting the best out
(02:14):
of people, was trying to find a way to get
people to rally around a cause, and whether it was
playing sports, whether it was you know, doing group projects,
those kinds of things in school, even to the point
where my mom tells a story where that she went
in for parent teacher conferences and the teacher said, you know,
I really want to give him an A and he goes,
I really like him. She goes, well what do you get?
(02:36):
He goes, what do you got to see? So it
was about building relationships even then. It's about getting people
to appreciate what you're doing, you really truly understanding what's
important to them. And for me, that's what I learned
that My grandfather at one point in time was president
of the National Restaurant Association, and so I learned a
lot about people, a lot about dealing with people and
(02:58):
a lot about building relationship and ships, and so I
think that's one of the things as I went through it,
and I worked over and over, whether it's washing dishes
or working on the floor, I knew the ability to
get with people was going to be something I really
wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
You know, I'm glad you talked about that, because when
we hear these stories about the mail room guy started
out that and then he moved up to the top
and was running the company, you're almost like that. I mean,
you started washing dishes, and I saw your ascension in
the one company, and you went from a general manager,
which is still a really big job, up to a president.
But I saw that systematically you were moving up the ladder.
(03:35):
And I don't know the context to why you did
the different jobs, but it just fascinates me that you
upticked and you continue to as send to these jets.
Then you were a chief operating officer, and then you
were president. Was that all by designer? Was it happenstance
and that's the way you moved up?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Well, I'm not so sure I've really moved up. I mean,
if I started washing dishes at fifteen, I was washing
dishes last night at one of the restaurants. So it's
really all one and the same. But you know, I
think that's the part that as I started going through it,
you know, one of the things they told all the
time is that you have to learn everybody's job. If
you're going to teach it, if you're going to coach it,
you have to understand everybody's role. So I'm not a
(04:11):
chef by any stretch of the imagination. I like to cook,
but I'm not a chef. But I you know, I
learned how to do the job, whether it was washing
digit whether it was serving, whether it was bartending, whether
it's hosting, you know. And in the hotel business, I
did an internship for Marriott at one point in time,
and you know, it was one of those ones where
you talk about learning different positions. I went out there
and I was a houseman, so I was in charge
(04:32):
of keeping the closets full for the maids and loading
their cards, and they said, we've got a promotion for you.
You're doing a great job. I was in charge of
public restrooms, so that was the next promotion. So but
it was about learning each job so I could go
back and understand and say I've done that. I know
exactly what it takes to be successful in that role.
And for me, it was coming out of college an
(04:52):
assistant manager, learning and reading and studying and talking to
the cooks. I was talking to the servers and bartenders
and older managers about what do you do, what makes
you successful and learning that one thing that one of
my first general managers taught me. She said, you know, Brian,
be yourself, learned everybody's job, and learn what I do,
but don't be me. You're you take the best of
(05:13):
everybody that you work with and incorporated that. And that's
one of the things I think that's made me successful.
When I started with Brabo Brio, I was the general
manager of the Third restaurant nineteen ninety five, and when
I left in twenty eighteen, I was the CEO and
worked my way up through there by building relationships, building
trust and really just trying to get the most out
(05:33):
of people, but not being afraid to put the work in.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, you know, Brian, I am so glad you talked
about this. You and I have a lot in common.
In the thirty years that I've been in the industry,
and when I wanted to be on TV or radio,
I'm not going to get that opportunity right away. I
had to start in the grump positions pulling cable, maybe
doing audio lights or the green room. It didn't matter
what it was in my industry. But I knew that,
like you, if I learned all the different jobs and
(05:56):
I got the job that I did want, I knew
that everybody's going to do and that way I felt
more calmon about being on set that I knew all
their jobs and I could help them and understand and relate.
So I'm glad you talked about that, because folks, young
entrepreneurs out there, do it all. No matter what you're doing,
make sure you know everybody's gigs. So when you do
run a company someday, you're going to be that much
(06:17):
ahead of it, like Brian is. So I'm glad we
talked about that. Brian. So let's do this. Let's talk
about Kitchen Social, because we're here for that. First of all,
before we get into it about mission statement and what
you do and the different restaurants that you have and
all that you offer. I'd love to hear the idea
about it, you know, and I'll tell you why, because
I'm a foodie. I've lived in some great food towns
(06:39):
like here in DC where I'm interviewing from. I've lived
in Portland, Oregon, which is a great foodie town. And
you know, when I think about starting a restaurant, I go,
Holy smokes, that seems like one of the hardest things
to do, because I just know enough to be dangerous
about the industry and knowing how difficult it could be
with location, the food, the service. And we had a
pandemic that we haven't had in one hundred years that
(07:01):
you had to deal with that I do want you
to address in a little bit, But can you tell
me about the origin story about Kitchen Social and then
your involvement in it.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
You know, when we sold the former company back in
eighteen where I was CEO, you know I needed the job.
You had wife, three kids and girls going to college soon,
and so I needed the job. Everybody wanted to stay here.
This was home in Columbus, Ohio, and I didn't know
that there was going to be an opportunity to be
a CEO somewhere. And one of the things my wife
(07:30):
and I had talked often about was that you know,
there wasn't in club just got just an insane amount
of great restaurants. What we wanted to do was try
to create something a little bit different for us. It
was about, is there a place out there that you
can find, you can create where the food is made
from scratch, where the ambiance today designed is something fresh
and something light, bright and airy, something new, where the
(07:52):
price point is something where people can afford to eat
there once a week, and I got to tell you
they do. It's amazing. And most importantly, though, we wanted
to create something where we could create an experience. You know,
for me, I really believe hospitality is a little bit
of a lost art in today's world, whether it's you
go a hotel, you go retail, me just somewhere along
(08:15):
the way we lost that connection with people. And so
our vision was to create something that was People didn't
just walk out saying, hey, dinner was great. They walked
out saying, that's a great experience. We can't wait to
come back. Because you can get good food and drinks anywhere,
You can get good service in a lot of different places.
But the experience is how I made you feel when
you left? How did I make you feel when you
(08:36):
were here. Is it something that's going to bring you back?
How do I stay in the forefront? And so our goal,
our focus was to create that. And so it was
one of those things where we had to first surround
ourselves with great people. So I've got some great partners
that we put together that I worked with at Bravo Brio,
and so we matter of fact, we took one of
the chefs. We cooked at his house. Well, I ate
(08:57):
and clean dishes, but but we cooked at his house
for six months, creating a menu amazing. And it was
so important for us to build something that people could
really enjoy. So it's made from scratch, but it's also
that price point we wanted to be able to sell it.
People said, you're leaving money on the table. I said,
but I'm going to get more people back. I'm going
to charge you twenty bucks and get you in twice
(09:20):
a month versus thirty bucks and get you once. But
in order to do that, we had to execute and
a full vision kind of came from there.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Very cool. I'm going to guess that your mission statement
was somewhere in that last answer, but let's go over it.
For Kitchen Social, what is the mission statement.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
You know, it's funny, you know, and people are going
to laugh. Is that we started this, it was like
what do we want to say? What do we want?
What do we want people to know? And one of
the things that I thought was if we put something
down on paper and we're not there to talk about it,
I felt like it was going to get lost in translation,
right and words on a paper. And so what we
(09:57):
really do is we talk, sit down. We're in the restaurants,
don't just we don't have a corporate office. As you
can see, I'm in my house here. Our office is
the restaurant, the people that we work with, our team,
and so we talk about the why. For me, it's
about why do we do this? And so when I
talk to the hourly team, when I talk to the coach,
(10:18):
when I talk to the managers, whoever it is, we
make it a point that two things. One, we're not
going to lower our standards to meet your expectations. These
are the standards that we have to have, and this
is what's going to help you be successful in your job.
We've been here, we've done it, we know what's going
to work. So do these things and then understanding helping
them understand why we do it. You know, we don't
(10:39):
do this to say, hey, I want to have twenty
restaurants or thirty or I want to be the next
cheesecake factory. We do this because we truly enjoy the
hospitality of the business. There's nothing better than to stand
back and just watch your guests and or watch your
staff interact with the guests and see the smiles on
the faces. And so we talk a lot about why
we do it. So for us, it's it's making sure
(11:00):
they understand why I do this, why it's important or
what's important to me, and why we want to do this,
and then they then translate that right to the tables.
And I think that's the magic of it is that
it's been one of those things that the team has
certainly understood and been able to deliver that because we're
there talking about it day in and day out.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
All Right, how many locations do yeah, where are you located?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
We have five locations. We are first, we have two
in Columbus, which one was our first one in twenty nineteen.
We opened up our second one in Dublin, Ohio here
basically Columbus. About two years later we have our third one,
which was on the east side of Cleveland. Then we
opened up the west side of Cleveland, and then I
opened up in Cincinnati and the Montgomery area of Cincinnati
(11:42):
in November of twenty three, So five all together.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And what would you categorize the menu?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
As you know, I would say it's a little bit
international with a twist or because we've got Indian, Asian.
We've got Indian, we've got Asian, we've got Mexican, and
we've got Italian. We've got steaks and seafood. We make
our own pizza dough, we make our own biscuits, we
do brunch on the weekends. So what we do it's
(12:07):
not a huge menu, but there's just a little bit
of everything. So that what we've done is try to
eliminate the no vote. You feel like a steak, I
feel like a salad, you can go to Kitchen Social.
Somebody feels like a pizza, somebody feels like a nice
piece of fish, you can go to Kitchen Social. And
I think that's what's helped us become successful. In addition
to just that overall experience, is that the menu works
(12:29):
for everybody. We've eliminated that no vote.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I think you'd agree with me because I've teased the
pandemic a lot of times, and when something really horrifying happens,
sometimes opportunities come out of it. And I saw your
industry pivot big time to a whole change of street
eateries and we still have them here in Washington, DC,
and I imagine you have them in Columbus as we
do in the most of the United States does. And
also the whole food delivery now and pick up and
(12:54):
take out and all the changes, yet still having the
experience back in the restaurant. So when COVID hit, what
happened to everybody? What did you do to pivot?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well, it's a fun question because we didn't do carry
out before COVID. We just didn't do it. So when
you know, we got to call one day on the
news ed so the governor says, hey, we're shutting it down.
We had to sit back and think about, Okay, what
does that mean for kitchen social What are we going
to do different in order to facilitate an experience? Because
(13:24):
our value and value for us is it values not
just price right, value is the experience that you provide
along with the quality of the food and the service
that you get, and then you divide that by price,
and people feel like there's your value. The rich Carlton
is an incredible value to people who value what the
rich Carlton has to offer. And so price points not
necessarily it. And so but we thought when to go
(13:48):
became the priority for us. Okay, we created this great
experience people love coming. Now we're just putting it in
a box. So all of a sudden, we've lost the experience.
And so our focus right away was, okay, how do
we create the experience with carryout? Well, what we did
was we went back in and we sat down. We said, okay,
so handwritten thank you card. So every single bag got
(14:08):
a handwritten postcard from us, thanking them for the business.
We were dropping lottery tickets, we were dropping a free
to Surprising Delight dessert or a Surprising Delight appetizer, something different,
something to help kind of create a little bit different,
something for people to talk about. And all of a
sudden it started to translate social media. People are talking
about kits and social Hey, then they're throwing pictures of
(14:29):
the handwritten cards or the winning lottery tickets. And so
we didn't change our price point. What we did was
we adapted and tried to become inexperiential to go. We
didn't do third party delivery. You had to come get it.
We went out to the cars. You probably remember how
hand sanitizers is such a big thing. Every time we
bring an order out to a car. We had our
(14:50):
handheld toast pavement system, and then we had a squeeze
bottle of hand sanitizer that wo'd spray on their hands
in the car, and people thought it was the greatest
in the world. And then once we got back open,
we hadn't taken reservations. We said, well, let's take reservations,
because I don't know if anybody's coming out right, nobody'd
been through this, and we said that the thing we're
(15:11):
going to do different than a lot of other people
is we'll put on our table six feet apart. Well,
we're not going to do plexiglass, we're not doing curtains.
We're going to deliver the same experience that they had
prior to COVID that they had now. And it resonated
with the guests they came and they felt like, other
than fact that we're wearing a mask, they felt like, Wow,
this is a real dining experience, and it just took
(15:32):
off from there for us.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
You've been in the industry a long time, and I
understand my next question is going to be very opinion based.
But what has changed about the customer over the years
since you started to today? And what's exactly the same
about customers?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
You know, I don't necessarily know. I think that what's
probably changed is that people are more confident in talking
about food. You know, the TV has done wonders for that, right,
everybody's a chef for everybody you tell you, oh yeah,
I'm the foodie, right, and so everybody understands food. Now,
everybody knows more about food than they ever have. And again,
(16:07):
they had a lot of time to watch TV, so
they really kind of figured some things out. That's the
one part that I think has changed is that people
come in with a different knowledge of what to expect
and what they think quality food is. But what hasn't
changed is they're still looking for that great food and
that great experience, and maybe even more so than ever,
(16:28):
if they're going to spend their money, they want to
spend it where they know they're going to get a value.
And again, that goes back to that whole experience, not
just the price point. People willing to pay a little
more if the experience is right. And so for us,
the guests is more educated than they've ever been, but
at the same time, they're still looking to feel important.
They still want to feel like they're the only ones
you're waiting on while they're in the restaurant. And that's
(16:50):
the magic is how do you make them feel special
every guest that walks in that door. And that's the
fun part of the job, it really is.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Brian, what kind of challenges are still sending themselves to
you in the industry right now?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I would say the largest challenge today, especially since COVID right,
is the labor force. It's a little bit tougher, it's
a little more expensive than it's ever been, and so
it's a little bit harder to get to consistency. Now
we've been you know, knock on something, we've been blessed.
We've retained a lot of our people and they do
(17:23):
a phenomenal job for us. But the labor force in
and of itself, I'd say there's fewer of them. Fewer
people want to work in the hospitality industry. And then
even in the hospitality industry now they're you know, without
getting political, people are saying, O, hey, we should pay
them this, or we should pay them that. And but
for us, it's about, Okay, how do I create an
environment where those people are going to really enjoy being
(17:45):
here in our restaurant, where they're going to be able
to deliver that Why for us, I.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Know you probably have your opinions and views and where
the industry might go in the next five or ten years,
because I know everything is changing, ebbing and flowing, and
were moving in a very fast tech AI world now.
So with all that said, not only the industry, but
maybe specifically to kitchen social because I know you're always
talking about the future. You're obviously very sustainable any growth
(18:09):
in the future, what's coming up in the next five
or ten years that you and your partners want to do.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
We're looking at potentially some new sites. Part of what
I do is the real estate side, so you know,
we're looking at some other markets. We're looking in Charlotte,
North Carolina, down in Nashville, Franklin, Tennessee, Indianapolis. You know,
when we started this, it was about stay within three
hours of our home base, so we can get anywhere
if there's a problem. And we've been very fortunate to
(18:36):
be blessed to be a strong regional brand because you know,
we're within three hours of Columbus. And one of the
challenges for us is that, Okay, are we good enough
to carry this brand outside of Ohio? Outside of Columbus, Ohio,
Basic Cleveland, Cincinnati, and so one of our goals is
to get into a new market and to broaden our
horizons a little bit and see if we can't grow
(18:58):
the brand outside of the market.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
If you can indulge me just for a minute, because
you did mention real estate, and I'm dying to ask
you because I'm a layman, is location everything in the industry?
Or if the food and service is fantastic, people are
going to find you no matter what.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, that is the million dollars question is, isn't it.
I'll tell you real estate. Sure that and't hurt to
be front and center. Yeah, but I do believe as
long as you're not really off the beaten path. But
there's some guys that do a great job off the
beaten path. But for us, a little bit of visibility
and deliver that experience. Yeah, well I tell people, you know,
if we're going to die, I'd rather die with thirty
(19:32):
five thousand cars a day going in front of me
and being hidden back in an alley. So real estate's
really important. You know. The way I look at is
this is when you sign a lease, you know you're
signing a ten year lease with some options. So it's
a ten yere. It's a tenure either blessing or curse,
and so you got to get it right. If you
hire a wrong manager, you hire wrong server, you can
(19:53):
make adjustments, you can move around pretty quickly, but real
estate is it's expensive and you just can't change if
you're already there.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Ran, I know you're terribly busy with everything that's going on. Well,
when you do have time for philanthropic and charity work,
what do you like to be part of.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I'll tell you that one of the things we like
to do is stay local. With everything that we do.
We tell the team that if you're going to donate
a gift card, you're going to do these things because
you necessarily have one big company initiative like this is
who we support, but each restaurant has the ability to
support that local group. People that they believe one impacts
(20:28):
the community that we're in and two impacts our guests.
It supports our guests. So we try to say, like,
if people are coming in and supporting us, we want
to be able to support them. And so a lot
of times it's finding the ability to get that right.
Charitable organization that works with us comes with us, but
also that we can support and say we're part of
the community.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And just a moment, we're going to give a website
so you can take it up. We'll look at all
the restaurants and the menus. By the way, whoever designed
your websites, they're beautiful because the food is front and
center and it looks just absolutely scrump just looking at
it on a big web page. So they did a
really nice job with that. So bravo to you and
your team on the website. I did want to kind
of get some final takeaways from you for our listeners.
(21:09):
I've enjoyed the conversation. Every time I talk to a
restaurant try, I get very hungry, and I know you've
got very popular restaurants with a kitchen social But for
our listeners, whether they are current entrepreneurs, future entrepreneurs. Just
some final takeaways for our listeners about kitchen Social that
you'd like to let us know about.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, I think as it pertains the kitchen Social, it's
any other business that you're involved in, whether it's banking
or retail or whatever. It's love what you do. Surround
yourself with people that love what they do, because then
you really don't feel like you're working. You know, I
told my wife when we started, I wasn't going to
have a business card. Told me I was dumb. Still does,
but I said, you know, I don't want to if
(21:46):
I could have a job, I just want to go
and I want to enjoy it, and if I need to,
I'll write down my number. I'll do those things because
we're passionate about it, and so young entrepreneurs, people that
are looking for things to do, don't just do it
because it feels like it's the hot thing. Do it
because you're passionate about Do because you love it. Do
because it means something to you. And you know, when
we walk in those restaurants, it means something for us
for it to be right, and if it's wrong, we're
(22:07):
going to do whatever we can to make it right.
And we never take it personal. So I think that's
one other thing that young people want to learn is
that don't take it personal, take the education. I remember
being that young guy going up to the owner of
a restaurant company right out of college and said, I've
got all these ideas. He said, Brian, keep coming. I
may tell you no on the first nine, but the
trenth one might be the one. But I want people
(22:28):
that are thinking about how to make the business better.
Then they're not sulking because the idea you had didn't
work or you didn't get what you wanted. And so
I've learned that way that this business is about just
really truly being passionate about the people that you work
with and having a goal and understanding what that goal is.
And for us, it's to deliver just just an incredible experience,
(22:49):
hospitality experience for our guests.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Well, Brian's great advice. I talked to my twenty two
year old that just graduated college and I said, if
you're talking to somebody and they say no, you're talking
to the wrong person. I said, you got to be
relentless in your industry, but you got to have passion
and what you do. One of the greatest compliments I
ever gotten. I'd like to throw to you, not to
embarrass you, but as a program director on Airhouse and
all the different things I've done in sports, my hiring
(23:12):
manager said, I actually didn't hire you for your talents.
You have those, and we have a lot of people
that do that. I hired you because of your passion
and I love what I do, and I can tell
you love what you do. It comes right through the
screen as we're seeing each other on teams right now,
and I imagine that rolls down to the rest of
your employees, your managers, and your staff. And listen, folks,
it's contagious. When you're around that person in the middle
(23:34):
of the room that's telling all the jokes. You want
to be around that person, not the perperson that's sulking
in the corner with their head down. Everybody wants to
be around energy and passion. So, Brian, it's a great
takeaway for all our young entrepreneurs out there. I really
appreciate that. Let's do this as we wrap up the conversation,
and I've really enjoyed to thank you so much. Websites
so people can check out more information about kitchen social.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Our website is pretty simple. It's our oure kitchensocial dot com.
So it's got all the restaurants on there. You can
contact us on there, you can look at the food,
the menus, and it's amazing how important a website is
today versus you know, ten fifteen years ago when I started.
But yeah, get out of our kitchensocial dot com. You
can contact you can reach out to me or anyone
(24:15):
else in our team, any one of our partners that
we're all passionate about watching and helping this industry grow.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Outstanding, Brian, I really appreciate the conversation. Continue success, and
thank you so much for joining us on CEOs.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
You should know thanks for your time. We really appreciate it.
Hail from South End, Indiana, born and raised, home of
the fighting Irish and matter of fact, my first job
was working at the Holiday End, the Notre Dame Holiday Inn,
when I was fifteen, washing dishes. I was going in
for the interview. My dad made sure I put it
on a suit going in there looking for that dish
washing job. And it was only fifteen. He hired me
anyhow because I looked the part, and quite frankly, I
(00:22):
just absolutely fell in love with washing dishes. I love
the kitchen, I love the experience, I love the people.
I got to do a little what they called a
porter at the time, so I was doing some room service.
I was taking bags to rooms, and I just got
really a full view of what the hospitality experience was
all about, what the business was all about. And funny enough,
as it was going, it was one of those ones
(00:42):
where you knew, like, this is probably something I'm going
to end up doing.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, that's cool. I'm glad to kind of explain that
because I was going to ask you about that about
your affiliation with this industry, because you've been doing it
for a long time and you've got such an interesting
and cool ascension up the Ladder and now running everything
with Kitchen Social, which we're going to talk about in
just a second, about your mission, what you do, locations,
what you offer. But I did want to ask about
(01:07):
the industry in general, and I imagine it's ebbed and
flowed and it's changed, and I know COVID changed everything,
and you can talk a little bit about that in
our conversation. But as you were a young person getting
into it, I know, for the short time I was
in the industry, it's friggin hard work. So as you
were getting to it a little bit older and becoming
a young adult, what turned you on about the industry
(01:28):
and how high did you want to go?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
You know, I knew right away as I went through
through through the years in high school that this is
where I was going to end up. I knew I
was going to end up in the business. So I
went to college University Wisconsin style studied hotel, restaurant management,
speech communication. So I made it in with a hospitality
management degree because I knew it's what I wanted. You know,
the industry is. It's funny is I've been managing for
(01:53):
thirty six years and I was talking with one of
my young managers the other day and I said, you know,
the things that you're managing today are the exact, exact
same things I was managing thirty six years ago. Because
the one thing I do know is that it's people.
It's all about people. It's about building relationships. And as
we went through I knew that one of the things
that I was good at was getting the best out
(02:14):
of people, was trying to find a way to get
people to rally around a cause, and whether it was
playing sports, whether it was you know, doing group projects,
those kinds of things in school, even to the point
where my mom tells a story where that she went
in for parent teacher conferences and the teacher said, you know,
I really want to give him an A and he goes,
I really like him. She goes, well what do you get?
(02:36):
He goes, what do you got to see? So it
was about building relationships even then. It's about getting people
to appreciate what you're doing, you really truly understanding what's
important to them. And for me, that's what I learned
that My grandfather at one point in time was president
of the National Restaurant Association, and so I learned a
lot about people, a lot about dealing with people and
(02:58):
a lot about building relationship and ships, and so I
think that's one of the things as I went through it,
and I worked over and over, whether it's washing dishes
or working on the floor, I knew the ability to
get with people was going to be something I really
wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
You know, I'm glad you talked about that, because when
we hear these stories about the mail room guy started
out that and then he moved up to the top
and was running the company, you're almost like that. I mean,
you started washing dishes, and I saw your ascension in
the one company, and you went from a general manager,
which is still a really big job, up to a president.
But I saw that systematically you were moving up the ladder.
(03:35):
And I don't know the context to why you did
the different jobs, but it just fascinates me that you
upticked and you continue to as send to these jets.
Then you were a chief operating officer, and then you
were president. Was that all by designer? Was it happenstance
and that's the way you moved up?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Well, I'm not so sure I've really moved up. I mean,
if I started washing dishes at fifteen, I was washing
dishes last night at one of the restaurants. So it's
really all one and the same. But you know, I
think that's the part that as I started going through it,
you know, one of the things they told all the
time is that you have to learn everybody's job. If
you're going to teach it, if you're going to coach it,
you have to understand everybody's role. So I'm not a
(04:11):
chef by any stretch of the imagination. I like to cook,
but I'm not a chef. But I you know, I
learned how to do the job, whether it was washing
digit whether it was serving, whether it was bartending, whether
it's hosting, you know. And in the hotel business, I
did an internship for Marriott at one point in time,
and you know, it was one of those ones where
you talk about learning different positions. I went out there
and I was a houseman, so I was in charge
(04:32):
of keeping the closets full for the maids and loading
their cards, and they said, we've got a promotion for you.
You're doing a great job. I was in charge of
public restrooms, so that was the next promotion. So but
it was about learning each job so I could go
back and understand and say I've done that. I know
exactly what it takes to be successful in that role.
And for me, it was coming out of college an
(04:52):
assistant manager, learning and reading and studying and talking to
the cooks. I was talking to the servers and bartenders
and older managers about what do you do, what makes
you successful and learning that one thing that one of
my first general managers taught me. She said, you know, Brian,
be yourself, learned everybody's job, and learn what I do,
but don't be me. You're you take the best of
(05:13):
everybody that you work with and incorporated that. And that's
one of the things I think that's made me successful.
When I started with Brabo Brio, I was the general
manager of the Third restaurant nineteen ninety five, and when
I left in twenty eighteen, I was the CEO and
worked my way up through there by building relationships, building
trust and really just trying to get the most out
(05:33):
of people, but not being afraid to put the work in.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, you know, Brian, I am so glad you talked
about this. You and I have a lot in common.
In the thirty years that I've been in the industry,
and when I wanted to be on TV or radio,
I'm not going to get that opportunity right away. I
had to start in the grump positions pulling cable, maybe
doing audio lights or the green room. It didn't matter
what it was in my industry. But I knew that,
like you, if I learned all the different jobs and
(05:56):
I got the job that I did want, I knew
that everybody's going to do and that way I felt
more calmon about being on set that I knew all
their jobs and I could help them and understand and relate.
So I'm glad you talked about that, because folks, young
entrepreneurs out there, do it all. No matter what you're doing,
make sure you know everybody's gigs. So when you do
run a company someday, you're going to be that much
(06:17):
ahead of it, like Brian is. So I'm glad we
talked about that. Brian. So let's do this. Let's talk
about Kitchen Social, because we're here for that. First of all,
before we get into it about mission statement and what
you do and the different restaurants that you have and
all that you offer. I'd love to hear the idea
about it, you know, and I'll tell you why, because
I'm a foodie. I've lived in some great food towns
(06:39):
like here in DC where I'm interviewing from. I've lived
in Portland, Oregon, which is a great foodie town. And
you know, when I think about starting a restaurant, I go,
Holy smokes, that seems like one of the hardest things
to do, because I just know enough to be dangerous
about the industry and knowing how difficult it could be
with location, the food, the service. And we had a
pandemic that we haven't had in one hundred years that
(07:01):
you had to deal with that I do want you
to address in a little bit, But can you tell
me about the origin story about Kitchen Social and then
your involvement in it.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
You know, when we sold the former company back in
eighteen where I was CEO, you know I needed the job.
You had wife, three kids and girls going to college soon,
and so I needed the job. Everybody wanted to stay here.
This was home in Columbus, Ohio, and I didn't know
that there was going to be an opportunity to be
a CEO somewhere. And one of the things my wife
(07:30):
and I had talked often about was that you know,
there wasn't in club just got just an insane amount
of great restaurants. What we wanted to do was try
to create something a little bit different for us. It
was about, is there a place out there that you
can find, you can create where the food is made
from scratch, where the ambiance today designed is something fresh
and something light, bright and airy, something new, where the
(07:52):
price point is something where people can afford to eat
there once a week, and I got to tell you
they do. It's amazing. And most importantly, though, we wanted
to create something where we could create an experience. You know,
for me, I really believe hospitality is a little bit
of a lost art in today's world, whether it's you
go a hotel, you go retail, me just somewhere along
(08:15):
the way we lost that connection with people. And so
our vision was to create something that was People didn't
just walk out saying, hey, dinner was great. They walked
out saying, that's a great experience. We can't wait to
come back. Because you can get good food and drinks anywhere,
You can get good service in a lot of different places.
But the experience is how I made you feel when
you left? How did I make you feel when you
(08:36):
were here. Is it something that's going to bring you back?
How do I stay in the forefront? And so our goal,
our focus was to create that. And so it was
one of those things where we had to first surround
ourselves with great people. So I've got some great partners
that we put together that I worked with at Bravo Brio,
and so we matter of fact, we took one of
the chefs. We cooked at his house. Well, I ate
(08:57):
and clean dishes, but but we cooked at his house
for six months, creating a menu amazing. And it was
so important for us to build something that people could
really enjoy. So it's made from scratch, but it's also
that price point we wanted to be able to sell it.
People said, you're leaving money on the table. I said,
but I'm going to get more people back. I'm going
to charge you twenty bucks and get you in twice
(09:20):
a month versus thirty bucks and get you once. But
in order to do that, we had to execute and
a full vision kind of came from there.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Very cool. I'm going to guess that your mission statement
was somewhere in that last answer, but let's go over it.
For Kitchen Social, what is the mission statement.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
You know, it's funny, you know, and people are going
to laugh. Is that we started this, it was like
what do we want to say? What do we want?
What do we want people to know? And one of
the things that I thought was if we put something
down on paper and we're not there to talk about it,
I felt like it was going to get lost in translation,
right and words on a paper. And so what we
(09:57):
really do is we talk, sit down. We're in the restaurants,
don't just we don't have a corporate office. As you
can see, I'm in my house here. Our office is
the restaurant, the people that we work with, our team,
and so we talk about the why. For me, it's
about why do we do this? And so when I
talk to the hourly team, when I talk to the coach,
(10:18):
when I talk to the managers, whoever it is, we
make it a point that two things. One, we're not
going to lower our standards to meet your expectations. These
are the standards that we have to have, and this
is what's going to help you be successful in your job.
We've been here, we've done it, we know what's going
to work. So do these things and then understanding helping
them understand why we do it. You know, we don't
(10:39):
do this to say, hey, I want to have twenty
restaurants or thirty or I want to be the next
cheesecake factory. We do this because we truly enjoy the
hospitality of the business. There's nothing better than to stand
back and just watch your guests and or watch your
staff interact with the guests and see the smiles on
the faces. And so we talk a lot about why
we do it. So for us, it's it's making sure
(11:00):
they understand why I do this, why it's important or
what's important to me, and why we want to do this,
and then they then translate that right to the tables.
And I think that's the magic of it is that
it's been one of those things that the team has
certainly understood and been able to deliver that because we're
there talking about it day in and day out.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
All Right, how many locations do yeah, where are you located?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
We have five locations. We are first, we have two
in Columbus, which one was our first one in twenty nineteen.
We opened up our second one in Dublin, Ohio here
basically Columbus. About two years later we have our third one,
which was on the east side of Cleveland. Then we
opened up the west side of Cleveland, and then I
opened up in Cincinnati and the Montgomery area of Cincinnati
(11:42):
in November of twenty three, So five all together.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And what would you categorize the menu?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
As you know, I would say it's a little bit
international with a twist or because we've got Indian, Asian.
We've got Indian, we've got Asian, we've got Mexican, and
we've got Italian. We've got steaks and seafood. We make
our own pizza dough, we make our own biscuits, we
do brunch on the weekends. So what we do it's
(12:07):
not a huge menu, but there's just a little bit
of everything. So that what we've done is try to
eliminate the no vote. You feel like a steak, I
feel like a salad, you can go to Kitchen Social.
Somebody feels like a pizza, somebody feels like a nice
piece of fish, you can go to Kitchen Social. And
I think that's what's helped us become successful. In addition
to just that overall experience, is that the menu works
(12:29):
for everybody. We've eliminated that no vote.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I think you'd agree with me because I've teased the
pandemic a lot of times, and when something really horrifying happens,
sometimes opportunities come out of it. And I saw your
industry pivot big time to a whole change of street
eateries and we still have them here in Washington, DC,
and I imagine you have them in Columbus as we
do in the most of the United States does. And
also the whole food delivery now and pick up and
(12:54):
take out and all the changes, yet still having the
experience back in the restaurant. So when COVID hit, what
happened to everybody? What did you do to pivot?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well, it's a fun question because we didn't do carry
out before COVID. We just didn't do it. So when
you know, we got to call one day on the
news ed so the governor says, hey, we're shutting it down.
We had to sit back and think about, Okay, what
does that mean for kitchen social What are we going
to do different in order to facilitate an experience? Because
(13:24):
our value and value for us is it values not
just price right, value is the experience that you provide
along with the quality of the food and the service
that you get, and then you divide that by price,
and people feel like there's your value. The rich Carlton
is an incredible value to people who value what the
rich Carlton has to offer. And so price points not
necessarily it. And so but we thought when to go
(13:48):
became the priority for us. Okay, we created this great
experience people love coming. Now we're just putting it in
a box. So all of a sudden, we've lost the experience.
And so our focus right away was, okay, how do
we create the experience with carryout? Well, what we did
was we went back in and we sat down. We said, okay,
so handwritten thank you card. So every single bag got
(14:08):
a handwritten postcard from us, thanking them for the business.
We were dropping lottery tickets, we were dropping a free
to Surprising Delight dessert or a Surprising Delight appetizer, something different,
something to help kind of create a little bit different,
something for people to talk about. And all of a
sudden it started to translate social media. People are talking
about kits and social Hey, then they're throwing pictures of
(14:29):
the handwritten cards or the winning lottery tickets. And so
we didn't change our price point. What we did was
we adapted and tried to become inexperiential to go. We
didn't do third party delivery. You had to come get it.
We went out to the cars. You probably remember how
hand sanitizers is such a big thing. Every time we
bring an order out to a car. We had our
(14:50):
handheld toast pavement system, and then we had a squeeze
bottle of hand sanitizer that wo'd spray on their hands
in the car, and people thought it was the greatest
in the world. And then once we got back open,
we hadn't taken reservations. We said, well, let's take reservations,
because I don't know if anybody's coming out right, nobody'd
been through this, and we said that the thing we're
(15:11):
going to do different than a lot of other people
is we'll put on our table six feet apart. Well,
we're not going to do plexiglass, we're not doing curtains.
We're going to deliver the same experience that they had
prior to COVID that they had now. And it resonated
with the guests they came and they felt like, other
than fact that we're wearing a mask, they felt like, Wow,
this is a real dining experience, and it just took
(15:32):
off from there for us.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
You've been in the industry a long time, and I
understand my next question is going to be very opinion based.
But what has changed about the customer over the years
since you started to today? And what's exactly the same
about customers?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
You know, I don't necessarily know. I think that what's
probably changed is that people are more confident in talking
about food. You know, the TV has done wonders for that, right,
everybody's a chef for everybody you tell you, oh yeah,
I'm the foodie, right, and so everybody understands food. Now,
everybody knows more about food than they ever have. And again,
(16:07):
they had a lot of time to watch TV, so
they really kind of figured some things out. That's the
one part that I think has changed is that people
come in with a different knowledge of what to expect
and what they think quality food is. But what hasn't
changed is they're still looking for that great food and
that great experience, and maybe even more so than ever,
(16:28):
if they're going to spend their money, they want to
spend it where they know they're going to get a value.
And again, that goes back to that whole experience, not
just the price point. People willing to pay a little
more if the experience is right. And so for us,
the guests is more educated than they've ever been, but
at the same time, they're still looking to feel important.
They still want to feel like they're the only ones
you're waiting on while they're in the restaurant. And that's
(16:50):
the magic is how do you make them feel special
every guest that walks in that door. And that's the
fun part of the job, it really is.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Brian, what kind of challenges are still sending themselves to
you in the industry right now?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I would say the largest challenge today, especially since COVID right,
is the labor force. It's a little bit tougher, it's
a little more expensive than it's ever been, and so
it's a little bit harder to get to consistency. Now
we've been you know, knock on something, we've been blessed.
We've retained a lot of our people and they do
(17:23):
a phenomenal job for us. But the labor force in
and of itself, I'd say there's fewer of them. Fewer
people want to work in the hospitality industry. And then
even in the hospitality industry now they're you know, without
getting political, people are saying, O, hey, we should pay
them this, or we should pay them that. And but
for us, it's about, Okay, how do I create an
environment where those people are going to really enjoy being
(17:45):
here in our restaurant, where they're going to be able
to deliver that Why for us, I.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Know you probably have your opinions and views and where
the industry might go in the next five or ten years,
because I know everything is changing, ebbing and flowing, and
were moving in a very fast tech AI world now.
So with all that said, not only the industry, but
maybe specifically to kitchen social because I know you're always
talking about the future. You're obviously very sustainable any growth
(18:09):
in the future, what's coming up in the next five
or ten years that you and your partners want to do.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
We're looking at potentially some new sites. Part of what
I do is the real estate side, so you know,
we're looking at some other markets. We're looking in Charlotte,
North Carolina, down in Nashville, Franklin, Tennessee, Indianapolis. You know,
when we started this, it was about stay within three
hours of our home base, so we can get anywhere
if there's a problem. And we've been very fortunate to
(18:36):
be blessed to be a strong regional brand because you know,
we're within three hours of Columbus. And one of the
challenges for us is that, Okay, are we good enough
to carry this brand outside of Ohio? Outside of Columbus, Ohio,
Basic Cleveland, Cincinnati, and so one of our goals is
to get into a new market and to broaden our
horizons a little bit and see if we can't grow
(18:58):
the brand outside of the market.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
If you can indulge me just for a minute, because
you did mention real estate, and I'm dying to ask
you because I'm a layman, is location everything in the industry?
Or if the food and service is fantastic, people are
going to find you no matter what.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, that is the million dollars question is, isn't it.
I'll tell you real estate. Sure that and't hurt to
be front and center. Yeah, but I do believe as
long as you're not really off the beaten path. But
there's some guys that do a great job off the
beaten path. But for us, a little bit of visibility
and deliver that experience. Yeah, well I tell people, you know,
if we're going to die, I'd rather die with thirty
(19:32):
five thousand cars a day going in front of me
and being hidden back in an alley. So real estate's
really important. You know. The way I look at is
this is when you sign a lease, you know you're
signing a ten year lease with some options. So it's
a ten yere. It's a tenure either blessing or curse,
and so you got to get it right. If you
hire a wrong manager, you hire wrong server, you can
(19:53):
make adjustments, you can move around pretty quickly, but real
estate is it's expensive and you just can't change if
you're already there.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Ran, I know you're terribly busy with everything that's going on. Well,
when you do have time for philanthropic and charity work,
what do you like to be part of.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I'll tell you that one of the things we like
to do is stay local. With everything that we do.
We tell the team that if you're going to donate
a gift card, you're going to do these things because
you necessarily have one big company initiative like this is
who we support, but each restaurant has the ability to
support that local group. People that they believe one impacts
(20:28):
the community that we're in and two impacts our guests.
It supports our guests. So we try to say, like,
if people are coming in and supporting us, we want
to be able to support them. And so a lot
of times it's finding the ability to get that right.
Charitable organization that works with us comes with us, but
also that we can support and say we're part of
the community.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And just a moment, we're going to give a website
so you can take it up. We'll look at all
the restaurants and the menus. By the way, whoever designed
your websites, they're beautiful because the food is front and
center and it looks just absolutely scrump just looking at
it on a big web page. So they did a
really nice job with that. So bravo to you and
your team on the website. I did want to kind
of get some final takeaways from you for our listeners.
(21:09):
I've enjoyed the conversation. Every time I talk to a
restaurant try, I get very hungry, and I know you've
got very popular restaurants with a kitchen social But for
our listeners, whether they are current entrepreneurs, future entrepreneurs. Just
some final takeaways for our listeners about kitchen Social that
you'd like to let us know about.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, I think as it pertains the kitchen Social, it's
any other business that you're involved in, whether it's banking
or retail or whatever. It's love what you do. Surround
yourself with people that love what they do, because then
you really don't feel like you're working. You know, I
told my wife when we started, I wasn't going to
have a business card. Told me I was dumb. Still does,
but I said, you know, I don't want to if
(21:46):
I could have a job, I just want to go
and I want to enjoy it, and if I need to,
I'll write down my number. I'll do those things because
we're passionate about it, and so young entrepreneurs, people that
are looking for things to do, don't just do it
because it feels like it's the hot thing. Do it
because you're passionate about Do because you love it. Do
because it means something to you. And you know, when
we walk in those restaurants, it means something for us
for it to be right, and if it's wrong, we're
(22:07):
going to do whatever we can to make it right.
And we never take it personal. So I think that's
one other thing that young people want to learn is
that don't take it personal, take the education. I remember
being that young guy going up to the owner of
a restaurant company right out of college and said, I've
got all these ideas. He said, Brian, keep coming. I
may tell you no on the first nine, but the
trenth one might be the one. But I want people
(22:28):
that are thinking about how to make the business better.
Then they're not sulking because the idea you had didn't
work or you didn't get what you wanted. And so
I've learned that way that this business is about just
really truly being passionate about the people that you work
with and having a goal and understanding what that goal is.
And for us, it's to deliver just just an incredible experience,
(22:49):
hospitality experience for our guests.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Well, Brian's great advice. I talked to my twenty two
year old that just graduated college and I said, if
you're talking to somebody and they say no, you're talking
to the wrong person. I said, you got to be
relentless in your industry, but you got to have passion
and what you do. One of the greatest compliments I
ever gotten. I'd like to throw to you, not to
embarrass you, but as a program director on Airhouse and
all the different things I've done in sports, my hiring
(23:12):
manager said, I actually didn't hire you for your talents.
You have those, and we have a lot of people
that do that. I hired you because of your passion
and I love what I do, and I can tell
you love what you do. It comes right through the
screen as we're seeing each other on teams right now,
and I imagine that rolls down to the rest of
your employees, your managers, and your staff. And listen, folks,
it's contagious. When you're around that person in the middle
(23:34):
of the room that's telling all the jokes. You want
to be around that person, not the perperson that's sulking
in the corner with their head down. Everybody wants to
be around energy and passion. So, Brian, it's a great
takeaway for all our young entrepreneurs out there. I really
appreciate that. Let's do this as we wrap up the conversation,
and I've really enjoyed to thank you so much. Websites
so people can check out more information about kitchen social.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Our website is pretty simple. It's our oure kitchensocial dot com.
So it's got all the restaurants on there. You can
contact us on there, you can look at the food,
the menus, and it's amazing how important a website is
today versus you know, ten fifteen years ago when I started.
But yeah, get out of our kitchensocial dot com. You
can contact you can reach out to me or anyone
(24:15):
else in our team, any one of our partners that
we're all passionate about watching and helping this industry grow.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Outstanding, Brian, I really appreciate the conversation. Continue success, and
thank you so much for joining us on CEOs.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
You should know thanks for your time. We really appreciate it.
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